We covered The Age of Crusades or Chapter 18 in March, after our son’s standardized test and a spring break. By then, the terrorist attacks in Brussels had happened and it was very tempting to tell them the violence between Christians and Muslims are still continuing today. I am not afraid to call these people what they want to be called, i. e. Islamic terrorists or Islamic fighters.

However, we were getting ready to fly to Romania and I did not want to scare the children. It was eerie to be reading about this though just when we were ready to pack and travel. We even considered not going, as Europe seems to be in a state of confusion as to its own security.

In the end we decided to go and I have yet to update the blog and my readers about our trip to Romania. Suffice it to say that we had fun and the kids learned a lot.

This was a rather long chapter – four different stories, lots to keep in mind. I have learned to ask each set of comprehension questions after each story. That way, it is fresh in our minds. I can’t even keep all these details and people straight sometimes. So I don’t expect the kids to remember everything perfectly.

As long as we read the answers a couple more times, I consider it a review and another way for us to repeat and learn. History is not very fun unless you are emotionally involved with a topic.

Again, no crafts. We were in a hurry to catch up and I just wanted to get the map and the coloring page done. And no pictures because before we finished the 180 school days before we left for Romania. As such, I had switched them to new binders for history, having filed all the papers from “last year” in a place that is not easily accessible right now.