Mapping out the Middle Ages

We will begin the next season of schooling here the end of this week, with a jaunt thru the Middle Ages. We have an interest here with knights, castles, Robin Hood and King Arthur's legends so I'm planning out the next year to focus on this time frame.
I am totally not above exploiting a current interest for the sake of schooling!

So, for the past few weeks I have been browsing websites and book lists, printing reams of pages for lengthy lapbook and notebook selections, organizing our necessary readers here at home, downloading free resources to iBooks and our Kindle app, and browsing used books for deals on good books to use this next season. I have been to AmblesideOnline, Tanglewood Curriculum We will utilize the idea of notebooking and lapbooking for the majority of our work this year. With a topic like Medieval Times, we probably won't stick to conventional lapbooking though, and will put together a mutated version combining the best of both styles.  I am looking at inexpensive artist sketch books for our notebook foundation. If I can't find them on the cheap, we will probably just go with bulk cardstock or cover stock paper and 3-hole them into binders.

I have now re-organized our main school shelves to accommodate our resources, loaded several large binders with print-outs ready for use, set up the work boxes to organize the daily work, and I am hoping to find goodies to decorate our bulletin board as well.



So...what are our plans? Varied, of course, with my range of ages from 6yo up to 14yo. My main helper day to day will be my right hand, 17yo daughter. Here's our general layout...

Bible
Calvary Children's Ministry lessons, 1-2 lessons/week, keeping the subject together
Understanding Charlotte a CM blog has some reading plans already laid out as well We will probably pick up with these and notebook/illustrate each reading for our notebooks
Amblesideonline's Hymn Study, 1/week
Little Folded Hands, Prayers for Children for memory work and skills

Math/Grammar
Our core in these areas has been Rod and Staff texts for the past handful of years, and we're not making any changes there. I do go back and forth using Ray's Arithmetic and the original 1836 version of McGuffey Readers for supplement and quiz work though. Dollar Homeschool has a good price for the entire eclectic education series' (Rays, McGuffey, Harvey's, Thalheimer's and Norton's) all contained in CD form.
We always find bits and pieces online to pad out our lessons and supply extra work or just fun work, such as here
In addition to this, we have spelling daily, and the middles do a lesson in Apples daily.
We will be reading thru Poems Every Child Should Know, 1/week plus illustrating it for our notebooks. This will work into copywork as well.



History
This will be our spine this year, our main reading to lead our Middle Ages study and lapbooking season. Our core texts will be An Island Story, 2 chapters/week on Mondays and Wednesdays, A Child's History of England, 1 chapter/week on Tuesdays, and Story of the World v2, 1 chapter/week on Thursdays.
Our lapbook and notebooking resources have come from all over the Internet. Great sites like HomeschoolShare and Dynamic2Moms filled my lapbook binder, I've been bookmarking all manner of Medieval Times websites, information on castles, knights, and more. I'm sure we won't use all of them, but I'm all about the over-kill :-)

Geography
We'll do as we usually do and map our the locations and such thru our reading. With a spine taking us thru The British Empire of old as they really grew their roots, we will have plenty to do. Our study starts with the Vikings so we will hit the gate running with plenty of adventures in mapping.

Science/Nature Study
We will be using a 2 week unit study approach this year to the animal kingdom at large. Everything from worms, butterflies, wasps, spiders, snakes, bears, turtles, ocean life, and exotic rain forest creatures. Our unit on birds will most likely stretch out to at least 4 weeks, as will the ocean life. Padded out, this should last us all season (36-40 weeks).
This has since changed in the plans. We really enjoyed using God's Marvelous Works (Rod & Staff) last year, so we are going ahead with God's Marvelous Works book 2 this year. There are 4 units for the year, covering 30 lessons. We will study thru Algae and Fungi, Mammals, Sponges, Mollusks, Sea Worms and Jellies, and Amphibians. We will take 1 week to study each lesson, making notebook.lapbook pages and so forth. The unit of Mammals will most likely pad us out an extra 6-8 weeks to complete the entire year.

