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 »


Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 14

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Story of the World vol. 4 Chapter 14 covers many things. To start off, the title is “Two Czars and Two Emperors.” The two czars obviously ruled in Russia: Alexander III and his son, Nikolai. They also happen to be the next-to-last and the last czar of Russia respectively.

Coloring the American flag

Coloring the American flag

We learn about the terrible plight of the peasants and the even worse situation of the Jews who live in Russia at the time. Continue reading »


Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 10

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Story of the World volume 4 chapter 10 covered another war in South America, The War of the Pacific, and the building of the Suez Canal in Egypt. We are all over the place in this volume, but I like it. It keeps us on our toes and teaches the kids some geography.

Suez Canal Boats Activity

Boats in the Suez Canal, saving 6,000 miles on their way to Asia

My eight-year-old likes justice. Whenever we read about countries fighting over land, she wants to intervene and give everybody what they want. Why fight? Let us get these people organized and settled down once and for all. Her dedication to justice amuses me. Continue reading »


Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 8

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Chapter 8 is titled “Becoming Modern.” What a simple yet beautiful title! I pointed out to the kids that for most of history people have not lived with electricity, cars, trains, or time zones. It was a new concept for them.

Gold and silver spikes to unite the two railways

Gold and silver spikes to unite the two railways

There was a brief explanation about time zones and about light bulbs. I supposed this would be the moment to stop and read a short biography of Thomas Edison but we must exercise self-control. This time around through the Story of the World, we will not read extra books.  Continue reading »


Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 6

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Chapter 6 offers a strange combination of countries: Paraguay and Canada, but it makes sense because they both struggled for independence about the same time. The mapwork was challenging. We are still getting used to having to label things on the map.

Canadian motto activity

Canadian motto activity

We need to rise up to this new challenge though. It is teaching us a lot more than having to just look at a page and draw arrows from point A to point B or highlight a country or circle a city. Continue reading »


Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 5

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We got to the Civil War in chapter 5. Both stories covered the topic: first the conditions in the country before, during, and after the war. Lincoln’s assassination is one of those events like the Titanic going down – you know how the story ends, but as you read the story again, you hope against all hopes that it would have another ending.

Juneteenth Feast

Juneteenth Feast to celebrate the emancipation of slaves

Walt Whitman’s poem was touching, but because of the drops of blood mentioned we will not memorize it. My eight-year-old was a bit disturbed by the expression and the mental image. Continue reading »


Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 1

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We have made it to volume 4! Yeah! We should celebrate somehow, but we are too excited about history to stop, even for a celebration. We have built momentum and we want to keep on going.

British Empire craft

“The sun never sets on the British Empire.”

My plan is to finish volume 4 before we start school again in August, because I would like to start the whole four-year history cycle all-over again. My son will be in fifth grade next year, so he gets to experience it on a different level than my daughter. But I think this time it will be clearer for her and I want her to start again with the Ancients so that things will make more sense. Continue reading »


Story of the World, Vol. 3, Chapter 42

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Chapter 42 is the last in Story of the World Volume 3. We made it! The story of the forty-niners was familiar to the kids from other books we had read, so it was easy to delve into this chapter.

Gold nugget craft

“Gold” nuggets – a craft to remember the forty-niners

For our craft, we chose to paint pebbles with gold paint to make them look like gold flakes and gold nuggets. They played with them a bit afterward, but not too much. They consider them more of a collection, so they keep them proudly on their nightstands.  Continue reading »


Story of the World, Vol. 3, Chapter 41

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New Zealand and Her Rulers is the title of chapter 41. What a difficult chapter to read! We really dislike the parts of history in which people are treated unfairly. The Maori tribes really got the short end of the stick in their treaty with the British.

Maori butterfly craft

Making the Maori butterfly craft zing

The map work and coloring pages kept us busy. For the craft, we decided to check out the special butterflies (purerehua) the Maori made. Continue reading »


Story of the World, Vol. 3, Chapter 40

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For chapter 40, we came back to North America, mainly to Mexico. We read about the Alamo and Texas independence. The kids had already heard about Davy Crockett and the Alamo from books we have studied.

Boy writes in flip book

My son creating his flip book about Alamo

Ironically, there is a restaurant ten minutes from our house called Alamo. It looks just like the ill-fated fort. It burned down in the 2016 wildfires, but it has been rebuilt and enlarged since. Also, there is a “Davy Crockett mini-golf course” in our town, as well. We drive by it every time we leave the city to go to Pigeon Forge on the main roads. Continue reading »