This week's Social Studies included some fun activities about the Neolithic Era. We learned how humans started to make better tools in this era.

The Mortar and Pestle was invented over 8,000 years ago during this time. We happened to have one in the kitchen, so all 3 girls tried their hand at grinding garlic cloves. I considered handing over the hard Sichuan peppercorns we use to make Dan Dan Noodles, but they're more expensive and I was worried someone might get it in their eye. The girls liked that our Helper said she can use their ground garlic with tonight's dinner.

Another tool invented was pottery. I got a hold of some air dry clay and we tried the coil method described in our book as being used at the time. I didn't give the girls very much instruction on how to do it. After, we talked about how much better our pots would get after we had made 100 of them. Specialization of jobs is another thing that evolved in the Neolithic era.

What I consider the best part of the week, actually happened because MsE didn't want to listen to our read-aloud one day. She came back to the table just as we were reading the last page. I asked MsC to catch her up and when MsC said "I'm going to ask you 3 questions," I knew it was time to record them. I never would have gotten this level of detail out of her by asking her to give me a summary or to write down what she remembered. Here's what they said:

MsC: "Did the Neolithic people climb down holes in their roof or use doors?"

MsE: "Climb Down."

MsC: "Correct. Where did the Neolithic people bury the people that are gone?"

MsE: "In a cave."

MsC: "Underneath their house and then some people put shells on their eyes to look like they're sleeping and RIP: Rest In Peace.

[You should have seen the wide-eyed look on MsE's face at this point].

MsC: "Did the Neolithic people have to wander around or stay in one place?"

MsE: "Wander around."

MsC: "So in the beginning they did that, and then they invented stuff like houses and bricks and pottery and then they decided to make fences and ropes and saddles and stuff. And they also got food and plants and planted them in their garden so they didn't have to wander around."

[I'm pretty sure they didn't invent saddles and I didn't read anything about fences.]

MsC also drew an awesome picture of her "roof jumping" to her friend's house, because that's what people did. The first towns didn't have roads and houses were close together. People entered their houses through the smoke hole in the roof and walked to the neighbours across the roofs.  

MsC said, "They invented ladders, holes, fire, and pots, but NO DOORS?!!!" That was the thing that blew her away from this era.

Last week we made the bathroom into a cave with Paleolithic cave paintings, so I asked her if she wanted to make Neolithic paintings like the ones found on the walls of their houses. She said, "NO, I do NOT want scary headless people painted in the bathroom."

The Neolithic people had some pretty strange home decor ideas, but I guess I do too.