We will continue along with reading lessons using AlphaPhonics, Word Mastery and 100 Easy Lessons. Here are the great worksheets for the lessons in 100 Easy Lessons, from Donna Young (also a great site for just about every single thing you can think of for planning and organizing your school year!)

We will work on handicrafts and other projects that tie into our time frame, such as stained glass 'windows' and maybe a chain mail project.

And now, the book list. It's definitely not all-inclusive, but I have browsed around, and these suit our interests nicely. I am using as many free, online or downloadable texts as I can find, but we will purchase a few books (used) to add to our library here. For our own library, I try to locate inexpensive hardcover volumes to keep.

Henty has a great assortment for us, including:
In Freedom's Cause
Winning His Spurs
St. George for England
A Knight of the White Cross
The Dragon and the Raven
The Boy Knight
At Agincourt
Wulf the Saxon
Ivanhoe, Walter Scott
H.E. Marshall books free online, Baldwin Project has so many good titles to read online
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Howard Pyle
Otto of the Silver Hand, Howard Pyle
Stories of King Arthur's Knights as Told to the Children, Mary MacGregor
King Arthur and His Knights, Maude L. Radford
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain
Viking Tales, Jennie Hall
Viking Adventures, Clyde Robert Bulla
The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights, Sir James Knowles
Legends of the Middle Ages, Hèlène Adeline Guerber
Sir George and the Dragon
Harald and the Stag
Miss Frizzle's Medieval Adventures
Castle, Robert Macaulay
Robin Hood
Knights of the Round Table
The Usborne Book of Castles
The Door in the Wall
The Kitchen Knight
50 Hands-on Activities for Knights and Castles
Days of Knights and Damsels activity guide
In the Days of William the Conqueror
When Knights were Bold
King Arthur and His Knights
The Knights of the Silver Shield


Other Resources we may utilize:
Storm The Castle has a great list of projects we will definitely be putting into the works here during the year! There are catapults, shields and masks, swords if you're interested, diorama projects and so much more. Thank you Eddie for the heads-up in the comments! We would have missed this great addition! edited addition 8/3
History.com site for The Middle Ages
A Book in Time, Middle Ages
A Book in Time, World History reading list
Chronicles of The Earth blog  Story of the World and lapbook resources Story of the World V2 Resources
Busy Bee Kids Crafts
Middle Ages Games and Activities
Mr Donn's Middle Ages links
Webtech Middle Ages
Sacred Heart of Jesus Academy has a nice collection of book ideas for Middle Ages
Learning Adventures Curriculum, Collection of info pages
Kickbutt Crazy Lapbooks page for Medieval Times
Mattman's Arthurian Resources
Paula's Archives Literature to Supplement History
History for Kids, Middle Ages Projects
AtoZ Kids Stuff pages
Castle craft project, younger levels
Britain Express Medieval History
England in the Middle Ages 
The Middle Ages, Chivalry, and Knighthood
Classical Homeschooling's History on the Internet list
Viking Network Ireland, The Vikings
a great school page on The Middle Ages
Lady of Shallot poem, Alfred Lord Tennyson
King Arthur and the Knights of The Round Table information
Interactives The Middle Ages
Travel to The Days of Old  These pages are from Beacon Learning, there are a lot of lessons to glean from here
FunSchooling Unit Study Archives, Kings, Queens, and Castles
Listmania! list of Kid's Books for Middle Ages and all ages books on Middle Ages

On another note, just for great reading, Classic Reader Online has a lot of good reading in various genres free, online. There is also FullBooks.com, but I haven't checked that one out much yet.


Many titles are available free online thru resources like Project Gutenburg, Baldwin Project, archive.org, and other free text sites, with some available as audio reads as well. Where I could, we utilized these free resources and downloaded them for reading via iBooks or Kindle. Definitely don't go by just my suggestions here for book locations...Google them for yourself and find the source that suits your own needs best.

