You Wouldn't Want to be a Roman Soldier by David Stewart

I found this book to have a bit too high of a vocabulary level for us, for some reason.  I've tried other books in this series before, but I felt frustrated that what was supposed to be a more "fun/light" book had me stopping 2 or 3 times a page to explain words. 

Also, it was less interesting to us than others in the series.

Savitri: A Tale of Ancient India by Vera Rosenberry

Kind of  darker book, I thought.  A princess finds a man she wishes to marry, and is told he will die in a year She decides to marry him anyway, and when the time come for him to die, she follow the man who comes to take his soul as best she can on her way to the afterlife, and tricks him into releasing his soul.  I found the whole concept rather disturbing for young children, personally. 

Exploring Ancient China wiht Elaine Landau

A fun book with lots of pictures of some interesting finds and tidbits from the past, and a bit of a peek into the past, but not overly detailed so as to make it difficult to read aloud. 

The Great Wall by Elizabeth Mann

Another great wall book.  :)  This one had a bit more of the story about the empires before and after Qin, and how the wall led to the creation and the destruction of dynasties.  Kind of a fun book, even after doing so many great wall stories. 

Confucius: The Golden Rule by Russell Freedman

I'm still looking out for a book that has a shorter, less detailed accounting and more easily read-aloud book on Confucius.  If you happen to find one, let me know. :)

Anyway, this book is a bit more detailed than I wanted to go into, and something about the font gave me a headache.  Also, looking through it, it didn't really hold my interest that well.  I don't know why.  So, we didn't do this book at all. 

The Emperor's Silent Army by Jane O'Connor

A bit less detailed and easier to read aloud, as well as a bit shorter than Emperor Qin's Terra Cotta Army. This book also has a bit of history about the emperor, the history of china, the great wall, the soldier, and a bit of culture of the time. 

Emperor Qin's Terra Cotta Army by Michael Capek

A fun but rather detailed book of a bit of history behind the emperor, his army, both real and terra cotta, the great wall, and china itself.  Some nice photographs throughout. 

Confucius and Ancient China by Theodore Rowland-Entwistle

Confucius and Ancient China (Life and Times Series)
A combination book of the life of Confucius and the times he lived in, this book has both a rather detailed history of the man and the culture in general. 

The Lost Horse: A Chinese Folktale by Ed Young

A very short tale that I was rather disappointed in.  A wise man from China would caution every good event with the phase "Perhaps it is not such a good thing" and every bad event with "it might not be such a bad thing." The whole story has about 2 sentences per 2 page spread, and about 10 spreads in the whole book.  However the book is somewhat redeemed by its four puppets that come with to play out the story.  I think we enjoyed those much more than the story itself. 

Ancient China by Brian Williams

Well, honestly, I'm about all China'd out by now (I have a few more books I haven't gotten around to listing yet), and this seemed to be mostly review of what we've learned already, so we chose not to go with this book.  We did look through it a bit and talk about it.  There are three clear plastic layovers that show inside different structures, but I didn't really find this book remarkable. 

The Dragon Prince by Laurence Yep

The subtitle tells a lot:  A Chinese Beauty and the Beast Tale.  I'm not a huge fan of dragons, myself.  Actually, I don't like them at all.  So, I don' recommend this book.  But if you happen to think dragons are great, here's a review.
Girl is youngest of seven daughters.  A dragon comes one day and tells her father to give him his daughter or else he will be eaten.  Father tries to convince each of the seven daughters to go with the dragon, but each refuses until he comes to the youngest (frankly, I find that even more disturbing than the dragon, the father's behavior, that is), who agrees to go with.  Dragon takes her away, and turns into a prince, and she becomes a princess.

She gets lonely, and wants to go visit her family.  Sisters get angry and make her go away, and daughter three takes her place, pretending to have been ill to cause a change in behavior, memory and appearance.  Prince isn't fooled and searches until he finds his princess. 

Da Wei's Treasure: A Chinese Tale by Margaret and Raymond Chang

A mythical Chinese story about a boy whose father dies, leaving him a rock with a house on top.  The rock lights up one night, and creates a cart, which leads the boy on a journey through the seas, which part for him, where he finds a woman disguised in a kitten skin, who brings him blessings. 

Lord of the Cranes by Kerstin Chen

Another Chinese mythology book, this time with the God of the cranes, who disguises himself as a beggar and gives rewards to the man who treats him well without asking for anything in return. 

Ten Suns: A Chinese Legend by Eric A. Kimmel

A mythical retelling of the time a Chinese god had ten sons, each of whom was a son who took turns walking across the sky.  One day, they all decided to go out together, and caused chaos on the earth. 

They wound up being shot down to earth. 

Prince Siddhartha: The Story of Buddha by Jonathan Landaw

A longer text book about Buddha, it would make a good reader for a 2 adv. level child. 

