Histories and Mysteries

Although it is the last day of July, it is still July so this is a miscellaneous article about some highlights of my summer. I had a great summer break off school and I was able to do many things. The main ones are listed below: Finishing School This is a very frequent happening, but every summer I finally complete my school year. I finished 10th grade this year, and it was extremely tough compared to my previous grades. There were many changes between Jr. High and High School. I had to study harder and had to write longer reports and essays. But 10th grade was also very different from 9th grade. I had even more work to do, and had to apply logical thinking to many of my subjects. This was mostly so in Biology class where application questions were on my tests and exams. I also began to take some notes, and began to use flashcards for both my English and Spanish vocabulary terms. I was glad to be finally done with that school year although I knew that I would be moving on to an...

This is the second part to my summer book review series. Read Part 1 if you want more book reviews. Books Read   Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwell The Story of Doctor Dolittle and Doctor Dolittle’s Circus by Hugh Lofting Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggins The Summary Danger at the Zoo by Kathleen Ernst Kit lands a summer job writing a children's column for her local newspaper. She decides to look for story ideas at the Cincinnati Zoo, where her friend Stirling works as a guide and her old friend Will, the hobo, has a job cleaning cages. As Kit noses around the zoo, she stumbles into some strange doings in the monkey house. Her reporter's instincts tell her that she's onto something worth investigating--and she's determined to get the story. Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink Caddie Woodlawn is a real adv...

Welcome to another miscellaneous post, readers! Because I just completed my school year last Friday, I decided to write an article that will provide insight into my homeschool schedule, and the textbooks I use. I use Abeka Academy as my curriculum for every subject. This school is in Pensacola, Florida, and the materials are all written from a biblical standpoint. I hope to be able to express the reasons why I chose particular topics to write about in my blog. 1. Bible Doctrines In Bible Doctrines, I studied Bibliology, Theology, Christology, Pneumatology, Anthropology, Ecclesiology, Angelology, and Eschatology. It’s somewhat difficult to remember everything (if you didn’t notice with all of the “–ologies”), but I found this course extremely informative because it was a topical study of the truths of God’s Word. In my opinion, topical studies help organize the facts so that we are able to understand it more easily. This is the first year that I have done a topical study (usually...

This special article is about the books that I read in the late spring and summer. I bought most of these books from garage sales around my community. I hope that I will be able to introduce you to many new books. Books Read Black Beauty by Anna Sewell Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe The Summary Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie Robbery and brutal murder aboard a luxury transport ensnares the ever-attentive Hercule Poirot in The Mystery of the Blue Train , from Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie. When the luxurious Blue Train arrives at Nice, a guard attempts to wake serene Ruth Kettering from her slumbers. But she will never wake again—for a heavy blow has killed her, disfiguring her features almost beyond recognition. What is more, her precious rubies are missing. The prime suspect is Ruth’s estranged husband, Derek. Yet Hercule Poirot is not convinced, so ...

Readers, today’s article is all about poetry. Poetry is unlike any other type of literature in that it not only provides description and furthers your imagination but also appeals to the emotions. This may be a good thing from time to time for poetry can express Biblical truths and the right reaction to issues in life. Before continuing, we need to discuss the symbols of rhyme. Each letter of the alphabet represents a word at the end of the line. Paired rhymes are marked with the same letter. After a stanza, you would label the lines starting from a again. Here is an illustration for clarification; the letters are bolded and are at the beginning of each line: England to America By Katherine Lee Bates A And what of thee, O Lincoln's Land? What gloom B Is darkening above the Sunset Sea? A Vowed Champion of Liberty, deplume B Thy war-crest, bow thy knee, B Before God answer thee. A What talk is thine of rebels? Didst thou turn, B My very child, thy vaunted sw...

Here are the answers to the other post that contained the questions. Comment below on how well you did! This ended the French and Indian War. ~ Peace of Paris This ended the American War for Independence. ~ Treaty of Paris This was formed between Great Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria after the Congress of Vienna. ~ Quintuple Alliance This was formed according to “the precepts of justice, Christian charity, and peace.” ~ Holy Alliance This organization was formed to put down the “rumblings of revolution.”~ Congress System ROUND 2: This was made up of Russia, Great Britain, and France. ~ Triple Entente This was made up of Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany. ~ Triple Alliance This treaty was signed between Vladimir Lenin and Kaiser Wilhelm II drawing Russia out of WWI. ~ Treaty of Brest-Litovsk This was signed after WWI declaring the verdict on Germany. ~ Treaty of Versailles This was introduced by the Trea...

Hello, everyone. Because I am finally on summer vacation, I might do an extra post in the middle of the week. Today’s extra post is a challenge for all of the readers. At my WWII-themed birthday party, my friends and I played Peace Treaty Trivia. World History has had its share of peace treaties. Basically, I posted all of the questions I asked to my friends down below. The only difference is that I will not provide my readers with the answers. So, take the challenge and see how many peace treaties you can identify without looking. The answers are here. ROUND 1: This ended the French and Indian War. This ended the American War for Independence. This was signed between Great Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria after the Congress of Vienna. This was signed according to “the precepts of justice, Christian charity, and peace.” This organization was formed to put down the “rumblings of revolution.” ROUND 2: This was made up of Russia, Great Britain, and France....

Welcome back, readers. In today’s article, I will be discussing cultural characteristics such as religion, language, governments, and economic systems. I will be giving examples of actual countries affected by a particular characteristic. Make sure you have read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series before continuing. Culture is quickly defined as a way of life. Every country has a group of distinctive characteristics and traits pertaining to things such as food, occupation, dress, and entertainment. The culture of a nation is formed by the people who live in that nation. Although each nation is diverse and although each person is unique, we are all created by God, we all sinned in man’s fall of Genesis 3, and we all need a Savior. In Acts 17:24-26, Paul tells the Athenians: “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth… seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on...

Readers, this is the first special article of July! Some of these articles will not be as long as the ones I post each Monday, and they might have a different format than the rest of my posts. Because Independence Day in America was on Tuesday, this post is about the 4th of July. July 4, 1776 is the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. From 1765 to 1783, the American colonists were having a war with their mother country of Great Britain. The beginning of the war wasn’t fought with weapons, but with declarations. This was not an uncommon thing; the French and British revolutions also began with declaring their rights or listing grievances against the government. The colonists declared the Declaratory Act against the unfair laws that Prime Minister George Grenville imposed upon them. The Sons of Liberty, the Continental Congress, and the Committees of Correspondence were only some of the groups formed to ensure equal rights for the Americans. Although the colonist...

Welcome back to another post about the history of the world. The Beginning of Time series is doing a very brief recap of the first chapters of Genesis. In the last article, I wrote about Genesis 1 to Genesis 3. Today’s article will cover Genesis 4 and 5. If you were wondering, I always use the King James Version or the Authorized Version of the Bible for all of the verses I quote. I prefer this version because it is straight from the original Greek, rather than being translated from the Latin Vulgate or the Wescott-Hort translations. The only problem in the King James Version is that it doesn’t capitalize pronouns referring to God which I personally take as a capitalization error. In Genesis 4, we hear about the first murder in human history: Cain kills his brother, Abel. In this chapter, Cain is an example of, not a symbol of, (the fact is very important; many accounts in the Bible actually happened) the unregenerate man who chooses to rebel against God’s laws. God gave Cain mult...

This is an announcement to all of the readers of this blog. Because it is summer, and I have finished school, I have decided to provide my readers with an extra article each week through the month of July. Most of these articles will be shorter than the typical articles I post every Monday, and I will also be drifting from the weekly schedule I have been following. Come back to my blog every Thursday in July for a special post!