Homeschool Field Trip: Clayshire Castle Medieval Faire

This field trip happened back in the fall, when our combined AP European History/World History Grade 6 studies both just happened to wrap up the medieval period in time for the Clayshire Castle Medieval Faire.

What better way to celebrate?

Now, what you must know about the medieval period is that all interpretations of that period, from the Renaissance to now, are technically "medievalisms," or just that--interpretations. They're ahistorical in that they tell us more about the culture in which they were created than the culture that they're meant to represent, but as long as you take what you experience in with a grain of salt, and you listen carefully to the woman next to you with a Master's in Medieval Studies (hint, hint: she's your mother!), you can happily immerse yourself in A Knight's Tale, or The Name of the Rose, or yes, even an Indiana Medieval Faire!

On Will's syllabus (I don't write syllabi for Syd, but Will, who is doing high school coursework this year, needs a written syllabus, book list, and portfolio for each subject), these types of experiences are referred to as Contemporary Interpretations.

There's a lot to take in at, and quite a lot to take from, an Indiana Medieval Faire!

Here are The Knights of the Rose, an all-female jousting troupe:

Women wouldn't have jousted officially in the Medieval period (that we know of... see? That's a medievalism!), but otherwise, these performances are pretty accurate. And also full of powerful women!

And of course you get to pet the horses afterwards.

The tall, tall horses...

A turkey leg is also an anachronism. Come on, you know why! Can you tell me? Think about it...

The turkey is a North American bird! And yes, I know you're going to tell me about that painting of Henry VIII holding a turkey leg, and that's why we have turkey legs at Ren Faires, but Friends. That painting is a myth. Nobody would have painted a member of the royal family nomming.

Henry VIII eating turkey legs is a myth. Troll bridges, however? Clearly not a myth!

OMG I just noticed Matt is still holding his turkey leg in this pic. Sigh...

 Syd made a friend, and this is pretty accurate to the Medieval period, two little girls sitting around on the grass playing with a pet bunny:

Get to the Point, the bullwhip performance duo, are not particularly medieval in tone, but that's okay because they're awesome:

There's also fire breathing:




Also not particularly medieval, but who particularly cares? They breathe fire!!!

I have a huge soft spot for stage combat, having done a little of it in college, so we for sure watched the stage combat show by the Shattock Schoole of Defence:

I think the kids might have liked it, too, don't you think?

I was pretty well getting sunstroke by this point in the wildly unseasonal day-- 

--so we sat in the shade-ish for a while and learned some truly authentic facts about medieval falconry, thank goodness:

Syd helped:

Okay, now I really had just the teeniest bit of sunstroke:

If only Medieval women wore baseball caps! Or covered their bosoms better!

Going to dress as a Medieval man next time, I swear. They looked so comfy and well-shaded.

I was so dizzy and sunburnt and pestered by flopping skirt folds that when this stage combat show asked for a volunteer to swordfight with one of their actors, I couldn't even volunteer! Worst letdown of my life. The guy who did volunteer did an okay job, but I am sure that if I'd been wearing pants and a hat, my fencing skills would have taken that knight down within seconds.

Well... after reflecting on their fighting style, maybe not...

We bought Syd a present:

 And on the way out, look what we found! Stocks! EVERYONE loves to pretend that they're locked up in the stocks, right?!?

Hmpph, children. Here, you do it like this!

Although much of a Medieval Faire is intentionally silly--I mean, of course!--if you keep your eye out and keep your Medievalist near, you can find some moments of good authenticity. For us on this day, it was jousting and falcons.

Although if I'd had some rotten fruit at hand, I could have made the children's experience in the stocks more authentic...

One More Kid + Cat Photo Shoot

The kid and cat photo album and/or framed photos did not happen at Christmas, because it turns out that mermaid tail blankets and shark blankets take an infinity of time to make.

Good thing the kid has a birthday in early May!