Ambitious, I know. We will never read everything, but with so many great titles available free online, how could I refuse to load them up just in case we need more free reading fun? I love having too many options than coming up short. There are far more titles and resources available out there than I've listed here. So many great bloggers have been thru the Middle Ages and have lots of notes, ideas, and projects to share. If anyone finds any blog  notes out there, please do share here in the comments!


- Blessings from Abundant Blessings Homestead!

Jamestown Gathering is Done...Olders, Youngers and Mom (and lapbooking talk)

I know...you and I both know that the word "done" in my vocabulary is just a filler sort of word.  I'm never really done with a unit...I tweak repeatedly.

However, for the most part, should I never touch another computer search bar, we are way beyond prepared for boarding a ship to Jamestown here.  The Paths of Exploration curriculum is already complete as it stands, but for fun, I started searching through all the goodies offered up along the trail, and we put together some resources outside of what they offer.  That's the fun of homeschooling anyway, right?  Of course, this is all just extra work for me...because as of this week, they have their lapbooking packs available for the Paths volumes as well.

So, really, I've just pulled resources and lapbook goodies together for nothing....but I had fun. Even if I am a bit bug-eyed and carpal-tunnel-ated from all the computer roaming.

I have not pulled together pages for all the various mammals, birds, trees and such that are discussed, or would be fun to search out during this lesson.  The list is just too full and my arms are just too tired :o)  I will hunt for those as we come to them.  I will share a bit of what we are researching as we go along each week, starting toward the end of this month. I will be posting things at least a week in advance of our actually using them, and if you have any resources, interesting pages or book ideas that we don't cover, please let me know so I can check them out before we are ready for them.

With the Paths unit, we are really only working math and English from our Rod & Staff curriculum.  Reading is amply covered in Paths, as well as the various resources I am pulling in, so aside from our Word Mastery or Learning to Read/100 Easy Lessons for the youngers, our full school day is Bible, Math, English, Spanish and Sign Language (a couple times a week) and Paths of Exploration.  Geography, history, writing/copywork/narrations/reports, arts and crafts, science, nature study....these are all well-covered with Paths.  I would like to incorporate some "outdoor survival" skills into the studies as well (we are planning to read Sign of The Beaver as our pm reading...maybe even do Robinson Crusoe or Swiss Family Robinson again, though I thing SFR would work in better later, history-era wise).

The olders will come into the picture from a wider view, reading additional resources focusing on the governmental and civic issues, as well as the religious foundations of the era, besides just main points of American History itself.  There are several resources available through Vision Forum I would like to get for this. I would really like to get this set of American History lectures from them, but we'll see.

The youngest of the group will be worked in with their own lapbook work on alot of the same topics as the "targeted" grade levels are, but honestly, I have a wide variety of ages/grade here with 8 children schooling and no one set of lapbook/notebook units is going to fit everyone across the board.  So, we tweak.  The littles (almost 6yo, 4yo) will be working on the same nature and science goodies, they will get coloring pages and card game fun with Jamestown, pilgrims, Mayflower, Indians etc. to do, they will have similar lapbooks to do, just geared a bit differently than the layout of the curriculum itself.  We love reading, so they will enjoy a coloring page while we read our chapters.  The lapbook "pieces" can help with motor skills like cutting, they will do some printing and lots of coloring.

I have some lapbooks here aleady, and we will see what elements we can pull from them...most of them came free or very inexpensive, through CurrClick and the like.  We have a 17th and 18th Century Life unit, several History Scribes, ideas from Squidoo, HomeschoolShare, a Wordpress blog on Lapbooking (I really like this one...it will be a definite go-to resource!), Lapbook Lessons at Ning, Lapbook Lessons blog, and Homeschool Helper Online, among others.

