Lugalbanda, the Boy Who Got Caught Up in a War is the oldest known tale from the ancient Mesopotamia civilisation. Older than 5000 years, it was, at first, passed down through oral tradition. An Englishman called W.K.Loftus discovered Urek in 1849. However, it wasn't until 1888 that an expedition from the University of Pennsylvania uncovered…
Category: Literature Studies
Beatrix Potter Literature Study {Edwardians}
The older children and I studied Beatrix Potter together many years ago, but I never got round to writing about it. This term we have spent many months working on our Beatrix Potter Literature Study. The vast majority of our work was reading all the excellent books out there on Peter Rabbit and his very…
Teaching Literary Devices
I love teaching literary devices, and all my children (including the English shy Thomas) have loved learning about them. I don't use any worksheets, just teaching them as they come up in the children's homeschool. My older children were much more avid readers than my younger two and therefore picked up writing styles quickly and…
Shakespeare Unit Study
A Summer Shakespeare Club: Introduction Summer Shakespeare Club: Making Club T-Shirts A Summer Shakespeare Club: Adventure Box A Summer Shakespeare Club: Meeting the Members Shakespeare: Midsummer Night’s Dream – Day 1 Shakespeare: Midsummer Night’s Dream – Day 2 Shakespeare: Midsummer Night’s Dream – Day 3 Shakespeare: Midsummer Night’s Dream – Day 4 Shakespeare: Midsummer Night’s Dream – Day 5 Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet –…
Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet – Act I
Our first Shakespeare Club week was a huge success, so we were all looking forward to this week, assuming it would be equally fab. Unfortunately it really wasn't. I think this was due to many different reasons: All five children and their mothers (ie me and Lorna) were exhausted from the week before. Honestly, I…
Shakespeare: Midsummer Night’s Dream – Day 3
Midsummer Night's Dream Day 1 Midsummer Night's Dream Day 2 Shakespeare Biographical Work (10 mins) Read out-loud Act I, scene 3: John Shakespeare Takes his Son to His First Play from the following Shakespeare book: Midsummer Night's Dream Act III, Scene I-III (80 mins) Yesterday we had forgone the audio and just watched the video,…
Native American Unit Week 1- The Birchbark House: Neebin (Summer)
The Birchbark House is book one of a four series set of books about a young, Ojibwe girl called Omakayas: This first book is separated into four sections - the four seasons of the year. Each chapter we read we find much to talk about and learn about. In addition there are many parts of the…
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…
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…
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…
Narrating with Little Miss Neat
We've been working on Little Miss Neat for the last couple of weeks. One of the activities I am trying to encourage A5 to do is narration. One big regret with my older ones is that I did not do it nearly enough with them. Narration is such an excellent prewriting skill and encourages clarity…
Making a Diorama of Dante’s Inferno
As promised in yesterday's post, here is how we made our diorama. I had felt a little overwhelmed right from the start of this project and as I didn't want the children feeling the same I tried to break it down into manageable sections for them: First, we brainstormed all our ideas on the white…
Literature Study – Dante’s Divine Comedy: Inferno
Dante is a risky piece of literature to study with 10 and 11 year olds. There is much in there which I should thoroughly disapprove of exposing them to at their tender age. And yet I have found myself drawn to the learning possibilities. In the Inferno, Dante wrote about his views on Hell, some think as…
Picture Study: Botticelli’s Map of Hell
Source The parchment was completed by Botticelli between 1480 and 1490, using the technique of the silver tip and coloured pencils. This will be the first time we have ever studied anything coloured in with pencils! The Map of Hell is one of seven of Botticelli's parchments currently kept in the Vatican library in Rome. Although many artists have tried…
Dante’s Divine Comedy: Setting the Scene
Source I know I've said it before but I LOVE our literature studies. I read Tusiani's version of Dante's Divine Comedy aloud to prepare the children for a 10 week study of the Inferno, concentrating on Canto I with Dante the pilgrim becoming lost in the dark forest. Studying the Divine Comedy with 10 and 11 year olds is a…