Tag Archives: Story of the World

Jul 7 2016

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 29

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African Kingdoms or Chapter 29 contains three stories on Ghana, Mali and Songhay respectively. The kids loved it and I can tell we have crossed into a different phase now. They are more aware of geography. They run to the world map we have hanging on the wall to place these countries from the black-and-white map provided in Story of the World onto the bigger, colorful one on the wall.

Musu Mansa coloring page

Musa Mansa coloring page

Timbuktu was important to share with them. So many Americans use Timbuktu without realizing it is an actual city and it used to be a great center of learning and urban trade in the Middle Ages.  Continue reading »

Jul 6 2016

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 28

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The kingdoms of Spain and Portugal are covered in chapter 28 and the kids really enjoyed the lesson. Our son loves explorations and Henry the Navigator really impressed him. The saga of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile captured the imagination of both our children. Who needs fiction when history is so full of amazing stories, right?

Ferdinand and Isabella paper dolls

Ferdinand and Isabella paper dolls

We need more writers who can put these stories into great books for little children. However, you will always run into the problem of violence and how to depict it for children while staying historically accurate. For instance, Susan Wise Bauer totally skipped over the Inquisition in this chapter. She put a note at the end of the chapter about her concern over the topic and young children.  Continue reading »

Jul 5 2016

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 27

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Chapter 27 deals with the War of Roses, the war between the House of Lancaster and the House of York over the throne of England. And you thought you and your cousins had issues.

Tower of London craft

Tower of London craft

Lots of lessons to be learned from this part of medieval history. I remember vaguely watching a movie about it as a child and, of course, I vaguely remember some details about it from medieval history which we took in sixth grade I think.  Continue reading »

Jun 19 2016

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 26

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Chapter 26 or France and England At War was a great chapter about the Hundred Years’ War. The kids loved the idea that a baby became a king. A king in diapers was such a funny and silly concept, they brought it up over and over.

Joan of Arc paper dolls

Joan of Arc paper dolls

There were lots of crafts we could have done. I chose the Joan of Arc paper dolls and skipped the coloring page. There was a lot of coloring for the paper dolls. I was impressed that, for some reason, my kids did not shy away from cutting and pasting. They used to avoid glue projects like the plague. I guess we are growing and changing ever so steadily.  Continue reading »

Jun 16 2016

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 25

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The End of the World or Chapter 25 shocked the kids, especially my six-year-old. After the first page, she started talking over me, saying things like, “I don’t like this story…” I told her that it gets better and she listened quietly, but still making comments at the end about how sad this chapter is.

Europe at the time of the Black Plague.

Europe at the time of the Great Plague.

There are two different stories in this chapter, one about the plague itself and one about how the Black Death changed the feudal system. We answered the questions and worked on the map. Then, we did a craft which is a spinning wheel showing the progress of the plague, i.e. its spread from rats and fleas to humans.  Continue reading »

Jun 15 2016

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 24

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The Ottoman Empire or Chapter 24 hit home with me, as I grew up in Romania, and our medieval history was riddled with battles against the Turks. In fact, as late as 1878, Romania was fighting the Ottoman Empire or what had remained of it. It’s always interesting to read history from an English source, a source that would not be as biased as a Romanian historian, for instance.

Dancing bear crafts

Dancing bear crafts

My children did not appreciate the fact that Muslims took over Constantinople and called it Istanbul. My daughter, who loves art and would color anything, refused to color the page I had printed out from our history curriculum – a page depicting the fall of Constantinople. I then offered the portrait of Suleiman. She took one glance at him and said, “No, I don’t want to color him either.”  Continue reading »

Jun 12 2016

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 23

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Chapter 23 deals with The First Russians. I was tempted to work on a kokoshnik craft, but I only have one daughter and I usually include both children in our projects. I did not want to make different crafts. So I decided to cook a big pot of borscht, according to the recipe provided.

Borscht with vegan sour cream

Borscht with vegan sour cream – despite its beautiful color, the children refused to even try it.

Since we make a similar soup in Romania, I knew the taste I was trying to achieve. It always helps to know what your goal is when you are cooking foreign recipes, right? Well, I still changed a few things around because for instance I did not have tomato paste and used tomato sauce instead. But it came out nice and mouth-watering and, apparently, it’s all for me, because my kids will not touch it. My husband is not a red beet fan, so he is not interested either. Oh well, more for me.  Continue reading »

Jun 5 2016

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 22

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With Chapter 22, or Exploring the Mysterious East, we have entered the second part of the book. By the way, we are still reading a book about Eleanor of Aquitaine, the mother of Richard the Lionhearted and John Lackland, and other famous women from history. Also, we got a chapter book on Robin Hood from Dr. Bauer’s recommended list. We are swamped with reading material and we are on a deadline, as these are ILL items which cannot be renewed.

Needless to say, I am not inclined to be getting these extra readings from the library any time soon. First off, we are in catch up mode and I have decided that reading the lessons and doing the map and a bit of coloring here and there is sufficient for their age. Secondly, I am tired of having to stop in the middle of a sentence, when I read out loud to them, because of the violence portrayed in these books.   Continue reading »

Jun 5 2016

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 21

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Chapter 21 or The Mongols Devastate the East happened fast, too, over lunch. I read, they ate. Then we did the map and I asked them to color the portrait of Genghis Khan. My son, 8, is sooo over coloring. Some days I make him do it. This was not one of those days.

A craft I found easy to do was putting history back in order. The strips of paper retelling the story had to be cut out, arranged in order, and glued onto construction paper. Now that we can do, I thought, especially because it has to do with words and reading comprehension.  Continue reading »

Jun 5 2016

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 20

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We are still in catch-up mode. We finished the official school year back in April, but we have not finished our history curriculum. I believe in finishing every curriculum unless the children already know the information. Well, they don’t know history. Yet. So we will finish this curriculum before we go on to Volume 3.

Since we have a new daily schedule, doing history is actually easier to squeeze in. I read to them during their lunch and then I have them color and work on the map right after lunch. If we don’t bother with crafts, we can even do one chapter a day.  Continue reading »