I know there are alot of folks on the Lapbook bandwagon and I'm merely a late-bloomer with it all, but I'm excited.  If you have children who like projects, hands-on schoolwork, and so on, I don't see why you aren't already lapbooking.  There doesn't have to be a great deal of money spent on fancy unit kits, lapbook bundles, clipart and so forth.  There are just too many free units already laid out, and far too many resources available online to say you can't do it.  And lapbooks are a great way to incorporate several age groups together on similar topics.  Look at us -- we have 17yo, 14yo, 12yo,10yo, 8yo, 7yo, 5yo and 4 yo (give or take, as everyone is about to change-over with a birthday...) all schooling together and we'll be doing alot of notebooking and lapbooking with our units coming up!!

What are you waiting for???

Down Under Literature site

I downloaded a resource from CurrClick and bunny trailed over to Down Under Literature, an Australian Homeschooling source.  They have some neat offerings, but the one that drew me in today was their listing of World Geography books...

Using these picture books you can travel the world from your couch.

1. World Trip-How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman ©1996 Ages 5 - 8 years
An apple pie is easy to make...if the market is open. But if the market is closed, the world becomes your grocery store. This deliciously silly recipe for apple pie takes readers around the globe to gather ingredients. First hop a steamboat to Italy for the finest semolina wheat. Then hitch a ride to England and hijack a cow for the freshest possible milk. And, oh yes! Don't forget to go apple picking in Vermont! A simple recipe for apple pie is included.
2. Africa –Beatrice Goat by Page McBrier ©2001
More than anything, Beatrice longs to be a schoolgirl. But in her small African village, only children who can afford uniforms and books can go to school. Beatrice knows that with six children to care for, her family is much too poor. But then Beatrice receives a wonderful gift from some people far away -- a goat! Fat and sleek as a ripe mango, Mugisa (which means "luck") gives milk that Beatrice can sell. With Mugisa's help, it looks as if Beatrice's dream may come true after all.
3. Antartica - Tom Crean's Rabbit: A True Story from Scott's Last Voyage by Meredith Hooper ©2005 Age 3-8
It's very cold in Antarctica, and the "Terra Nova" is crowded with both men and animals. Tom the sailor is looking for a quiet and cozy place for his pet rabbit to have her babies. From high in the rigging to down in the hold, the crewman takes readers all through the ship while he searches for a spot where his rabbit can make her nest.
Based on the diaries of men who sailed to the South Pole on board the "Terra Nova" in 1910 with Captain Robert Falcon Scott, "Tom Crean's Rabbit" introduces the historic voyage to young readers. Kitchen's stunning illustrations capture the magnificence of the Antarctic landscape and notes in the back of the book provide more information about the expedition and detail the adventures of the book's hero.
Ice Trap! Shackleton's Incredible Expedition by Meredith Hooper ©2001 Ages 7-11
In August 1914, during the height of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, Sir Ernest Shackleton set off from England with a team of explorers to walk across the Antarctic and study the icy depths of this new and forbidding continent. Sailing through some of the most perilous seas, Endurance, becomes trapped in the deadly pack ice of the Weddell sea. When Endurance is eventually crushed between the vast bulk of two floating icebergs, the men are forced to abandon ship and make the dangerous journey across the crushing sea in lifeboats. They reach relative safety on the uninhabited Elephant Island, but an even greater peril faces Shackleton and five other members of the crew. An amazing tale of heroism and ingenuity.
4. America-Amber on the Mountain by Tony Johnston ©1998 Ages 5-8
Amber’s mountain is beautiful, but it is a lonely place—until the day Anna arrives, bringing both her friendship and the will to teach Amber how to read. Suddenly, Amber’s world is filled with a new magic—and new challenges. But when Anna returns to the city, will Amber be able to keep reading on her own?
Who Owns the Sun by Stacy Chbosky ©1987 Ages 5-8 Movie Available.
This story is a powerful plea for freedom. Joshua, a six-year-old son of a slave in the America's south, learns about prejudice, freedom and self-respect.
