Walk Like an Egyptian

Last night was our homeschool co-op Egyptian night… and what fun it was!  The costumes were highly decorative, the food lavish, the reports ingenuitive, the show stupendous!  The Egyptian delicacies were absolutely delicious.  We decided that if we were stuck in Egypt we would at least be able to survive on the food.  There was chicken and rice, beef and rice, stuffed bell peppers, couscous, garlic shrimp, parsley salad, humus, pomegranates, cucumber-feta salsa with pita chips, pita bread, fig & date bread, and many more that I can’t remember at the moment. 

We had two sets of grandparents joining in on the evening events.  The kids displayed their plethora of projects that they have been mass producing for the last two months.

These are the canopic jars that the Pharaoh’s organs were stored in for his burial.  Following are some copper bas reliefs and a little Sumerian Priest.  We studied ancient civilizations before Egypt, so those crafts were also out for others to peruse as well.

The highlight of the evening was a fully narrated shadow show put on by the high school students of the embalming process of a pharaoh including the removing of organs.  It was really well done…. complete with knife sharpening sound effects, the pulling out of the brains (yarn) with a little hook, and the stomach even exploding so there were wet marks all over the sheet for the dramatic effect (water balloons.)  The mummy kept giggling, which made it even more humorous.  Note the jackal-headed canopic jar for the storage of the intestines.  Man, did we laugh…. so did the performers.

The kids would be mortified if I used this last picture for the Christmas card this year… it’s tempting…. but maybe world-wide exposure on wordpress is enough.  :oP  They are pictured with a life-size sarcophagus made of solid gold as well as King Tut’s chair with the lion-headed arm rests.

Yes, today I slept in.  Rick and I went out for breakfast.  We did some shopping.  I am much relieved that Egypt is behind us.  I’m pretty certain the kids are too.

What do Homeschooling Mothers Do ALL Day?

They shred old dust-ruffles so their children can mummify Barbie.  What do you think we do all day???  I have a few words of advice for future dust-ruffle shredding moms:  #1.  Don’t wear black.  It looked like I dusted a haunted house with my front side when I was done.  #2.  Wear a face mask.  Seriously.  I just finished reading a novel about girls who were getting sick working in the cotton mills…. NOW I understand.  I’ve blown my nose 27 times since the shredding.  #3.  You only need the frill of a single size dust ruffle to mummify at least 8 Barbies.  I did a queen size ruffle and we did 6 Barbies…. I have enough left over to do 12 more.  See?  This is such helpful information for future moms of mummifiers.

Why all the mummies when Halloween is over?  You ask.  We are studying Ancient Egypt.  The younger kids are doing the same topic as the high schoolers right now and we will be culminating the unit with Egyptian Night.  You know, phun, phood and pharaohs.  There will be an embalming demonstration with live volunteers from the audience, costumes, reports and of course, ancient Egyptian food.  (Not surprisingly, Katie “found” an Egyptian chocolate cake…… hhmmmmmm.)

Here is a photo of Keeve practicing the mummification process.  He figured out that Barbie wouldn’t fit in her sarcophagus without a haircut first.  That was yesterday.  Today six homeschooled children were given permission to cut off Barbie’s hair.  You should’ve seen the smiles!  Then they dipped the strips of cloth in papier mache so everything would dry in place.  What a mess, but it was fun.

The boys were with me in Goodwill when I purchased the dolls.  They asked what I was up to.  I said real loudly, “These Barbies are for YOU!  Which one do you want?  I’m not joking!  Come over here and pick your Barbie.”  They looked from me to each other and back to me and then ran toward electronics.  :o)