Sunday, September 28, 2008

Abraham Lincoln's World: pages 143-222

Question 2. Read about the Opium Wars here, here, here, or here to answer question 2 in the section "When Abe Lincoln Kept Store in Illinois."

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Enjoying life in our world

Often school and all its work, sports practice and games, and requirements at home all seem to merge together and demand our attention at the same time. Frustration usually results. Tempers flare. We are happy with ourselves or anyone else.

Times like those keep us from seeing the forests for the trees. When things get too frustrating, take a few minutes and enjoy the wonderful world God has made. When I do this, I realize how minor my frustrations are in comparison to the grandeur of the universe.

Look at some of the links in the sidebar under "The Heavens Declare the Glory of God." The Astronomy Sight of the Day is always fascinating. Once at that site, you can click on the archives and find lots of interesting pictures of our universe.

The World Sunlight Map is a current picture of how sunlight is distributed throughout the world. It is current. If you check back an hour or so later, you will see how the sunlight has moved.

The Moon Phase link is to the current phase of the moon. The moon is always interesting to me.

A new link, Night Lights on Earth, shows the lights on Earth from space.

The more we know about and see this wonderful world, the more we will appreciate this creation and the more gratitude we owe to the Creator God.

Also, notice the new text in the sidebar, Children's Beatitudes. Recently, I heard a minister from Barbados share this during his sermon. I remembered enough of it to find the entire text online later. It seems that these thoughtful statements originated in Zimbabwe. Good thoughts to ponder.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Abraham Lincoln's World: Garibaldi

Use these links to answer "When Abraham Lincoln was a Boy in Indiana," question 22 about Garibaldi:

Monday, September 1, 2008

The World of Christopher Columbus (7th grade)

For each link, hold cursor over the link, right click mouse, click on Open in a New Tab. Having both tabs open enables you to move back and forth without losing the first page.

Use the dictionary! Look up any words you do not know. Be sure to write the word and a short definition down in your answers. For example, if you do not know what the word monastery means, then look it up in this online dictionary.

  • Again, hold cursor over the link "online dictionary" in the last sentence. It is bold-faced and stands out to show you it is a link.
  • Right click mouse, then click Open in a New Tab.
  • Once the dictionary page opens, you can type in the word to look up OR you can cut-and-paste the word into the search box. Leave the dictionary tab open so you can use it again.
  • When you look up the word monastery, you find that it means "a house or place of residence occupied by a community of persons, esp. monks, living in seclusion under religious vows." When you use the word monastery in your answer, put a simple definition beside it in parenthesis like this: "...lived in a monastery (place where monks live)....".
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Links for The World of Christopher Columbus:


Pages 24-64

1. Printable map of Africa, map of the Gambia, another map of the Gambia, map of Cape Verde.

5. Use these Fra Mauro links to answer the questions on your reading sheet:

Choose one of these two activities:

Activity 1:

  • Keep the printed map in front of you and open up this link. Look carefully. Can you see the land and the water? With a light brown or green colored pencil, shade in the land areas. With a light blue colored pencil, shade in the water areas. The map still looks strange, doesn't it? Try this: turn it upside down. Does it look more familiar now? Compare it with this image (remember to open in a new tab!). The difference is explained in the last nine lines of this link. Isn't that interesting?!

Activity 2:

  • This is named Fra Mauro. What is it?
  • Here is a look from a little farther away. Notice the white arrow?
  • Find Fra Mauro here. Look for number 14. It is located in one of the darker areas called mare, which means "sea" in Latin. Additional help in finding #14: from in the center, look west (to the left) until you find "Copernicus," then look south. You will see #12 and to its right will be #14.
  • Why do you think it is named Fra Mauro? Go here, scroll down about halfway to "The Moon." Read the description beside the "crater" column. Compose a good written answer.
  • Use the dictionary link above and look up "fra." What does it mean?


9. Italian Renaissance artists: Gozzoli, Botticelli, Donatello, Fra Angelico, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, and Verrochio.


Pages 90-114

2. Read this link about Ptolemy. Record your findings on your answer pages.


Pages 360-400

4. Find Albrecht Durer information here. Find the two painting which he did of Emperor Maximilian here and here.