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What We’re Reading—June 2019

June 19, 2019 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Note: Links in this post may be affiliate links, and if they are, they will benefit Esther.

As usual, we have been reading quite a variety of books! Since we finished Who Am I? from Apologia’s Worldview series, we only have three stories every morning. We start out with a story from Uncle Arthur’s Bible Stories; we’re currently in Volume 10, so I’ll soon have to find another Bible Story book to read from. We also read a couple of pages from David Macaulay’s Cathedral—what a fun way to learn a little of medieval history! For American History this week, we have been reading First Heroes for Freedom. It’s quite an interesting story about the Battle of Rhode Island, from the perspective of a teenage slave boy. We’re about 75% of the way through now, and it’s been good so far.

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After lunch, we read four books each day. Right now, we’re reading Laura, a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Donald Zochert. We just finished the Little House Series, and decided we wanted to know what her life was really like. It’s been very interesting to compare the biography with what she chose to tell young readers about her life! Our next book is The Heart Changer, by Jarm Del Boccio. It’s a retelling of the story of Naaman’s servant girl, from the time of the kings of Israel. It is very well done—watch for my full review in a few weeks! After that, we read for about 10 minutes from Kayaks Down the Nile. I borrowed this book from my mother when we were in Michigan in January; she recommended it also when I asked if I could borrow The Ra Expeditions. It’s a fascinating account of three men kayaking down the Nile River in the 1950s. We’re really enjoying it—but I don’t think I’d enjoy a trip like that! Too many crocodile and hippos, not to mention the tipsy kayaks. Our last book each afternoon is Encounters With Animals. This is the only book by Gerald Durrell that I can recommend, unfortunately. All the others I’ve read by him feature immorality and a lot of evolutionary thinking.

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So, that’s what we are reading aloud at the moment! We’ve read quite a few other books over the course of the past month, too. The two afternoon books we read were Treasure in an Oatmeal Box and A Flame Forever Bright. The first of these was one I found at a secondhand shop when we were in Ohio in February. I had seen the book advertised about 25 years ago, but never read it. What a gem! This story is about a girl coming to terms with having a mentally handicapped brother, and learning to love him. The ending caught us by surprise, though. The second is about Dirk Willems, probably the most famous Anabaptist martyr from the 16th century. It is told from the viewpoint of his (fictitious) younger sister, and is very good. I did learn one thing from reading these two books—Little Miss, though she is only four, is listening to and comprehending a lot of what I read!

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We have read quite a few books for history in the mornings, as well. Obviously, we are still working through the American Revolution. Danbury’s Burning and Sybil Ludington’s Midnight Ride both tell the story of a teenage girl who rode much farther than Paul Revere, through bad weather, and yet is hardly known! Buttons for General Washington was a very interesting story of a family who spied for the Revolutionary cause. In Aaron and the Green Mountain Boys, a little boy learned that he could be of help even if he didn’t go out with the militia! Joseph Brant was an interesting biography of an Indian who worked for the British during the Revolution. We loved Saving the Liberty Bell—what fun pictures! John Paul Jones, Fighting Sailor was quite an interesting story, but we didn’t appreciate the battle scenes. One of them was fun; in his first sea battle, he outwitted the British Navy and saved an American ship, with no one getting hurt in the slightest. We also got to read The Winter At Valley Forge again.

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So, that’s what I’ve been reading to the children. I’ve also read several books for myself. The ones that really stood out were The Pink Bonnet and Blessing Bentley. The Pink Bonnet is historical fiction about a woman who made a career, from the 1920s-1950s, of stealing children from the Memphis, Tennessee area and then selling them to the highest bidder. It was heartbreaking, and very hard to put down, as a mother and a lawyer tried to solve the mystery of what was happening. Bentley is an amazing new book by Chautona Havig. I found it very refreshing to read a romance that didn’t follow a formula! There are so many good things to think about in this book—I can’t say enough good about it! At the moment, I’m reading The Second Yes, a collection of five interlinked books which includes Something Borrowed, Someone Blue, which I mentioned in the last post about what we’re reading. I’m on the fourth book right now. I enjoyed Something Borrowed, and am enjoying this one; the first and third weren’t quite my cup of tea; but I’m looking forward to the last one, which will tie them all together. It’s by an author I always enjoy. Another book I read recently was The Deepest Waters. Even though I pretty well knew what the ending would be like, there were a lot of surprises along the way, and unexpected twists in this book based on a true story from the 1850s.