Here is one more photo shoot that I did before abandoning the project for the winter. I just happened upon Syd and Gracie snuggling on the window seat in front of a sunny window, and fortunately, Gracie didn't even notice that I was there, so didn't give me any stink-eye:

I haven't completely decided how I want to present all of these so-sweet photos of Syd and her kitty. A photo book, definitely. A couple of large-format prints, perhaps--I have a canvas-wrapped print of Syd that my in-laws gave me several years ago, and it's my favorite look for a photo. But here are some DIY ideas that I've collected, as well.

• engineer prints
• photo in one of our vintage bottles
• faux Polaroid picture banner
• photo block tower
• wood pallet picture frames

Let me know if you have any advice!

How We Completed the Girl Scout Cadette Book Artist Badge

We're finished! We drew this Cadette Book Artist badge out for quite a while, because we all enjoyed it so much that I added several extra activities to it, but last week both kids finished the last of their projects and are now fully certified Cadette Book Artists.

Here's what we did, as a troop and individually, to earn the Cadette Book Artist badge:

Step 1: Explore the art of bookbinding.

Fortunately, our local university has a stellar special collections library (at which I used to work!), and so our troop took a field trip there to explore the art of bookbinding. We have Juniors in our troop, as well, and they used the trip as enrichment for the Junior Scribe badge--how much more fun is it to write stories and poems when you can then put them in your very own handmade book!

When I arranged this field trip, I forwarded the librarian a pdf of the entire Cadette Book Artist badge book, and told them that although, of course, the children would be delighted with whatever they wanted to present, I would especially appreciate it if they could cover the requirements for Steps 1 and 2. The librarian came back to me with the plan that they would do not only that, but would also mediate a hands-on workshop for the children in which the kids would get to assemble and hand-sew their own five-hole pamphlet, learning the basic stab binding technique in the process. 

In other words, I HIGHLY recommend that you find a library with rare books that is in driving distance for this step. There is nothing like actually seeing the books in person to really help you understand how beautiful bookbinding can be. The kids are still talking about the handmade, decorative binding and case for the Lord of the Rings trilogy that they saw there.

Y'all, the binder incorporated the Eye of Sauron! And the book's case was the Tower! And you could take the book out of the case and fit it on top so that the eye was looking out from the top of the tower! It was INSANE!!!

Step 2: Get familiar with the insides of a book.

You could do this one yourself, or watch YouTube videos, but this was also covered in our library field trip. It might be hard to find a library, even one that contains rare books, that also has a department for book repair, so you could look for private book repair businesses or antique booksellers. 

Step 3: Try out book artist techniques.

We spent most of our time on this step, as I wanted the kids to learn several ways to make books, and become comfortable enough with those methods that they could happily use them in other projects. I firmly believe that Girl Scout badges are about mastery, not simply checking off steps, and I try to make sure that I don't award a badge to my own kids until I feel that they truly have mastered the skill that the badge is teaching.

Thus the children didn't just make a sewn book in the library, under the direction of the librarians, but they also had to do it independently at home, to show that they could remember the steps without prompting and complete them without help:

The kids had to become proficient with the paper cutter--

--the awl--

--and they had to be able to follow the stitching guide to correctly sew their binding:

On another day, I taught the kids to make a glued accordion book. I meant to teach them how to use my spiral binder to make spiral-bound books, but it's dead simple to learn and use and I could tell that the kids were ready to move on--after all, they'd each made several sewn and glued books by then! We'll spiral-bind another time.

4. Focus on function.

I let the kids loose for the final two steps in the badge. I pulled out all of the supplies that they weren't already familiar with, so that they knew all of their options, and told them that they were each responsible for creating a book that fulfilled a specific function, and a book that was creative.

The older kid made another sewn book for the younger kid, who uses the heck out of them for her stories, and the younger kid made a 2018 planner, which she mostly uses to note the dates of her French class and how much she hates French. Sorry, Tatiana! *I* think you're great!

5. Focus on style.

Style simply sounds more fun than function, and the kids both did have a lot of fun with this particular step. The younger kid got really into using her handmade books to tell a series of stories about a fox war, and two foxes who meet cute from opposite sides of that war.

I was also SUPER impressed by the older kid's creative book. She made another sewn book, but instead of paper she used fleece, red fleece for the cover and white fleece for the pages. Essentially, she made herself a book stuffie. Doesn't that just suit her to a T?

