Clay Castles

We're still working on history in fits and starts.  One day we read a bunch of books about castles (none of them were so fantastic that I felt they needed to be mentioned on the blog) and then tried to make castles out of clay.

It was pretty much a flop.

The kids had a lot of fun, however.  I even baked their creations and let them paint the next day.  Yes, you read that right.  I let my children paint.  I'm basically a rock star.

Viking Era Historical Fiction Reviews from Miriam

Argh, I am behind AGAIN!  I forgot to post this way back when we finished the Viking Era (800-1000 AD).  Miriam was unwilling to go into great detail about these books, but she did give them star rankings, which I hope is helpful.  

Miriam turned 11 this month (wowsers) and she enjoys books at grade level and significantly higher.

Viking Quest books, including Raiders from the Sea, by Lois Walfrid Johnson.  Miriam: I loved them.  I would give them 10 stars.

(That's a crazy high recommendation.  These were by far her favorite "assigned" books she's read so far this year.)

The Namesake: A Story of King Alfred by C. Walter Hodges.  Miriam: 3 stars; I liked it. 

Black Fox of Lorne by Marguerite de Angeli.  Miriam: I loved it, 5 stars.

Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland.  Miriam: I liked it, 4 stars.

The Shipwreck by Jorn Riel.  Miriam: I liked it, 4 stars.

There you have it.  Miriam might be getting the Raiders From the Sea series for Christmas.  Shhhh, don't tell.  :)

Medieval Historical Fiction Novels for the Intermediate Reader

(I had to find an historical redhead since that is most apropos for my house.)

Although we haven't gotten through as much of the Middle Ages as I had hoped, we have still had a delightful time with what we've studied.  As I've mentioned before, Miriam (age 10, advanced reader) is assigned extra books to read for all of our units.  I recently made her stop reading long enough to attach a rating to each of the books she's read for history so far.  I thought it would be helpful to see which books she liked the best.  

Ahem.  

Mostly she likes every book and is irritated when her mother presses her for details.  Despite their uniformity, her ratings might be useful to you, so here is the first installment (she has two books left from the Viking unit so I'll be posting those shortly).  I'm including links to amazon only to facilitate your reading more reviews if you are interested.  I haven't read most of these books and have only Miriam's limited reviews to pass along so I thought amazon readers could help provide more insight.

400-600 AD

The Story of the Champions of the Round Table by Howard Pyle.  Miriam: "I liked it.  Four stars." A collection of King Arthur stories.  

Augustine Came to Kent by Barbara Willard.  Miriam: "I really liked it. Four stars."  

Now, when Miriam read the book she was super excited about it, told me the whole plot line, then told me to read it.  Which I did.  I thought it was a perfect historical fiction for an intermediate reader and a great introduction to Christianity during the Middle Ages and how different areas of the world interacted.  This is the story of Augustine leading a group of Christian missionaries into Britain and establishing their religion there.  

The White Stag by Kate Seredy.  Miriam: "I liked it.  Three stars."  This is about the Huns and Magyars during the collapse of the Roman Empire.  

700-900 AD

The Story of Roland by James Baldwin.  Miriam: "I liked it.  Three stars."  This is about a French baron, Roland, during the time of Charlemagne.  I was excited to find something for Miriam to read about Charlemagne because the pickings are slim.

The Edge on the Sword by Rebecca Tingle.  Miriam: "I loved it!  Five stars!"  This has, obviously, been one of Miriam's very favorite assigned books.  It is about the daughter of King Alfred--a Saxon king.  Apparently the main character is the "greatest woman in Old English history."  According to amazon reviews this is a good pick for boys despite the female protagonist because there is a lot of military strategy involved in the story.

That's it.  I will try and ask for Miriam's reviews as she reads the books, instead of months later, to get a fresher perspective.  Right now she's in the middle of one of her last two Viking era books.  I'll post about them soon.

Let's Go a'Viking!: Unit Overview

My good friend told me that she was super excited to see my Viking unit.  She shouldn't have been.  Since my kids have been obsessed with Vikings and all things Thor (no, they haven't seen any of the movies) for ages, I cut this part of Medieval history pretty short.

Day One:

• Read Viking Warriors by Tony D. Triggs 
• play on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/vikings/who_were_the_vikings/.