Also, there is a Prince Siddhartha coloring book if anyone is interested in further activities. 

Long is a Dragon by Peggy Goldstein

Long Is a Dragon: Chinese Writing for Children

Despite the name and the big picture on the front, we did do some selections from this book.  It is mostly how to make different words and numbers in Chinese calligraphy.  Next time, though, I will be trying to find one without the dragon.  :)

The Empty Pot by Demi

Another story about the boy from China who was given a seed and told whichever boy could grow the most beautiful flower would become the king.  However, his seed just wouldn't grow. 

Stories from Inida by Vayu Naidu

This book has too much darkness and gods and things like that in it for our tastes.  On the front cover here you can see the woman is riding a tiger wand has 10 hands, one of which is carrying a severed head, and many of the others carrying various blades.  She is also wearing a necklace of skulls.  Stories include demon who try to inhabit bodies of children, a man who makes some disciples put their noses in cow dung, and a man who wants to beat his wife for no reason. 

Sacred River: The Ganges of India by Ted Lewin

Only about 1-2 sentences per page, a quick look at the traditions tied into the Ganges river.  Includes a few sentences about cremation of bodies and sprinkling the ashes on the river, it shows cultural life in illustration along the river itself. 

Buddha by Demi

A shorter than most, but more mythological view of Buddha's life.  Includes some "impossible" events (such as his mother only had to touch a tree, and not only became pregnant, but a child sprang forth at the same moment).  It does explain the 4 truths and the 8fold path. 

The Life and Times of Buddha by Mona Gedney

We started reading this one, and it was pretty good. We skipped the final chapter when we found another source we liked better, but this one presents a bit of the prophecy, history, and teachings of Buddha and why he was important to the country at the time, as well as how he became more than a prophet. 

Buddha Stories by Demi

See the front cover there?   Gold on black?  Well, the whole book is that way, which really hurts my eyes to try to read. 

Sort of like an Aesop's, but based on Buddhistic (is that a word?) teachings.  Each page has a story, with a moral at the end.  Most of the stories are about animals.  To be perfectly honest, we only read a couple pages, because just looking at it gave me the beginnings of a migraine, so I don't know if there are any cautions in this book or not.

The Servant and the Water Princess: A Story of Ancient India by Jessica Gunderson

The Servant and the Water Princess (Read-It! Chapter Books) Hmmm. . ., strange that this one didn't pull up.  It's copyright 2009, so not too old and not too new. 

Anyway, about a level 2 int. chapter book exploring life in Ancient India.  The main character lives inside the palace and attends one of the princesses.  She is a part of the harem, which is described in the book solely as the women of the palace.  She helps the princess get ready for the day, and they also do some sneaking out without getting caught.  This is the second book in this series that I've read, and I liked the other one better, but it is very hard to find appropriate historical readers for children, and this series is one of them. 

The Sea Traders by Maitland A/ Edey

Now this is an older book, with TONS of text, but WOW! We are definitely going to have to come back to this one.   Detailed information, diagrams of the ships, even visuals on Solomon's Temple.  This book has a lot of interesting information. 

The White Elephant by Sid Fleischman

Run Run is a boy who is trained to work with elephants clearing the jungle.  One day, while at the river, his elephant sprays the prince with water.  The Prince becomes angry and threatens the boy with a "gift."  A gift that is "a curse."  This gift comes in the form of a white elephant.  White elephants are held to be sacred, and can not be worked, yet eat more than one hundred pounds of food each day. 
After a while, the boy and elephant get to be friends, and the boy disguises his old elephant with white powder, and the new elephant with red mud, and takes him out to work.  But, when the prince finds out, he is furious.  But, at that moment, the white elephant saves the prince's life, and he wants his elephant back again. 

My children didn't want me to put this one down. 

Ancient India: Land of Mystery by the Editors of Time-Life books

Too detailed for what I am interested in at this point, but full of fascinating detail and interesting pictures.  There is simply too much text to consider doing it in a shorter time span with this age group. 

Passport to the Past: Ancient India by Daud Ali

Ancient India (Passport to the Past) Since this is a newer book, I'm surprised Amazon isn't carrying it yet.  A bit too detailed for a read-aloud (at least in our limited time span on the subject), I am including this book because of the Ancient India crafts found at various points throughout the book.  From making a clay seal (that rolls) to making a garland of flowers, this crafts in this book require a bit more work, but they don't look childish when they are done, they look like the real deal (or fairly close). 

They Lived Like This in Ancient Mesopotamia by Marie Neurath

They Lived Like This in Ancient Mesopotamia I'd be surprised to find this book still in print, it is a bit outdated, but very appropriate for 6 year olds, with no need to stop and explain a lot of details.  A lot of line drawings copied from actual items found during excavations, this little book gives a really nice overview of the time period.  We really enjoyed it. 

