Long overdue, this post will be the first in a series that will attempt to explain why my children make movies.
When I began thinking about homeschooling my children about 14 years ago, I started by reading everything I could get my hands on and questioning every homeschooler that I knew. I started attending a homeschool support group when Allison turned 2, and through that group, I became acquainted with The Well -Trained Mind. Although I do not follow this book completely, much of my curriculum and structure reflects what I learned from its pages.
One of things that I gleaned from the WTM and have consistently carried out through the years is our four year rotation in history. We study the ancients, the middle ages, early modern times, and modern times. It takes four years to do that rotation, and then we repeat it for a total of three rotations for each child's school years. The school year in which Allison turned 12, we were studying the middle ages and having a great time with it. I decided to have a medieval feast and told the kids they had to make an interactive poster that showcased the middle ages. I gave them an example of making a pocket for the poster in which they could pull out a drawing of a castle, a picture of a monk, or a list of people common to the times. Allison, being the oldest, would be in charge of involving her siblings and helping them come up with items for the presentation. We set a date in November for the feast, and while the kids planned their poster presentation, I made out a menu and prepared to cook a fabulous, memory-making, medieval feast. The pictures in this post were taken in November of 2007. I'm so glad we thought to at least take a few!
When I began thinking about homeschooling my children about 14 years ago, I started by reading everything I could get my hands on and questioning every homeschooler that I knew. I started attending a homeschool support group when Allison turned 2, and through that group, I became acquainted with The Well -Trained Mind. Although I do not follow this book completely, much of my curriculum and structure reflects what I learned from its pages.
One of things that I gleaned from the WTM and have consistently carried out through the years is our four year rotation in history. We study the ancients, the middle ages, early modern times, and modern times. It takes four years to do that rotation, and then we repeat it for a total of three rotations for each child's school years. The school year in which Allison turned 12, we were studying the middle ages and having a great time with it. I decided to have a medieval feast and told the kids they had to make an interactive poster that showcased the middle ages. I gave them an example of making a pocket for the poster in which they could pull out a drawing of a castle, a picture of a monk, or a list of people common to the times. Allison, being the oldest, would be in charge of involving her siblings and helping them come up with items for the presentation. We set a date in November for the feast, and while the kids planned their poster presentation, I made out a menu and prepared to cook a fabulous, memory-making, medieval feast. The pictures in this post were taken in November of 2007. I'm so glad we thought to at least take a few!
The day arrived and the kids, who had been busily working for several weeks on their poster, holed up in their rooms and put the finishing touches on it to get it ready for the evening. I spread a table cloth on the table and set out a roasted chicken, some vegetables, French bread, cheese cubes, and various desserts--all medieval style. When the time came for the kids' presentation, they outdid themselves. Sporting lots of pockets, their poster contained information on everything we had studied about the Middle Ages. But, the poster did more than inform. With each bit of information that the kids presented, they did so in costume. For example, when the time came for them to discuss a court jester's role in medieval life, Grant came out dressed up as a court jester complete with tights and funny hat. Later, when they began to discuss the importance of church history during the Middle Ages, Allison grandly presented the information dressed like the pope! Grant, at age 7, adored knights and swords, so Abby borrowed his get-up and told us all about the life of a medieval knight. Throughout the evening, we also heard from a peasant and a minstrel. We even had golden coins to put into the minstrel's bag after his performance!
The feast, a smashing success, started me thinking about the next year's project. What could it be? We would be studying early modern times with an emphasis on the colonial time period in America. I finally decided that the kids had way more imagination than I, and that I would simply give them an open ended project. The assignment? Do anything you like to let me know that you know about the colonial time period in America. My only rules were that they have the project ready by the decided upon date, and that they make sure all four of them were included in the project. Chloe was only 4, so I knew that might be a challenge, but I felt like they were up for it!
I would encourage any homeschooler studying the medieval time period to search the internet and plan your own medieval feast. Your kids will love it! I would also suggest open ended projects. You never know what hidden talents might erupt. Next week, I plan on posting about my kids' first movie--their idea of letting me know they knew all about Colonial America.
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