Day Two:

• Read about "Aud the Deep-Minded" in Outrageous Women of the Middle Ages by Vicki Leon
• Play Timeline (just for fun, but it is on my official schedule so I included it here)
• Color and put in order the timeline found at http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/worksheets/vikings/cut_out_make_timeline.pdf
• Add other important events we've covered into the timeline (Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire, the Fall of Rome, Byzantine Empire and spread of Islam, Barbarians--Attila the Hun)
• Look at this map: http://historymedren.about.com/library/atlas/blateurodex.htm and discuss where Normans/Franks, Saxons, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings should be located on the map
• Look at these maps: http://www.timeref.com/mapindx.htm 
• Print off copies of this map: http://www.timeref.com/blankmaps/crusade_master.jpg and have kids fill it in with the right people and places for Viking times

Day Three (this works out to a short day for us because of Miriam's sewing class):

• Read The Vikings by Robert Nicholson and Claire Watts

Day Four

• Read Eric the Red by Neil Grant
• Play Timeline (I'm a bit obsessed :)), have each child fill out a Viking Travel Journal that can be  purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers.  Here's the linky: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Vikings-Students-Create-a-Viking-Travel-Journal-69903

Day Five

• Play Timeline
• Make a Viking longship as described here: http://www.looledo.com/index.php/viking-ship.html

I laugh at myself for my obsession with having my children play Timeline, but I always had (have) such a weak grasp of the historical timeline that I want my childrne to have a better chance of seeing the big picture so they can fill in the gaps later, rather than only having a lot of specific knowledge and no big picture.  

Battle of Hastings

My sister, Kami, is a seamstress who likes to make authentic period clothing.  Remember my Halloween Scottish outfits?  Yep, she made them.

 Below is a "Heidi" outfit Kami made for my niece who lives in Switzerland.

Below are my very favorite outfits Kami ever made.  Such adorable gnomes!!!  For the record, Sebastian's outfit is modeled on a traditional Norwegian outfit.

Here's the traditional Norwegian outfit.

If you're not impressed by gnomes, here is Dread Pirate Sebastian.

Because my sister likes to look at authentic costumes, she is a big fan of reenactments of any sort.  When I told her that I was starting our Viking unit she immediately emailed me some great links to Viking reenactments.

Then she sent me a link to an incredible reenactment of the Battle of Hastings.  Truth be told, I didn't know what the Battle of Hastings was or its significance until last week.  If you don't know either, it is the battle that the Saxons lost to the Normans, allowing the Normans (French) to take over England for a time.  Tonight we read in our Barbarians! book that the Battle of Hastings came quite soon after a Saxon vs. Viking battle wherein the Vikings lost, signifying the end of the Viking era.

I hope I didn't lose you in all that.

If you are interested, here is the amazing youtube video about the reenactment--the largest reenactment ever, involving thousands of participants.  It was awesome to watch.

The Battle of Hastings reminds me of another spectacular history reference--the game "Timeline."  Each player is given four or five cards (or more if you want the game to last longer) with a picture and brief description of an event on the front.  One card is drawn as the reference point then each player takes turns placing their cards in the right order using the first card as a reference.  Basically you are putting together a timeline.  I had the Battle of Hastings once in a game and I had no idea what that was.

You might think this game is only for older kids, but my 8 year old beat us all once.  The pictures on the front of the card are very helpful in narrowing down when something happened and you don't need to know the exact date, just the date in relation to the cards already in play.

It is one of my favorite games ever.  Unless we play "Timeline: Discovery and Invention," which is not my favorite game because I lose every time.  Grr!  Historical events are the easiest and science discoveries are the hardest for me.

I *highly* recommend this game.  You can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/Timeline-Historical-Events-Card-Game/dp/2914849869/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390964960&sr=8-1&keywords=timeline.

A fun resource for Vikings is this BBC site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/vikings/who_were_the_vikings/.  I let my children play around on it for an hour the other day.  I don't know if they learned anything but they sure had fun!

Farrier Field Trip

 This is my parent's place and my parent's horses and my parent's son (aka my brother Wyatt).  I'm editing a paper for him and he paid me in advance by giving a horse shoeing demonstration.

 We're studying the Middle Ages this year--I think I've mentioned that.  Around 900 AD iron horseshoes were introduced and had a profound impact on fighting.  Horseshoes allowed for a more viable cavalry.  Therefore, we needed a farrier demo.  Thanks again, Wyatt for shoeing a horse for me!!

 The kids were pretty excited.  None of the kids who attended, except mine, had ridden a horse.  The littles lost interest in the shoeing after a bit, but they came rushing back for the riding portion of the activity.  The older kids watched the whole shoeing demonstration and were also pretty thrilled to ride.

 The cats were also a big hit.

