Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 15

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Story of the World Vol. 4 Chapter 15 covers Small Countries with Large Invaders, as the title suggests. The first story talks about how Korea became a battleground between Japan and China. While there, Queen Min of Korea gets her own special coverage.

Coloring the Korean flag

Coloring the Korean flag

The second story covers the Spanish-American War which happened in Cuba and the Philippines, too. Children get introduced to some notable names: Jose Rizal, William Hearst, Joseph Pulitzer, Theodore Roosevelt and more. Needless to say, lots of good stuff in this chapter. Continue reading »


Why We Do Tae Kwon Do

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Our children started tae kwon do at the Gatlinburg Community Center in January 2016. It all happened because our son got interested in ninjas through the LEGO Club magazine (thanks a lot, Ninjago!). Also, because my husband insisted we let them do this. I have allowed eight months to go by before I blogged about this, as I was not very sure about it myself. So far, I am very pleased with the results.

Have you read Wild At Heart? I read it before I was married with children and it helped me understand men – their desire to fight, to protect, to be bold and gallant knights.

Boy and girl in tae kwon do outfits

My children are very proud of their yellow belts.

I feel like my son is a knight-in-training. He loves war. He has dreams of training the Gatlinburg Police Force as ninjas to fight bad guys. His sister imitates him in everything he does, so they both had a desire to learn martial arts. Since most of the things we do in our homeschool require lots of motivating on our part, we were very happy to provide one activity the children were eager to do.

Let me tell you something in case you missed it: I am homeschooling real children – the kind that do not always show enthusiasm for math or violin or spelling. This mom gets weary of cajoling and looking for the right buttons to push in order to extract willingness to “do school” from her children. It is refreshing to have one thing they rush to with eager hearts.  Continue reading »


Buy Local

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About ten years ago, I became aware that the US was going green. It was a recycling revolution. Words like “going green,” “sustainability,” and “recycling” entered the every day banter in mass media. Then, of course, “buy local” followed closely behind.

Well, we have been travelling to Knoxville for four different activities for the past three years. We are getting tired of the drive. It is two hours both ways, but, of course, you have to also consider driving between the activities once we are there.

Anna Porter Public Library Story Time

We have been attending Story Time at our local library for seven years now.

It’s not the gas money. It’s my emotional fuel. I get tired and then I bring the kids home late in the evening, around 9pm, and by the time we get to bed it is 10pm. The next day, we are dragging and it takes us another 24 hours to recover and get back on schedule.  Continue reading »