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   One, cold Friday night, some boys and I were supposed to camp, but it was canceled so we got to spend some of the night at my Dad’s Shire. We could not camp out there because there was not enough room for all the tents, so we had to just stay there for a while. We had a fire, hot chocolate, and lots of fun. We even have a swing and a zip line there!

   Later, my friend Jaden and I wanted to get to the bottom of the zip line through the woods, but my brother Wyatt wanted to come along with us. Jaden and I did not want him to come with us, but we had to take him with us.

   When we were about halfway there, it started snowing really, really hard; so hard, in fact, that we could not see very well. Wyatt brought along a flashlight, so he went in front to lead the way to light the way for us and regretted not wanting Wyatt to come along. We eventually got back to the others and the fire and warmed ourselves up a bit.

   When it stopped snowing the result was that we got really cold and snow was all over the place. Fortunately, we had hot chocolate to warm ourselves up and we played for a while or just sat by the fire till it was time to go home.

   A great king of England, King Edward, did not anoint a specific heir to his throne, so when he died, at least three people claimed to have the rights to rule England. The Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson, was chosen to be the new king. William of Normandy thought he was the rightful heir to the throne, so he immediately began creating an army to help him take the throne. At the same time, he was marching to invade England.

   Meanwhile, in the Battle of Stamford Bridge, King Harold and his Saxons fought against King Harald’s Norwegians. The Saxons won the battle, and King Harald and Tostig both died. This battle marks the end of the Viking Age.

   William arrived on the southern beaches of England just three days after the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Harold had to drag his entire army across the vast country just to fight William and his Normans. Harold, at the top of a hill, held the high ground. William attacked from below while trying to climb up the hill to attack Harold. Harold kept the high ground and made the Normans retreat for some time, however, victory was not the Saxons. William and his Normans eventually chased the Saxons down the hill and crushed them. King Harold was killed by an arrow straight in the eye. His army retreated while being picked off by arrows. William was crowned King of England on Christmas day, 1066.

Viking comes from the Norse words “seamen” and “expeditions”, which are pretty good words to describe Vikings. The Vikings only used two kinds of ships, the longships and the knarrs. The longships are primarily used for transporting troops to battle. The knarrs are quite different. They are merchant ships that transport and trade goods. The longships are propelled by oar power or wind power. The knarrs are propelled primarily by wind power, but it could be propelled by oar power.

   A runestone is an amazing king of stone because it is a stone that reminds people about a certain event. For example, a battle, a funeral, etc. It even had words written on it. The Vikings even made their own alphabet! Every letter is made out of just straight lines, which probably made it easier to carve in words on the runestones. The Vikings had three main gods. One of them is Thor, a Marvel superhero to this day. Three days of the week are named after the three Norse gods.

   The Vikings used swords, spears, and axes (primarily axes) to fight with. Only the rich people could afford axes to fight with. The poor people only used swords and spears to fight with. They had a very chaotic style of fighting. Some common misconceptions about the Vikings are that they always acted like barbarians and they always wore helmets with horns, but only one helmet with horns has ever been found.

Charlemagne

Posted 6 years ago by OwenPitts

   Charlemagne started out with the name Carolus or Charles. He was the grandson of Charles Martel. At age 26, he became co-ruler in 768 A.D. Then he separated the kingdom with his brother Charloman. Charles became the sole ruler after Charloman died in 771. Charles got the name Charlemagne from winning a lot of battles which gave him the name “Charles the Great” which translates into English, “Charlemagne”! Charlemagne married a Lombard princess. He was crowned with an iron crown since he was king of both France and Italy. Like his father and grandfather, Charlemagne was a spectacular general. His sword Joyeuse and elite bodyguards were very well known throughout the entire country.

   Charlemagne faced the Muslims in a battle. The Muslims did offer a treaty, but meanwhile, the entire rearguard of Charlemagne was attacked and entirely killed, including Charlemagne’s nephew, Roland. The Song of Roland, a French epic poem, was written about this sad, surprise attack. Enraged by this surprise attack, Charlemagne eventually returns and conquers the Muslims.

   Charlemagne even conquered Corsica and Sardinia. He also fought 18 battles in just 30 years against the Saxons. He forced the Saxons to convert to Christianity. He even made a court system and law code for the whole country to follow. When the Saxons tried to revolt against him, four thousand, five hundred Saxon prisoners were ordered to be killed. Charlemagne also conquered the Slavs and Anars. He had lots of other successes in his life and had a really great legacy.

   I have just finished reading “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”. It was about when a kid named Hank got transported to the Middle Ages. When he was discovered by knights, he was imprisoned and was to be burned. The Eclipse was on the day he was to be burned, so he used the Eclipse to get out of it, and after that, he claimed to be a great magician. He also made many inventions. Of course, this was just a dream and eventually ended.

   A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is Satire, which means it is generally meant to be funny. When Hank, “The Boss”, and the king were about to be hanged, Sir Lancelot and five hundred knights came to rescue them on bicycles instead of horses!

   Mark Twain used Visualisation in this book. Hank knew he was in the Middle Ages when he saw the castle. Mark Twain also described people very well. There were knights in shiny armor and chain mail and peasants in old, raggedy clothes.

   I felt the mood of this book was amazing, weird, happy, sad, and scientific. Juxtaposition is putting two things together when they do not go together. Hank in modern clothes and a knight in shining armor is an example of juxtaposition.

   In this book, Hank is forced to interact with a different Milieu, which is a person’s social environment. The time period Hand came from did not have any kings, peasants, knights, etc; therefore, he was forced to interact with people from a different time, period, and social status. This story had many different tones. For example, when Sir Lancelot and the knights came to rescue the king and hank on bicycles, the tone was funny and weird. After they won a war with just an electric fence, I felt amazed and satisfied that they won the war.

