When your child typing a copy of something, here is a simple way to prop up the paper to make it easier for your child to see.
When typing the first half of the paper, fold the paper in half with the text facing forward, and slip the bottom half of the paper under the keyboard as shown in the picture above. 
When typing the second half re-fold the paper in the opposite direction, then prop it up behind the keyboard like a tent, as shown in the picture above. 
Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John is a beautifully written story of
forgiveness and redemption that had a profound impact on me as a child. The story it holds, and powerful Christian message carried with it, has stuck with me through the years, and it was a joy to share this book with my own children.
The story circles through several Christmases in the
lives of two children, a boy and a girl. At
first, you see the story through the eyes of the little girl and the boy is portrayed as the "villain"...but then
the story shifts and we see things through his eyes. It continues to
switch back and forth between their perspectives throughout the rest of
the story.
And in the background of the unfolding drama is the beautiful Swiss alps,
exquisitely captured so that you can feel the crisp air, hear the crunch
of the snow, see the wildflowers dotting the hillside, and feel the height of the steep ravines and the chill of a
swirling blizzard.
Something that I didn't remember until I was reading it with my own
homeschooling child, was that the little girl is homeschooled for a
while towards the beginning of the story, so that she can take care of
her little brother. Even though this only brief part of the story, lasting the span of a single chapter, it was nice
to have that little moment of connection when reading it to my son.
And, with its beginning and end set at Christmas time, and it's advent length of 25 chapters, it's the perfect book to read over the holidays.
Revised and Original Versions
Unfortunately, if you want to read St. John's beautiful original prose, you will have to get an older version of the book. The newest version is an adaption, and while the re-write stays faithful to the original story and I don't think it's badly done, I do prefer the original writing by Patricia St. Johns better, myself. But the story is wonderful no matter which version you get.
Here is a comparison of some lines from the original and latest revised version (there have been several revised versions versions). That way you can see for yourself, and help you make your own decision which you prefer.
ORIGINAL:
They had come to a parting of ways. The crumbly white snow-path lined
with sled tracks divided. A few hundred yards along the right fork
stood a group of houses with light shining in their windows and dark
barns behind them. Annette was nearly home.
REVISED VERSION: They
had come to where the crumbly white path divided. A few hundred yards
along the right fork stood a group of chalets with lights shining in
their windows and dark barns standing behind them. Annette was nearly
home.
ORIGINAL: Now, as she stood along among the snow and stars,
it seemed a pity to go in just yet and break the spell. She waited as
she reached the steps leading up to the balcony and looked around.
REVISED VERSION: The magic stayed with her, and now, as she stood alone among
the snow and stars, it seemed a pity to go in just yet and break the
spell. She hesitated as she reached the steps leading up to the balcony
and looked around.
...
I do admit that I like the new version a little better in one part, due actually to a small piece of content that was omitted:
ORIGINAL: "That's the best way up the Matterhorn," he said eagerly, tracing out the path with his finger; "that's the way I shall climb it first" --and Annette, swinging her legs beside him, wished she were a boy, too, so that she could climb mountains.
The adaption here is the same, but they leave about the part where Annette wishes she was a boy so she could climb mountains. It's the one part of this story that made me wince a little for how it was dates, but it's something that I would talk with my kids about, about how times have changed and that was just how things were at that time (not that girls couldn't climb mountains, but that it was thought they couldn't).
I've noticed that almost all versions have some minor changes in wording, but the one's written while Patrica St. John was still alive are at least her revisions. When I refer to "original" version below, I mean ones with only Patricia St. John's own revisions, and by "revised" versions, I mean ones that have revisions by another author.
Whichever version you prefer, below is a guide to help you find the version you want.
ORIGINAL VERSION COVERS
(Ones I know about at least)
Here are the covers I've been able to confirm are the original version or a version that was edited by the original author (as she edited a little bit over the years)... and thanks to some helpful book-lovers at Reshelving Alexandria and the eBay seller book-mole I was able to get some good pictures of these books too. There are others that I either don't have a picture of or don't know whether it's the original version. However, one of the books I have said the first revised edition was published in 1999, and the author, sadly, passed away in 1993, so any published before that should be the original versions or versions that she edited herself. A second revised version was published in 2007.
I've been able to find some of these older versions at Thriftbooks, Ebay, and on Amazon used.
Don't have a yard suitable to doing fun archaeology digs in? Well, then just try layer cake!
I can't claim to have come up with this brilliant idea. That honor goes to amazing homeschool mom Megan Evans who made the archaeology/paleontology cake below, and graciously allowed me to share her photos of it here.
She didn't have a yard so she baked "artifacts" into a layer cake to "excavate" later. That is the tastiest archeology dig I've ever heard of.
