11/17
Summary: We looked at the mythological founding of Rome, daily life in ancient Rome and the government of Rome. The application came from an exercise when the students had to choose what qualities they would look for before hiring someone to rule their province or country. The final list from all of the students was long and instructive. I told them, “If you wish to be a leader, make these qualities yours.”
11/10
History has value for us when it provides roots, offers perspective and when it offers concrete lessons we can apply to our lives today. We read about and discussed the reign of King Solomon. We took two facts about the Phoenicians, their control of purple dye and shipbuilding, and learned about economics. We discussed and illustrated scarcity, supply and demand, and using your resources to increase wealth for yourself and others.
11/3
We took a tour of Jewish history from the time of the Judges to the divided kingdom. We focused on what David and Solomon did right – David worshipped God and got to know him in the quiet times, wrote psalms and praised God with the same gusto with which he fought and killed his enemies – Solomon prayed for wisdom, built the temple and experienced the visible glory of God filling the temple.
10/27
We reviewed the homework and found lessons for our lives today.
We viewed the treasures of King Tut in two different books We considered the Ten Commandments and emphasized that 8 of them are written as prohibitions. This led to a discussion of God as a person who gives us lots we can do and only restricts what is wrong for us (like the tree in the garden of Eden).
The Navigators looked at life in Ancient Athens and Sparta.
10/13
We discussed how God controls history by preparing people (in this case Moses, Israelites, Pharaoh and Egyptians) to cooperate with his plan. I emphasized the importance of the Exodus in history –the greatest event before the resurrection of Jesus.
We discussed how God controls history by raising up nations – in this case Egypt – to do his will – provide a safe place for his people to grow from 70 to 2 million. We pointed out that God used Joseph to prepare the way for his family to move to Egypt .
We also discussed how God controls history by preparing people (in this case Moses, Israelites, Pharaoh and Egyptians) to cooperate with his plan.
10/6
The Navigators looked at the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. We discussed lessons we can apply to our lives today. 1. Just as Abraham took time to grow in his understanding of God from “He is my personal god” in a polytheistic way, to “he is the only God of the universe,” so we need to update our understanding of God as we mature from childhood to adulthood. 2. God created Egypt so it could provide a safe place for the Israelites to grow from 70 people to a nation. 3. God changed the lives of Jacob and his sons and named the tribes of the nation after them. Joseph, the godly man, did not have a tribe in his name!
The Pathfinders, due to student interest, discussed the Egyptian fascination with death. We compared it with the biblical teaching. We talked about ordinary life in Egypt . The better treatment of women was a special focus since women in the ancient world were not allowed the privileges that the Egyptians considered normal.
