Tag Archives: story sunday

Nov 2 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 11

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The Ancient Kingdom of the Franks takes up all of chapter 11. As a Francophile, I am delighted to study about the history of France and to introduce my children to the richness of that culture. I remember studying about the Merovingian dynasty at the University of Bucharest, where I majored in French and English.

Clovis Coloring Page

My daughter does not even know the Blue Beard story yet, but she sensed Clovis should have a blue beard.

The chapter tells two stories: one about the background around the time of Merovius and how he united the Franks, Romans, Allemani and Burgundians for the first time in order to fight the Huns; the second one is about his grandson, Clovis, who united these peoples again in order to create an empire.  Continue reading »

Oct 18 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 10

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The Bottom of the World or Chapter 10 deals with the first people of Australia and New Zealand. The coincidences in our homeschool keep on coming. When we went to the Pigeon Forge Library last week for Meet Mr. Lincoln, my daughter picked up a packet containing a book about McGillyCuddy, a kangaroo stuffed animal with a joey in its pouch, and an activity page based on kangaroos. The next history lesson dealt with Australia and New Zealand. Hmmm…

Mock moths (peanuts) and popcorn, held together by honey

Mock moths (peanuts) and popcorn, held together by honey

The children thought the coloring page looked strange – it is a Maori with all his war or decorative paint. The map was fun. We sang the continent song and I reminded them Australia is also a continent, not just a country.  Continue reading »

Oct 4 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 9

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Chapter 9 deals with Japan but, of course, one cannot discuss Japan without China and Korea. The map work was helpful and, in another one of our coincidences, our Adventures in Odyssey CD this week told a story about a Japanese American who lived in Pearl Harbor during the infamous attack which resulted in America’s involvement in World War II.

The kids don’t know yet about World War II – not that much that is. So I had to separate for them what was real and what was fiction in that story.

We read some of the books recommended. The Crane Wife was the most interesting. I had no idea this story is so influential in Japanese culture. Fiction books celebrated in different cultures can teach us so much about those countries and the way their people think and view the world.

Spinach tossed with sesame seed dressing

Spinach tossed with sesame seed dressing

Again, I decided that the best crafts were the ones we could eat. I made a Japanese meal according to the instructions. Rice, mushroom soup for breakfast, sesame seed dressing for green vegetables (spinach in our case), teriyaki sauce for our veggie meat (Frichik), and stir-fried vegetables.

The mushroom soup was not consumed for breakfast. I pride myself in having a tolerant palate and a flexible approach to eating, as long as it did not have a mother or eyes before it got to my plate. However, I have long lost the desire for soup for breakfast, if ever I possessed such a desire. I had my soup for supper one night. Continue reading »

Sep 20 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 8

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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.   Continue reading »

Sep 13 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 7

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Chapter 7 describes how Islam became an Empire. It is a rather long chapter. It took us three sessions to finish it. We did the map work at the very end, for some reason. We started out with the snake crafts. These represent the valley of the snakes from Sinbad’s adventures.

We hung two from the ceiling and turned the ceiling fan on. They flew around and twirled and got tangled up, but it was still neat to see them going.

Sinbad valley of the snake craft

My daughter’s snake craft

My daughter did not want to hang hers up. She did not want a button on hers, either. She just wanted to hold onto hers and play with it. Of course, it did not last long. She has not played with her snake since the day she made it. I have gotten used to these patterns now.  Continue reading »

Sep 6 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 6

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Chapter 6 deals with the rise of Islam. We worked on the craft first. I definitely did not want to make an oasis scene with all the candy recommended, so I was glad they provided a low-sugar version. Even so, I decided that we could use LEGO bricks for the camel, since we did not have animal crackers.

Camel and bedouin in an oasis

Camel and bedouin in an oasis

The kids got into it when I told them to build me some palm trees.

Oasis craft

Putting the oasis together

I prepared the sand by crushing up some old wheat crackers in a zip lock bag, with a rolling pin.

I made "sand" by crushing wheat crackers

I made “sand” by crushing wheat crackers

They surprised me by adding a mini-figure to the scene. The water was aluminium foil, which I kept in place with double tape. Maybe it should have been something blue, like in the sugared up version of the scene, but aluminium works too, as it reflects light the way a body of water does.

Bedouin on camel coloring sheet

Bedouin on camel coloring sheet; can you tell which one was colored by my kindergartner?

