Openings in Our Cottage Classes Near Ossian, Indiana

by Donna | Aug 29, 2011

I tried to get this as a note on FB at TFT, so I wouldn’t need to put it here, but it wouldn’t work….so….if you are not from near us or are not a homeschooler who might be interested in cottage classes, just hit delete! 🙂 Thanks for your patience with my lack of savvy with technology!

Anyway, we still have openings in a few of our homeschool cottage classes near Ossian, Indiana to be held on Wednesdays.

Specifically, we have openings in CQLA Level A, CQLA Level B, and Ancient History.

I am going to post the information below about the Ancient History class. It is taught by our son who has an undergraduate degree in history. He is an amazing teacher with detailed handouts and amazing power point presentations each week. If you have a student in sixth grade or above who would like to “audit” this class–just listen to the lectures, receive the handouts, etc, but not do it for high school credit/complete the homework, let us know. Our younger kids often do that with Joshua’s classes–they are that enjoyable.

Follow this link for more class information (schedules/prices, etc.): https://www.tfths.com/classes.php

Learn more details about the Ancient History class below:

Week One‐‐Egypt: Deals with the rise of Egypt with a focus on the people who built ancient Egypt into a great nation. These include Narmer, the man who unified Egypt; Snefru, the persistent Pharaoh who build the first pyramids; Hatshepsut, the female Pharaoh; Tuthmosis III, the great conqueror; and the most unusual Pharaoh in Egyptian history, Akhenaten. Other topics covered in this week are the importance of the Nile River, multiple instances of collapse and rise, and the impact of Joseph on Egypt.

Week Two—Egypt: Covers Ramses the Great, who came to power at the height of Egypt’s power. He is known as the Great because of his military accomplishments, including the famous battle of Kadesh, as well as his vast building projects across Egypt. After Ramses, the empire began a long decline that led to Egypt being conquered by a succession of foreign invaders including the Assyrians, the Nubians, the Persians, and Alexander the Great. This class finished by examining the Ptolemies. They were responsible for building the Great Lighthouse and the Library at Alexandria as well as translating the Old Testament into Greek. This class also covers the Exodus.

Week Three‐‐Historiography and Barbarians: This class is divided into two parts. The first deals with historiography—literally the study of history. What kind of evidence do historians have about the ancient world? How can the study of pottery shards and skeletons tell us how people lived thousands of years ago? How do historians use documentary evidence (such as the Bible) to shed light on ancient cultures? The second part of this week deals with the so called Barbarians who invaded established empires from China to Rome. Who were these people and why were they hated and feared by the most powerful nations in the world?

Week Four‐‐The Middle East: This lesson covers the empires of the Fertile Crescent. Sargon built the world’s first true empire. Ur attempted to build a communist style economy and failed miserably. Hammurabi conquered a great empire but is most known for his legal system established in the Code of Hammurabi. The Kassites ruled from Babylon before they were conquered by the greatest empire of the near east: Assyria. The Assyrians were able to conquer and control most of the Middle East using ingenious and brutal tactics including the forced deportation of the ten northern tribes of Israel.

Week Five—Persia: This class begins by looking at the glorious but short lived Babylonians and their greatest king Nebuchadnezzar. Cyrus the Great made Persia a great power by conquering Babylon, Egypt, and Lydia. The Persians were an unusual people to create an empire since they were originally nomadic herders. Cyrus was praised by many of his enemies. Greek accounts remember him as just, kind, and wise. The Old Testament tells the story of Cyrus sending the captive Israelites home. Later rulers struggled with rebellions in Babylon and Egypt, two failed invasions of Greece, and finally, the destruction of the empire by Alexander the Great.

Week Six—India: The kingdoms of ancient India were incredibly wealthy. Beginning with the Indus Valley civilization and whose water and sewage systems were thousands of years ahead of their time. But the civilization disappeared mysteriously. The Mauryan Empire was as large and wealthy as Persia or Assyria and, under Asoka, guaranteed freedom of religion to all of its citizens. India was rarely united but that didn’t stop them from changing the world. They traded all over the known world, invented chess, proved the world was round, invented the decimal system and were the first to use the number zero.

