The Middle Ages Week 6: France, England, & Spain

The Middle Ages Week 6: France, England, & Spain February 19, 2014

In this post: This week we learn about the Bubonic plague, the Hundred Years War, and such iconic figures as Joan of Arc, and Queen Isabella of Spain. Join us for medieval fashion, soap whittling, oozing boils, french knitting, and more!

Hello dear ones! I hope you are well. This is the last week of the Middle Ages. Next week we begin the Renaissance. So welcome to week 6! 🙂 It was a very interesting week. I stayed up late sewing these medieval clothes and I am NOT a seamstress. Yeah, my dress is not supposed to come off the shoulders. That was an accident. If you could see the stitching, you would cry. But I am amazed that we were able to wear these outfits and that they look good from afar.

We began by learning about the Bubonic Plague (Black Death) and how it changed the face of the Middle Ages. The Black Death was a horrible disease that swept the Medieval world and killed over half the population. They had no clue what had caused it. In modern times, we now know that the plague was carried by fleas on rats. Death happened on such a massive scale which caused the feudal system to fall apart. So in a way, this horrible thing helped usher in the Renaissance. We painted bubble wrap to form our own “plague“. Okay, so these oozing boils were not symptoms of the Black Death but they were the easiest to make. Surprisingly, I got into this craft more than my son. Michael thought it was gross and freaked out if I got near him. So we painted the bubble wrap with yellow and red. Most of it flaked off when it dried. I probably should’ve used acrylic. Then I used concealer to stick the boils on and make it look like skin.

In the top pictures I’m reading Story of the World Book 2 and Michael is doing his Middle Ages lapbook which he finished this week. We did get outside in our outfits. I taught Michael the nursery rhyme “Ring Around the Rosie”. We took to the trampoline and had fun with the song. The thought did occur to me that people driving by might think we’re in a cult, lol! You know…all dressed up in Medieval wear and dancing around. Ha! I LOVE homeschool! Anywho, some believe that the rhyme is talking about the Black Death. Morbidly creepy, I know! We also watched Horrible Histories Plague song. It was definitely morbid.

Michael drew a picture of a greyhound and falcon, which is near the bottom. We read about the Hundred Years war and watched several videos on Joan of Arc. Joan was a young French woman that took up the sword and led her people into battle against the English. Sadly she was captured and burned at the stake as a heretic and witch. So Michael put together a foil knight. The links with directions are after the picture. Then we learned how to do some French knitting using a tp roll and craft sticks. It’s addictive! Now I have to figure out what to do with my long rope of yarn….a baby scarf? He he…just looking at the pics. Michael is so somber when he’s concentrating. Too cute!

The English had their own wars at home. We learned about the War of the Roses and the fight for the crown. Oh, too many Henrys! Seriously, my history class in public school was boring and I didn’t remember half of this. So I’m having fun relearning the hands on way…even though I’m teaching. Michael decorated his royal crown and pretended to have a coronation. Later we had a tart for our English food. I made a sugar cookie heart shaped pie crust and topped it with cheesecake and a berry glaze. We watched another episode of Monarchy.

On Valentine’s we read about Princess Isabella and Prince Ferdinand of Spain and their beautiful love story. We had a somewhat Spanish supper. Okay, so we had yellow rice and the bread was actually Mexican but the fried shrimp is a Spanish recipe. Chris and Michael did some soap whittling. It’s safer than whittling wood I’m sure. Chris did a great soap whale. Michael’s car was a bit rough but he had fun. My attempt was pitiful and I ended up hacking it to pieces.

I made Michael a PB&J sandwich with a heart shape in it. We took turns reading several books for Valentine’s. I shared some of those with you in a previous post. Michael gave me a chocolate scented stuffed bear. What a perfect idea! Chris surprised me with roses that morning. And I got this neat Valentine’s tic tac toe printable which we used with conversation hearts. It was a great week!