Ancient India: Archaeology Unlocks the Secrets of India's Past by Anita Dalal

A National Geographic book detailing the interests and discoveries found in and around Ancient India.  Offers a newer look at the excavations with more of the details unravelled.  We sort of picked and chose our way through this book, but the parts we did read were very interesting, with a lot of photography. 

The Ancient Greek Olympics by Richard Woff

I like this book because it walks you through each of the 5 days of the Olympics and what was done on each day, in addition to other factoids about Greek athletes and Greek lifestyles.  Very appropriate for this age group. 

Stonehenge by Harriet Abels

A rather outdated look at Stonehenge.  We looked through this book, but most of it is covered  by the videos we watched, and in greater detail, so we skipped this book.

The mystery of Stonehenge by Nancy Lyon

The Mystery of Stonehenge
Again, a rather dated view of Stonehenge.  We opted to skip this book in favor of the video material which was more interesting and offered more detail. 

Stonehenge by Harriet Abels

A rather outdated look at Stonehenge.  We looked through this book, but most of it is covered  by the videos we watched, and in greater detail, so we skipped this book. 

The Persians: Warriors of the Ancient World by Katherine Reece

Fun, but interesting look at the ancient Persian empire, this book has about 5 chapters of information about various aspects and is written nicely for the elementary aged child.  Bright illustrations. 

A Picture History of Ancient Rome by Richard Erdoes

A Picture History of Ancient Rome
Not quite what I was expecting of a "picture history" book, but still a pretty good overall book.  Oversized, it walks through about a 2nd/3rd grade level history of ancient Rome, with illustrations, but not exactly like I was expecting.  I was expecting a book that was more "graphic novel" or "Usborne" style, and what I got was classic illustrations of a children's book.  However, that being said, it is a pretty good and interesting children's book with a fairly easy to follow storyline considering how much history it covers. 

Inside Ancient Athens by Fiona MacDonald

A quick visual into many different aspects of Greek life, from people to buildings.  Includes warriors, woman, and buildings.  A fun book to page through slowly. 

The Phoenicians by Pamela Odijk

The Phoenicians (Ancient World Series)

Not my favorite ancient Phoenician book, still lots of information not included in some of the other books, such as climate and native animals, women in ancient Phoenicia, and legends, among other information. It is rather dry, but we summarized portions to make it go faster, and wound up learning a lot anyway. 

A Greek Temple by Fiona MacDonald

Mostly focused on the Parthenon, this book can be used mostly as a visual supplement, or you can actually read the text (I don't know if my children read it or not, they read at least some, but I don't think they read it all).  It goes into quite a bit of detail, especially for a book that has more pictures than text.  Talks about things such as temple designs, including types of columns (doric, ionic, etc), and proportions, how to build the temple, workers, tools, parts of the temple (architecture), sculptures, decorations, festivals and holidays, how different types of statues were made (clay, wax, hollow metal, etc), and more.  Very detailed, but again, more pictures than text, make it appropriate for a wider variety of ages.

Archimedes Takes a Bath by Joan M. Lexau

Archimedes Takes a Bath,
A lovely little book, although I think out of print now. I highly recommend it, especially if your child is at a 2 int. reading level or higher.  A fictionalized account of Archimedes, there is an appendix which details the liberties taken, it shows how Archimedes thought and what he did, and what led up to his famous quote "Eureka."  It takes a humorous view and is a fun book.  It would also make an excellent read-aloud for younger children, and prompted a spontaneous science experiment (an almost unheard of happening at my house). 

Solomon's Golden Temple by Penny Frank

Solomon's Golden Temple This tiny book I think is meant to be more of a small children's Bible story book than a book for older children.  My 7 year old read the whole thing in just a few minutes. I was rather disappointed, since I was hoping for a book that showed the temple and its layout and things like that.  I will have to search again for a book that covers more detail, although my three and four year olds loved it. 

Ancient Persia By Neil D. Bramwell

This book looks fun and intriguing, but I had the hardest time getting into it. It reads like an upper-elementary mini-textbook.  With only about 35 pages of text, with several illustrations throughout, it moves kind of fast through a great deal of Ancient Persian history.  Although a bit simplistic for that age group, I think I will see if I can revisit this book in Core 6, when my 7 year old will be better prepared to go through so many names and dates in a few short readings. I think it just moved too fast for him at this point. 

Existe Alguien remix--Musica Cristiana

T.J.'s Story: A Book About a Boy Who is Blind by Arlene Schulman

A nice little walkthrough of the life of a boy who is blind. It is a bit more detailed than some of the stories that we have done so far, the others were all extremely light.  The boy in the story is a 4th grader, and attends public school.  The story is written in the first person. 

