Here is an excerpt from the journal:

This is the lost journal of Maximus. Archaeologists found his journal in a small hole in a wall while they we renovating an ancient apartment building in Rome. The first “gladiators” were slaves that fought at funerals in honor of their Masters memory. The fights were staged by the wealthy to display power. In the Colosseum the number of gladiators was a key attraction because more gladiators meant a larger, more spectacular show.

Maximus was a Murmillo gladiator. A Murmillo was known as a, “fish-fighter,” because they had a fish on their helmet. The Murmillo was heavily armed with a large boot over their left leg to protect it from their opponent’s sword, a large shield, a dagger, and a leather belt. The most common opponents of the Murmillo were the Thraex and the Hoplomachus.

Before Maximus was a gladiator he was a poor son of a farmer. When he was 12 and his education ended he worked on his family’s farm with his three surviving brothers, until his parents died of malaria and they he lost the farm because the taxes were too high for them to pay.

Maximus and his oldest brother, Valerius, decided to become gladiators, while their younger two brothers joined the military. Once Maximus and Valerius took an oath to start training they practically became slaves. Maximus fought for almost two years. Valerius, a Retiarious, however only fought for two fights before being killed.

When a man takes the oath to become a gladiator he is promising to be a loyal gladiator. Maximus said that his older brother Valerius was becoming a Retiarious. A Retiarious was lightly armed, there for they were the most vulnerable gladiators. They had “fishermen” armor, wearing left arm and shoulder protection, no head protection and carried a net, dagger, and trident.

Dear Mom,

We have just completed module one in our math books. We did a lot of graphing and tables, algebra, probability and order of operations. I really want you to know more about what we learned so I will tell you.

Graphing was the first section in the module. We learned how to analyze a graph and how to choose the right graph for each set of data. We also learned what a frequency table was and how to use it.

The second section was algebra and patterns. We learned how to predict the nth term in a pattern by coming up with an equation, (T=n). Also we learned that algebra isn't as big, bad, and scary as we thought.

We spent a few weeks on probability and did some really fun experiments. Our math teacher went around and had each of us pick a cube out of a bag and tally what color. We did individual projects too, for mine I put a dice in a mug and picked the dice out. What ever number my thumb was on was the number I tallied. Probability was my second favorite module.

To wrap up the unit we revisited the order of operations. The order is, parentheses, exponents, multiplication and division, and addition and subtraction, or P.E.M.D.A.S. To help us remember the order we say, Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. If you don't know what exponents are the are a number with a little number in the corner which stands for how many times you multiply the number by its self, for example, 2^2.

Love,

Your Daughter