Jump to content

Menu

Middle Ages/Discovering King Arthur


kwg
 Share

Recommended Posts

I tried to use the DUKE King Arthur study with both my children, DD in 7th, DS in 6th. For both of them, it did not work out.

My kids are excellent readers and like to write. They had no problem reading the book and both liked it. The amount of writing assignments, however, drove them nuts. It was not that each assignment was too hard - but there were too many questions about the text, every week. It felt like analyzing the book to death. They did not like it and we abandoned it. (Sadly, because it really looked cool)

So, I would be hesitant to recommend that to a 4thgrader.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't use it for a 4th grader because The Once and Future King requires so *very* much context (historically, politically, etc) to make any sense at all. I think, even with lots of explanation and support, it could be very frustrating and turn a child off to some really wonderful stories. Have you read it? The amount anachronism is pretty overwhelming -- but might only be confusing to a child who hasn't already studied both middle ages *and* the 20th century...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tried to use the DUKE King Arthur study with both my children, DD in 7th, DS in 6th. For both of them, it did not work out.

My kids are excellent readers and like to write. They had no problem reading the book and both liked it. The amount of writing assignments, however, drove them nuts. It was not that each assignment was too hard - but there were too many questions about the text, every week. It felt like analyzing the book to death. They did not like it and we abandoned it. (Sadly, because it really looked cool)

So, I would be hesitant to recommend that to a 4thgrader.

 

:iagree:Thank you for being the first brave soul to write this here. We finished Once and Future King yesterday with my son (12) rating it as one of his favorite books. By this point, we are using the DUKE King Arthur study only for the projects for the same reasons regentrude mentioned.

 

I would recommend to the OP to read Once and Future King if you have never read it or re-read it if it has been many years since your last reading. It is a wonderful book, but it does contain numerous mature themes; you will need to decide if your child is ready to discuss them. The language is rich and complex. Know what you are getting into before you hand it to your child or even use it as a read aloud.

 

The student reads anywhere from three to eight chapters a week and is asked to annotate the book any time he see a reference to the key topics: heroism, chivalry, the feudal system, knights, the quest, monarchy, the castle, daily life, and knowledge. My son had not yet learned to annotate, so we used a lesson from Windows to the World to cover the skill. After a lively discussion with my 18 yo daughter, I chose not too have ds annotate the text. We agreed that it would be better that he continue to practice annotation on short stories and that annotating the book as required would be disruptive to the enjoyment of the work.

 

When the student is done with the reading, he chooses with his mentor (teacher) which of the 25+ questions to answer to check his comprehension. It is recommended that the student answer the questions with both written and oral responses. We found the lesson on writing a scholar's TCQC short answer to be valuable, but TCQCs take time and we never did more than one or two of them per reading. Briefly, a TCQC contains a topic sentence, phrases or a sentence that introduces your evidence, the evidence itself which is usually a quotation or paraphrase and a commentary that explains how the evidence supports the topic.

 

Obviously to use this skill effectively, the student needs to be advanced enough in their writing to have covered topic sentences, paraphrasing, and quotations as well as being able to write a conclusion.

 

The final piece of the weekly work is writing a journal entry that answers one to three questions, that is in paragraph form, and that is about a page in length. We don't do journals here as a required part of school. My only exception would be preparing for AP English Language or Literature tests.

 

This is a considerable amount of writing for a middle school student let alone an elementary student.

 

At the end of each of the four books, the student choose a research project to complete. Several of the projects are quite good and we have enjoyed what we have done so far.

 

A project on the feudal system asks the student to research the basic levels of the feudal system and to represent each class with a graphic and words to show how they relate to each other and what their roles are. This can be done on a poster, a Web page, or on a program like PowerPoint. The student then looks at the birth order and gender and how it affect's a child's place in the feudal system. Next, the student researchs more thoroughly one class from their poster . The final step is to write a speech from the preliminary work where the student creates a character that represents a particular line of work. This is an interior monologue that describes the week in the life on this individual.

 

Personally, I would not use the program as written with a fourth grader unless they are very advanced and even then I would be hesitant to do so.

 

Prior to reading Once and Future King, we read Hamlet and Macbeth, which are alluded to on several occasions. We also researched the author and looked at what was happening in the world at the time he was writing the book. True to his nature, my son was less interested in chivalry by the end of the book and for more interested in the concept of nationalism. A current research thread for both of us is how White acquired the rather grisly scene where Morguese boils a black cat alive. By accident I happened to be reading an anthropology book, The Rainbow and the Serpent, where the author mentions a similar tale that Zora Neale Hurston brought back with her from her time in Haiti. If I remember correctly, her book was released prior to White's second book in Once and Future King.

 

All this to say, that while we enjoyed the book, we wandered far from much of the DUKE study.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't use it for a 4th grader because The Once and Future King requires so *very* much context (historically, politically, etc) to make any sense at all. I think, even with lots of explanation and support, it could be very frustrating and turn a child off to some really wonderful stories. Have you read it? The amount anachronism is pretty overwhelming -- but might only be confusing to a child who hasn't already studied both middle ages *and* the 20th century...

