my daughter says I am a boring teacher!

and/or unit study approaches to the Middle Ages.

Beautiful Feet is one. I don’t have their Medieval program, but do have their American History. It has a guide which has a daily suggested lesson schedule. A day’s lesson will include reading from one of the books (biographies and well-written selections of literature, rather than a textbook) along with projects, journal keeping suggestions, map and timeline drawings, etc. You could certainly work in your daughter’s build-a-manor idea! I think the website is http://www.bf-books.com (although it’s cheaper to buy a package discounted from Rainbow Resource).

Greenleaf Press also offers a great medieval program through literature, I think. Sonlight also probably does.

All of the ones I have listed have definite Christian orientations, but I have found it easy to tweak them for secular use.

A great place to ask this question would be on one of the homeschooling boards at http://www.vegsource.com. There are a lot of history buffs over there, who are very knowledgeable about the different literature approaches to history.

Mary

I personally don’t use standardized curriculums. I shop around, buy a little of this and that, head for the half-price bookstore and especially, of all things, can you imagine…THE DREADED LIBRARY!

Smile…just kidding. Depending on what grade you’re at with your kiddo, there’s bound to be at least a dozen books, not so scholarly, and oh so fun, that you can incorporate into a bedtime book read, or as a pause mid-week to lighten up the formal lessons. It’s also a great way to teach library science at the same time. When I pulled my daughter out of fifth grade, I found she knew nothing in researching skills, not even how to use the index in the back of the book.

The project sounds like fun, if not a bit too involved, depending upon how long you want to stay in the middle ages. My child, now fourteen, really learns well through sensory perception. If she can see it, feel it, taste it…she gets a handle on it. You could perhaps obtain some music from that era, Hildegarde von Bingen comes to mind. You could study weapons of war and mock a battle from that time period between two enemies. Costumes are always fun. Kids love to dress up!

Maybe search for some obscure recipes straight from the middle ages, and have her help you prepare a ‘middle ages meal’…counts for two classes, home economics and history. I try to slip in a little boring, which straight text and tests always are, with a bit of fun and excitement, which means we put the book down and explore. How you educate your child is completely up to you, unlike standardized curriculums and public school…you really do have the freedom to use your imagination and spark your child’s imagination, and you have the time…precious one-on-one time. If nothing else, maybe just change the learning environment sometimes. Once in awhile, I’d take my daughter to the park, and we’d sit by the lake with our books (don’t try this on a windy day though or you’ll be chasing papers for miles).

DK Learning always has fascinating books for kids that bring subjects alive. Discovery Channel hosts ‘Cable in the Classroom’ programs five days a week, with lesson ideas, projects and what’s great, open copyright permission to tape the episode and use it in the classroom. They also have online quizzes and other materials as well as the schedule, subject matter (they cover a unit study in a week’s videos, each an hour long) and what grade level the subject could be taught at as well as modifying it for higher or lower grades. A wealth of material there, and all free. They might just be covering the middle ages this year, or not, but you’ll definitely get some ideas for future subjects.

I like free…somehow it just appeals to my sense of poverty.

Studying the art and architecture from that time period can be fun, but immersing her in the culture, maybe even the politics…everyday life of a person who lived in the middle ages will make the subject more relevant to her. Relevance is important if they are to remember the lessons taught. Otherwise, the knowledge has nowhere to nest in their minds as real.

I dunno…maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t finish college nor get a teaching degree. My mind is very open to learning right along with my child. That, for me, is the best part.

Bonita

Thank you so much…those are tremendous suggestions, and the online and cable tv programs will really help supplement my boring lectures! Seriously, I am so impressed with all of you that you have done so much homework yourselves…finding web sources, alternatives and creative ideas. I love the fact that it can be fun, free and informative. thanks again!

When I first tried to homeschool my daughter, I thought I had to replicate the same teaching styles and content as the public school. We were covering perhaps six subjects a day. That’s really hard to do, for us anyway.

Right now I have to help my daughter ‘catch up’. I foolishly put her back into the public school systems and special education in eighth grade. I was so afraid I wasn’t ‘smart’ enough to teach her secondary education. Back then, she tested at eleventh grade levels in math and tenth grade levels in reading comp. She’s not there anymore and has regressed so much. And yes, I feel frustrated with myself and the school system for letting this happen to her.

So, anyway…we’re covering two subjects, and two subjects only over the next few months. Math and English Literature…then we’ll probably do History and Science for a few more months. We school year-round. The trick to this, if there is one, is to become intimately involved in how your child learns…not, here honey, this is how I teach. Especially with children who have learning disabilities, it’s obvious they don’t learn in standardized ways, but usually they’re brilliant kids aching to learn and just don’t realize it.

