Medieval History: A Literature Approach for Intermediate Grades

"Don’t stress about teaching medieval history to your children. My kids devour history through literature, using amazing selections from Beautiful Feet Books." 

-Dianna from The Kennedy Adventures

"Today, if I had to choose just one program, Beautiful Feet Books would be my top choice at any grade level."

Tina from Tina's Dynamic Homeschool

Before we share anything about our Medieval History: A Literature Approach for Intermediate Grades, you may find it helpful to read this series of blog posts from Audria. She wrote in detail about this study as she used it throughout a school year with her son: Introduction, Weeks 1-6, Weeks 7-12, Weeks 12-18, Weeks 19-24, Weeks 25-30, Conclusion
Another helpful review is available from The Kennedy Adventures.

And here, author Rebecca Manor shares her thoughts on studying the medieval world: 
This period in history is so exciting and it is my hope that this full-color guide will open up new worlds to you and your students! The suggested grade levels are 5th - 8th grade and the guide is structured to allow for you to personalize it to each student. It is formatted in 35 weekly lessons with reading assignments, mapping activities, research and discussion topics, hands-on and craft suggestions, vocabulary lists and much more. Knowing that each student is different, I have tried to set it up to allow you to personalize the study to your student's unique needs. For example, a 5th or 6th grader would be able to use the research topics to discuss new ideas and historical events while an 8th grader would be encouraged to write short research essays. For students who are more tactile learners, there's hand-on activities to encourage the development of those skills. One thing that I try to emphasize in the guide is the fact that it is a guide and it's supposed to make your job easier, not harder! It's chock full of ideas and activities but they're not all required. The focus should be the literature, not checking off every single activity. The activities are there to enrich your study, so pick and choose according to the educational needs and interests of your students. Have fun with it!"

The term Middle Ages probably conjures up images of brave knights and fair ladies, feasts and tournaments, castles and cathedrals. These are the elements of this time period that captures our imagination. In this course students will learn about King Richard, King Arthur, Saladin, Queen Eleanor, Joan of Arc, Shahrazad and others. They will learn about Martin Luther who revealed a new way to approach God and about John Wycliffe who organized the Bible. Students will read about the life of Columbus, whose discovery of North America changed the world forever. The middle Ages was a very busy time full of change. Brilliant minds lived between the years 400 and 1522, the years that are covered in this study. By reading some of the best literature on the subject, students will be encouraged to discuss new ideas and social changes. Links to websites, hands-on activities, discussion questions, mapping activities and much more will bring the Middle Ages to life. Set up in 35 weekly lessons, this study guide provides everything you need to complete an exciting literature based history course.

Click on the thumbnails below to view sample pages from this study guide:

Our guides are open and go, all you need are the books and a notebook for your student! And everything is available in a discounted pack that ships for free! 

We hope you find this helpful. Please never hesitate to contact us with any questions. We can be reached at 800.889.1978, letters@bfbooks.com, on Facebook, and Instagram.

Teaching Medieval History

Today we have Audria's final report on using our Medieval History, A Literature Approach for Advanced Intermediate and Junior High! Included are pictures from the GHC in Cincinnati and much more! Audria's family truly embraced the spirit of this study and made it their own. I love looking through the pictures of their projects and hearing about their reactions to the literature. Here's Audria:

Globe project for medieval history.

Sadly, all things must end and so has our current study of medieval times. We spent the last five weeks reading The World of Columbus and Sons by Genevieve Foster; the final required book in the study. The guide is set up to go through this book in four weeks but due to some unforeseen events going on at home we needed an extra week to get through the text and all of the rich discussions.

Box day! Always a happy day in a book-loving homeschool!

Oldest started this session marking locations from Spain, Portugal, Italy and Africa on his map. As we read about the explorations of the Portuguese he marked their routes. We also read some extra books on exploration about Prince Henry the Navigator (A Sea Route to Asia: The Adventures of the Portuguese Exploration by David Rutsala), Magellan, De Balboa and Cortez. We read about Timbuktu and the beginnings of the slave trade.

All of our books for the study...that we could find!

