The Byzantine Empire

So the Byzantine empire was a lot bigger than the Roman empire and it hat fourteen palaces. It also had the Haggai Sophia. It was an amazing place. The Byzantines made nice smooth roads like the romans and also dressed like the romans wearing togas. They had about one million people in the byzantine empire. They also had a lot of soldiers. They also had a lot of schools for the kids. The richer ones learned about more advanced stuff and the poor ones learned how to read and write.

Making books by hand

So in the medieval ages. There weren't that many books. This was because It was a hard and very long process. Only the monks made these books because it was so hard. This is how it was made.

So first they didn't have a market to go buy some paper so they had to make it themselves. They made a special paper called parchment. So first they had to kill a animal and take the skin off of it. Then they had to soak it in a river or stream for several days. Then you have to put it in a barrel with special chemicals to take off the hairs. But then they had to scrape the rest of the hairs off. Then they had to dry it all of then soak it again and then dry it off again. Then they had to make a lot of sheets of paper and sow them together to make pages. Then they had to write on them. But first they had to make a pen out of turkey's feather and then sharpen the tip then they had to make ink for it. This was very hard because they had to write one letter at a time. They wrote it with there best handwriting. They couldn't make a mistake otherwise they would have to start all over so they had to be very careful. Then they had to make drawings on the sides. Some were big and took up a whole page some were small on the corners. They sometimes made gold leaf to put on the paper. And they made there paints out of egg whites and other colors. It was a very long process and they usually worked for eight hours a day. They usually made 2-3 books in a whole year! When the book was done they put it in the library where it was safe. You couldn't just check out the books.

1000 touches & soccer cleats

So I love soccer it is definitely most favorite sport. I do one thousand touches when it is now a practice day. I want to get up early like at 7:30 then go outside and do touches. But I can't do that now because right now it is really really cold. BRRRRRR. But I am probably one of the best on my team. I play midfielder. I want to be the best midfielder in the world when I grow up.



I love soccer and I wanted some awesome soccer cleats. The newest version now are the high cut version. That means it comes like a sock. It makes it feel like the shoe is part of your foot. I am a midfielder so I would wear the cleats called the Magista Obra's. They have incredible touch and also have a good shot they are amazing for a midfielder. But one problem. They cost $275! So my dad would never buy me shoes for that much money so I had to find out how I could get them cheaper. Then a miracle happened I was searching for these cool shoes and I found them for only $70! That is a lot off. But then my dad found out that they were replicas. But they weren't full replicas because they had the tag on the bottom not on the top. So I think that they are practically real. I was so happy. I also liked these other shoes called the Superflys. But they were not for me they were for attacking strikers who sprint like Cristiano Ronaldo. Then there was the Hypervenom phantom 2. They were also cool but they were also for strikers. But I am happy with my shoes.

Monks

Augustine and his men were called monks. They promised to pray teach and learn the bible for the rest of their lives instead of having children and a family. They went to special buildings called monasteries. They went there eight times a day. Some of the Anglo-Saxons liked Christianity and they built monasteries as well. They built Monasteries in Ireland and other places in Britain. They couldn't eat butter on there fresh bread unless it is a holiday! They also couldn't eat four legged animals. They also couldn't talk while eating unless it was about the bible.

Spreading christianity

So the people of Rome became Christian because there ruler was Christian and he wanted everyone to be Christian so they became Christian. So one day the Pope went out on a walk to the marketplace. Then he saw a few boys for sale as slaves. They had blond hair and very white skin. The pope asked the guy who was selling them "where did these boys come from?" They came from the island of Britain said the man. So he asked the boys what are you guys called. We are Angles. Said the boys. He laughed and said you look more like angels. So he took the boys back home to where they lived and he found the ruler of the Anglo-Saxons and asked him if we could spread Christianity to the land. He said they could if they stayed in a place and didn't cause trouble. So they built monasteries and other churches and they began to teach the people Christianity. They followed them and they became Christian.

Bird nests

So I learned about bird nests from a video I watched. The first bird is called a Humming bird. It makes it's nest by getting fine silk to shape into a little nest and then it gets spider silk to bring it all together. The second one is my favorite it is a bird, oh I forgot it's name but it is awesome it makes it's nest out of mud and grass. It bakes it so it divides it into two parts and they leave a little opening at the ending and then you go threw there and you get to the eggs. It is very smart. The other one is called a cowbird. It lays it's eggs into other birds nests and they let the other birds take care of their eggs. Sometimes the eggs get thrown out but sometimes they actually raise them. Then there is another bird which I forgot its name but it makes its nest on the harbor and out off big twigs and then they have to keep predators off. They have to keep predators off because sometimes they are two lazy. 

