An Interest in the Romans

We are working our way through A Child's History of the World in Sunday School; I didn't want to rush through the Babylonian Captivity, I wanted my children to really understand the history of countries in that area conquering each other over and over. They are loving it, too, and really getting a sense of how the whole thing works together instead of a selection of random Bible stories never in chronological order and with no cause and effect. I was originally going to move to Hurlbut's book for an extensive look at the stories of Daniel but my class is asking me a lot of questions about Rome and since we're coming up on Easter and how Rome intersected with the history of Israel I think I will spend more time on it. In fact, my pastor told me that the book of Daniel was written during the time Israel was under the rule of the Romans to help inspire people that they could become free from that rule just as they had become free from the Babylonians in ages past. The new timeline for lessons looks like this:

Today we did chapter 12, 13, 16, 17. That's Kings Saul, David and Solomon for the Jews, the Phoenicians, the beginnings of Rome, and the Assyrians.

March 2 - chapter 18, 19, introduce class play "Daniel, Servant of the Lord"
Instead of spending all our weeks on Hurlbut I will just introduce and develop the stories about Daniel as we learn the play script

March 9 - chapter 22, 28, 29
That's Rome and Alexander the Great

March 16 - chapter 30, 31, 32
Rome and more Rome

March 23 - chapter 33, 34, 35
Rome, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the history of some of the disciples and early martyrs, today is Easter

March 30 - assign parts for class play


I know that Ancient Rome is usually saved for later grades in Waldorf but it is really helping my Sunday School students get "the big picture" and they are enjoying it. I'll add some sections to the website soon on these ancient civilizations.