 I wish I had pictures of the riding but I was busy leading a horse and riders around the corral.  After the riding we all went on a hike up a canyon in the Wellsvilles by Mendon.  It was gorgeous.  Unfortunately, the younger kids were pretty tired and I packed Harriet almost the whole time.  She's no lightweight.  Still, it was beautiful and the weather was amazing and I was with good friends.  It was a lovely day.

Renaissance Faire that Wasn't

 We tried to go to a Renaissance Faire recently.  My sister, Kami, made us these fabulous Medieval Scottish costumes and we are studying the Middle Ages this year so it was only logical to go.

 It was freezing.  Literally.  It snowed.  We arrived, paid our money, watched the Bird of Prey show-- which was excellent--and then tried to tough it out until the jousting.

 See the cool costumes?

 Harriet at the Birds of Prey show.

 A jester.

 Some of the vendor tents.

While we were trying to tough it out until the jousting, it started to rain.  A downpour of epic proportions (for Utah).  I huddled in a jewelry tent with five of my children, the tent owners, and some very disturbing jewelry featuring skeletons, and waited for it to end.

We waited.  And waited.  And waited.  And waited--while trying to keep Oskar and Harriet warm enough and the other kids from breaking anything.  Finally, when it started to rain/snow the King (that was his costume and he had knighted someone) came in and said that the jousting was cancelled because it was too dangerous for the horses.

That made the decision to leave really easy except that I had no idea where Miriam was.  This is a normal state of affairs, so I wasn't worried.  I had last seen her by some other tents so we headed into the freezing rain to try and find her in that general direction.  Three steps out a woman stopped me and asked me if I was missing a redheaded girl.  God gave me and Miriam both red hair as a natural tracking system.  He is perfectly wise.

I followed the woman to the tent for lost children, retrieved my daughter and headed to the van.  When we were all inside and the heater was revving up I said to Miriam, "I'm surprised you ended up in the tent for lost kids.  That isn't your style."

To which Miriam replied, "I know!  It surprised me too!"

The girl is hilarious.  Apparently some well-intentioned adult noticed Miriam was on her own, asked her where her Mom was, then hauled her off to the lost child tent because Miriam freezes under pressure and couldn't come up with a coherent answer like, "I've spent 99% of my life lost.  No worries."

The kids were all so disappointed, especially Cowen.  He was aching to see the jousting.  I felt bad so I stopped at Kents on the way home and bought some hot chocolate and whipped cream in a can.  My kids were amazed and overjoyed.  We had bean with bacon soup and a hot chocolate confection to warm us up.  Then I let the kids play with baking soda and vinegar.  I know we did another crafty thing after that but I can't remember what.  Then I popped popcorn and let the kids watch a movie.

Not a complete loss of a day, but a little disappointing nonetheless.

Middle Ages Mosaics

 With great sadness I have to admit that we've been doing a lot more science than history these days.  My kids are warped and weird and love science.  Argh!  I have managed to work history in here and there.  We skimmed through the book in the above pic on the Byzantine Empire and then we made mosaics.

I got a bunch of paint samples from Lowe's, let the kids envision their picture, pick a cardstock color, draw their pictures, choose their paint samples, cut the samples, and then glue the little pieces onto their picture.

That was a terribly long sentence.  I apologize.

When we were done for the day I tried to throw away the excess tiny pieces of paper and my children had a collective nervous breakdown.  They had more mosaics to make!  More creative energies to expend!

There is now a ziploc bag of cut up paint samples in our craft drawer.  Fair warning--this is not a tidy craft and it lingers.

 Cowen's wolf.

 Miriam's  . . . something.

 Harriet's artwork.

 Emeline's Cutie Thing.

Miriam's Flowers.

I also showed my children the incredible mosaic my sister made when she was in high school.  Here's the linky.  You should see it for the mosaic but also for the cut paper art around the edge.  Crazy awesome, Kami!

http://thelatorrefamily.blogspot.com/2013/09/beehives-and-mosai.html

Mom, When Can I Have a Falcon?

 My friend Julie planned a fabulous field trip that took place last Friday.  We met at a park and the head of the Utah Falconry Association brought his two falcons and taught us about falcons, how you get them, how you hunt with them, and everything else falconry related.  It was awesome.

 Cowen lucked out and was chosen to be the assistant.  He was able to hold one of the falcons.  He's been asking for one of his own ever since.  (He missed the part where the presenter said that falcons make terrible pets.  They are loud and messy and bite.)

 Homeschoolers.

 Awesome!

Not a falcon, but still pretty cool.  Yes, those are my sunglasses.  *sigh*