Early Britian

So the Romans had just lost their giant empire. But there were still some soldiers on thee souther part of Britain. They didn't want them to be there so there warriors called Celts. They painted there faces and were almost naked. But they were fierce warriors and killed every last roman on their land. There is a story about there strength that goes like this.

So there was this guy named Criath. He was a very strong Celt and he had never lost a battle. But he felt lonely and he wanted to have some one to marry. But only one person was perfect for him. She had Hair as black as raven, skin as white as snow, and cheeks as red as blood. But she was being kept prisoner with a giant named Fuvor. So he went on his way and met a soldier. The soldier asked him can you see that bird over there on the others side of the world? Criath said no you, but you must have very good eyesight come join me on my journey. So the two knights now walked toward the castle and soon they saw a knight that had his ear to the ground. What are you doing Criath asked him? I am listening to the grass growing under the earth. Wow you must have very good ears. Join us on our journey to the castle. So now there were three knights. Then they walked and came to see another knight who had a rope tied around his legs. Why do you have a rope tied around your legs? said Criath. Well if I took the rope off then I would run so fast that I would disappear in the blink of an eye. Wow you must be so fast. Come join us on our journey to the castle. At last they came to the castle and they saw the giant giant. Let the woman with hair as black as the crows wing, skin as white as snow, and cheeks as red as blood, go. I will let her go after you fill three bottles of water from the well on the other side of the world. Hey you who can run so fast that you will disappear in the blink of an eye go fill three bottles of water from the well at the other side of the world. So he was off and in a minute he was at the well. He filled three bottles of water and started racing back but when he was half way there he thought, if I go now then I will be there in lest than a minute. So he laid down and fell asleep. Criath now said where is he, hey you who has very good hearing listen and see what he is doing. So he put his ear down to the ground and said He is snoring. So then he asked the guy who has amazing eyesight throw a rock at him to wake him up. So he did and he woke up and raced back with the water. So they gave the water to the giant and he was mad but he kept his word and gave them the woman. Criath married her and they lived happily ever after.

So the Celts were not just one giant people but they were all separate tribes and they had different rulers for each tribe. One of these rulers was called Vortigern. Other tribes from the north kept attacking him and he got mad, he wanted help. So he called to some barbarians that were called the Angles Saxons. They accepted the request and they settled in Britain. They liked the place and they called for more Angles Saxons, there was plenty of space here for more Barbarians. They came and they settled there and they were happy there. But the other Celts did not like all of these barbarians here. Poor Celts they first got attacked by the Romans and now the Barbarians. 


The barbarians also had a hero like the Celts. His name was Beowulf. The story goes like this.

So there was a giant beast named Grendel. He was as tall as two trees stacked on top of each other. The biggest men were as tall as his knee. He ate the soldiers and the king did not like this so he sent Beowulf and a few of his strongest men to go kill the beast. So they waited in the doorway until the beast came. They had locked the door and bolted it so he couldn't get passed. The king offered Beowulf a sharper sword but he refused and said "I will fight with no sword and no armor so I am equal to Grendel." so he took off the armor and threw away his sword and was ready for the beast to come through. At last Grendel came through and he went to grab on of the men but Beowulf grabbed his arm and started twisting it until he yelped in pain and the arm came off. He ran away and some of the men followed him. They found that he had jumped into a pond and he had drowned. They all cheered and were happy that the beast Grendel was dead.

The Roman Empire

So the Roman empire was a giant empire It surrounded the whole Mediterranean sea. It went into Africa into Britain and a lot of other places. It was the largest empire at the time. But they didn't have enough people to guard the giant empire. So let's say you have a giant orchard of yummy peaches. And then some animals wanted to eat them. So some animals come from on side and start getting some peaches and then you go and shoo them off. But then there is another animal that comes on the other side and you see how it is. That is how the roman emperor felt. But then there was a good emperor that was named Maximian. He divided the empire into parts and then they lived happily ever after. HEHEHE

Genghis Khan

So Genghis Khan was born in 1167. His father was the chieftain of the Yakka tribe. When his father died he became chieftain of the tribe. He wanted to get all of the Mongol tribes together so that he would have a larger army to attack the Chinese. So he made people follow him by telling them that if they didn't follow him then he would kill them. Most of them followed him but those who didn't were killed. But then he had his army of all of the Mongol armies. So they were nomads and they never settled they kept on moving and killing other people. They could go without food four a few days, but if they really needed food then they cut open the horses veins and drank some blood and then patched it up. The icy cold weather couldn't stop them. They sometimes greased there skin to make the wind not make them colder. Everyone was afraid of them so they could take them down pretty easy. Then they came to China and broke down the walls and took the riches from the people inside Beijing.