Optional Activities

Those steps may sound as if we didn't really spend all that much time on the badge, after I told you how much we'd drawn it out. But actually, much of our time was spent doing optional enrichment activities. We made paper by hand (several times, as I required the kids to master the steps)--

 marbled paper--

did several art activities using old book pages, and made these super cute Book Artist badge SWAPS:

They are ridiculously cute, right? I can't even stand them, they're so cute.

Here's my full list of projects to enrich the Cadette Book Artist badge.

Need more ideas? Here are some more options for some of the steps:

Step 3

• Cover a book with fabric.
• Make an accordion book with pockets.
• Spiral-bind a book.

Step 4

• Make a printable calendar journal. This printable template is for young children, but could be used as inspiration for older book artists, or they could use the template to make journals to give to younger children.
• Upcycle brown paper bags into a book.

Step 5

• Make a book out of upcycled CDs.
• Make a fabric three-ring binder cover, including sewing in the binder rings.
• Make a note card and postcard journal. 
• Turn your book into a locking diary.

And finally, here are some of the additional resources that we used for this badge:

• The Book on the Bookshelf
• Making Books with Kids
• Adventures in Bookbinding: Handcrafting Mixed-Media Books
• Re-Bound: Creating Handmade Books from Recycled and Repurposed Materials
• Anna the Bookbinder

Want more adventures in Girl Scouting and handmaking? Follow my Craft Knife Facebook page for links and pics and WIPs!

Homeschool Science: Process-Oriented Experimentation with Exothermic Reactions

The kids and I are using CK-12's 9th/10th grade Biology textbook as the spine for this year's biology curriculum--for Will, who is in the eighth grade but who is taking high school-level coursework, this will be recorded as Honors Biology on her transcript.

Chapter 2 of CK-12's biology textbook is entitled "The Chemistry of Life," and includes a section on biochemical reactions, including exothermic and endothermic reactions.

Exothermic reactions, in particular, are simple to create with household supplies, so this was a great chance for the kids to practice their scientific observation.

To begin, I set up a series of solids and liquids on our big table, with the proper measuring tool for each one, as well as a card that noted if one needed to wear gloves, goggles, and breathing mask before using it. I ended up with distilled water, vinegar, acetone, hydrochloric acid, baking soda, lye, potassium iodide, epsom salts, steel wool, yeast, and hydrogen peroxide. 

I also provided two large thermometers and supplies to clean them between uses.

The kids were required to write down the procedure in their science notebooks--

--and then were free to begin the experiments that were as much process-oriented play as scientific inquiry:

Hydrogen peroxide, lye, and hydrochloric acid all called for the use of the gloves, goggles, and breathing mask:

  
The straps of the breathing mask ALWAYS get caught in our hair...

I can't even tell you what combinations the kids tried, as I was more focused on standing guard and keeping them from pouring hydrochloric acid in their eyes or licking the lye. This reaction, though, is surely lye and water or lye and vinegar:



The kids loved the experience, and the more so, I think, because the loose format allowed for the element of play--of creating new possibilities and trying them out as they wished, with little worry about structure or product. Science needs more playfulness than we usually allow kids to have; so much of science is follow this specific method, record these results this particular way, do exactly this thing in order to see exactly the thing that you're supposed to see, etc.

That's important, sure, but you know what? Playing is important, too!

P.S. Want to create even more exothermic reactions? Check out what you can do with potassium nitrate and sugar, and hydrogen peroxide and potassium iodide.

We Rode a Driverless Bus

We had this random adventure back in the early fall, but the kids are still talking about it.

To be fair, it WAS pretty weird.

For two entire days, our hometown blocked off its main street downtown so that citizens could sign up for free tickets and ride a driverless bus.

Why? I do not know why city government does the things that it does. I just get on the bus!

The driverless bus was smaller than I thought that it would be--

--so its benefit isn't that it holds a lot of people; I think that there was maybe room for a dozen on this bus?

It only has seats for six of these people, if you squish--

--so its benefit isn't really that you can sit down while you get where you're going, because like as not you're going to be standing.