 

Oh thanks, Abbey. You found one word where it took me 500 words. :tongue_smilie: I'll bet it didn't take you 45 minutes to type it either.:D Anachronism. Yes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm planning to use the Duke/Arthur study next fall with DS12 in 7th. I'd originally planned to use it this year, but DS remains obsessed with Greek history, so we've been "stuck" in Greece all year! My plan is to do the discussion questions orally, and to do many more of the projects (rather than just one for each book). The suggested level of writing would absolutely not work here, but I think the Duke questions are excellent and will lead to great discussions. Also, DD (in 4th) will tag along for the ride and will do some of the projects, but IMO the level of analysis required to really "do" the program is too advanced for a 4th grader.

 

Last year I put together a schedule correlating the Teaching Company's Medieval World course with the Duke units and approximately one project per week. The original schedule was in a table, but I'll try to post it here as text. I'll do it in a separate post (and it may take a few minutes for me to get it all reformatted and posted).

 

Jackie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Note on the abbreviations:

MW stands for the Medieval World TC course, followed by the number and topic of the appropriate lecture

SS/QAD, etc., refers to the Duke unit on the listed book chapters (Sword in the Stone, Queen of Air and Darkness, etc.),

The projects are selected from the Duke syllabus, and in parentheses I've listed whether they'll be done by DS (7th grade), DD (4th grade) or Both.

 

Week 1: MW#13 Arthur; SS 1-3; Mapwork (B)

 

Week 2: MW#14 Feudalism: SS 4-7; Poster of feudal hierarchy (B)

 

Weeks 3-4: MW#16 Knighthood & Heraldry; SS 8-11 + SS 12-17; School for Knights project (DS)

 

Week 5: MW#15 Pilgrims/Saints + MW#17 Gothic Cathedral; SS 18-14; Stained Glass project (B)

 

Week 6: MW#18 Piety, Politics, Persecution + MW#19 Persistance of an Ideal + MW# 20 Religious Institutions; Duke projects section; Dragons project (B)

 

Week 7: MW#21 Magna Carta; QAD 1-8; write own version of the Magna Carta? (B)

 

Week 8: MW#22 Noble Household; QAD 9-14; Castle models (B)

 

Week 9: MW#23 Medieval Village; Duke projects section; Medieval village models (B)

 

Week 10: MW#24 Medieval City; I-MK 1-7; Feudal Talk Show project (B)

 

Week 11: MW#25 Food & Drink + MW# 26 Music & Entertainment + MW# 27 Dress & Fashion; I-MK 8-14; Fashion Magazine & Medieval Meal projects (DD),

 

Week 12: MW#28 Medicine + MW# 29 Plague; I-MK 15-24 ; Report on Medicine (DS)

 

Weeks 13-14: MW#32 Art & Artisans; I-MK 25-32; Illuminated Manuscripts projects (B)

 

Week 15: MW#30 Childhood + MW# 31 Marriage & Family; I-MK 33-35; Report on an important woman (DD), Astronomy project (DS)

 

Weeks 16-17: MW#33 Science & Technology; CW 1-5 + CW 6-9; Alchemy project (DS)

 

Week 18: MW#34 Weapons & Warfare; CW 10-14; Make swords & shields (B)

+ Report on weaponry (DS)

 

Week 19: MW#35 Revolts & Wars; start final projects (B)

 

Week 20: MW#36 Early Modern Period; complete final projects (B)

 

The primary "texts" I'll be using include: What Life Was Like in the Age of Chivalry (Time/Life series); The Medieval & Early Modern World: The European World (OUP series), The Medieval World (Kingfisher); A Medieval Castle: The Inside Story; Knight: The Medieval Warrior's Unofficial Manual; several DK books (Knight, Castle, Arms & Armor, Medieval Life); Science & Technology in the Middle Ages, Women & Girls in the Middle Ages, Medieval Medicine & the Plague, and Medieval Warfare (all from the Crabtree Medieval World series), Castle (Macaulay), and others. I have lists of additional supplementary materials for most of the topics (books, documentaries, websites, etc.), but nothing's correlated at the moment and I probably won't have time to do that until summer. I can post those once I get to it, though, if anyone else is interested in using the Duke materials.

 

I'm also hoping to use this online Principles of Alchemy course in conjunction with the Duke study this fall. It's a complete conceptual chemistry course taught in the form of dialogues between Merlin and his student, Arthur. (CompuHigh offers the course for HS credit.) If that doesn't work out (e.g. DS doesn't like the format), then we'll use Caveman Chemistry instead, which is another offbeat chem course with an alchemical twist (the elements of air, earth, water, and fire are characters who address the reader and present much of the material). Either way, I love the idea of a fully integrated literature, history, and science program, with lots of creative and hands-on projects, and hope it will entice DS to finally move on from the classical world to the medieval one!

 

Jackie

Edited by Corraleno
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My son used this in 6th and it was a lot of work. He liked it and it is something I'd recommend but not for 4th. The girls are doing it after they finish Lit Lessons from LOTR and they are in 7th & 8th. Lot of writing and detail to this study but it's a keeper when the time is right! :thumbup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...