Having moved last year I finally managed to create something I've been wanting to create forever: a permanent history timeline on the wall. I chose our downstairs loo for its location (!) and did the whole thing with sharpie. In our previous house we created a timeline over eight years with work the children had done but I wanted this one to be more aesthetically pleasing and to suit our fresher and minimalist home. Here it is, with much still to add.
The Boy, having watched the timeline progress, asked if we could do a history project so here we are. We started first with The Norman Conquest and progressed through to the Middle Ages (British History). The Boy's work focusses heavily on comprehension amongst other subjects.
Sunbaby worked on matching beginning letter sounds with pictures.
The Boy began with a study of the Bayeux Tapestry and matching historical moments with chronological pictures within the tapestry in the lead up to the killing of Harold Godwinson and William of Normandy's ascension to the English throne.
Motte and Bailey Castles and the spread of stone-built castles.
Our Island Story is a fantastic resource for the history of Britain for The Boy's age. It is written as a novel and we are reading it together.
Exploration of local ancient woodland.
Learning to measure with a ruler.
Colour by numbers
Making a medieval fortress with keep, stables, portcullis, turrets and drawbridge.
Making a dragon's egg
And a dragon's nest
On the hunt for ingredients for medieval potions
Fantastical legends of days gone by!
Making pottage (we used potatoes even though they weren't in Britain at that point - ssshhh!!)
Bread made by The Boy
A feast fit for peasants!
A walk in 'Sherwood Forest'.
Making Sherwood Forest.
Sunbaby added Paddington Bear - artistic license.
Listening to Our Island Story and designing clothes for the rich and for the poor.
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A walk in fairy woods |
A medieval mill
The Boy spent three days making some amazing medieval weapons
FINALLY! The library is open again! We found some great history books.
Role-playing the Middle Ages
Dragons and unicorns
We visited a 1000 year old church, originally commissioned by Judith, niece of William the Conqueror.
It was extended in 13th century, during the Tudor era and again in the Victorian era.
On the baptismal font are damage marks made by Cromwell's soldiers during the English Civil War - we loved discovering this!
The original Norman arch is still there.
A Crusader's tomb stone, found, along with a skeleton, under the porch during a Victorian renovation.
Sunbaby had a lot of fun making a castle ruins out of cheese!
She made tickets and charged her family members to come visit
We read about the Barons, King John and his Great Charter. In 2015 we visited St. Albans' Cathedral where the Magna Carta was on an 800 year anniversary tour. The Boy has little recollection of our visit but he made his own Magna Carta with its main points, and copied John's signature which can still be clearly identified on the last remaining copy.
Medieval money bags
Making a castle out of Victorian sponge cake which we ate while listening to medieval tavern music.
We asked a local vicar to give us a tour of another local church. It had medieval bronzes, which due to their location in the corner, have not been worn away by footfall. Really super!
I think this is a Jacobean chair. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Plaque from 1600s
Jacobean screen
Medieval mass dial to tell parishioners the next mass time. 
Heraldry
Designing his own herald
A morning of church, village and hot chocolate stop.
Working through the chronology of the Middle Ages, ordering the monarchs and drawing a monastery while I continue Our Island Story.
Reading out loud
Medicine in the Middle Ages comprehension work.
The Boy has also covered the evolution of the English language after the Norman invasion, learned about knights and armour, castle parts, designed a castle, and 'applied for a job' at a castle as a carpenter.
We have covered William I, William II, Henry I, King Stephen, Matilda, Henry I, King Richard, King John, Thomas a Beckett, Chaucer, The Crusades. Geoffrey of Anjou and the Plantagenet name.
We have been enjoying the BBC series ' Secrets of the Castle' set in Guedelon Castle, France. Still under construction, the castle is being built using medieval techniques and tools and the programme is thoroughly fascinating. He made notes as he watched and typed them up as a word document, and we've had many a conversation about castle since.
Horrible Histories also remains a firm favourite in our house.
Part 2 coming soon, including the Black Death, The Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses.