Some parents only do one subject at a time, which gives these kids the ability to really immerse in the learning. Try to remember, the public school system didn’t work for your child…don’t try and do what they do…find your own path to your daughter’s brain. Good luck and God bless…the adventure is on.

Bonita

People use projects such as building a medieval town both in and out of schools. Some of these projects are fantastic learning opportunities and some are fantastic wastes of time. It’s worth doing IF you keep an eye on the educational value of the activity. She can read up on castle design — a wonderful topic, and very illuminating, especially if you look at food storage for seiges, water supply, sanitary arrangements, sleeping and eating arrangements for all the *other* hundreds of people (it wasn’t all ladies in velvet).But beware of the pitfall that can happen, you do all the reading and research and hard construction work and then she glues on the glitter and then she “built a castle”. As long as she is reading and investigating and *remembering* because she’s involved in the topic, well castle latrines may not be a topic of general interest but it’s sure educational. Beware one other pitfall; some people say because they did a couple of measurements this counts as “teaching math”. Don’t neglect studies in depth on other subjects.

Catherine Called Birdy is a great piece of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages in the format of a girl’s diary.

Dear Diary,
24th Day of September
The stars and my family laign to make my life black and miserable. My mother seeks to make me a fine lady - dumb, docile and accomplished - so I must take lady-lessons and keep my mouth closed. My father, the toad, conspires to sell me like cheese to some lack-wit seeking a wife.
What makes this clodpole suitor anxious to have me? I am no beauty, being sun-browned and gray-eyed, with poor eyesight and a stubborn disposition.
Corpus bones! He comes to dine with us in two days’ time. I plan to cross my eyes and drool in my meat.

I was impressed with the way New Community School managed those projects. Kids who don’t naturally “think in words” or make the connections between terms and concepts are very prone to working very hard on a project — but not making the verbal connections.

If it’s structured around those terms and concepts, though (so there’s a list of things that have to be included — and understood well enough so that the student can explain or answer written questions about it), then you really get to see the positive side of being a “visual learner.” Suddenly these kids *can* remember lots of terms and concepts as they visualize the drawing or the project.

As a visual thinker who always has to translate into words, I find this a natural concept and sort of wonder why you should have to ask …

Forgot to mention: there is a lovely book out called “Castles”; it has hugely detailed cutaway drawings of the interior of a castle. IF your child is serious about spending some time on this project, it would be worthwhile buying this book and spending many hours going over it. Expensive but worth the money if you use it.

When I did the Middle Ages in world history I showed my guys one of the PBS _Mystery_ videos with Brother Cadfael. There were lots of chances to point out the stuff we were learning about.

I looked on Amazon and there are tons of castle books. Can you give me the publisher or author. Thank you very much…that’s a great suggestion and she would love that.

I’m not sure — if I wanted it, I’d go to Amazon myself. The book I’m thinking if is, I *think*, titled simply Castles, so that may narrow your search. It’s an oversize book, I’m guessing 13 or 14 inches wide by 16 or 18 inches high, so you can weed out a lot by that. And the book is *all* illustrations, so you can use the descriptions to guide you.

Or, if you have a good large bookstore near you, you can go in and describe the book and see if they have an intelligent employee who has seen it — it is quite popular and may be in stock. Although the content is quite mature, since it’s a “picture book” it may be filed in the children’s section.

I’ll see if I can turn up any info myself and get back to you later.

Try going to

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/104-1757481-9280725

My quick search turned up the following titles which I would buy for myself if I had time, money, and shelf space:

Eyewitness: Castle
By Christopher Gravett and Geoff Dann
This may be the one I was thinking of, and if not it looks fascinating anyway

Castle
by David MacAulay
Loks interesting, shows structure

Make This Model Medieval Castle
by Iain Ashman
blueprints! Just what you wanted, perhaps

DK Discoveries: Castle at War
by Andrew Langley
More fascinating detail

Castle (Fast Forward Books)
by Peter Dennis and Nicholas Harris
This is a real history text, showing the development of the castle over hundreds of years, all illustrated. I want it too.

Good luck on your project.

thank you very much!

My middle school librarian friend gets lots of ‘em — and if you’re anywhere near where they have the Green Valley Book Fair in Pennsylvania you can get lots of things like that for less than half price. About six times a year they fill a few warehousese with books and sell ‘em *real* cheap. Don’t know if it’s something that happens in other geographic areas or not.

These kinds of books are really good for using along with the drier textbooks, and having the student make mental connections and write or talk about what he’s read in the text while showing you the stuff in the pictures.