Hi Marcela! On pages 282-285 of Home Education, Mason talks about medieval monks, commonly referred to as The Chroniclers, who she recommends we read to elementary age children. The ones she mentions are:
Ecclesiastical History of England by Bede (7th century)
Life of Alfred by Asser (9th century)
Chronicles of the Kings of England by William of Malmesbury (12th century)
Richard Coeur de Lion (Richard the Lion Heart) by Richard of Devizes (12th century)
The Life of St. Louis by Jean de Joinville (13th century)
Life of Alfred is the easiest to find, short and available on Amazon. I found a very old , beautiful copy that includes three of the chronicles listed above in one volume. So there are options and you may have to hunt! The old writing style naturally takes some getting used to (as is the case with so many of the old books we are reading), but I find Mason's testimony to their literary power to be very true. It is a fascinating thing to read medieval stories through the eyes of the medievals themselves!
Hi Amanda. I just printed the curriculum, and it is beautiful! I'm working on making a list for my sixth grader, and was wondering about the reasoning behind which Henty novels are scheduled and which are free reads. If I have some of the free read options on hand already would it be fine to replace some of the scheduled ones? Thank you!
It would absolutely be fine to use the ones you already have! The schedule in the lesson plans were based on the sets from Robinson Books, just to make ordering them easier. But there is no perfect order! Personally, because my Robinson Books set is on backorder, my daughter wanted to begin with the Revolutionary War so she is reading True to the Old Flag. Any Henty ( the ones "for boys", he did write a few for adults) works well!
one question my friend and i have been discussing is what to do when your sort of family schooling and maybe the literature pick for year three is going over the head of the year one student how do you handle the "leveling up" or all the choices as a family?
I only combine students within Forms, so Years 1-3, or Years 4-6. I think this is helpful to streamline teaching while still honoring the unique needs of students and where they are at. Within the forms, you will not encounter an issue of the Year 3 books being out of the Year 1 student's range. They are all in the same general range. That said, most Year 1 students experience a process where they have to be accustomed to listening to and understanding more complex literature. My best advice is to be patient. The books will teach the child how to "hear the voice" of each author, and if you are consistent on narrations, you will likely be blown away by the progress they make by the end of the year!
Hi Amanda, when you list “the Chroniclers” who do you mean by that?
Hi Marcela! On pages 282-285 of Home Education, Mason talks about medieval monks, commonly referred to as The Chroniclers, who she recommends we read to elementary age children. The ones she mentions are:
Ecclesiastical History of England by Bede (7th century)
Life of Alfred by Asser (9th century)
Chronicles of the Kings of England by William of Malmesbury (12th century)
Richard Coeur de Lion (Richard the Lion Heart) by Richard of Devizes (12th century)
The Life of St. Louis by Jean de Joinville (13th century)
Life of Alfred is the easiest to find, short and available on Amazon. I found a very old , beautiful copy that includes three of the chronicles listed above in one volume. So there are options and you may have to hunt! The old writing style naturally takes some getting used to (as is the case with so many of the old books we are reading), but I find Mason's testimony to their literary power to be very true. It is a fascinating thing to read medieval stories through the eyes of the medievals themselves!
This is so helpful; thank you!
What are recommendations for learning more about Senior's work?
Hi Amanda. I just printed the curriculum, and it is beautiful! I'm working on making a list for my sixth grader, and was wondering about the reasoning behind which Henty novels are scheduled and which are free reads. If I have some of the free read options on hand already would it be fine to replace some of the scheduled ones? Thank you!
It would absolutely be fine to use the ones you already have! The schedule in the lesson plans were based on the sets from Robinson Books, just to make ordering them easier. But there is no perfect order! Personally, because my Robinson Books set is on backorder, my daughter wanted to begin with the Revolutionary War so she is reading True to the Old Flag. Any Henty ( the ones "for boys", he did write a few for adults) works well!
Ok, great. Thank you so much!
one question my friend and i have been discussing is what to do when your sort of family schooling and maybe the literature pick for year three is going over the head of the year one student how do you handle the "leveling up" or all the choices as a family?
I only combine students within Forms, so Years 1-3, or Years 4-6. I think this is helpful to streamline teaching while still honoring the unique needs of students and where they are at. Within the forms, you will not encounter an issue of the Year 3 books being out of the Year 1 student's range. They are all in the same general range. That said, most Year 1 students experience a process where they have to be accustomed to listening to and understanding more complex literature. My best advice is to be patient. The books will teach the child how to "hear the voice" of each author, and if you are consistent on narrations, you will likely be blown away by the progress they make by the end of the year!
thank you for this reply!