How We Do School with the Flu

Well, flu might be an overstatement, but last week all was plugging along nicely…  I was even outside running around with the kids as they recreated Sparks-a-Rama in the backyard.  We stopped to run to the store for dinner ingredients.  When we returned, the customary hurry-and-clean-up-before-daddy-gets-home commenced.  Except that a certain 6 year old suddenly feigned feeling ill.  You know, that kind of wailing whine like he’s dying that just so happens to coincide with chore-time.   I wasn’t buying it.  After he kept sobbing and sticking to his story, I sent him to bed.  If he didn’t want to clean up, than he must be feeling ill enough to go to bed.  Lo and behold, I found him there a while later fast asleep.  An hour later, he came out to tell me that his tummy hurt and that he thought he might…  I cut him off and tried to frantically shoe him off in the direction of the bathroom.  He diverted, to my horror, into my bedroom where he promptly baptized the carpet.

Needless to say, I had to call my friend and cancel co-op that I was supposed to host the following morning.

I spent the weekend on the couch and started feeling better last night only to realize that we were starting our new unit on church architecture today and I hadn’t gotten around to lesson planning or requesting books.  As I lay on the couch flipping through my KONOS book, I saw that we were supposed to talk about the catacombs the next day and instantly, I remembered a childhood favorite movie of mine, The Robe.  Of course, being from a family of 3 girls, we loved watching the beautiful Jean Simmons.  But I also remember loving all of the themes that the movie uncovered.  So I dragged myself over to the computer and requested my books for the new unit as well as this movie.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.  After working through the basics this morning, we ran to the library and picked this baby up.  Once I put Greta down for a nap, I plopped the boys down where we did a recap of what we had already learned about and set the stage for what would come next.  Movies provide such a wonderful time to talk about historic truth and artistic licence.

Have any of you seen The Robe?  Any other old movie buff’s out there?  Or better yet, have you read the the book? {Of course, it is even better than the movie.  And that’s just my faint recollections from when my mom read it aloud to us one year.}  Well, the story is about a Roman Tribune who is assigned a tour of duty in Palestine.  This just so happens to coincide with timing of the ministry of Jesus.  Marcelus, the tribune, ends up being assigned to oversee the crucifixion of Jesus.  He ends up winning “The Robe” in the casting of lots and is haunted by the memory of what happened there.  I don’t want to give away too much, but the movie also talks about the beginnings of the Christian church.  It is by no means a true story, nor is everything portrayed in the movie historically accurate, but it prompted a lot of great discussion and was a jumping off point to talking about the early church.  Plus, it gave them some idea of the catacombs which was my round-about tie in to our lessons.  See, educational.  Right?

I couldn’t help but think that it was also a great movie to watch as we turn our focus to the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus and the effect that has had on people.  Here are a few reasons why we loved the movie and think it’s a perfect one to watch this time of year!

The Robe – What We Liked About It

• The glimpses of Biblical scenes – the triumphal entry, Pilot washing his hands, Jesus carrying the cross to Golgotha, the casting of lots, Judas after the betrayal.  I paused it and asked the boys if they could tell what was happening!  This is only an indirect reference to the resurrection, but it is in the context of the new believers and fledgling church.
• Inspiring look at the lives of the first believers – wow.  I never cease to be amazed at how simple the Gospel is and how radically it changes people.
• Master-slave, king-subject themes – we had a frank discussion of slavery, we discussed Demitrius’ conversion and his reference to his “new” Master.  There was also the exploration of the King/Kingdom differences between earthly realms and God’s heavenly realm.
• The power of FORGIVENESS – This is the perfect time to explore with your kids the power of forgiveness as this movie portrays the fact that Jesus would even forgive those who had crucified him.
• Miracles and what they look like – I love how it touched on the miraculous healing miracles that Jesus performed, but gave even more importance to the healing of the heart!
• Themes of courage, conviction and bravery – The boys loved these aspects of it.
• A beautiful love story – ok, my boys weren’t into this, but I’m female, so naturally, I was.   It depicted love and loyalty in the midst of trial.
• Persecution – An opportunity to discuss how there was persecution in the early church and how that persecution of Christians continues to this day.  Would we be willing to lay down our lives to stand strong for Jesus?
• Catacombs – The whole reason we watched it now was the scenes towards the end depicting Roman Christians hiding out in the catacombs.  From what I’ve read, there seems to be disagreement on whether or not this is simply legend or grounded in reality.  The Christian community in Rome wasn’t utilizing catacombs until a little bit later and there isn’t record (as far as I’ve read) of Emperor Caligula persecuting Christians.  I don’t think that started until the time of Emperor Nero.  But still was interesting and grabbed their interest so we can discuss these nuances in greater detail.
• Classic Epic – From the grand music to the beautiful sets and costumes.  It is a feast for the eyes and ears!

Anyways, it’s good.  I highly recommend seeing if your library has it or watching it on Amazon or Netflix.  I’m thinking about maybe making this a Christmas gift for the kids this next year!

So, I found this old trailer for you all!

And since we were on the subject of catacombs, I just have to add how frustrated I am with the internet…  So much conflicting information.  But I did find a few resources that I read over and will share with the boys in the morning, provided kids are feeling better. Because as I started writing this another son succumbed to this nasty bug.  Looks like I could be in for a long night… {edited to add: It was a LONG night.}  Two great articles here and here.  A YouTube video on what the catacombs teach us about early Christians and another brief look at the catacombs.

I also didn’t get things pulled together to start A Sense of the Resurrection yet.  So we’ll be starting that this week too!   I’m so very excited for this, as I mentioned before.  Do you all have any plans for turning your focus to Jesus and the events that led up to his death and resurrection that we’ll be celebrating next month?  If you are still looking for something, why don’t you join us in doing this devotional experience together?