While in Vegas, we went to the Medieval dinner & show and DS loooved it. Not even 5 minutes in he said "I want to learn more about Medieval times"...sooo, this is not *my thing*, can someone suggest any books or even a unit study on this? Thanks in advance.
We read a couple of great books this year, The Door in the Wall and Castle Diary. You could also use (we looked through some of these) Did Castles have Bathrooms?, You wouldn't Want to Work on a Medieval Cathedral!, You Wouldn't Want to live in a Medieval Castle! and Great Medieval Projects you can build yourself. We got those out of our local library. I just went in and looked to see what they had and they had a bunch!
I used a unit study. I think it was called "Middle Ages", but of course, I can't find it anywhere. It was great and the kids loved it. It was one of their favorite units. I think it was one by Teacher Created Resources with the stripes on the cover. It appears they are no longer printed, but you may be able to pick up a used copy. Sorry I'm not more help.
Medieval Here is a list of resources that I used with my kids a few years back. I found most of these at my local library. The kids really enjoyed studying the Medieval time period. * The Dark Ages - (DVD) History Channel * The Dark Ages: The Fall of Civilization and the Rise of a New World Order - (DVD) History Channel * Civilizations - Expansion and Conquest - Discovery Channel School * The Middle Ages - Sarah McNeil * Medieval Society - Kay Eastwood * A Medieval Knight - James Barter * The Middle Ages -Jane Shuter * The Medieval World - Philip Steele After watching all of the videos and reading all of the books, I had the kids do a computer history project. They had to make a trifold booklet on Microsoft Publisher. I wanted it be like a history fair presentation board but on a much smaller scale. I liked the idea that we would be doing history and computer skills at the same time. Also I wouldn't have to buy any extra art supplies and the tri-fold project display board. Their booklets were excellent, and they had a great time making them!
Magic Schoolbus has a medieval book that is absolutely packed with info and is alot of fun to read. we did a medieval study, and I was stunned at the amount of material was out there. Knights and armour, castle construction, food, family life....you could literally spend months on this and not run out of stuff to learn. I have access to a pathetically stocked library and even I found more stuff than I could check out.
Usbourne has several books on the middle ages. DK books has books about armor, castles and weaponry. Eyewitness books also have great things on castles and knights. Most of these you should be able to find at the local library. If you want some specific ideas, pm me and I'll give buckets full! Marty
We just finished a great unit on the Medieval times I found on Lesson Pathways, 4th grade history. We also read The Door in the Wall and Castle Diary that someone had mentioned above. There are a lot of hands on activities with in the pathway, so that's fun I also think there is a Magic Treehouse book about this time period.
As mentioned, I would look at some documentaries. I know the history channel has several good ones that I have enjoyed. However, I do not remember how age appropriate they are. Also, you may be able to find a traveling medieval troup for the summer. They usually charge a general admission and then you can go in and the village is all in charcter. I have wanted to try it, but have not had the time. If I can find the link I looked at I will post it.
Those are usually Renaissance, not Medieval. Not always, but usually. Just make sure you check before going, because there's a big difference between The Dark Ages and the Great Awakening. You can probably find a lot of sources at www.sca.org That's the official site for the leading international Medieval reenacting organization.
We are just finishing up. We read the Magic Tree house book that was mentioned and then did the free lapbook on homeschoolshare.com's site for the Magic Tree House Study Guide to Knights and Castles. We are also enjoying reading The Short and Bloody History of Knights by John Farman.
This site http://www.runofthemillfamily.blogspot.com is based on SOTW but the mother has every chapter covered in a wonderfully OCD nature. She even has a mini-book for each chapter.
I just found these from the bbc last night: http://www.youtube.com/show?p=s-Gqsjg9y-8&tracker=show_v1 I watched the one about peasants, and found it not only informative but downright hilarious (It's Terry Jones though.. so the humor is a bit Monty Python-ish). Warning- preview first. There are cartoon killings in it.
We loved studying the middle ages. Depending on your kiddos ages, here is what we did. Good: We read historical fiction (Door in the Wall, The Midwife's Apprentice, Matilda Bone, Adam of the Road, Crispin: A Cross of Lead, etc.) We watched history lectures (the older ones) on the Middle Ages from Great Courses. (google them) We watched like 48 college lectures by Prof. Daileader from that company. Best: We put on a full-fledged medieval feast. Took all school year and we involved many ages. Served about 125 people in full costume (our homeschool group), they ate roast chicken (from Wal-Mart) served on bread trenchers, with their hands. Best event of our 15 years homeschooling EVER! You can check out some pics on our homeschool website: lamp homeschool dot net. Look at the photo gallery.
