Although it is summer break for us, the kids keep asking for more history. We need to finish volume 4 anyway before the new school year starts back up, so I am glad to oblige.
Khachkar craft – Armenian carved “stone” bas relief
Chapter 13 deals with the old-fashioned emperor of Brazil and Abdulhamid II, one of the last sultans of the Ottoman Turks. Ms. Bauer manages to explain causes and effects of historic facts very well. Continue reading
Chapter 12 is titled “Unhappy Unions.” My daughter lives and breathes unicorns, so when I quickly glanced at the title, at first I thought it said “unhappy unicorns.” For a second, I wondered what figure of speech Ms. Bauer had come up with this time. It helps to slow down when you read a title.
Irish potato stew and gluten free crackers
The unhappy unions in this chapter were between the English and the Irish in the first story, and the Boers and the British in the second story.
This volume opened up with the expression “The sun never sets on the British Empire.” Now, slowly but surely, problems are creeping into this huge empire. It starts to fall apart at the seams with every chapter we read. Continue reading
This chapter covered a bandit from Australia and the scramble for Africa between European nations. Very exciting indeed!
Gluing different textures to the map of Africa, representing different European countries.
The craft we chose was to make a textured map of Africa. We have never made a textured map of anything before. I was surprised the kids were so excited about it, as they usually shun anything that requires glue. Continue reading
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.
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
After 180 days of official learning, our school year has come to an end. This has been a tough year in many ways, with puberty knocking at our door unceremoniously. It has also been a tremendous year of growth and amazing achievements.
Our family celebrating the end of another homeschool year
If we take the good that comes our way, we might as well take the bad as well, and work with it. Through it all, we have seen God’s hand at work, guiding our steps, giving us wisdom, and maturing our children so they can become adults who make good decisions. Continue reading
They scheduled the Royal Conservatory of Music violin assessments for May 31, 2018 and we traveled to Milligan College again for the day, just like last year. We had less butterflies because we already knew what to expect.
Before the exam, he went through his music with a pianist.
Last year, the kids scored the highest scores on their level not only in the assessment center (Elizabethton, where Milligan College is) but also in the whole state of Tennessee. What a shock! A pleasant one, but a shock nonetheless. Continue reading
Chapter 9 covered the Dutch East Indies in the first story and the fall of the Ottoman Empire through the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 in the second story. The first story was totally new information to me, but not the second one.
Red and white ribbon traditionally worn in Romania in March – martsishor
Why? Because it was not just Russia and Bulgaria fighting the Ottoman Turks. The coalition was led by Russia and included Bulgaria, but it also included Romania, Serbia and Montenegro. Continue reading
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
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
Since 2013, when I started this blog, I have published 700 posts, which works out to be two posts per week and a bit – exactly what I promised and purposed to do back then. This is post number 701. Here’s to the power of grit and determination.
This year, we joined Cedar Springs Homeschool Group, a support group in Knoxville, which gathers motivated homeschoolers for different competitions: American Math Contest, National Spelling Bee, Science Olympiad, Scholars Bowl, History and Geography Bees etc.
They left the stage in a blur after winning their gold medals.
Every team is coached by a homeschooling parent. Since even Susan Wise Bauer confessed she did not do a great job teaching science in her homeschool, I decided I should look for outside support in that area. In the process, our children would become a part of a team and forge some friendships. Continue reading
Chapter 7 covered France and Prussia. The French are struggling between monarchy, empire, and republic as a form of government. The Prussians are trying hard to unite all German principalities into a Second Reich. Interesting stories indeed.
Pickelhaube craft – helmet from Prussia
The kids are eager to get to Hitler. They have heard so much about the terrible things he did. I explained that he was in the Third Reich. Will that be in the next lesson? They wanted to know. Actually, we need to cover more decades before we get to him. Continue reading