Category Archives: Story Sunday

Jun 28 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 40

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By the time we reach the end of the school year and the end of the history book, Rome begins to weaken and this is also the title of Chapter 40. The Celts and Boadicea captured our imagination.

The kids colored the queen of the Celts in pretty pink and green colors. Then, we had a Celtic feast as suggested in the Activity Book: berries, grape juice, bread, and (vegetarian) chicken.

Celtic Feast

Grape juice instead of wine, berries, bread and vegetarian chicken patties

We ate with our hands, as no silverware was allowed. Continue reading »

Jun 8 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 39

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Rome and the Christians or Chapter 39 brought up the subject of persecution. I have been enjoying ancient Rome up about until this point. Nero and all the Christian martyrs, not to mention how poor ol’ misguided Constantine and his Sunday law pretty much end all the fun I had with Rome.

Map of Roman Empire colored by boy

Map colored by my son

We made a secret symbol for our family. Continue reading »

Jun 7 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 38

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Chapter 38  is titled The End of the Ancient Jewish Nation. I read the story to them and they colored the map. They also colored the flag of Israel. I pulled up the Israeli flag on Google Images, so they can see how to color it. Later on, I noticed that the Activity Book specifies the colors needed.

Star of David coloring page

The Star of David and the Israeli flag, colored by my son

I would like to make latkes, but lately we have been making doughnuts and other fried foods a bit too much – too much for us. I need a break from grease for a bit. I don’t like to fry food anyway.

Playing Dreidel with LEGO bricks

Playing Dreidel with LEGO bricks

We made our dreidels and played the game. It was really fun. We had never played dreidel before. We used LEGO bricks. Somehow, the dreidel fell on All or Nothing most of the time.

Jun 5 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 37

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The Beginning of Christianity or Chapter 37 marked a welcome connection between the Roman Empire and the life of Jesus Christ. My five-year-old daughter asked me, before we started this chapter, whether Jesus lived close to the time of Caesar. I was impressed with her question and honestly I could not tell you if she made the connection herself from her previous Bible lessons or if she just happened to wonder.

Map of early Christianity colored by a boy

Map colored by my son

She has been taken to church since she was six weeks old, as opposed to me. My parents did not take me to church but once a year, for Easter. Continue reading »

Jun 4 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 36

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The First Roman Prince or Chapter 36 happened fast. The children colored their maps and the portrait of Augustus Caesar.

Augustus Caesar colored by a boy

Augustus Caesar colored by my son

In case you are wondering what the drawings are at the top, they are lions and angels, added by my son and his imagination.

I read the entire chapter. Sadly, I chose not to make a toga. I took sewing in college but I just don’t feel very motivated to make a toga for the kids at this point.

The other suggested activity also seemed tiring and complex, so I skipped on to the next chapter.

Jun 3 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 35

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Caesar the Hero or Chapter 35 was sad. Really, really sad. It was tough to introduce the kids to the way Julius Caesar died. Again, I question the generosity of violent details in this history curriculum for first graders. I understand that they made it usable by children in grades 1-6, but it really was geared to first graders in the first place.

Boy with flag craft

Our Caesar with his flag

My librarian actually posted a note on some of the ILL titles she ordered for me. She wanted to make sure I reviewed these titles, because she deemed them appropriate for high school or, at the very least, for somebody in middle school. I told her that I previewed everything anyway and I thanked her for her concern.  Continue reading »

Jun 2 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 34

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Chapter 34 took us back to my favorite ancient civilization – Rome. The story of Julius Caesar touched us all in a profound way. They were amazed by his ambition and life.

Boy with leaf crown

My JC wearing a leaf crown and a shirt declaring, “I will.” A coincidence, but a fitting one.

This is why I love homeschooling so much. I had fun in school growing up. Learning to me is a pleasure and a lot of fun. When I teach my children, I re-live those moments of my childhood when I had fun learning. On the other hand, when I learn new things in order to present them to my children, it’s fun also, because I love to study and find out new things.  Continue reading »

May 31 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 33

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Chapter 33 deals with Confucius, tangrams and tea. We drank tea. Not green tea, because we stay away from caffeine, nor mint tea, as suggested in the activity book, because we did not have any on hand. I started a tea pot and placed three Bigelow Orange and Spice tea bags (affiliate link) in our respective tea cups.

Tea Cups

Our tea bags steeping in the cups

They remembered how we used to drink tea with cake or cookies or scones in the winter and at our recent afternoon tea at Buckhorn Inn, so they decided they wanted some pumpkin pie with their tea. (We made pumpkin pie yesterday so they knew we had some in the fridge.) It was a lot of fun and we talked about how tea originated in China, but it is now the national drink in the United Kingdom, India and many other countries.  Continue reading »

May 28 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 32

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Chapter 32 deals with China: the First Emperor, the Great Wall of China, pictograms, calligraphy, and the burial chamber filled with clay warriors and horses. My son had a lot of fun listening to the stories. I thought it was a long chapter, but he was not bored at all. I mentioned there is yet one more story in the chapter and he said, “Keep going! Read it!”

Boy building a dirt mold for a backyard Great Wall of China

Filling the dirt mold

After map work and coloring, we built the Great Wall of China: first on the table, then in our backyard. Here is a clip showing him fill up the dirt cast. Here is the next step – removing the cast.

To make the cast, we used super glue and craft sticks, as directed in the activity book.

We had lots of fun, although I did get some super glue on my fingers. Two days later, I am still dealing with it. The duct tape left some residue, too. I just could not figure out how to use super glue to connect the four sides. So I opted for duct tape instead.  Continue reading »

May 27 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 31

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Chapter 31 or The Mauryan Empire of India introduced us to the Jakata Tales and Rabbit Ear Productions. Apparently, PBS showed a series of books read by famous actors between 1984-1995, put together by Rabbit Ear Productions. The Tiger and the Brahmin with Ben Kingsley is one of them. I did not want to look it up through my library, especially because I found something similar online. The kids loved it.

For this chapter’s activity, we made white rice. Three things I want to say about this. First of all, I don’t usually eat white rice because it is not as healthy as brown rice.

Rice Container

But I happened to have some white rice in the house and we gave the recipe a try. Continue reading »