The Legend of the Persian Carpet by Tomie DePaola

The story of a king who had a beautiful diamond that sparkled light around the palace, bringing great beauty.  When the diamond was stolen, it fell and shattered, creating beautiful lights all over the ground.   The king wanted to stay with his diamond rather than return to the palace, but the people need a leader to protect them from the surrounding enemies.  So, they make him a beautiful carpet to make the palace shine again. 

Once *I* got over the whole idea of a diamond just shattering and my children discussed treating a diamond as an idol, we decided it was a pretty good book.

The Babylonians: Life in Ancient Babylon by Martha E. H. Rustad

This is actually one of my favorite books of Ancient Babylon out of those that we've been through so far.  Not too much information it is a bit on the light side, but it helps provide a general review.  Pictures are engaging and text is fun, but light. 

That Book Woman by Heather Henson

Based on the true stories of the Pack Horse Librarians or "book women" of the Appalachian mountains during the 1930's.  A boy thinks his sister is silly because she only wants to read.  But, during the long, cold winter, the book woman continues to deliver library books to the family, and he discovers reading is more than just chicken scratch and winds up loving reading. 

The First Book of Ancient Mesopotamia and Persia by Charles Alexander Robinson, Jr.

The first book of ancient Mesopotamia and Persia (The First books) This book is an older book, and lots of good information, but I had difficulty keeping both of my children's attention with this one.  It seems to be a bit too wordy for us, and a more dry read-aloud, so we wound up dropping it after about 15 pages.

Usborne Internet-Linked Greeks by Susan Peach and Anne Millard

Greeks (Usborne Internet - Linked) This book is similar to the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History we are using from Core 6, there is a lot of duplicate information, so we are choosing not to use this book in addition to what we are already doing. 

Bandit Moon by Sid Fleischman

I don't even remember how we got started reading Sid Fleischman books.  This one we particularly enjoyed.  Based somewhat on the true story of Joaquin Murieta, it is the fun story of a girl who is rescued from a mean woman by a bandit from Mexico.  She is upset and thinks that bandits are bad people, and her father was killed in the war with Mexico, and that she needs to escape and turn them in.  However, she feels she owes them something for saving her from the bad situation she is in, so she agrees to stay until she teaches the bandit to read.  After a series of mishaps and adventures, she is reunited with her brother.  A look into the gold rush and discrimination caused by it, and a view that there are good people on both sides of the racial divide. 

The Red Lion by Diane Wolkstein

The Red Lion: A tale of ancient Persia
The Prince of Persia must go out and fight a lion in order to prove himself worthy to be the new king.  However, this particular prince has no interest in fighting lions.  So, he runs away and tries to find other places to live.   However, in each place, he is confronted with yet another lion.  Finally facing the fact that he can't outrun this problem, he goes home and faces his own lion. 

Some Kids are Blind by Lola M. Schaefer

A grade 1 reader that can also be read to younger children to give a brief introduction to blindness and how children can adapt.  Very short and 20 pages of text with a couple sentences per page. 

Ancient Rome: An Interactive History Adventure by Rachel Hanel

A You-Choose type story where the reader is allowed to pick which path to take.  A bit less lengthy than the traditional choose-your-own adventure books, it takes a look at Ancient Rome through various stories.  Some of those stories are a bit on the sensitive issue side, so you might want to consider this if you have a younger reader. 

Treasure Blind (DVD)

A low budget but still good film for children movie with a strong Christian base.  A man spends all his spare time looking for treasure to get rich.  He is selfish and doesn't open to others. His blind grandson is dropped off on his doorstep.  Together, they find clues to a treasure that was written in braille and start off on a treasure hunt.  The boy's father shows up, saying he is in big trouble owing money to a casino.  The grandfather and the father learn a deep lesson about faith from their grandson, and when danger strikes, they are desperate to find their treasure to save their grandson.  However, the treasure has already been found.  Only God could help them out of this situation, and improve all their lives. 

The Blizzard by Betty Ren Wright

A  boy's birthday party is cancelled due to the possibility of a storm blocking the roads.  During school a blizzard starts in full force, and the many of the children are stranded.  The birthday boy's house is the closest one.  He winds up getting his birthday wish in an unexpected way. 

Penguins by Gail Gibbons

A nonfiction book for children on penguins.  Discusses different types of penguins and where they live.  Talks about how penguins move, how they live, colonies, egg laying, and more.  Interesting for the younger child who wants to find out more about how penguins live. 

Life of a Roman Slave by Don Nardo

Another book that I had really high hopes for, this, as with all the other Don Nardo books I have tried, reads more like a middle school text than  a fun read-aloud. 

