Medieval Morning

This morning I taught the 4 and 5 year-olds at our homeschool co-op. We're in the middle of a medieval unit. That happened to be a very popular theme at our house a few years ago, and so we had many medieval things at home, including this mega-bloks castle. This was a very popular item today. Even the 6th graders thought it was "cool".

This is a picture of a little Down's Syndrome boy who is in Jonathan's K-5 class. He is really sweet, and I think it's great for the kids to have him there. He's the youngest of 6, and the fmaily has been in the area for a long time, so this little boy is really popular among all the older kids in the co-op. He's a neat little guy.

During the past 2 weeks, the class talked a lot about castles, so this week we talked about all the people who DIDN'T live in castles. Everyone agreed their mud and stick houses sounded cold and smelly, and non one wanted porridge and soup all the time to eat.

We also talked about knights, and the code of chivalry. Then the kids decorated shields, which they will carry for our big medieval feast in 2 more weeks. Some kids had elaborate designs, such as the one above, and other kids scribbled a few scribbles and that was that. Those kids just wanted to play.

I brought our Little People castle, and all the knights, royal figures, horses, etc. that go along with it. It was very popular. I also brought a bag of miscellaneous knight figures that we have lying around the house. These are pretty elaborately decorated, and they have lots of detailed weapons, shields, etc. The boys liked those.

Bob got to come as well, which was a big help in keeping especially the 4 year olds on track. They were like little pieces of popcorn, jumping in and out of their seats! Now I am exhausted and ready for an early night. Next week we'll talk more about the 3 stages of becoming a knight, and we'll make helmets to go along with the shields for the feast.