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen ©1987 Ages 2-8
This touching story of a child and parent finding magic and adventure in a simple, snowy night-time search for the great horned owl .On a winter's night under a full moon, a father and daughter trek into the woods to see the Great Horned Owl. A girl and her father go owling on a moonlit winter night near the farm where they live. Bundled tight in wool clothes, they trudge through snow ``whiter than the milk in a cereal bowl''; here and there, hidden in ink-blue shadows, a fox, raccoon, fieldmouse and deer watch them pass. An air of expectancy builds as Pa imitates the Great Horned Owl's call once without answer, then again. From out of the darkness ``an echo/ came threading its way/ through the trees.''
The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills. ©1995 Ages 5-8
Before Minna can go to school, she needs a winter coat. The Quilting Mothers offer to make her a coat from scraps of quilting cloth, and Minna carefully chooses the pieces that have the best stories behind them. When the new coat is ready, Minna proudly wears it to school, only to be faced with her classmates' jeers of "Rag-Coat! Rag-Coat!" But it is Minna's coat with its stories and memories, and Minna's own thoughtful part in its creation, that allow her to bring friendship to Sharing Day, making her coat the warmest one of all.
Cranberry Thanksgiving ©1990 Written and illustrated by Wende and Harry Delvin Ages 5-8
Grandmother and Maggie each always invite a guest to Thanksgiving dinner. Grandmother isn't very happy when Maggie invites Mr. Whiskers, but she's even more upset when someone steals her secret recipe for cranberry bread. Is the unwelcome guest the culprit? The only thing better than the story is the simple, yet delicious recipe at the end of the book.
5. Australia-Use Australian Book Traveller List
6. Canada-Eskimo Very Last First Time by Jan Andrews ©1985 Ages 5-8 also called Eva's Ice Adventure
Eva lives in an Inuit village in northern Canada. In the winter, people search along the bottom of the seabed beneath a thick shelf of ice for mussels to eat. Eva usually helps her mother, but for the first time, she’s going to go by herself. She soon gathers a pan full of mussels. But then, her candle goes out, and the tide threatens to return! When she is finally safe with her mother, Eva proclaims, “That was my very last first time walking alone on the bottom of the sea.”
7. China-The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese ©1933 Ages 3-8
Ping, a little duck who lives on a boat in the Yangtze River finds himself in trouble when he hides from his master in order to avoid punishment for being late..
8. England-The Tale of Peter Rabbit written and illus. by Beatrix Potter ©1936 Ages 5-8
The story follows a mischievous and disobedient young rabbit named Peter as he ventures into the garden of Mr. McGregor.
9. European Royalty-The Duchess Bakes a Cake by Virgina Kahl ©1950 Ages 5-8
Told in verse this amusing story tells about a Duchess who doesn't follow a recipe.
10. Europe in wartime-A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert © 1988 Ages 4-8
"A fresh and moving story of a mother's dedication to acquire a coat for her daughter in post-World War II hard times. Anna's mother decides to trade the few valuables she has left for wool and for the services of a spinner, a weaver, and a tailor."
11. France-The Glorious Flight by Alice and Martin Provensen ©1984 Ages 5-8
This is a biography of Louis Bleriot who built and airplane and flew it across the English Channel in 37 minutes.
*12. India Finders Keepers? by Robert A. Arnett ©2003
Gopal, found a dropped wallet. It contained enough money for Gopal to be set for quite some time, but he not only returned the wallet, he refused a reward.
13. Italy -Venice Papa Piccolo by Carol Talley ©1992 Ages 5-8
Piccolo, the tomcat, leads a life of adventure and possibilities until two homeless kittens adopt him. Piccolo shows boys and girls about sharing their strength with those who are smaller, younger or weaker.
The Gondoliers Cat by William Corlett ©1993(OOP) Ages 5-8
Nini the cat lives with Gino the Gondolier in a house on the Grand Canal in Venice. He longs to win the paw of La Serenissima, the cat of the Doge's daughter. When the Princess is kidnapped, Nini has his chance to prove his courage.