You Wouldn't Want to Be a Slave in Ancient Greece: A Life You'd Rather Not Have by Fiona Macdonald

A cartoonish look at life as a slave in ancient Greece.  Explores various aspects of cultural life in Ancient Greece from the perspective of a female slave, including clothing, hairstyles, household chores, spinning wool, farming, and so forth.  Includes some rather, um, interesting tips about how to survive as a slave.  For example, "Keep your clothes on in the mine.  They'll make you hot and sweaty, but stop poisonous chemicals from seeping into your skin." 

How Veritas Press history (and Bible) works; or what it looks like. :)

Copied from one of my posts at the  Sonlight forums:

So, how VP works. That is a rather difficult question, and one that is going to take a bit to explain, and hopefully try not to violate any copyright laws at the same time. So, I will do my best to describe a few random cards that we have done so far to sort of give you a feel for the program.

Ok, there are 3 main components to the program. History and Bible work the same, and some of the cards are exactly the same. The cards are slightly smaller than half a sheet of paper, and on the front have a large picture of what the topic is, and a title, and perhaps a Biblical reference, or date. There are 32 in each Bible program and each history program. The cards are numbered and color coded (but all the Bible cards are purple, but the history ones are all different colors) to the topic. They are numbered 3 different ways. First, each card is numbered according to where it is in the set to which it belongs. I'll explain a bit more in detail below. I think they are SUPPOSED to be done at the rate of 1 per week, with 4 extra weeks for review.

The workbook has questions, occasional crafts and extra readings, and the like.

The CD has one or two songs on it, very long songs. They cover the titles of every single one of the cards, in historical order (as a sort of verbal timeline) and Biblical references for the Bible songs and so forth. There are some extras to them which are nice, for example, the creation part goes into what happens on each day of creation, and another song lists all the 12 tribes of Israel. Each time we cover a new card, we sing the song UP TO where we have learned, and then stop, because it makes it so much easier to learn a 10 minute song if you do it in parts.  And it is always fun to see how many times you have to play it before you can say "the unification of upper and lower Egypt by Pharaoh Menes" without tripping over your tongue on the fast part.

Now, really, out of these three things, the only thing you really NEED is the history cards.




OK, the first card I am going to describe is Solomon's Reign.

Front of the card says

Solomon's Reign
I Kings 1-11
II Chronicles 1-9

Back of the card repeats this information, and then gives the dates:
c. 971-931 B. C.

Then, there is a section on the back of the card with 4 paragraphs summarizing Solomon's rule, from how he became so wise to building of the temple, to the Queen of Sheba, to his death.

Now, if you wanted to stop there, you certainly could.

As far as numbers go, Solomon is a history card, AND a Bible card. In the Bible program, it is card #56. Which means it comes in the third grade program cards. In the Ancient Egypt history cards, it is #30. Since the one I pulled out is the Bible card, it has a purple stripe at the top showing it is Bible 56, and a blue stripe below it, that shows #30 for the blue history set. Like I said, all the Bible cards are purple. However, if I were to go to my history set, and pull it, it would be EXACTLY THE SAME, but the blue stripe would be on top and the purple one below that. Now, this particular card is unique, because it is used in the history and Bible program, but the Bible program will go more in depth as the subsequent cards (which are not history cards) include Solomon given wisdom, writings of Solomon, the temple is built, the Queen of Sheba visits Solomon, and Solomon's reign comes to an end, so this is one of the very few cards that gets expounded upon in the following cards. But if you only did the history and not the Bible, you would still get an overview of Solomon, without the in depth stuff.

Now, to make things even easier for you (since, if you are like me, you will try to keep them in order, so you don't have to figure it out all the time, a lot of people put them on book rings, so you can just flip through), at the bottom of the card, it also says it is card #71. So, if you were to try to put all the history and Bible cards together to make an official timeline in the correct historical order, it would be the 71st card. So, you can teach by subject, by set, or by historical time period.

OK, back to Solomon.

Now, if you didn't want to stop there, there are some resources listed at the bottom of the card. There is a random number of resources listed for each card, and I haven't done this card yet, but I pulled it to demonstrate how the numbers work, and I think it shows up better on a higher numbered card.

So, now, on to the songs. I'll come back to the resources in a minute.

Like I said, you don't need the song, but they are sort of an audio timeline. We sing up to whatever card we have just finished talking about.

Now, on to the workbooks. Since this particular card is in both the history and the Bible program (almost half of the second grade cards are in both, as you move up, there are fewer and fewer), there is stuff to do with the card in both workbooks.

