The Trojan Horse

Retold by William

This story is about the Trojans and the Greeks fighting each other because one of the Trojans stole the queen of Sparta--Helen. The Greek commanders had already said that they would protect Helen, and that's what started the war. They couldn't defeat the Trojans and they couldn't get into Troy, so Odysseus decided to sneak into the city of Troy and talk to Helen so she could tell him everything about the city. Then he went back to the Greek camp and told the Greek commanders his plan, and the Greek commanders agreed. So Odysseus took a shipbuilder and another guy with an axe, and they went into the forest and cut down fifty pine trees. With some of the pine trees they built a big wall because they didn't want the Trojans to see them building a wooden horse. That night all of the Greeks took down the wall, packed up and went to a nearby island, but Odysseus and 30 men went inside the horse. At morning the Trojans saw the horse, came to it and pulled it into the city because one of the Greeks dressed up as a beggar said that no one could conquer the city if they got it in. Just then one of the Trojans said, "No! It's a trick!" but no one listened. That night, Odysseus and the other Greeks that were with him got out of the horse and captured the city.

Egypt

by William

Egyptians buried their kings in pyramids and secret chambers so people couldn't steal anything they put in there. They buried treasure with their kings because they thought they had second lives and their spirits could use that treasure in their second lives. They wrapped them up in bandages. The Egyptian's god was the sun--they thought his chariot was the sun. They fished and hunted ducks in the Nile River. They also made canals to water their plants. The Nile River has crocodiles in it. The Egyptians had the Israelites for slaves for a while. The Egyptians wrote in pictures.

(From Sonlight LA 1. Have your child describe the land of Egypt in eight to ten well-formed sentences.)

The Hoary Head

William and I were walking this morning. I put my shoes on without socks and got a blister as a result, then we had this conversation:

Me: I should have listened to my dad.
William: Why?
Me: He always told us to always wear socks or you'll get blisters. That's one thing I've learned about Papa--he's pretty much always right.
William: Yeah. 'Cause he's old. When you live a long time you learn a lot.