Category Archives: history

Apr 23 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 21

Posted on by

The Medes and the Persians brought a sigh of relief over all of us. With Cyrus, we finally could say, “Here is a great king, who loved and respected his people!” We talked about how the Bible mentions Cyrus as the Anointed of the Lord. My son exclaimed how nice a king Cyrus was.

Six brown paper bags

Six bags for six puppets

The first story, of course, was a bit tricky. A grandfather who plans to kill his grandchild? Rather cruel and unusual. But we soldiered through. I noticed that if I don’t make a big deal out of it, they just move on.

Girl with paper bag puppet

Showing off Cyrus, the paper bag puppet version

I prepared six brown bags for puppets to act out the story. They decorated one and decided they would decorate five more for the next five days. Well, I don’t like projects that stretch for days. Besides, I cannot imagine myself directing a puppet show with lines like, “Take my grandson and kill him!” or “Shepherd, the king sent me to kill this baby out here, but I will not. I will let you do it. And if you don’t, you will be punished…” Last but not least, I asked myself at what point a craft project becomes busy work. One brown paper bag puppet is a great craft. Two may be stretching it. But six? Even if each child made three each, it would be busy work in my book.

Continue reading »

Mar 1 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 15

Posted on by

The Ancient Phoenicians, chapter 15, has been a convoluted chapter for us. First off, I remembered Carthage from when I studied Ancient History in the fifth grade and I looked forward to it. But we went skiing instead, as a family, the day we were supposed to cover this chapter.We called it a P.E. day.

Secondly, every time I tried to play the chapter in the car, to make up for lost time, the kids did not show an interest. I did not have the energy to enforce learning time (car schooling). It does take energy, at least for me, and some days I have it in limited supplies.

Thirdly, the weather has made the roads so bad, the library has had irregular hours and they have not been able to procure my ILL titles to read about this chapter this week.

Stack of history books

Our stack of 12 books from the library, to catch up on our history reading

But we persevered, despite more seeming setbacks.

The other day I got a screw in one of my car tires, and spent two hours in a mechanic’s waiting room. They were super busy because, as fate would have it, two of their guys quit that day. They did not charge me anything for patching the tire, because of my wait. I insisted I wanted to at least pay for their expenses. I told the shop owner I understand “overhead” and that I feel bad for not paying for something. He said he felt bad I had to wait for two hours.

Well, I had brought my knitting with me and it was not a total loss of my time. Of course, I was there with the kids. My son had brought a LEGO magazine to read and my daughter had her Hello Kitty coloring book and crayons.

Something happened inside of me while waiting there. On the way home, despite their protests, I told them gently that we would listen to Chapter 15 after all; that it was a short chapter and, afterwards, we would listen to Wizzy Gizmo, which was their initial request. They love Wizzy Gizmo… but we need to do our history lessons as well. And we did. I have said it before, these CDs are worth it.

When the library finally called me that they had my ILL titles, I drove over there and brought home 12 titles from our previous lessons. We are catching up with reading from previous chapters.

One project I want to do for the Phoenician chapter is the bread recipe, but there is no way I can do it this week. I have to prepare my daughter’s birthday party on Sunday.

Feb 22 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 14

Posted on by

Chapter 14 deals with the life of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt. The kids knew the story from their Bible lessons. This was very good reinforcement though.

I read while they colored. We made a Moses basket. Well, I made it. They painted it. Team effort, right?

It was not exactly easy, but I persevered. I know what you are thinking, that I have too much time on my hands. The thing is, I take time for things that matter. And the story of Moses is very dear to my heart – God used this story to speak to me about homeschooling a few years ago.

For some reason, gold paint really appeals to my children. Continue reading »

Feb 18 2015

Chinese New Year Books

Posted on by

In the past, the kids and I have marked the Chinese New Year with a paper craft. This year, I came across a series of books about Chinese history and thought we might just change the pace a bit. One in particular interested me because it talked about how the Great Wall of China came to be. “The Emperor Who Built The Great Wall” tells the story of the first emperor of China, who not only built the Great Wall, but is also famous for the terracotta warriors in his tomb, and for unifying China when it previously consisted of seven states.

To celebrate Chinese New Year, the author, Jillian Lin, has made this book available for free on Amazon, on February 19-20, 2015. Here’s the link. I hope you use it and download it, especially if you are studying ancient history this year. We found the book informative and easy to read and understand. The illustrations are Chinese-style, so it will be a total immersion in all things China.

The Emperor Who Built The Great Wall

For Chinese New Year, we read some books on ancient Chinese history

The kids actually asked me to read it again. At the end of the story, there is a very informative section called “Did You Know?” which contains even more historical facts presented in a short and sweet way. Then, you get to test their knowledge with a series of multiple-choice questions based on the book. You only have three choices: a, b, and c, which I think is better for younger children.  Continue reading »

Feb 15 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 13

Posted on by

Chapter 13 deals with The New Kingdom of Egypt. The kids colored the map and the mask of Tut while I read the first two stories. I asked if they could handle two more stories and they said yes. So I finished the chapter in that one sitting. The following day, my son brought his coloring pages to Daddy and told him about the Valley of the Kings and how it is full of tombs etc. I praised him for his narration, which I had not even requested.

That’s one thing I learned: when the chapter is long and we do it in one sitting, they do not want to answer review questions or to do a narration. They are ready to get away from the table and play! So I will have to work on reviewing this lesson later this week.