In the Judges-Kings workbook, these are the pages for this card:

1st page: artist rendition of what I think is supposed to be a very young Solomon on a throne. It is probably some famous painting, but art isn't my strong point. Also on that page are the following questions, each with space to write the answers in. 1. What is the scripture reference for this card? (see front of card for answer) 2. Who was Solomon's father? 3. What did Solomon request of God? 4. During Solomon's reign there was _________ in Israel. (Hint, the card says "now that there was peace in the land. . . " 5. Describe the temple. (Hint, these are my hints, not theirs, the card says "the temple was elaborately decorated with gold. it was built by the most talented worker and artists in the land and was located on Mt. Moriah. The innermost sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept." So even if you didn't do any more than the card and workbook, you could still have an answer)

Page 2. Cont. of page 1. 6. Who came to visit Solomon and see the temple and his wealth? (Hint, card says ". . . that visitors came from distant lands to see his temple and his wealth. The Queen of Sheba came to ask him questions and see his wealth and was very impressed. . .") 7. Late in life Solomon was tempted by ____________ and he turned from __________ (hint, card says "but Solomon, tempted by foreign women, turned from God and became wicked before he died") 8. How long did Solomon reign? (Hint card says 40 years).

Page 3 Project 1--Bible reading (these projects are different for every card)

Read in 1 Kings 1 about Solomon's brother's attempt to take the throne instead of Solomon. The write a paragraph about what happened. Rest of page is lines to write answer.

Page 4 Project 2--Proverbs

Many of the Proverbs teach lesson about the character of a godly person and a foolish person. Fill in the blanks with a word or phrase that describes the characteristics of a godly person.

25:16
25:17
27:18
28:27
29:11
29:20
29:23

Many of the proverbs are addressed to a son. While most of the advice to the son be applied to women, Proverbs 31 gives a separate description of a woman of excellence. Write the characteristics described in the following verses found in Proverbs 31.

v. 15
v. 16
v. 20
v. 21
v. 25
v. 26

Test: Page 1

1. what is the scripture reference and date of Solomon's reign?
2. What did Solomon request of God?
3. What else did God give Solomon because he was pleased with his request?
4. Solomon built _____________. Describe it.
5. Why did the Queen of Sheba and other nobles come to visit Solomon?
6. What happened to Solomon later in life?



Page 2
7. How long did Solomon reign?
8. Who became king after Solomon?

Review (of previous cards)

1. Name 3 judges.
2. What was David taking to his brothers when he found out about Goliath's challenge?
3. Why wouldn't David kill Saul even though Saul was trying to kill him?

Also, if you are stumped, answers are in the back of the book, along with the copy of the front of each card that you can print out and fold in half with a lot of the same questions on it that you can use as a hand-out.

OK, moving on to the HISTORY workbook now, for the same card.



In the back of the history book, there are a big map that you can print out and put together the pieces with glue, and then there are little faint circles on it with a number for each card, and then little circle figures with a small picture and the number of the card, which you can then color and place on the map to see where each event in this book took place, and it's really cool. After that, there is a specific timeline for this book, one page per card, and then printouts of the student pages to copy and do an a history matching card game, and a board game and little fold out booklets and odds and ends.

OK, trying to get back to Solomon here. Abbreviating, cuz this is getting LONG.

Page 1.
1. What is the scripture reference. . .
2. What is the approximate date. . .
3. After David died, who became king?
4. in a dream, God asked Solomon, "what shall I give you". . . .
5. What plan of his father was Solomon able to carry out?
6. What famous queen. . . .
7. What happened with Solomon's relationship with God before he died. . .

Page 2. Project for turning a room into a replica of the temple. Includes decorating walls, making an altar covered with yellow paper (gold), and a gold table, and cherubim, and lampstands, etc.

Page 3, continuation of page 2.

Page 4. LONG fill in the blank activity. It starts like this: After _______ died, Solomon, his son, became the __________ of Israel. In a ________, God asked King Solomon. . . .

Pages 5, 6, and 7 are a project that first describes some of the artwork in the temple and then has the children put together a little booklet that is printable with the covers showing the temple, but then they are supposed to decorate the inside with what they think artwork inside the temple looked like.

Page 8 is the test. Page 9 is a continuation of the test, but the only thing it asks is:

List all events covered to date in chronological order. Place scripture references at the appropriate events. List dates for events numbered 9, 14, and 24.





So, we do the questions orally and pick and choose which activities to do.

OK, now back to the card. Cuz that wasn't enough, right?

Resources for this card are the Bible, plus:

5 pages from Children's Illustrated Bible, which is sort of a a brief summary of Bible stories, with some additional history comments and points and pictures added for detail.

Child's story bible 8 pages. This is sort of an Egermeier's type Bible, but I do like it better. It helps smooth over some of the longer passages from the Bible and condense it.

Greenleaf Guide to the old testament, 3 pages. This is mostly just more questions, which is sort of repetitive, but I do like some of the things that they want you to think about, or some important things that aren't in other places, but you could easily skip this book.

