School Summary - Castles, Knights, the Crusades, and Robin Hood

Lunch at Loxley's

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A Summary of January 20-31

Back to the grind and getting school done. We were able to include Bass's mom in some of our schoolwork since she was down for a visit. She homeschooled 2 of Bass's siblings for a few years so she's been extremely supportive. It was fun to give her an idea of how our days go. The younglings liked having a new (somewhat captive) audience too.

Here's what we did for the past two weeks:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Language Arts (Grammar, Spelling, Penmanship, Reading, and Writing)

Electives:

Typing, Spanish, Civics, and PA History for both.

Tenor learned another Greek letter and aced a quiz. Soprano had Home Ec which included two cleaning lessons - dusting and sweeping. And after a dustpan usage melt-down, her lesson also included a talk about why learning homemaking techniques is important.

My Father's World Rome to the Reformation-

Now this is the history that I've been waiting for! Castles, knights, Robin Hood... all very cool stuff. It also means that these two weeks of school were very full with readings and activities.

Bible: We continued reading through Luke and studying the life of Jesus. We finished memorizing 1 Corinthians 13:1-8. and then started a passage in Philippians. (Chapter 2:3-4). We read about Francis of Assissi, Bernard of Clairvaux, Elizabeth of Hungary, and John Bunyan in Trial and Triumph. The younglings LOVE this book.

Science: We finished the AIG Human Body book. They had a quiz, a final test, and then a final project (making a full size body model.) I found a great printable set at Confessions of a Homeschooler that we used.

It's hard to see but we traced out each youngling on paper. They then added the full-sized anatomy pieces and drew in bones, muscles, and nerves.

After we finished up The Human Body, we started right into another Answers in Genesis science curriculum book. Instead of using the recommended Apologia text, we'll use AIG's Our Universe for the spring semester. We did two introductory lessons along with a rotation/revolution experiment, and we read about Copernicus.

History: Castles! Knights! The Crusades! So many activities to enhance the learning about this time-period. We made stained glass windows

Tenor's rendition of Noah's Ark.

Soprano chose Creation: Day 4 as her window theme.

had a silent medieval monastery dinner (with split pea soup, brown bread, baked chicken, and ginger "ale") Granny was able to join in on this one. We did have a slight issue when one of the "monks" decided she didn't like ginger ale at all and started to cry silently. A brief exit to the monastery kitchen and breaking of the vow of silence was enough to figure out and fix the problem.

and made a medieval castle using Dorling Kindersley's Action Pack Castle (instead of the MFW option because I found this at a co-op curriculum yard sale for $2).

 

They also made castle formations using some 'castle blocks' I found on clearance at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

They also designed their own coat of arms on cardboard shields.

Soprano's coat of arms. Her green marker gave out so she switched colors. She explained that the color difference there is some blood from battle.

Tenor's coat of arms.

At a yard sale this summer, I found a kit that had plans and supplies for three medieval weapons. So far Bass has helped them build a string release catapult and a trebuchet.

We ended our week with a field trip. We have a Robin Hood themed restaurant in the area, so we enjoyed lunch at Loxley's on Saturday. The atmosphere was very cool. The younglings want to go back in the summer so we can eat in one of the outdoor spaces.

The 'drawbridge' entry

Placemat doodles

This year, I'm also incorporating Story of the World Volume 1 as well as Mystery of History Volume 1 and 2. 

For week 20, we didn't have any substitutions.

For week 21, I eliminated Streams of Civilization on Day 2 and added MOH 2 p323-325. I also cut Streams on Day 3, using MOH 2 p305-307 as well as skipping Streams on Day 4. Day 4, I read MOH 2 p383-385 instead.

Other MFW: 

Music: We listened to a few more Mozart pieces and kept up with listening at lunch most days.

Art: They drew drapery this week and did some reading as well.

Extras:

Web:

I have a ton of videos this week. You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for MFW weeks 19-34.

Videos:
Life in the Middle Ages: The Knight by Schlessinger Media

Favorite Books: 

Knights in Shining Armor by Gail Gibbons
Mystery of a Medieval Castle by Jim Pipe
Saint Francis of Assissi by Robert F. Kennedy
Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow by Robert San Souci
The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup by Rosemary Sutcliff
The Sleeping Rose by Angela Elwell Hunt
William Tell by Leonard Everett Fisher