Learning about time ...

When he was about five years old, TJ, my eldest son, wondered whether I remembered dinosaurs and saber tooth tigers. I was a baby myself at the time - - not yet 30 -- and I was half appalled and half amused.

Then I remembered asking my mother (we were probably around the same ages) whether she remembered settling the old west. Hmm.

Jack is far too sophisticated to make the mistake his brother did. He knows full well that dinosaurs were around long before people existed. He has learned a lot about the evolution of people from Australopithecus Africanus through Homo Sapiens, and he has learned about the diaspora of Homo Sapiens out of Africa and over the planet, encountering our older cousins the Neanderthals when we reached Europe.

But his mind is whirling as he tries to put it all in perspective. It came out last night.

"Mamma, was your father a hunter?"

"Well, sort of; my father hunted once a year for fun".

"Was your grandfather a hunter?"

"No, both of my grandfathers were farmers. Why?"

"I'm thinking about homo sapiens hunters"

"Ahh, I see. Are you asking me when humans were hunter gatherers? Trying to understand time and learn what happened when?"

Big grin "Yes!"

"Ahh, well, my grandfathers were born during a time we call the Industrial Revolution. That was many years after we started the "Agricultural Age" when we started farming. Before that, people were hunter-gatherers. A loooong time ago. (gesturing with my hands.)"

"When we get back, we'll put up the timeline and start putting up pictures for everything we know, OK? We'll put pre-dinosaurs over near the basement door, and Jack right on the edge of the timeline over near the china cabinet, and then we'll put in different things as we learn about them -- OK? Sound good?"

Beaming "Yeah!"

And then we were on to watching Jack squeeze the juice out a green bean and a discussion of table manners.

Now, does anyone know of a good Ancient Greek language curriculum for tiny tots, similar to Minimus for Latin?