We read about the fall of Constantinople and the ironic (considering today’s news stories) welcoming of the Jewish population into the Ottoman Empire following their expulsion from Spain. We watched a documentary called The Story of the Jews which covers the various diasporas of the Jewish people throughout the centuries. We were both saddened and encouraged by the documentary. My daughter was particularly moved and wondered aloud when people would “get over hating each other before even meeting?”

With books and a few projects

My son enjoyed learning all about Columbus, Martin Luther (Martin Luther by Mary McNeer and Lynd Ward), William Tyndale (The Hawk that Dare Not Hunt by Day by Scott O’Dell), the Vatican’s Swiss Guard, Michelangelo and Leonardo DaVinci (both by Diane Stanley). He did not enjoy anything about the royal troubles of Spain, France, England, the Holy Roman Empire or the Medici family. Of all the

Ember Day Feast ingredients

books we read that mentioned the plague the death of Captain Jack in The Hawk that Dare Not Hunt by Day had the most emotional impact on us. He was certainly a rogue but we liked him anyway. The lack of respect shown toward his corpse was unsettling. We ended up discussing the impact of so much death on a society…kinda hard to wrap one’s mind around really.

The Feast!

Our final discussion for the study was to compare the ideas of Machiavelli and Erasmus. We’ll likely dive into this a little deeper during his high school years. He liked Erasmus’ idealized views of governing and thought that Machiavelli was just plain crazy.

We followed up our study with a medieval Ember Day feast. We had come across the term a few times in our readings and looked up the meaning. These are days of fasting (no meat) and prayer that occur at the beginning of each season. Originally the Catholic Church instituted the celebration of these days in Rome to coincide with pagan agricultural celebrations. Beginning in the fifth century the practice spread throughout the West. The days are still celebrated in some rural areas of Europe.

Our feast included an Ember Day Tart, Hungarian Cheese Soup, Brown Rye Bread,Pottage, Apple Cider, Almond Milk, and grapes. Pottage is vegetable soup with oats (I used instant oats) and I thought the kids would be reluctant to eat it. To keep them from being too picky I ran it through the food processor so it was more like a bisque than a stew. I am happy to live in times that include a crock pot and a food processor! (I will admit to wishing for those replicators on Star Trek: The Next Generation!!!) The food was good and we enjoyed our feast. Our favorite recipe was dipping the rye bread into the cheese soup. Yum!

We loved this study. All of the books were excellent and Oldest had a hard time choosing his favorite book from the study. He found it impossible to choose just one of the books. From the required books he chose Crispin: The Cross of Lead and The Trumpeter of Krakow. His favorite book from the recommended reading list was A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg.

I could not pick a favorite book; my emotional attachment to them is directly related to warm memories of snuggling with my children while reading aloud. We wept bitterly together over Robin Hood’s death, we loved the audacity of Eleanor of Aquitaine, we were angry at Crispin’s inhuman treatment…I could go on. The read aloud experience this curriculum provides is so precious. I cannot possibly imagine continuing in the home education lifestyle without Beautiful Feet Books.

Posts related to this series: 

Introduction

Augustine to Arabian Nights

Eleanor to Robin Hood

Weeks 12-18  Wow! I got sooo creative with that title!

Minstrels, the Black Death and Chaucer

Joan of Arc to the Philosopher’s Stone

Medieval Fig Tarts

Up next!

So what’s next? Well, we still have a longbow to make. Every single weekend that my husband has been available to help us with this project the sky has rained. We have all of the components and sometime in the near future I’ll share our experience at the making of a long bow. Our next academic year begins in July. I’ve already started the planning process. Oldest will study the Early American and World History Jr. High pack. My middle two will work through the Early American History Intermediate study and Littlest will begin the Primary Early American study sometime in the fall or early winter. We are all looking forward to our history studies and this mama can’t wait to introduce Littlest to Benjamin West and his Cat Grimalkin.

Thank you to the very wonderful and generous people of Beautiful Feet Books who have blessed my family!

Thank you Audria for opening your home to us! We can't wait to hear about your adventures in Early American History! 

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