As I read the stories to them, they colored the bedouin on his camel (coloring sheet provided in the Activity Book). Then, I asked them the review questions. Finally, we worked on the map. It’s very tempting to do it all. But I decided this was enough for this chapter. There are three other activities recommended in the book, for those who do not have the book.

Aug 30 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 5

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Chapter 5 deals with Medieval India. The best part was the weaving craft, although the two stories were pretty interesting, too. The kids learned the word “dynasty.” New vocabulary is always fun and it is one of the reasons why I chose to do history with them in grades 1-4.

Weaving Craft

Sometimes it does seem like too much when so many people simply focus on the 3 Rs, but I really think there is something to exposure to vocabulary, true stories, geography and historical figures.

They liked coloring the map and the man riding on an elephant, which was the coloring sheet provided for this chapter in the Activity Book. I can already tell the Activity Book has more projects and on a higher level than last year. I can see a progression of difficulty level.

The kids were really excited about weaving. They used the nail to poke holes and my son even made a pun when he said, “I nailed it!” My daughter got discouraged with the weaving process and I had to encourage her to continue and to persevere. “This is only your first time trying weaving, so give yourself some room to make mistakes,” I said, or something to that effect.

Woven Cloth

Finished product

She really enjoyed coloring the elephant. I know she needed to do something more familiar after all that weaving, so she threw herself at coloring with all her might.

Aug 21 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 4

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Chapter 4 dealt with the Byzantine Empire, Justinian, Theodora, and St. Nicholas. It was a long chapter: four different stories. Lots of coloring, cutting and pasting fun with paper dolls and pictures of Empress Theodora, Hagia Sophia, and Theodora’s crown happened today.

The kids were ready to color though. It’s like we can go a few days without history and then they miss it and are so ready for it. I was a bit nervous about the story of St. Nicholas, a.k.a. St. Nick and then the connection with Santa Claus. But it was done well in the book and I had nothing to worry about.

Continue reading »

Aug 11 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 3

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Wow! It has taken us three weeks to get back into history. We have been busy. We took a trip, welcomed some dear friends, finished swimming lessons and the Summer Reading Program, kept up with our violin and piano practice and lessons… The summer break is finally over. I am thankful. Summer can be so crazy busy, it’s good to get back into a school routine.

It was hard to get the kids into a routine for the first week of school, which is why history had to wait. But now, we are on it. Last night, I read Chapter 3 to them, about Christianity coming to Britain. They colored (three different coloring sheets in this chapter!) and then worked on the map. Today, we made a monk meal according to the directions.

Monk Meal

Lentil soup, spinach, cheddar cheese, homemade multigrain bread

It was funny to introduce them to concepts like monks and monasteries. In their innocence, they replied with, “What? That’s crazy!” about a life spent going to church seven times a day and never marrying. My children have both already expressed the desire to get married and have a family one day, which I think is very healthy.  Continue reading »

Jul 19 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 2

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Chapter 2 of SOTW Volume 2 deals with the British Isles as they got invaded by Anglo-Saxons. There are two stories in the chapter, one being the one about Beowulf.

We worked on coloring Beowulf and did the map work. I also printed out the brooch design for them to color. We were supposed to make brooches for their Celtic cloaks, but we gave up. Sometimes you just have to say, we have read, we have colored, we have worked on the map, we are done. Nothing bad will happen to you if you don’t do a craft for history.

Beowulf coloring page

Beowulf colored by my five-year-old

I just want to send this message out there into the blogosphere. I am not super mom. I don’t do everything required in a history curriculum. This marks an important step in my homeschooling journey, as I am naturally inclined to dot every i and cross every t. But, with everything else we have going on this summer, I have to organize my priorities and some things have to go.

We can run around trying to do so many things and then we end up close to burnout before the school even started. Summer can be a bit too busy, I think. And I am not even doing everything I thought would be nice to try.

Speaking of requirements, one book per week to read from the suggested list is enough. I heard it from the mouth of this curriculum’s creator, Susan Wise Bauer herself.

Celtic brooch materials

Celtic brooch materials all ready to go… before I gave up

So take heart, homeschooling mom, you are not the only one cutting corners. Some days are low energy, other days are just full of so much to do. You may want to tackle it all, but something has to give. Again, nothing bad will happen if we don’t do a craft for every chapter in our history book. Can you tell I am actually writing this for my own benefit?