14. Japan-A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno ©1960 Ages 5-8
A child's delight in a new pair of shoes is the same all over the world. For Mako, a little Japanese girl, the new shoes were clogs painted with red lacquer that shone beautifully. This is the story of what happened after she cracked the new clogs playing the weather-telling game and so longed for a bright, shiny new pair to replace them that she almost did a dishonest thing.
*15. Korea- New Clothes for New Year's Day by Hyun-joo Bae ©2007
A little Korean girl dresses up to welcome the new year. Simple words and inventively composed pictures depict each step in donning the elaborate, traditional costume, from the wrapped and tied "rainbow-striped jacket" to the silk pouch that brings good luck. Delicate illustrations move smoothly between depictions of mishaps as the child wrestles with troublesome accessories and grand, wordless portraits, often incorporating traditional furnishings and ornamentation that demonstrate pride in cultural heritage.
16. Middle East and Israel -Cleopatra by Diane Stanley; Bible story of Joseph and Moses.
17. South America-Isabella’s Bed by Alison Lester ©1992 Ages 3-8
Our family must have borrowed this book 50 times. We love it! When Anna and Luis stay at Grandmother's house they love to look through her souvenirs from South America. One night they go their on Isabella's bed and they understand new things about their grandmother.
18. Spain-The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf ©1936 Age 3-8
A true classic with a timeless message, The Story of Ferdinand has enchanted readers since it was first published in 1936. All the other bulls would run and jump and butt their heads together. But Ferdinand would rather sit and smell the flowers. So what will happen when our pacifist hero is picked for the bullfights in Madrid?
19. New Zealand-Hairy Maclary - Lynley Dodd ©1983 Ages 2-5.
A little black dog and his canine pals get up to mischief.
*Kiwi Moon - Gavin Bishop ©2006
This is the story of a little white kiwi. When he is born his mother doesn't recognise him because he's not brown. Little Kiwi looks to the moon as his mother instead because it is white and bright and round. In the background of this story we see the changing times of a nearby pa. Through illustrations only we see intertribal warfare, the death of the chief, English soldiers arriving and then the burning of the pa. This fire spreads and the two stories become one as the white kiwi's habitat is razed to the ground.On the surface this is a very simple story but it also contains themes of intertribal warfare, European colonisation of New Zealand, Maori/Pakeha relations, and conservation.
*20. Russia Pictures at an Exhibition by Anna Harwell Celenza © 2003
Modest Mussorgsky and his friends, Victor Hartmann and Vladimir Stasov, dream of showing the glories of Russia in the 1880s to the world. When Victor suddenly dies, composer Modest Mussorgsky is deeply saddened. But, with the help of his friends, and through his own music, Modest finds a way to keep Victor's spirit alive. Children of all ages will enjoy reading the inspirational story behind the composition of Pictures at an Exhibition. Bright, colourful illustrations incorporate elements of Russian folk art and traditional symbols.
21. Switzerland –The Apple and the Arrow by Mary and Conrad Bluff ©1952 Ages 7-15
The year is 1291, and Walter is the twelve-year-old son of William Tell, the greatest bowman in the land of Uri. Walter lives happily in the remote heights of the Alpine Mountains, caring for his family"s goat herd and practicing his marksmanship in the hopes of making his father proud. But as the end of the year approaches, Walter"s peaceful life is shaken as his country enters a revolution, and Walter must carry a secret that could threaten the life of the father he loves so dearly. More than seven hundred years have passed since the day Walter stood in the marketplace balancing an apple on his head while the Austrian tyrant Gessler commanded Walter"s father, William Tell, to take aim at the apple with his great crossbow. The dramatic tale of William"s arrest and escape and the daring revolt of the Swiss against the Austrians has become a legend around the world.
22. Scandinavia-Hans Christian Anderson http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1597
Viking Tales by Jennie Hall http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/24811