Journey through the Bible, 5 pages, which is sort of an archaeological viewpoint of the Bible and offers some unique viewpoints.

Streams of civilization--2 pages.

So, as you can see, you don't have to do any of these resources if you don't want to, but you can certainly add in as much or as little as you want. All you really need are the cards and the rest is just supplement.

Some of the projects are writing, some are crafts, some are readings or coloring pages, there is a LOT of variety in the books.

Some of the cards have more resources than others. For another quick example, I'll pull Bible card #4 (this is not a history card, just Bible) Enoch and Methuselah. The resources for this are Greenleaf Guide-1 page, child's story Bible 3 pages. That's it. Workbook pages are about the same in length and style, with the exception of the projects, to all the other cards.

Some of them have a lot of resources.

The Old Kingdom in Egypt is a history card (not a Bible card) and its list includes 11 different resources. Of course, you can do as many or as few as you'd like, and a lot of this is already covered in CHOW or SOTW. Or MOH.

If you want resources the ones I listed in the above post (not this one) are the ones we are using the most and finding the most helpful, but we are still where the history and Bible are talking about the same types of things, for the most part.

OK, I'm quitting there, but let me know if you have any more questions.

Ancient Mesopotamia by Don Nardo

Another Don Nardo book, which seem to all center around being middle school history textbooks, another book we will not be visiting at any point.  Simply too much information presented in a very dry manner for our family. 

Writing in Ancient Phoenicia by Jil Fine

This book makes a good reader at the later 2 regular or 2 int. level.  Some of the words are harder, but there are only 20 pages with 3-8 lines of larger font text per page, plus pictues with captions. 

Life in Ancient Rome by Dan Nardo

Another book I was rather disappointed in.  This one also reads more like a 6th grade textbook than a read-aloud or literature style book.  I don't think we will be adding this book in at any point.  It is just a bit too dry for the amount of information it contains. 

Pyramids!: 50 Hands-On Activities to Experience Ancient Egypt by Avery Hart and Paul Mantell

Again, a busy little activity book.  This book needs a parent's assistance at this age group, as there is a lot of text to go with each activity and a lot of text between activities, and some topics parents might want to shy around. 

Activities include making the crown of upper and lower Egypt, making a sand diorama of the land around Egypt, and making a pop out picture of Pharaoh.

Where Was Atlantis by Brian Innes

Also another book I had higher hopes for, this one seemed to go into thousands of myths and theories that have surrounded Atlantis over the years and each one building upon the last becoming more and more impossible and unrealistic.  However, we pushed through and read it (skipping some parts or paraphrasing) and had a nice talk about tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, and theories and why we can't believe everything "experts" write without researching it. 

The Assyrian Empire by Don Nardo

Despite my high hopes for this book, it really reads more like a middle school textbook than a read-aloud.  I might consider revisiting this in Core 6, but at this point, I really am not sure. We skipped it entirely. 

Ancient Greece: 40 Hands-On Activities to Experience this Wonderful Age by Avery Hart and Paul Mantell

Yet another craft book.  I keep recommending so many for those of you who enjoy crafts because they all have some that I haven't seen in the other books yet.  This one also interspaces text with crafts, and samples include making a monochord, holding a symposium,  and making barley. 

This book is a bit harder to read, and the crafts and text are so close together that I think this one would be harder than most to hand to a child an have them explore on their own.  Also, there are some areas I think a parent would want to talk through with their children. 

Classical Kids: An Activity Guide to LIfe in Ancient Greece and Rome

Yet another arts and crafts book to add to your collection. 

Divided into categories, with several ideas in each one, your children can dress Greek (complete from your chiton and peplos to stone pendant and shoes) or Roman (from toga and stola to bath oil and bracelets), Eat Greek (baked fish to sesame circles) or Roman (Crustulum and olive rolls and many more), and many, many more things. 

Want instructions to do magic squares or make a globe, that's in here.  Spinning cotton and using a spindle. Check.  Weaving a mini-basket and engraving.  Check.  Making a catapult and slingshot.  Check.  And that's not even about 1/4 of the activities listed in this book. 

The Crafts and Culture of the Ancient Hebrews by Joann Jovinelly and Jason Netelkos

The Crafts and Culture of the Ancient Hebrews (Crafts of the Ancient World)
This is a fun little craft book, with some information to go with it as well.  It is divided into 8 main sections, with one activity per section.  1.  Art in Architecture (Solomon's Temple craft)  2.  Religion and Beliefs (Ark of the Covenant craft)  3.  Writing and literature (ancient scroll)   4. Rituals and celebrations (Menorah)   5.  Clothing (Hebrew Sandals)   6.  Pottery (Oil lamps)   7.  Decorative arts (beaded jewelry)    and    8.  Art and Leisure (game board).