On the top we have a scrumptious campsite.
Then underneath we see the layers.
I like how she made the layers from
different color cake mix.
In the middle layer, a grave with grave goods.
(Love the use of the ring as a crown!)
And for the bottom layer, moving from
archaeology to paleontology,
we have dinosaurs.
This is a project that would be so worth the sugar rush. If you didn't want to eat through all that cake at once I could see gradually "excavating" it over several days. For older kids you could have them string the top area off like a real archeology dig and diagram where they found things in the cake. Such fun! Thanks Megan for sharing this great idea!
TRIVIA
Below are the videos to watch in chronological order. I've organized this semi-chronologically by topic. Some topics take a day, some topics will take much longer. Videos labeled "series" contain a playlist of multiple videos. The videos listed on the left are ones that cover broad topics, and the videos in the bullet lists under them are extra videos related to this topic. I've listed key videos in bold, while unbolded videos are less essential are and can be skipped.
MESOPOTAMIA PART I - AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION
The Agricultural Revolution: Crash Course World History #1
- Worksheet: Discussion Questions
ANCIENT INDIA PART I - INDUS VALLEY
Indus Valley Civilization: Crash Course World History #2
MESOPOTAMIA
EGYPT
KERMA & NUBIA/KUSH
Ancient Kerma and Nubia/Kush - Lost Kingdomas of Africa
Note: On this page scroll down to the history section, and I have a list of the sections of this video by minutes, if you want to watch just certain sections.
AND/OR WATCH
The Kingdom of Kush - TedEd (shorter than the above)
BRONZE AGE COLLAPSE
Note, this is a good time to stop and review many of the nations covered previously, as from this point we move away from the regions of Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Levant and move into Greece and Rome and Asia. The reason for that is largely, a mysterious collapse of many of those civilizations around this time.
Both of the following videos are excellent, and cover enough that's different that it might be worth watching both, but they also overlap quite a bit so you might choose just one.
The Bronze Age Collapse SERIES - Extra History (1200 and 1150 BC)
This one, in addition to very thoroughly covering the Bronze age collapse, also briefly covers Levant/Mediterranean area civilizations of Egypt, The Hittites, Assyrian, and the Mycenaeans in it's first episode. I don't yet have another resource that covers the Mycenaeans well...so you might choose to watch at least the first episode just for that, if you don't watch the rest (though the whole thing is worthwhile).
AND/OR WATCH
Civilizations by Crash Course
This one covers the Bronze age Collapse much more briefly than the Extra History series above, and uses this as a springboard to talk about "what makes a civilization" and brings in some alternative ideas about that. If you've already watched the Extra History series, this one is worth adding on, just for that extra discussion.
GREEKS (AND PERSIANS)
The Persians & Greeks: Crash Course World History #5
Alexander the Great - Crash Course World History #8
MONEY AND WRITING - A CROSS CIVILIZATION OVERVIEW
The Alphabet - Origins of Writing - Extra History
The History of Paper Money - Origins of Exchange - Extra History - #1
(NOTE: This one travels far out of our time frame, but does start in ancient times)
ANCIENT INDIA - PART II
Buddha and Ashoka: Crash Course World History #6
ANCIENT CHINA
2,000 Years of Chinese History! The Mandate of Heaven and Confucius: Crash Course World History #7
Worksheet: Discussion Questions
THE ROMANS - PART I
The Roman Empire. Or Republic. Or...Which Was It? - Crash Course World History #10
THE CELTS
The Rise and Fall of Celtic Warriors
CHRISTIANITY + JUDAISM
(Yes, I realize I need to cover Judaism much earlier...and would love suggestions of resources).
Christianity from Judaism to Constantine: Crash Course World History #11
- Worksheet: Discussion Questions
THE ROMANS - PART II
Extra History: 3rd Century Crisis (series)
Fall of The Roman Empire...in the 15th Century: Crash Course World History #12
The History of Rome in 20 Minutes (nice summary to re-cap)
CONTENT WARING: Brief mention of a rape, Renaissance paintings containing nudity.
OTHER PLAYLISTS
I have not vetted all these videos, but I found another interesting playlist for ancient history here.
OTHER ERAS?
No, I haven't done other eras like this. I did start notes for a video list aligned to Story of the World Volume II (The Middle Ages). It's really rough, not at all edited for "best videos" (some I hadn't even watched yet...just took a note of) and you'll only find "by chapter" section is after a "add later" section which is not as well sorted. But I thought you all might appreciate having this anyways so feel free to use it until I make something better (if that ever happens).
Why didn't I align the Ancient History list SOTW Ancient Times chapters too? Well, I made this list our second time around when I was doing history through a different curriculum that went by civilization, not so much chronologically.
