Wrap up of Knights and Castles

The family and I went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival yesterday to wrap up our unit study on Knights and Castles. Fortunately, it was a fairly nice day for it! We watch guys swallow swords, joisting, how to be a Knight, tried to learn to juggle, watched jesters and story tellers.

The guy that swallowed swords, spoons, and balloons!

Stockades!
Sign says Glutton!
Thing One above, Thing Two below

Next three photos are
from the jousting arena.
It sure was warm in that area with
no shade. Can you imagine
wearing all that armor?

The jesters were funny!

Medieval Feast

On the menu tonight~

Appetizers:

• meatballs
• apples
• cheese

Beverages:

• lemonade
• apple cider

Meal:

• chicken
• potatoes
• bread

Dessert:

• cheese cake
• rice pudding

As there was no electricity during this time period, we dined by candle light.


To make our 20th century home a bit more castle like, decorations were provided by Thing One and Thing Two:

Toys!

Absolutely LOVE when the kids toys can be used for educational purposes. A number of years ago, Thing One and Thing Two asked my parents for a castle similar to this one. They both have one and enjoyed playing with them for awhile. It got to the point that they became occasional toys, but I wasn't ready to "retire" them. This week, I'm very thankful we didn't. It has been very useful to point out various words like:

• battlements - stone walls
• crenels - gaps in wall to shoot arrows out
• merlons - solid place to duck behind

After today's reading from "Castle Diary" by Richard Platt, I'm thankful this castle doesn't have a garderobe in it. You see, in medieval times, it was their version of a toilet and indoor plumbing. The major difference, is that the plumbing, instead of leading to a sewer system like we know, lead to a whole in the castle wall where things got dumped into the moat. How would you like to be the Gong-Farmer who's job it was to remove the piles of waste or unclog the pipes?

Anyhoot, Thing Two put on a short show with the castle and knights. Here's his "short":

Blogging . . .

lately has been a challenge. We've been in school for a few weeks and in past years, I've usually by now blogged by a few things. Some how a unit study on "Magicians Nephew" doesn't lead to many photo opportunities.

This week and next, we're working our way through Knights and Castles, using the companion guide to Magic Tree House "The Knights at Dawn". This has been a great reference guide and the print outs from Homeschool Share have been wonderful. So far the boys have learned about which kinds of castles were better for protection, the Feudal System, Lords & Ladies, parts of the castle. They've gotten a kick out me being able to hook up my Mac and do Power Point presentations for vocabulary, bring up pictures of Castles, among other things. They've also enjoyed playing with their castles while being read to from "Castle Diary, The Journal of Tobias Burgess, Paige".

Cool activities to follow: making catapults, going to Maryland Renaissance Festival, and having a Medieval Banquet. Those should be more photo worthy!