The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin and Rosana Faria

As you can see in the picture, the book is almost completely black, except for the text. 

Text is simplistic, but its very simplicity is what makes this book enjoyable.  Each two page spread has one page with text on it, about 1-2 sentences.  Above this, there is the same text in braille. On the opposing page, there is a raised picture (in black on black pages, so you can't "see" anything unless you slant the book to catch the light at the right angle).  The book discusses a boy and how he, being blind, feels colors that he can't see.  For example, the first page says "Thomas says that yellow tastes like mustard, but is as soft as a baby chick's feathers." Raised pictures is of detailed feathers. 

This book is great for discussing not only the fact that some things are very different, but also a springboard for discussing how one could describe different things to a person who can't see them.  All of my children loved this book. 

Classical Archaeology of Ancient Greece and Rome DVDs

Well, I had gotten this hoping it would be a documentary type video, but upon receiving it, I find out its a level 200 college course program. So, again, we will be saving this for later.  :)

Ancient Mysteries By Peter James and Nick Thorpe

OK, this book is WAAYY too much for this age group.  Over 600 pages of fine print.  But, the reason I'm blogging this one is so that I can come back to it later for Core 6 perhaps.  I'd love to be able to sit down and read this one, but I don't have the time right now, but it does look fascinating to me. 

The First Olympics by Ben M. Baglio

The First Olympics (Choose Your Own Adventure #77)
A Choose Your Own Adventure book, this one is written has a bit more complexity to it.  There are also more frequent options. I  found this one to be rather difficult reading aloud, and my 6 year old found it to be rather difficult reading to himself. I think for a bit older child it would be better, but my 10 year old wasn't interested in it, so I didn't really get a good feel for it, just that no one really had much success in reading it. 

Ancient Greece: An Interactive History Adventure by William Caper

In the spirit of Choose Your Own Adventure type books, this book has you making choices of which pat to choose.  Some lead to good outcomes, some not so great.  However, this has larger print and shorter adventures, so it makes it better for younger children to read along with. It does make for a more complex read-aloud however, especially if you have more than one child.  :)

Seening Fingers: The Story of Louis Braille by Etta DeGering

I wound up not using this one in favor of another book we are doing now Out of Darkness, because that book is shorter.  This one I considered giving to my oldest as a reader, it is about a 5th grade reading level, I would presume.  However, since we are already doing a story on Louis, and since she has quite a few readers right now, we wound up not using it.  However, it does look to be a pretty good read-aloud, we just don't time to do two. 

Imagine: Being Blind by Linda O'Neil

This one was aimed at I think just a little under the age group for Core 1.  It seems it would work well as a preschool book, so I might link it over there to that blog. 

It gives a brief overview of some things blind people do to adapt, and concludes with two interviews of children with visual impairments, to stress that all children want to be treated as children, not as disabilities first, and children second. 

Kings and Queens of the Bible by Mary Hoffman

Despite its title I found this book didn't add a whole lot to our study of history.  Covering the Pharaoh and Moses, David, Solomon, the Queen of Sheba, Belshazzar, and Esther, each one was a brief recapping of some of the Bible stories,but for whatever reason, failed to draw us in, sounding rather dry and uninteresting instead. 

Toughboy and Sister and Winter Camp by Kirckpatrick Hill

We read these as an adjunct to The Year of Miss Agnes.  Toughboy and Sister is part 1, and Winter Camp is part 2.  Both are excellent books looking in the "old ways" of Alaskan life.   This book handles many "sensitive" issues quite well.

In Toughboy and Sister, an 11 year old boy and an 8 or 9 year old girl set off for fish camp with their father.  Their mother has died shortly before, and their father likes to drink at times.  Well, shortly after arriving at camp, the father "forgot" something and had to take their boat back to go get it.  After a couple of anxious days, the children's father comes back, but he dies shortly thereafter. The children set his body adrift in the non-working boat, hoping that someone will see the boat and rescue them.  They spend the whole season alone, taking care of themselves. 

In Winter Camp, they set off with an elderly woman for trapping camp, and learn to survive in the cold, harsh weather.  When a visitor gets injured, the elderly woman leaves them alone to go get help.  They survive bitterly cold weather of 50 below, almost start their cabin on fire, and learn the "old" way of doing things.  An interesting perspective on the blending of cultures. 

Neither of these books were too sensitive for my 6 year old child to handle, and although well written, didn't have us in tears. 

The Atlas of Bible Lands by Andrea Due

While there are maps in this book, I would hesitate to use its title of atlas in a literal sense.  The maps are sparse, with most pages not having any map at all.  The book is devoted largely to archaeological finds pertaining to the Bible, and/or other countries around the time of the Bible, with small excerpts of information about each, along with other various tidbit information.  Disappointing, because what I was really searching for was an atlas.