Ex-barbarians

So there were these barbarians that went close to Rome and then they saw how they built houses and they bathed and they did a lot of stuff. Then the barbarians started doing this and called themselves the Gauls. Then some other barbarian tribes came and settled there. One of the barbarians tribes names were the Franks. Then they heard that the Huns were coming. They were afraid of the Huns. So they didn't like each other but they liked the Huns even less. So they joined together and the Leader was a Frank and his name was Merovius. He led them into battle and they defeated the Huns. But then they separated again. Then Merovius's grandson Clovis wanted everyone to be together and he wanted to be the leader, so he married a princess Clotilda. She was a Burgundian. He killed all of the romans in Gaul and made the Franks join alliance with him. Then he was ruler of all of the barbarian tribes. Clotilda was a Christian and she wanted Clovis to be a Christian too. But he refused and one day in a battle he saw that his men were being slaughtered. But then he asked God to help him and he would do anything if he won the battle and then his soldiers started fighting amazingly and he won the battle. He went to a bishop and he became Christian.

Blender

So Blender is a 3d animation course for kids. They can animate objects to move and to bounce and roll, do flips, and also jump over pillars. It is really cool. They first show you how to do something then they have a review then they have a troubleshooting thing which you have to fix the broken animation and you also get points which you can get characters and stuff in the background to make it look really cool. You also have to put a lot of key frames to make it move. Also rotation key frames to make it rotate. You also have to go into something called the half and graph to make him jump. You can also animate the cameras that are in it. You also can make the main character Nobbie get away from a big rolling ball. You can also do some cool keyboard shortcuts. The you can render it which is a really long process but it makes it look so amazing. It only takes about 2 days for a 1000 frame thing. You can also make different scenes.

Bernini

So Bernini was a Italian sculpture and architect. He wasn't as famous as Michelangelo but he was still really good. He sculpted David and I think it is better than Michelangelo. But he has his own style, it is called the Baroque style. It was a medieval style and Michelangelo's was a reconnaissance style. The Baroque style was more action and it makes you like have to duck and makes you think that you are in the scene. Michelangelo makes it more beautiful like you just want to look at it. He was born in December 7 1598 in Naples Italy He died on November 28 1680 In Rome Italy.

The Pheoenicians

So the Phoenicians were really good sailer's that lived to the north of Canaan. But it was hard to plant wheat where they lived because it was all rocky and sandy and dry. So they used there boats and sailed the Mediterranean sea, and became traders. They started cutting down trees to build homes. The Phoenicians were famous for making glass. Making glass in the ancient times was a long hard complicated process. So they started out by making a chemical called lye by putting water on the ashes that were left over from the fire. Then they collected the liquid that oozed out of it. Then they mixed the lye liquid with sand and then put it over a fire to melt it and to get it really hot. But it was hard to melt sand so they had to use these bellowing machines tat got it really really hot which melted the sand. Then they cooled it down so it turned into glass. Other ancient people made glass so they weren't the first people who invented glass but they were the first who invented glass blowing. It works like this, instead of putting it into a mold they would put it into a pipe and then they would blow gently and it would form a bubble, then they could twist it. They also put dye into it so they could color it.

Rome vs Carthage

So both Rome and Carthage were both hungry for more land. So they fought each other for it. So They went in the water and both fought on the water with ships. But it was stalemate the whole time so one of the Carthage generals named Hannibal. He led his Elephants to the alps where the roman soldiers were camping. They heard strange noises and then saw the elephants. Some of the romans had never seen elephants and ran in terror. The elephants started burning some of the roman cities and the soldiers ran to Rome. One of the roman generals was smart though and led the best roman troops straight to Carthage. The people at Carthage were not expecting this and got scared, they called for Hannibal to come back and help them. But it was to late Hannibal's troops were to tired and to worn out burning cities that they couldn't fight the romans and they were defeated.

Bones

So one crazy thing about bones is that there are 50% of all of our bones in just our hands and feet! And also 10% of our body is broken and then rebuilt every single year. Also if we didn't have bones then we would be like blobs. There are also four parts of the bone. The fibrous outer lining, spongy bone, compact bone and the bone marrow.

My mean dad

My mean dad won't let me go shovel the high school soccer field. I was trying to do something nice for the high school and for the country. But he doesn't want to. I also wanted to play soccer there but he says nooooo! I think he doesn't like soccer. I also almost got a concussion and he says I should rest, what a rude compliment. I think it will be amazing for my soccer skills because I can shovel out paths and then dribble and pass threw them. He hasn't even seen the soccer field yet and he says IT IS SNOWED IN! He is very mean.