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Book Review, Books, Homeschooling

What We’ve Been Reading Lately

March 19, 2019 by NZ Filbruns 3 Comments

We read a lot of great books together as part of our homeschooling. Here is what we’ve been reading the last week or two.

Our morning books (read while the breakfast dishes are being washed):

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Note: Links in this post may be affiliate links, and if they are, they will benefit Esther.

We finished Volume 8 of The Bible Story yesterday, and started Volume 9 today. I like to keep a Bible Story book going for the younger ones.

We’ve been working on Who Am I? for several months now, and are about halfway through it. There are a lot of good thoughts about who we are in Christ, in this book.

We’ve been reading David Macaulay’s wonderful books for a few months now, and are nearly through Ship. I love the detail in his drawings!

Loyalty Test was a great book to go along with our study of the American Revolution. It shows a side of history that I had never seen before, and I believe it’s sorely needed. Exactly how much of what we’ve learned is true, and how much is myth? This well-researched book will challenge you, as well as intrigue you.

We read one chapter from What Really Happened in Colonial Times this morning, about Paul Revere from the point of view of his second wife. It was quite interesting!

Yesterday, we read And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? I always enjoy Jean Fritz’s books about history!

Our afternoon books (while lunch dishes are being washed):

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We’ve probably been working our way through the Little House books for most of a year. We finished Little Town on the Prairie yesterday, and started These Happy Golden Years today. Even though I have read this series many times, I still love them!

Mr. Diligence and Mr. Sweetie love Lois Lenski. They ask me to buy them books by her whenever they have an excuse. We’re reading Texas Tomboy right now. For most of the way through, I was wondering if it was worth reading this one, because the girl’s attitudes were so bad, but she seems to be changing for the better now and I’m liking the story after all.

When we were in Michigan, I borrowed The Ra Expeditions from my mother (nothing like taking a borrowed book 9,000 miles, is there!). The day after we got home, I told Mr. Intellectual that it was his turn to choose one of our read-alouds, and that was what he chose. We’re about halfway through it now, over a month later. It’s a bit slow-moving, but very interesting. The last few days, the action has really picked up, as they set out across the Atlantic with this bundle of papyrus and ran into all sorts of trouble.

We’ve also been working our way through Sam Campbell’s Living Forest series. We finished Fiddlesticks and Freckles a few days ago (it disappeared, so I couldn’t put it in the photo), and started Beloved Rascals, the last book. These are great nature stories!

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Books, Homeschooling

History 15–Part 2

August 19, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Esther and I are averaging doing our history reading three or four times a week. This book, Unwrapping the Pharoahs, is full of interesting little tidbits from Egyptian history. For my notes from the first seven chapters, go here.

Chapter 8 relates the story of Dynasty 5. The Pharoahs in this dynasty built pyramids of piles of rubble, covered with nice stones. After people later pilfered the facing stones, all that was left was rubble! Unas, the last king of the 5th Dynasty, was the first to have writing in his tomb. I had to laugh at a couple of sentences in this chapter. “Mummification sure does nothing for the beautiful looks of a princess, but then beauty was  not the object of mummification. And, “Blue stars adorn the roof of his (Unas’s) burial chamber, presumably to give the dead king the impression that he was under the night sky.”

Chapter 9 begins with the first king of Dynasty 6. He was the son of the last king of Dynasty 5—why did they consider it a separate dynasty? He seems to have been murdered by his bodyguard, as reported by Manetho 1500 years later (3rd century B. C.). Dynasties 5 and 6 were very rich. Many reliefs are on their mastaba walls. The last ruler of Dynasty 6 was a woman whose husband/brother, a Pharoah, was murdered. She avenged his death by killing all those responsible, then killed herself. Egypt was thrown into chaos as a result. Manetho says, “The 7th Dynasty consisted of 70 kings of Memphis who reigned for 70 days.”

