A few years ago, I came across the book, The Well-Trained Mind. What a resource. Prior to actually reading this book, I thought classically-trained education was lots of copywork, writing, and memorizing. And, while there is more of that than we implement at this time, these authors have also devised a simple schedule with regards to the study of history.
The child studies a different time period per year, but they begin in chronological order. Year one begins with Ancient History, etc. And, after those four years up, the child repeats the same time periods, thus enhancing his knowledge base and becoming more familiar with the topic. This makes so much more sense than learning about the United States and then trying to figure out where Ancient Greece came into being!
A big part of our formal homeschooling centers around The Story of the World books. We are on Volume Two: the Middle Ages. The first third of the book was still covering the fall of the Roman Empire, but finally, finally, we made it to the 1000s and the knights. I think I was more excited than my seven-year-old.
(A marshmallow cream and cereal Norman castle...an activity from the accompanying guide)
And, of course, with castles and knights and books about kings...no study would be complete without a visit to our local medieval faire.
And, finally, an introduction to one of his new favorite games...chess. We borrowed this book from the library, suggested to us from the Volume 2 Activity Guide. And, considering it has been almost 20 years since I played...well...we all have benefitted from its use. Too bad his younger brother isn't too fond of rules just yet...