Week 7 – China: China was without a doubt the greatest civilization of the ancient world. In terms of size and technological accomplishments they left the other great empires far behind. This lesson begins by looking at the unifying factors of China such as Confucius and the “Mandate of Heaven” which gave the emperor absolute power as long as he served the people’s interest. We will also look at the vast irrigation and canal networks that allowed China to have a population far larger than other ancient empires. The Chinese invented paper, printing, gunpowder, money, wind power, the iron‐tipped plow, and much more.

Week 8 – China: This class focuses on the fall and rise of China after the Mongol invasion. Despite their technological advances and incredible wealth the Chinese always struggled with nomadic invaders. The Mongols were one of those invaders and ruled China for nearly one hundred years. But they were expelled by a beggar named Zhu Yuanzhang who established the Ming Dynasty. The Ming dynasty continued China’s greatness. One of their greatest achievements was the grand fleet of the early 1400s. The ships of the fleet had watertight compartments like the Titanic—only hundreds of years earlier. The largest could carry between 500 and 1000 men—compared to the 40 carried by Christopher Columbus’s Santa Maria.

Week 9–Africa: Africa is often overlooked by many but has a fascinating history of its own. Ethiopia became a Christian nation shortly after the death of Christ and remained independent for over 1600 years. In West Africa three kingdoms, Ghana, Mali, and Songhai built trading empires that specialized in the gold trade. They were so wealthy that when Mali ruler Mansa Musa took a pilgrimage to Mecca he spent so much that gold lost much of its value throughout the Middle East. But the kingdoms collapsed and the “gold coast” later became known as the “slave coast” because of the slave trade. In the East Swahili city states and cattle kingdoms traded with India and Southeast Asia.

Week 10–America: Pre‐Columbian Americans lived in all types of societies from tribes, to small kingdoms, to grand empires. Meso‐Americans were characterized by healthy populations and long life expectancy thanks to modern agricultural techniques. The Aztecs and Olmecs lived in stratified empires. Both of them were nearly always at war with their neighbors.

Week 11‐‐Rise of Athens: No ancient civilization has as much of an impact on America as Athens. This week covers the birth of democracy and how it was almost destroyed. The lesson begins with the father of democracy, Solon, and his reforms which planted the seed but ultimately failed. After overthrowing a tyranny the Athenians turned to Cleisthenes who built on Solon’s foundation and created the world’s first successful democracy. But the mighty Persian Empire threatened to destroy Athens but the Greeks defeated them at Marathon and later at Salamis.

Week 12‐‐The Fall of Athens: Greek advances during the golden age include some of the first historical works, the birth of scientific medicine, advances in mathematics, art, and architecture. But the Peloponnesian War with Sparta changed that. Early in the conflict a plague broke out which killed the Athenian leader Pericles. But it was the failed invasion of Sicily which crippled Athens.

Week 13‐‐Alexander the Great: The small and rarely united kingdom of Macedon became a world power because of two kings. The first was Phillip who revolutionized the Macedonian military and conquered

all of the Greek city states including Athens. His son Alexander conquered the great Persian Empire. Even though Alexander ruled his entire empire for only three years before dying in Babylon he spread Greek culture throughout the Middle East.

Week 14‐‐Rise of Rome: Rome was established as a small city on the banks of the Tiber. Early in their history the Roman people overthrew the monarchy and fought a series of wars to remain independent and free. They began to unite Italy before running up against the powerful empire of Carthage. In a series of wars the Roman republic conquered Carthage.

Week 15‐‐Republic to Empire: The Roman people hated the idea of having a king. And after conquering Carthage it seemed that the free people of Rome could not be stopped. But as they grew the Senate became more and more corrupt. Pirate raids and slave rebellions led many Romans to consider the unthinkable—a single ruler instead of a republic. The people got their hero in Julius Caesar who was assassinated. But his adopted son Augustus Caesar replaced the republic with and Empire.

Week 16—Israel: This lesson begins with the Old Testament including Joshua’s conquest, and kingdom of Saul, David, and Solomon, the divided monarchy, and the Babylonian captivity. But this lesson will continue the story of Israel with the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire. The Maccabees established the Hasmonean dynasty which ruled over a kingdom larger than David or Solomon. But they were overcome by Rome who put Herod in charge of the kingdom. Israel wanted independence and rebelled leading to the destruction of Jerusalem.