   I don’t know whether it was a dream or if I had really been transported back in time. Let me tell you my story. I was going to bed as usual and fell asleep. All of a sudden, I noticed that something was licking my face. After I opened my eyes, I saw stars and a sheep licking my face! I jumped up as fast as I could and looked around and found out that I was on a hillside surrounded by sheep! I was like, “What in the world?! Where am I?” I saw a town in the distance, but it did not look like a modern-day town.

   I said, “Where are all the cars, and the streetlights, and why are the people there using candles instead of electricity, and those houses dod not look like our house.”

   Once I turned around, I noticed shepherds, but these shepherds had on tunics and robes and had shepherd canes. When we were trying to figure out who each other were, a bright light appeared in the night sky, and we were so afraid. But a loud, booming voice said, “Fear not, for behold, I bring tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For unto you this day in the city of David…”

   I could not believe what I was hearing! This was the night Jesus was born! After the angels left, we went to see Jesus. After I saw Jesus, I began to feel sleepy. I laid down on a piece of hay and fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in my bed again. What a night!

   The five points of plot are exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. I read “The Hardy Boys”, book number 2 over the summer. It was written by Franklin W. Dixson. I am going to explain the points of plot in that book.

   The exposition is normally at the beginning of the book and introduces the main character or main characters. In the book, the main characters are the Hardy brothers, Frank and Joe, their friend, Chet, and someone named Spencer Given who hired them to go on his ship with him on a trip to make sure it will not be sabotaged.

   The rising action leads to the climax while building tension in the story. At the beginning of the book, they were warned not to go on the ship and to turn down the deal Spencer had given them. Another time when they were on the ship, someone pushed Frank over the side of the boat toward the turning propeller, but he was saved. Another time when they were in a cabin on some cots, a bulldozer crashed through, but the boys dodged it just in time. They meet a lot of other dangers along the way.

   The climax is the highest point of action in a book. The climax in “The Hardy Boys” is when the three boys get captured, but Chet escapes and calls the police.

   The falling action solves the tension that was built up earlier in the book. That is when the police find and rescue the boys and arrest the bad guys.

   The resolution is the end of a story. In the book, the resolution is when the boys find all the clues to what the bad guys were doing.

   Justinian was a very powerful and successful ruler in the Eastern Roman Empire. He began his life as a shepherd boy, but he walked to Constantinople at age 16 just to meet his uncle Justin. After the previous emperor died, Justin became emperor which meant Justinian would become the next emperor. He became emperor in 527 A.D. and ruled for 40 years. He became Justinian the Great for his successful accomplishments as emperor. In 537 A.D. a magnificent cathedral named the Hagia Sophia was built by Justinian. He also constructed at least 34 churches! He did this because after praying to God for victory over a battle and winning it, he converted himself to Christianity. He died in 565 A. D.

   After Justinian’s death, the military was too thinly spread and the treasury was running too low on funds so the empire began to decline. Heraclius was the emperor after Justinian. During Heraclius’ reign, the empire was much smaller and weaker by the eighth century. By 800 A.D. it just consisted of Asia Minor and the Balkan Islands. With the loss of size, the empire an was an ordinary European country. It was a Greek state. Christianity was very important to the state. God was supposed to have chosen the emperors and with this claim, they have the ability to rule over the church and state. Even though it was the last of the Roman Empires, it was a strong empire.

My Mentors

Posted 6 years ago by OwenPitts

   God has given me many teachers in my life. One is my pastor, Pastor White. He has given me a lot of knowledge on how to live my life, why people kill, and a whole lot more. He even leads communion! He is also the grandad of some of my friends. Once, he even baptized me!

   Another one is Mr. Anderson. He is one of my Sunday School teachers. I love him. He is the Dad of some more of my friends. He teaches me about the Bible which makes me want to read more of the Bible. He mostly reads out of Acts and then explains it to us. The lessons usually take one hour, but I like the lessons.

   Sometimes Mr. Burgener takes over for Mr. Anderson. He is also the dad of some more of my friends. I like his lessons as well as Mr. Anderson’s lessons. He is friendly. I love him.

   My parents are also great teachers. I have a lot of knowledge from school thanks to my mom. I also know a lot about discipline and obedience thanks to my dad. They also taught me and are teaching me a lot of other stuff. They love me and I intend to love them by obeying them.

   I love all of these people and they are trying to teach me lessons that will help me in my life when I am older. I need to listen as well as I can to their teaching. If I do not listen, my parents are not to blame, I am because I did not listen to my teachers. I intend to listen and do well.

   The Celts were the most populous group in ancient Europe. The Etruscans also lived in ancient Europe in Italy. The Celts did not leave any written records, so how do we know so much about them? From the Roman writing, actually. Celtic burial grounds are often marked with large megaliths. Megaliths are very large stones. The Celts are even credited for inventing something that we could not live without. Can you guess what that is? It is soap! We could never live without soap. There was a lot of Celtic occupations including Chieftains, bards, druids, peasants, and merchants. The Celts also mined and traded salt They used salt to make food good and to keep food from spoiling.

   The two largest rivers that run through India are called the Indus and Ganges rivers. The Aryans came from Southern Russia and settled in the Indus Valley. Chandragupta Maurya ruled India during the rise to its golden age. The government regulated everything that went on, the nation was divided into districts, and they head a large standing army and spy network. Hinduism and Buddhism were promoted after eleven years of war. Priests, Warriors or Nobles, Merchants, Serfs, and Outcasts are the levels of the Indian Caste System.

   India and Europe do not really have many similarities or differences. They had similar caste systems. India was governed by dynasties while Europe was governed by a chief in each clan.