We had studied about the ancient Mongolians and Genghis Khan this quarter, and I really wanted to have a Mongolian achievement party. And I wanted to have it in a yurt.
We knew we would need some extra help for this one, so I asked several of my former students (from my eighth grade home room last year) to help. Since many of them are right next door at Terre Hill Mennonite High School, they came right over after school and got to work.
First we drove six, six-foot t-poles into the ground in a large circle (about forty feet in diameter).
Next we leaned several pieces of chain link fence up against the poles, and secured them to the poles and to each other.
Then we used four, ten-foot 3/4" conduit poles for the center piece. The guys made two square wooden frames and drilled a 3/4" hole in each of the corners. One was the base and one was the top which would hopefully hold up the ceiling. It did.
Once the center piece was up, they pounded it into the ground and then secured it with stakes and more twine.
Next, we pulled a large piece of landscaping plastic (part of a 100' x 8' roll) over the top of the entire yurt. We covered the rest of the ceiling and the side walls with large tarps, securing them to the fencing with twine.
Once the yurt was set up, we added a fake fireplace, several pieces of patterned fabric, pillows, 11 x 17 photo copies of Genghis Khan, and yarn pom pons hanging from the center ceiling holder-upper.
We knew we would need some extra help for this one, so I asked several of my former students (from my eighth grade home room last year) to help. Since many of them are right next door at Terre Hill Mennonite High School, they came right over after school and got to work.
First we drove six, six-foot t-poles into the ground in a large circle (about forty feet in diameter).
Next we leaned several pieces of chain link fence up against the poles, and secured them to the poles and to each other.
Then we used four, ten-foot 3/4" conduit poles for the center piece. The guys made two square wooden frames and drilled a 3/4" hole in each of the corners. One was the base and one was the top which would hopefully hold up the ceiling. It did.
Once the center piece was up, they pounded it into the ground and then secured it with stakes and more twine.
Next, we pulled a large piece of landscaping plastic (part of a 100' x 8' roll) over the top of the entire yurt. We covered the rest of the ceiling and the side walls with large tarps, securing them to the fencing with twine.
Once the yurt was set up, we added a fake fireplace, several pieces of patterned fabric, pillows, 11 x 17 photo copies of Genghis Khan, and yarn pom pons hanging from the center ceiling holder-upper.
And that is how we built a yurt in about just three hours.
