Roman Aquaduct

Our school year has continued throughout the summer this year due to early summer travels, so the kids and I have continued with Tapestry of Grace in the final unit where we are currently learning about Ancient Rome.

At times I find myself feeling a bit overwhelmed with trying to accomplish all that I want to for the school day when the kids are ready to run outside and play with neighbors (who are out of school for the summer). So, to take a little more laid back approach to our schooling, I try to find ways to make hands-on activities less intensive. This lesson on Roman Aquaducts is a great example. I had all these grandiose ideas of the cardboard/plastic tubing aquaducts we could build, but then...reality hit. The mess, the time, the work (mostly done by Mama). It just wouldn't be worth it, so in lieu of the elaborate structure we could build we did the next best things- the Marble Maze.

As you can see in the image, we did assemble it in a linear fashion similar to an actual aquaduct, and indeed it did carry water from the bathtub spout to the red holding tank at the end. They boys thought it was great and proceeded to run marbles in their new waterslide before excitedly running outside to play with their friends.