Chapter 10 discusses dates in Egyptian history. Dating events is very difficult. We don’t know how many dynasties were contemporary with each other. The traditional chronology was created as if each dynasty ruled separately, but even Eusebius (a Christian history in the 3rd or 4th century AD) said, “several Egyptian kings ruled at the same time.” Traditionally, Hittite chronology is determined by coordinating it with Egyptian records. That puts the Hittite empire as being overrun by peoples from the sea in the 12th century B. C. However, the Assyrian records are different. In the 9th century, Shalmaneser III fought the Hittites, and in the 8th century, Sennacherib fought the Hittites. 2 Kings 7:6 seems to indicate that the Hittites were more feared than the Egyptians. If Egyptian dates are reduced, that will make Hittite dates line up with Assyrian and Hebrew records.

Chapter 11 mentions that Sesostris I, in Dynasty 12, had a vizier, or prime minister, named Mentuhotep, who appears to have had the powers that were given to the Biblical Joseph. A canal was dug, during Dynasty 12, from the Nile to the Faiyyum Oasis. It is still called Joseph’s Canal. Pyramids were now made of sun-dried bricks.

Chapter 12 mentions that many Asiatic slaves were in Egypt during the 12th Dynasty. Sesostris III bragged about his cruelty. Was he one of the Pharoahs of the Oppresion? His successor, Amenemhet III, had no sons. His daughter Sobekneferu ruled after his death for 4 years and had no heir. Was she the one who adopted Moses? Amenemhet III had 2 pyramids built for himself, one of sun-dried bricks held together with straw.

In Chapter 13, Neferhotep I, in the 13th Dynasty, seems to have been the last king before the Asiatic slaves disappeared from a large settlement called Kahun. Kahun was abandoned suddenly, with many personal items left behind. In the floors of the houses are many boxes containing the bones of babies under three months old, with sometimes several babies in each box. Neferhotep’s mummy has never been found, and though we know he had a  son, that son did not succeed him. This lines up with the 10th plague, of the firstborn sons being killed, and with Pharoah drowning in the Red Sea. The Hyksos invaded Egypt soon after—were they the Amalekites? The Amalekites attacked Israel soon after the Exodus; they could have learned from captured Israelites about the demise of the Egyptian army. Manetho says that the Hyksos occupied Egypt “without a battle.” Where was the well-trained Egyptian army? At the bottom of the Red Sea!

Chapter 14 continues the story of the Hyksos. They ruled Egypt for a few hundred years; the 13th-17th Dynasties were local Egyptian or Hyksos rulers. Seqenenre, a ruler in the south, was sent a delegation from the Hyksos king, Apophis. The complaint? The hippopotami in Seqenenre’s new canal kept Apophis awake from 497 miles away! Soon after this, Egypt began a war of liberation against the Hyksos, and they soon disappear from history. King Saul was reigning about this time, so if the Hyksos were, indeed, the Amalekites, it makes sense. They were annihilated. Amenhotep I, the first ruler in the 18th Dynasty, immediately after the Hyksos were driven out, was the first to abandon burial in pyramids and build his tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Books, History 15

History 15—Part 1

August 6, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Esther and I have started our own book club. We have quite a few books on ancient history, especially on parts of history that aren’t in most mainstream history books. We’ve both been wanting to read them but haven’t been getting around to it. So, last week, we started our own book club. So far, the two of us are the only members, but if you want to join you’re welcome—although I have no idea how we could include more people! We started with Unwrapping the Pharoahs, by John Ashton and David Down. Our goal is that every day Esther will spend 15 minutes (that’s where the “15” in the name of our book club comes from) reading the book and taking notes on what she finds interesting, and then I’ll read the same chapters she got through, take notes, and we’ll compare. We’ve managed to do it a few days, and gotten through seven chapters of this fascinating book!

Chapter 1 talks about the beginning of Egyptian history. Menes, the first king of the first dynasty, is identified by Josephus as being Mizraim, the grandson of Noah. Interestingly, the early kings of Egypt were buried with boats—was this in case of another Flood? Chapter 2 mentions that the earliest Egyptian burial practices were similar to those in Ur, in Mesopotamia, at the same time. Guess what! Civilization spread from Mesopotamia to Egypt!

Chapter 3 talks about some of the early pyramids. There is evidence that they were built by men excited about their work, rather than by slaves. Chapter 4 shows the three pyramids built by Seneferu. The first, Meidum, seems to have partially collapsed at some point. Whether this was during the building or some time after is unknown. His second one was the Bent Pyramid, which was started at a 52° angle. About halfway up, they switched to a 43° angle. No one knows why, but I found it very interesting that there are inscriptions indicating that possibly the lower half was built in only two years! He also built the Red Pyramid, which was at a 43° angle. Did he maybe keep going till he had a perfect pyramid?

