Saturday, October 3, 2009

Barbie (Ken) Mummy Project

In our Mystery of History Lessons, we learned about Egyptian Mummification. To take our lesson a step further, we mummified a Barbie (Ken) Doll. Here are pictures of our Mummification Process:

Preparing the body by cleansing it with Wine (water down red wine vinegar). Then we removed the Intestines, Liver, Lungs and Stomach (placing them in Canopic Jars). There is a incision mark down his left side to represent where he would have been cut open for the removal of these organs. Next we removed the Brains with a hook through the nose (hence the black dot on his nostril). The brains were thrown away because that felt that it was the hear that thought for you not the brain.

We used a basting brush to cleanse him but we know that they didn't use one. The red heart represents the fact that they left the heart in tact, later it will be used in the Weighing-of-the-heart ceremony. In the back corner you will see that we have Anubis (the God of Embalming) present during this embalming as they would have had someone with a mask of his head on during this process.


Next we wiped him down with spices of Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Allspice, in an olive oil.



We put him in Kosher Sea Salt (this represents the Natron Salt that they would have used). Then we let him sit in the salt for 40 minutes (1 minute to represnt each day that they would have left the body in the Natron Salt...however they would have completely covered them so that you couldn't even seen them). We accidently did the spices/oil and salting backwards. The salting should have come first, then the spices and oils. Then they would have replaced the eyes onions stuffed into the sockets. Then they stuffed the body with mudd, sawdust, rags and chaff to make it appear plump.

Next we began the wrapping process (they would have saved Linen to be wrapped in for their burial, their whole lives). We used muslin and a mixture of flour and water (1 part to 3 parts) for the paste. It took them about 15 days to wrap the body and about 20 layers of linen bandages. We put the Amulets inbetweeen the layers of Linen (a scarab beetle (which they believed prevent your guilty secrets from being found out during the weighing-of-the-heart ceremony), the protective eye of the sun god, Horus).

We allowed him to do a little drying before the final wrapping.

Here he is after the final wrapping. Our hired Mourner (Daddy) and the Priests (Edward and Mommy) took our mummy to his tomb (it will be a plastic shoe box). We used Sacred Tools for the opening of the mouth ceremony (this was done to restore the body's spirit to it), this was done by touching the "lips" with the tools. Next we had the Weighing-of-the-heart ceremony. You will see that we have Anubis and Thoth present (we didn't have Ammut). In the Weighing-of-the-heart ceremony your spirit was believed to be led to a scale by Anubis, who weighed your heart against the feather of truth. The result was recorded by the ibis-headed god, Thoth. A monster, Ammut waited to eat the heart if it has been made to heavy by bad deeds. In his tomb, we put (not really just pretended) the Book of the Dead, food, clothes, wine, furniture, weapons and tools (these things were to be used by your KA(your spirit double, this was said to stay in your tomb with your body all the time) and BA(the spirit of your personality, this was said to be able to leave the tomb during the day but returned at night). Then we sealed the tomb.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Homeschool Zoofari Day Field Trip

The Wichita TPA (Teaching Parents Association) and the Sedgwick County Zoo teamed up together to put on a Zoofari Day for Homeschoolers and their families. Below are pictures of us on our Field Trip. We had such a great time and they did a great job putting together the day. There about 10 stations set up to stop at and learn about animals in that area of the zoo. We learned a lot of things we didn't know (even I did and I taught Animal Science all last year...see you still can learn things, even if you have done an extensive study of a subject).

Learning about Farm Animals (goats and sheep) in the Farm area of the Childrens Zoo portion of the Sedgwick County Zoo.
Edward has grown he is now as tall as the Tallest Penguin (the Emperor Penguin), last time (when the first put in this exhibit) he was about 3 to 4 penguins down the wall.

In the Jungle Building

Feeding the Giraffes with friends.

Best Friends feeding the ducks together.

Look Mom, A Mustache

Edward got this "mustache" from a vending machine, you know the kind that you get plastic rings and tatoos from. Just had to take a picture of him wearing it. To cute!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Tippy Tap

Here is Edward at Tap Dancing Lessons. He loves it and is learning a lot.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Stonehenge

This week in our Mystery of History Lessons, we learned about Stonehenge. We built our own version of Stonehenge using rocks (from the alley, all about the same size), a paper plate and a hot glue gun. Here are pictures of our Stonehenge: