I'm peacefully plowing crops in the fields when a sound like thunder rings out. 

Footsteps follow. I drop the hoe. It strikes the soft ground and I know it will leave a mark, but my confusion is rampant. In the foggy distance I see a head on quick horseback, and then another, and then another. They wear pointy metal caps and shiny red armor. Their faces are like mine, but not their expressions. They're at least a mile away, but I run for the hills.

"They're coming! They're coming!" I pant as I sprint toward the village. My feet create prints in the soggy brown soil. I almost slip on a half-dying green plant a few hundred yards from the main land. What will happen to our crops? Or worse... our people? 

Dread fills me. I hear shouts. I'm not sure whether they belong to our villagers or the ruthless barbarians of the north. My feet turn heavy. I'm out of breath. My feet are dirty and blistered. 

"Help!" someone cries out. I look behind me. The invaders are nowhere to be seen, and neither is the source of the shout. A piercing shriek from the same direction, to my left. In my peripheral vision, I see a small figure with black hair and no shoes dash past me. It's a little girl, but not the one who cried out. 

I feel terrible for not stopping to help, but I cannot stop running. They need me. But the invaders have come. My father predicted this day. That is, the day the northerners came. Some saw them as allies, but those were soon overridden with depictions of them as cruel warmongers. I'm afraid the latter is true now.

I stop running when I see our shanty huts and collapse on the ground. Something hard hits my head. A rock? No. Whatever I was thinking slips away from me. So does my life. I'm a victim of the Mongols now. And I'm the first of many.

Our Core Concentration blog assignment for today was to explain several Chinese achievements and tell which one we thought personally was the greatest and why. This ties in with our current History unit on China. 

China was and is one of the greatest and longest-lasting civilizations the world has ever known. During its many Golden Ages, it achieved many great things. Many revolutionary inventions still seen today trace their origins to China. Most of the achievements we're studying, though, come from two famous dynasties, or ruling families, in China - the Song and Tang. 

China, as mentioned above, is the source of many great historical achievements, including inventions like gunpowder, the iron and coal industry, movable-type printing, and a type of calculator used in banking called an abacus. Personally, I think the most important invention to come out of China was the use of paper money as currency. Before this was invented, metals were used to make coins as currency all over the world. When the then-called "flying money" was invented, it was frowned upon. Soon after in the Song dynasty, it became the official Chinese currency. Nowadays it is used all over the world. We call our own paper money "dollar bills".

This particular assignment ties into our unit because as well as learning about the history of China, we're also learning about its greatness, achievements, and legacy. Inventions from China are seen all around us. They helped shape the civilization, attitude, and history as well as the world. Paper money definitely made trade within villages and with other civilizations just that much more easy and up-to-date.

Our Core Concentration blog assignment for today was to name three things we are thankful for and explain why we are thankful for them.

The first thing I am thankful for is my family. This seems like a basic answer, but when you think about it, your family is like your very first teachers. They handed life to you and they help you through it. That's the best gift you can give in life, I think. So many children across the world do not have parents or families to help them, but I am grateful for what my parents do for and give to me. 

The second thing I'd like to say I'm thankful for is the Internet. The Internet has become not only a method of international communication, but one of the ways to reach out into the world. I am so privileged to have these technological advantages and this type of enriched education thanks to computers and the Internet as well as basic things like writing and reading. The Internet is rapidly changing the face of the future and our species. 

The third and probably oddest thing I'm thankful for is The Beatles. That sounds like a stupid thing to say, but The Beatles influenced everyone and everything around them, including myself and my outlook on many things. Anything that makes you happy enough to dance around to is worth thanking.

There are a lot of other things that I'm certainly thankful for, too, but those are the main three. Most of all, I'm thankful that I'm alive, go to a good school, and am on track to get a good education. Thanksgiving is a time to realize privilege and pitch in to say thanks to those who have gotten you there. 

Our Core Concentration blog assignment for today was to write about griots and what role they played in West African society and history.

A griot, pronounced gree-OH, is a West African storyteller who is responsible for keeping the oral history and record of a certain community. Being a griot takes skill in memory, oral recitation, and public presence. As a result, griots are valued highly and respected in their villages and community. No major early West African civilization had a written language, so griots were completely responsible for passing down local history. Another thing to know is that griots were not usually paid -- they did their service out of love for the community and its history.

In addition to reciting stories and history, griots also teach moral lessons by reciting old local proverbs or epic poems. Like the more famous Greek epics, West African epic poems told lessons in history and morals by using fantastic or mythical creatures and beings. Griots were found in all sorts of West African communities and empires. Often it was a griot who was responsible for teaching the king or a young monarch the history of their family. There were and are several griots in West Africa. Many grandparents teach lessons to family members and took on a griot role, whether or not they had been appointed.

A griot's area of performance and expertise is not limited to oral stories and myths. Oftentimes several griots got together and acted out a historical event like a scene from a play in order to build an accurate picture in the learners' minds. Many of these plays, myths, and stories told of local events like the birth of a great king or the founding of the society and empire. For example, here are many legends surrounding Sundiata, the first emperor of Mali. Often, griots retelling this story would get names mixed up and history would be distorted. This does, however, make tales of the story unique, as every rendition has different elements and morals. 

Our Core Concentration blog assignment for today was to write about our favorite thing about fall and why it is our favorite.

Our Core Concentration blog prompt for today is to explain how and why the discovery of iron helped the region of West Africa grow and develop as much as it did. This answer seems pretty simple, but it's actually kind of detailed and complex. 

The answer is that iron helped Africa in lots of ways. It gave the people new material to make metal products such as weapons and farming tools. It helped certain empires more than others and made several of them rich and powerful. Iron was traded lots and when these trades got tough, it was used to make spears, arrows, etc. Iron helped locally to make tools for farming and irrigation, which helped the people of these empires and this region prosper enough to put it to use. Iron could even help in the long journeys that nomads took across the Sahara Desert and was used as a decoration like the relative discovery of gold. Like many other innovative discoveries, it worked and helped in a kind of cycle. 

The first people to discover iron and use it were the Nok people of West Africa. They used it in secret for awhile, but soon other peoples wanted the secret. Nowadays iron is used all across the world. Also, it seems a bit weird that we're referring to an industry from hundreds to thousands of years ago "technology", but technology can actually refer to any kind of new product utilized usefully for things like communication, trade, and personal needs. Iron is one of the oldest kinds of technology and certainly one of the most famous. Just remember, anytime you see a product and identify it as iron, remember who discovered it.

There are several climate regions in the continent of Africa, but the four major ones are the desert, the sahel, the savanna, and the rainforest. Our blog assignment for today is to write about the differences between them.

Of all of these climates, the desert is probably the dryest and the least ideal for living. Usually the wildlife of a desert is quite plain, but African deserts are home to much unique wildlife. Several indigenous peoples and kingdoms developed in Africa's most famous deserts, like the Sahara and the Kalahari.

The sahel is a quite vegetative area of Africa between deserts. It is a very thin strip of land, though. Several noteworthy peoples in Africa developed here, too. These civilizations are called the Sahelian kingdoms. We are currently studying them in Core class.

The savanna is another name for a grassland. Africa's most recognizable and noteworthy animals tend to live here, and the plant life is very much developed and an interest to botanists. The first people probably developed in the savannas of Africa millions of years ago. 

Trade helped Islam spread enormously. Historically, trade was how cultures and peoples mixed and blended. Trade was fundamental to Islam's growth because it helped word spread to other people. Trade  arguments could spark wars, which led to conquests and conversions. Trade could also spread word of Islam without invasions. Travelers and traders could venture abroad to great market cities and lands with religious foundations or upbringings. Perhaps many of the items sold in trade and marketing had religious connotations or connections and generated curiosity in the buyers. Political alliances with other peoples could have led to mass conquest and conversions.

Once the Islamic Empire was fairly large and able to dominate, the religion began to spread more quickly, since more people were able to spread the word about it. Caliphs and armies made great trips to other lands to make sometimes peaceful, sometimes warlike conversions. Growth of cities brought new traditions and often new religions from immigrants. 

Whether it was purposeful or not, Islam was definitely spread through trade with other peoples. 

In Core class, we are learning about Islam and its main beliefs and principles. Our assignment today is to blog about which of the Five Pillars of Islam is the hardest for Muslims to follow and why.

If I was a Muslim, I think the hardest pillar to follow would be fasting during the month of Ramadan or praying five times a day. I understand that Ramadan is for holy purposes and cleansing oneself, but to be real, abstaining from eating is hard for most people. Secondly, getting to a valid praying location like a mosque five times a day would also be difficult, since I could not do it at school or program an alarm to wake me up before sundown. Usually Islamic boarding schools allow set prayer times for students during the day, but most Muslim families and most Muslim schoolchildren do not have the time to pray so frequently.

However, I think an important part of being a Muslim is being able to follow all five pillars and obey them not in the name of a specific church, but in the name of God the holiest. Islam is a deeply misunderstood religion especially in the United States, but people of all faiths fo their hardest to live up to God's image for man; it doesn't really matter which pillar is the hardest to obey, doing the thing that God would approve of is. I think when Muslims or anyone of faith gives to charity or helps another person, they must momentarily pretend that God does not exist and extend their hand and heart out to the person to help them truly, not in the name of religion. 

In Core class, we are beginning to study the roots and core beliefs of Islam. This Abrahamic, monotheistic religion was founded by a Meccan man named Muhammad, who is said to be Allah's prophet. Our assignment on our blog today is to investigate who Muhammad was, what kind of person he was, and why his teachings are still so influential today.

Muhammad was born a merchant who lived a difficult early life until he married into wealth in about 595 AD. This is probably why Muhammad was so empathetic with others and able to connect with their struggles and hardships, as he had once been poor and underprivileged himself. He was wealthy and had children when he began prophesizing, but he believed in charity and giving back to those who do not have what you can give. This instinct was one that Muhammad possessed naturally, and he was able to utilize it when he began to receive messages from Allah. 

Muhammad was also, most likely, charming and able to influence others' opinions and beliefs. Often times, when one has this "power" (it is called "charisma"), they use it for the bad. Muhammad used his social skills and power over people to teach and connect with others. People were very interested in what he had to say because Arabia and the Arabic people had suffered hardships for many years and were open to this new optimistic and purposeful new kind of outlook on life. Muhammad was secretive of the messages he had been receiving for about 3 years after the first one, but he was able to preach to people and make it sound truthful  After all, a 40-year-old merchant from Mecca's teachings still resonate and are taught today, so, true or not, this man and his teachings were definitely something powerful.