In chapter 5, Abraham’s visit to Egypt during a famine is mentioned. Josephus tells that Abraham brought science and astronomy to Egypt from Mesopotamia. Is he the source of the incredible mathematical accuracy in the Great Pyramid? The Great Pyramid was built precisely aligned to the cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west), precisely level, and exactly square.

Chapter 6 discusses Kafre, the son of Khufu, who built the Great Pyramid. Khafre’s pyramid was steeper than his father’s, with a completely different layout. Another thing mentioned in this chapter was the methods used by “archeologists” in the 1700s and early 1800s. They were basically treasure hunters, using gunpowder to blow up anything they thought was in their way. Chapter 7 tells about the end of the 4th Dynasty, when the economy was apparently not so good anymore. Shepseskaf built a mastaba instead of a pyramid. The earliest pharoahs had built mastabas; these were more like the temples in Mesopotamia. They were several layers, one on top of another, each layer smaller so it went up in steps.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Books, History 15

Baby Bookworm, Part 2

October 28, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

This little girl LOVES books! She is tired of her board books; she wants the books everyone else reads. Just before I took this first picture, she was looking at the books in front of her, pulling one out partway and studying it, then letting it go back in place.IMG_2172IMG_2173

She was looking at picture books this afternoon. I wanted a picture of her doing that, but the camera distracted her. Mr. Imagination, however, got this gem. She often smiles/laughs this way, but it’s very hard to get a picture of it. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to let the little boys have the camera!

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Baby, Books

Baby Bookworm, Part 2

October 28, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

This little girl LOVES books! She is tired of her board books; she wants the books everyone else reads. Just before I took this first picture, she was looking at the books in front of her, pulling one out partway and studying it, then letting it go back in place.IMG_2172IMG_2173

She was looking at picture books this afternoon. I wanted a picture of her doing that, but the camera distracted her. Mr. Imagination, however, got this gem. She often smiles/laughs this way, but it’s very hard to get a picture of it. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to let the little boys have the camera!

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Baby, Books

Baby Bookworm

October 23, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Little Miss loves books already. Her very favorite story is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? She loves the colorful pictures, as you can see in this video. This is put together from a number of different readings. In real life, she gets a lot more excited than we were able to capture on video.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkVwDIH0y-U]

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Baby, Books, Video

Bookshelves

February 8, 2012 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I don’t know about you, but I have never had enough bookshelves in my life.  The ones I have had have always been overflowing, with books laid on top of other books.  We bought this set of shelves the day after we arrived in New Zealand, and it’s been overstuffed the whole time we’ve had it!  I like the ends my hubby and  boys just made for the top a week or two ago–it gives us an entire shelf there!  We had stacks of books at either end to hold other books up, but that always looked messy.  So much  better now! We bought this set from one of our friends when they moved back to the States; the young man built it himself.  It’s probably the prettiest piece of furniture we have. The rest of our books were stored in the linen closet in the hallway and lined up along both sides of a short hallway we don’t use much–it just leads outside and is one of seven doors to outside so not really needed.  You can imagine how I felt when I found another large, sturdy set of bookshelves at a thrift shop last week for $5!  The only problem–it was 40 miles from home and there was no way to haul it with our van.  It wasn’t worth taking the truck there to pick up.  I called a friend to ask if they would, by any chance, be going that way with their truck–no.  I went to the counter to pay for my other purchases, and on a whim asked the clerk if she happened to know of anyone who would be going to Cheviot and could deliver the shelves.  I was astounded when she said, “Go talk to that man over there.”  I went over and talked to him, and he was able to deliver the shelves to Cheviot several days later when they picked up the recyclable rubbish, for $5!  So, for $10, we have a lovely, sturdy set of shelves–and, as you can see, extra shelf space! I love having the school books out of the closet and visible now, and being able to organize everything the way I want it.  Thank you, Lord!

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Books

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The Family:


Dad and Mom (Gayle and Emma)

Girl #1, Esther, my right hand

Boy #1, Seth (Mr. Handyman)

Boy #2, Simon (Mr. Inventor)

Boy #3, Mr. Intellectual

Boy #4, Mr. Diligence

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Boy #6, Mr. Imagination

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