Category Archives: Story Sunday

May 16 2018

Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 9

Posted on by

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 Eastern Europe in March - martsishor

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 »

May 14 2018

Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 8

Posted on by

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 »

May 10 2018

Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 7

Posted on by

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.

Pikealhaube Craft

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 »

May 8 2018

Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 6

Posted on by

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 »

May 8 2018

Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 5

Posted on by

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 »

May 7 2018

Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 4

Posted on by

For chapter 4, we traveled to the Italian peninsula and then to China. It was so interesting to really stop and think about the fact that there was no Italy in 1850. The small states on the boot-shaped peninsula were either ruled by Italian princes or by Austria. Talk about a mess that needs to be cleaned up.

Gluten free pizza - Scharr crust

Gluten free pizza – Scharr crust, my toppings

Garibaldi came into the picture, as well as the Young Italy Society, which reminded me of the Young England Society who tried to assassinate Queen Victoria over in England about the same time. I feel good when I start to make connections of my own as we study. Continue reading »

May 3 2018

Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 3

Posted on by

Chapter 3 took us back to Great Britain. This time, it was about the great game between Russia and Great Britain regarding Afghanistan. The second story was about David Livingstone and his travels through Africa.

The Great Game craft

Britain and Russia needed a buffer represented by purple between red and blue.

We had just learned about the color wheel in our art class outside the home. Now, the history craft was all about colors and, in particular, how primary colors combine to create secondary colors. It was a great coincidence – though I do not believe in coincidences, friends. Continue reading »

May 3 2018

Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 2

Posted on by

Chapter 2 deals with the re-opening of Japan for the West, as well as the Crimean War. It was fun to learn about Florence Nightingale and fill out the forms about patients’ basic health information.

Learning how to take the pulse

Learning how to take the pulse

I became our daughter’s patient and my husband became our son’s patient. They will probably not go back to that form to fill it out every day as suggested, but at least they got started and understood the concept of medical records. Continue reading »

May 3 2018

Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 1

Posted on by

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 »

May 2 2018

Story of the World, Vol. 3, Chapter 42

Posted on by

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 »