I asked if they wanted to make a monument and read the paragraph which explains it could be about somebody who died, a toy, an activity they enjoy or whatever. My son said he wanted to make a monument to Papaw – my husband’s father, who passed away one year ago. My children both were affected greatly by his passing and the concept of death became real to them then.

Bread and Glue

Bread and Glue

So we took bread and glue and proceeded to mix them together as indicated. It required white bread, which we never buy – we like whole wheat bread. My daughter, who is almost five, saw how messy and sticky this exercise was, and told me she did not want to build a monument.

Ball of glue and white bread

Ball of glue and white bread

Instead, she wanted to try the white bread. She ate a slice and loved it so much, she grabbed a second slice. Then, she asked for a third and a fourth, in a PBJ. I am always happy to see her eat, so I obliged, after we finished our monument and we washed our hands very well.  Continue reading »

Feb 1 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 11

Posted on by

Eureka! I found a way to get my kids to do their mapwork AND their coloring sheet (especially my son). Have both worksheets ready on the desk, with markers and crayons nearby. While I read the lesson and the stories, they color. That’s it. They need something to do and look at to get a visual about what they hear, so the worksheets serve a brilliant purpose.

Chapter 11, dealing with Ancient Africa, seemed very interesting to my children, possibly because of the Anansi stories. Two stories were included in the chapter and I read them while the kids were coloring their Anansi and Turtle picture.

As I read the introduction, we looked at the map in the book and the one in their workbook. We chose to make Anansi the Spider out of styrofoam balls.

Anansi the Spider Craft

We each built an Anansi. My daughter wanted hers pink and blue.

The other stories recommended will have to come from the library. As I put in my requests through the library’s website, I even found a video book: Anansi and the Magic Stick, by Eric Kimmel. I looked it up on youtube and it’s there, but different. It is read by other people and, in my opinion, not as well done as this one. Since my library’s website is a membership site, I can’t share a link with you.  Continue reading »

Jan 25 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 10

Posted on by

We studied Ancient China, chapter 10 of The Story of the World Volume 1 mostly in the car. I knew the Story of the World CDs would come in handy. The kids enjoyed the story of the silk worms. They had no idea about how silk is made. I feel so privileged – all over again – to be the one introducing them to such facts about the world.

They did their mapwork. My daughter colored the page with Chin and his dad, but my son put it off. Again, I do not insist on coloring if he does not want to.

We read some of the books recommended. My local library did not carry these particular titles, but they got them for us in about a week through the inter-library loan program. Meanwhile, the children’s librarian brought us similar books which they did have. One of them actually had the same title as the one recommended by Susan Wise Bauer, i.e. “Ancient China,” and it made it confusing later on as I was returning both titles.  Continue reading »

Oct 12 2014

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 7

Posted on by

Chapter 7 deals with “Hammurabi and the Babylonians,” with a section about Hammurabi’s code. We built a ziggurat by following the instructions in Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors. This book is recommended in several SOTW chapters and contains simple projects for kids to do. I am not sure that a first grader could do any of these projects without adult help, but that’s what teaching is all about, right? Leading and guiding a student through his work and hoping that some things will stick.

The book mentioned using corn meal to achieve the texture of a ziggurat and Tempera paint. I gathered all my materials, including the recommended measuring spoon and cup. They said to draw stairs with a black marker. This seemed easier than the ziggurat project in the SOTW Activity Book, which involved cutting stairs out of a cereal box and gluing them.

Cereal boxes, paint, glue, corn meal to make a ziggurat

Materials to make a ziggurat

As my husband walked by, you know, the principal of our school, he saw the gear and asked, “What you’re making, honey?” When I explained, he said, “Oh, I can spray paint your ziggurat and throw some sand on it. Just glue it for me first. Wouldn’t that be easier?”  Continue reading »

Sep 7 2014

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 5

Posted on by

The First Sumerian Dictator, Chapter 5, – we listened to it in the car. It was a rather uneventful chapter.

Besides, we were still busy finishing up some of our Egyptian inter-library loan books which came a bit late. BTW, I have added the new activities to the post about Chapter 4.

We read the recommended stories from The Read-Aloud Classics to expose the kids to some vocabulary typical of the Arab world. The story of the merchant who hides 1,000 coins in a pot was very interesting. So was Aladdin, naturally.

The Three Princes Cover

The Three Princes was a really enjoyable story, with a great moral – sacrificial love. I made the parallel to God’s sacrificial love for us, in giving His Son to die for our sins.

It was neat to see my four-year-old search for words on the worksheet. She knows the letters and can read short words. I don’t expect her to read before she is ready. So the approach I took was quite relaxed.  Continue reading »

Jul 20 2014

Story of the World, Volume 1, Chapter 2

Posted on by

Chapter 2 of Story of the World Volume 1 is called “Egyptians Lived on the Nile River.” It would be really easy to spend three months on this chapter. We spent almost three weeks.

I read the first section to them, “Two Kingdoms Become One,” and we looked at our wall world map to locate Egypt and the Nile river. We did the map work recommended, Student Page 6. With that fresh in mind, we built a model of the Nile according to the directions given in the Activity Book. My Egyptians got very sow-happy with the grass seed, as you can see from the picture.

Nile River Model

Our Nile River Model, Day 1. I should probably take pictures in three weeks, too.

We read “The Longest River” as a substitute book for “The Nile River,” but it seemed extremely dry and boring. I’m all for nonfiction books. Yet, my children just could not get excited about this one. Not all nonfiction books are created equal, obviously.  Continue reading »