It also drove reeeaaaaally slowly, as in a brisk walking pace, so you're not going to use it to get where you're going any faster.

It could navigate around obstacles--

--but it apparently always has a driver on board who can manually operate the bus in case of emergencies, so you're not really saving money by employing fewer people if you use it.

It WAS super cool to ride in--I mean obviously, it was a driverless bus!!!--but I couldn't really work out its usefulness. I guess if you put it in an area where there's mostly foot traffic, with its own lane, like in a tourist area, you could save people some walking, but if a bus only holds twelve people, you're not really benefiting that many people, unless you had a whole fleet of them in constant operation. Same if you used it on our university campus, where there is lots of distance between buildings, but again, our local campus has an enrollment of over 48,000 students, so ferrying them around by the dozens doesn't feel feasible.

Ah, well. In 80 years, when my children are on the holo-talk circuit showing off their vintage digital pics of them test-riding the world's first driverless buses, I'm sure they'll laugh at how naive my doubts were. 

Because the buses will be flying by then, of course. Or utilizing warp zones. THAT would be efficient!

Homeschool History: The Feudal Economy via Skittles

The Medieval period is my favorite time period to study (one of my Master's degrees actually focuses on the Medieval period), but it wasn't very nice for many people to live in. The economy of the early Medieval period, at least in Western Europe--in Eastern Europe, this economy lasted a lot longer; Russia, in particular, was RIDICULOUS about it--was de-centralized, and built on the unpaid, enslaved labor of the disenfranchised poor.

Essentially, the feudal system was a pyramid scheme, and one gloomy school day (as you'll see in the photos below), the children modeled it in Skittles.

At the bottom of the pyramid are the serfs. They are born and live their lives and die on the same estate; they do not have permission to move away from it. They are required to give labor, usually manual labor in farming and building, to the knight who "owns" their estate, although additional labor, such as serving in the knight's household or performing other services, is paid. They also may farm and labor for themselves in their free time, and indeed, they must, if they're to eat and clothe and house themselves.

Let's say that each serf household, then, can earn ten Skittles for themselves in a year. Skittles, for a serf, represents surplus food and goods, maybe a little cash money.

However, the knight who owns the estate that the serf lives on owns the land that the serf farms and the serf's house,  etc. The serf must pay that knight rent. The serfs probably farmed some wheat for themselves, so that they could have bread to eat. The knight owns the mill; the serf has to pay to get the wheat milled. The serf probably traveled on a road or over a bridge to get to the mill or wherever else the serf needs to go. The knight owns that road and bridge, built with free serf labor; the serf has to pay a toll to use it.

This means that out of the ten Skittles that the serf's household was able to earn in a year, they're left with about...



Two. Two Skittles is not enough to live on for a year, and so the serf's family is abjectly poor. Their pigs and chickens live inside the hut with them to help keep them warm. When they're sick, they require charity from the knight's wife and daughters to feed and doctor them. Their lives are short and hard.

The knight, now, the knight does somewhat better. He doesn't actually farm his land; that's what the serfs are for. He has an estate manager to keep things running and profitable, but he's also expected to understand the workings of his estate and to gain the love and loyalty of his serfs. His first loyalty, however, is to his lord who gave him his estate. He probably served that lord well in some battle or other, and his prize was this land and its income, which makes him really more of a minor lord, now, rather than a knight, as such, but let's keep it simple for the children, shall we? The lord will still do the knight favors, and he'll participate in ceremonies and such.

The knight, too, is expected to pay fealty to his lord. Fealty is paid through labor, often fighting in whatever squabble or little war the lord has gotten himself into, but also through goods and money. The knight has to pay on some of what he got from his serfs, and some of whatever treasure or goods he was able to obtain during whatever fighting and looting he'd been involved with. This means that after a year, he's left with:



Seven or eight Skittles. That's not bad, and his household can live pretty well on that. But if he's got daughters, he'll need to marry them off as soon as they're old enough so that someone else can feed them, and if he's got sons, most of them are going to have to join the clergy or find other lords to serve as knights, because he doesn't have enough land to pass down a decent income to all of them.

