4 Ways to Bring an Egyptian Homeschool Unit Study to Life at Home

This Egyptian homeschool unit study grew out of a bigger homeschool history year built around early civilizations. But once we reached ancient Egypt, we slowed everything down.

Why? The kids were fully engaged. Honestly, that’s what turned this into one of our favourite Egyptian homeschool unit study memories. That kind of engagement is what child-led learning is really about — when curiosity leads, the learning sticks.

Free download: The Deschool Your Homeschool Checklist Before we dive into this Egyptian homeschool unit study, grab my free checklist. It’ll help you shed the pressure to ‘do school at home.’ And start building a homeschool rhythm that actually fits your family.

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There was much interest in pyramid construction and mummy preparations as part of this Egyptian homeschool unit study. I was even willing to mummify an apple. (Every good homeschooler mummifies chickens, right? We own actual chickens in an actual coop, and no one was game for that one.)

This is what we did for for your Egyptian homeschool unit study wrap-up day:

1. Homemade archaeological digs for your Egyptian homeschool unit study

One must have an archaeological dig if one is having an Egyptian party for homeschool history. As a gardener, I always have some terracotta pieces lying around. On these, I drew a few alphabetic hieroglyphs with a permanent marker. They revealed a secret message: KOOKIES. (I couldn’t find a hieroglyphic C.)

2. Cookie dough maps of Egypt, the Nile, and Giza: an Egyptian homeschool unit study activity

So after the dig, we headed into the house to shape our oatmeal cookie dough into maps of Egypt. We used blue icing and licorice to show the Nile River valley. For the 35 pyramids, we used juice-based gummy candies. But only on the west side of the Nile — ’cause that’s where they are. Zach built Giza with three gummies, ’cause it’s got to be to scale, right?

Grab your pen and homeschool planning notebook to record ideas you might use for your own Egyptian homeschool unit study. If you want a fuller framework for mapping out unit studies like this one, this step-by-step guide to planning your homeschool year walks you through it.

3. Reading, writing, podcasting, and video: multi-sensory learning in our Egyptian homeschool unit study

These activities happened after we listened to a podcast on an Egyptian god, watched a video on Tutankhamun, and drew pictures of him, compliments of Pinterest. I also had a beautiful printable for the head of Tutankhamun that the kids colored while I read from Story of the World and Usborne’s Time Traveler. We found a hieroglyphic legend from an Egyptology book and drew our own cartouches (breastplate insignias with our names on them, which also made the kids more familiar with the hieroglyphs when we did our archaeological dig).

4. Walk and eat like an Egyptian: wrapping up our Egyptian homeschool unit study

One must not, cannot have an Egyptian party if one has ever danced a sock hop in the 80s — the 1980s, that is — so we “walked like an Egyptian,” and when we didn’t quite have the energy to carry off subsequent dances to other Egyptian raps (yes, there are now Egyptian rap songs, not from Egypt, might I add — we listened to modern Egyptian music too), we reenergized with a plate of grapes, figs, feta, almonds and pistachios, cucumbers, and honey.

So much fun at our Egyptian partay!

The Deschool Your Homeschool Journaling Workbook Does planning an Egyptian homeschool unit study leave you feeling energized one week? And completely burned out the next? The Deschool Your Homeschool Journaling Workbook was made for you. Reflect on what’s working, and let go of what isn’t. Build a homeschool rhythm rooted in your family’s real life — not someone else’s curriculum checklist.

People also ask:

• How to Facilitate Child-Led Learning — more ways to let your child’s curiosity drive the direction of a unit study like this one.
• What about gaps in my child’s home education? — a reassuring look at whether hands-on, unit-study-style learning is “enough.”
• A Meaningful Step-By-Step Guide To Plan Your Homeschool Year — turn a single unit study into a full year’s rhythm you can actually stick to.
• How can I homeschool my child with confidence? — practical encouragement for the days when the plan falls apart and you’re winging it anyway.

Feeling the overwhelm creep in? You don’t have to figure it out alone.

Every kid in front of you is different from the curriculum on the page — and Egypt reminded me of that all over again. The best homeschool days didn’t come from following a plan, they came from watching what actually lit my kids up and building around it.

If you’re craving a homeschool that’s shaped around the child right in front of you instead of a one-size-fits-all program — but you’re not sure where to start, or you started and burned out trying — that’s exactly what we work through together in a Reset Session.

Originally published April 2, 2020 · Updated and republished August 30, 2026