"From Here to Timbuktu"

When I was growing up I had no clue there was a real place called Timbuktu, I thought it was a saying. The name seemed so fictitious to me. I won't tell you how old I was when I realized it was an actual place, but let me just say it was a true shock to me.

Please keep reading and don't discredit me over that. :) I promise my parents sent me to what they thought was the best school in the area. I'm sure they taught about Ancient Africa at some point, I will just say I must have been absent that day.

Back to today... I recently told a friend I didn't "love" history. I love people. I love cultures and traveling and although we are not getting on a plane today to visit western Africa, I love the fact that my son asked me today if we can visit Timbuktu some day. Goal accomplished!
 Our children may not remember every detail we tell them today about Ancient Africa, but at least we are opening the door to the possibility of more. Placing a peg that will be so valuable to them in the future.

Here are the Towers of Powers that we made. If you didn't get the resource page go here for it. I made it fairly simple. 

This is the back of the tower. I added an extra strip down the middle for added support.

The kids colored and traced the letters (Lucy only did the first letters).

And here was our simple understanding of the kingdoms that ruled Ancient Western Africa.

Each picture represents something about that group of people.

For ex: Songhai were farmers, hunters, and fisherman; Mali had a picture of his famous king; Songhai a picture of Timbuktu's mosque,and Morocco a picture of men with horses and guns.

Next we went right to our Timbuktu Mosque.

I made our play do. It was a very simple 1 step recipe. You can't beat that. The recipe is here in case you need it again. My only advise is don't walk away! It will burn... but I wouldn't know that from experience. :) Also I'd mix the dry ingredients first. Ok so that makes it a two step recipe. :)

Looked over our resource page of Timbuktu mosques and made something similar. Lucy refers to her as "Frosty the Snowman" who needed stitches. :) 

This is Tony's. He got the concept of rows. 

I broke the toothpicks in half as not to waste any. If I had to do it over again, I'd have them use the pointy edge in and the blunt edge of the broken toothpick to make it look more authentic.

Ok, we are off to our next adventure!

Blessings,

Crecia

One more thing- I'm in the process of making more plans for weeks 16- 18. If you have a desire for a certain kind of activity you would like more of ie; crafts, cooking, literature realted, Montessori (hands on), Charlotte Mason, worksheets, etc- will you please email me and tell me which you prefer? I'd greatly appreciate it. 

Also I'm going to make another page featuring testimonials and pictures from customers. So if you have any great stories to share, please send them my way. I'd love to put the website up in "your words" not just mine. :)