Chapter 8 is about the Golden Age of China and the beginning of Chinese dynasties. The kids were excited to do history. We do it once a week, but when it comes back around, it’s like they have not done it in a long, long time. They are happy to be reunited with this subject. They were a bit under the weather, so I decided I would not require them to color and work on the maps just yet. But my daughter was disappointed. She wanted to color while she listened. I obliged and provided the pages and crayons.
They were both surprised by the way Chinese discovered gunpowder, printing and other things. They answered the questions very well. I did not ask for a narration this time, seeing that they both were fighting a head cold.
As far as crafts, they all seemed too messy. Sorry. All except making rice and teaching them how to eat with chopsticks, which is what we ended up doing the next day. By the way, cooking Chinese (or Asian) from scratch is not that complicated. If you can boil water, you can make rice. If you can stir some veggies in a pot in a bit of water or oil or soy sauce, you can make stir-fry.
We like brown rice, but we still have some white rice around the house and we figured we should use it up even though it is not as nutritious. I like frozen stir-fry veggies, but I never use the sauce packet. Instead, I use Bragg’s Liquid Aminos. (affiliate link) It is more delicious than soy sauce and a whole lot healthier.
I used a rubber band and a rolled up piece of paper to make the chopsticks act like tweezers. The kids got the hang of it pretty fast, especially after I told them what I learned from a Korean friend of mine a long, long time ago: keep the chopsticks horizontal, not vertical.
Use them to sort of slide food from the plate to your mouth. And never, ever, stab your veggies with your chopsticks. It is a major offense.
It seems you are all having a good time :)….We started SOTW vol. 1 and the kids like it (of course we need to explain the “fairy tales” as the kids call them :)…..What do you do for narration? you just ask your kids to share the story in their own words ? I have the activity book as well and saw the narration part, but maybe I didn’t find the place where it say how to use it…..
The Activity Book contains samples of narration you might expect from the children. They give you two examples, which I find useful. I just do the questions these days. But on a day when I feel inspired and brave and like we have the time, I turn to my son, who is my oldest, and say, “Can you tell me the story we just read in your own words?” He starts talking and I just nod. If he gets stuck on a detail, I wait a bit. I don’t jump in to help him right away. He likes to do his own work. He does not summarize the story in three sentences. That’s why I said above “if we have the time.” My son is a story teller and he will describe a lot of details from the story. It is an interesting exercise though, and I am always surprised by what sticks with him and what does not.