Egypt/North Africa

Some home school days just don't go as planned. I think the single best argument against home schooling is PMS. Let's face it; sometimes, the teacher just doesn't want to get out of bed and deal with humans.


BA and I planned a co-op to wrap up our geography study of Africa (focus on Egypt). It never fails that when we want to do something special, things don't go as smoothly as we desire. BA had a cranky morning at home. I had a crankier morning in my own home, and now we were supposed to be civil?

This picture of the beginning of our co-op sums it up nicely. The girls are on eggshells, and BA and I are wanting to be anywhere but in that classroom.



Still, we are called to teach our children. BA and I are committed to giving our girls the best home school experience we possibly can. We silently agreed to shake off the crankiness and get over it. When we did, that's when we all started enjoying ourselves and actually learned something!

Here are the Tuareg (pronounced Twa-reg) girls. Unlike other Arab countries, the Tuareg women don't wear veils. They're also highly respected by the men.


Tuareg girls get to wear:

Lots of dark eyeshadow . . . .


. . . and bright red nail polish. Let's hear it for the Tuareg!

Each of the girls prepared a speech about the biography of their choice. Here Rachel tells us about David Livingstone. In our class, they're allowed to look at their paper as long as they need to, but when they speak they must look at their audience. Rachel is gathering her thoughts on what to say next.

Glenna talked to us about Mary Slessor, a wee Scottish missionary to Africa.

Since the Tuaregs are nomadic, we told the girls to go outside and construct a shelter from blankets. BA and I were sitting in the air conditioned classroom, watching their attempts from the window. We did NOT interfere! When they finished, we stepped outside to discuss their results.

Shade, yes, but where are you going to lay down? Where will you sit to eat?

Ok, so the two of you can fit in your shelter, but will you take turns being comfortable?

We talked about what a real shelter should look like, then they tried again. They were nomads, after all, and nomads move around! Round two taught another valuable lesson in tent building . . .

. . . look for ant piles before you begin to build. This led to another valuable home school moment . . . .

. . . . why is baking soda able to take the sting out of an ant bite?

Every good co-op ends with food. The Tuareg traded with others in their travels, and we decided trading had been pretty good this year. The teachers were smiling by this time, because food was present!

Hummus, pitas, feta cheese, couscous, dried apricots, raisins, roasted meat, and artichoke hearts. We used pitas for plates and made sure we only ate with our right hands.

We also had rooibos (roy-bus) tea traded from South Africa. With honey, of course!