Events Leading Up To The Battle of Hastings 1066

This lesson, which covers the events leading to the Battle of Hastings, is fun and thorough. Oh, and it involves dressing up as Knights! I hated history in school, apart from Henry VIII.  He fascinated me.  The rest however was plain boring.  In particular I hated learning about wars and battles.  A list of dates…

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Cimabue Artist Study for Homeschoolers

This post will teach you how to create a wonderful immersive Cimabue artist study perfect for homeschoolers. First, I will introduce Cimabue, an Italian painter and mosaic-maker of the 1200s. Second, I will direct you to another post which will teach you a simple method of making tempura paints similar to those Cimabue would have…

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Literature Studies: Chaucer – A Play of the Nun’s Priest’s Tale

We only do Chaucer studies once a week on a Tuesday, or at least that is the plan.  I have, as always, over estimated what we can fit in, so the children aren't getting much time to do each activity.  Sometimes that is good.  The last activity felt pressurised and therefore less enjoyable.  This activity…

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Literature Studies: Chaucer – A Retelling of a Knight’s Tale?

The first tale I chose to focus on was the Knight's Tale because it is the tale from which Shakespeare took his inspiration for 'The Two Kinsmen' and 'A Midsummer night's Dream'.  We will be studying Shakespeare for a whole year and 'A Midsummer Night's dream is my very favourite play of his, and probably…

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Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: Setting the Scene

Although traditionally Chaucer is taught to children older than 12, the Canterbury Tales are far too good to postpone, especially as I will only be studying the Middle Ages once with the older children.  Just because it is written in language which may be hard to understand doesn't mean we should be literary snobs and insist that Chaucer…

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Medieval Banquet

We did it.  After almost twelve weeks of preparation and work, and feeling like we would simply never be ready, the day of the banquet arrived.  It went well, really well.  The children did their presentations and answered our guest's questions fairly intelligently.  The food was remarkably good, considering we used authentic medieval recipes and…

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