The lord, now? The lord has it great. The lord has lots of knights paying him fealty, and those knights will also fight for him in his own squabbles, and when the king calls for soldiers to fight HIS petty squabbles, the lord can call on those knights, as well. The lord owes fealty to the king, getting presents and favors from him, paying him in goods and labor, but overall, he's high enough up the pyramid that after a year, he's left with:



Sixteen to twenty Skittles. That is PLENTY. The lord has enough of an income that he can divide his estates up a bit when he dies, although some sons are still going to have to think about becoming clergy or knights or marrying up. Daughters will generally be married off to similarly wealthy families, although their parents always have an eye on marrying them up. Life is generally pretty good when you're a lord. You've got fancy food, plenty of servants, nice clothes, etc. You spend a lot of your time overseeing your downline, and sucking up to the royals, and going to church, but you have a lot of free time, too, and a lot of parties.

The king, though. The king is where it is AT. Check out your spoils!


Every serf, every knight, every lord is paying up to you (unless you're in France. France is something else, and they'll have a whole revolution about it in about 400 years). Admittedly, you have a lot of politics and management to get done, you can't marry who you want, you're surrounded by toadies and spies, but eh. Look at all your Skittles!

Here, then, is all of early Medieval Europe at one table:

In Western Europe, this economic system didn't change until the Black Plague killed off most of the population. Afterwards, the labor shortage was so great that the serfs were able to agitate for reform, including the right to actually leave their estate for the first time. Some of them went to estates where there were better conditions, but some of them went their own way and found new land and made new economies among equals.

And boom! You've got towns.

Like the Medieval period? Here are some other resources we've enjoyed:

• We played this Medieval Kingdom card game.
• Make egg tempera.
• Play with paper soldiers.
• Start a timeline--perhaps right on your wall!
• Build a castle.

How to Make a DIY Magnet from Any Paper

I collect fan art, and one of my favorite artists is the author of My Life as a Background Slytherin. I was SUPER stoked to buy a print and a book of collected works from her etsy shop last year, and even more SUUUUUUPER stoked when it came with a teeny-tiny bonus print!

My teeny-tiny bonus print was not going to go live in a drawer, so instead I made it into a super awesome magnet, which is something that is super easy to do with any paper.

Super, right?

Here's how to make your own DIY magnet from any paper:

Step #1: Don't trim the image that you want completely to size, instead leaving some border around it that you can trim later. Turn it over, and cover the back well with double-sided tape (for the quick and dirty solution) or archival-quality glue, if you want your magnet to last forever:

Step #2: Stick your paper to the back side of a piece of mat board, then trim to size with a ruler and craft knife:

Step #3: Use clear packing tape (for the quick-and-dirty solution) or archival-quality sealant (if you want your magnet to last forever) to protect the front of the magnet from stains:

Step #4: Use an epoxy glue (I prefer E6000) to attach a magnet to the back of the mat board. Let it cure, then use your magnet!

I know, I know--ALL my magnets are pretty baller. I've got a souvenir from our Alaska cruise up there, as well as some Super Mario Bros. magnets, as well as some DIY Scrabble tile magnets!

I might need an even bigger metal board...

Cincinnati with Kids

I am in serious road trip planning mode right now (Spring Break, here we come!), but whenever I start my research, I always also start to reminisce about all the other great vacations that I've taken with Matt and the kids.

Cincinnati is one of my favorites, totally drivable for even a day trip from our hometown, but with more than enough to do to fill up a long weekend. The kids and I were last there in October, when we added to my list of great things to do in Cincinnati. Here are all of our favorites over the years, all nice and organized for you:

Cincinnati Zoo

Now, I have met people who dislike the Cincinnati Zoo, but when we went, we thought it was lovely and exciting and that the animals looked well cared-for and that there was an emphasis on animal conservation. 

Mind you, something that happened to us there did foretell the Harambe tragedy pretty clearly, but then, I'm quite used to human beings being the most obnoxious and most dangerous  creatures that I encounter.

William Howard Taft National Historic Site

The William Howard Taft National Historic Site wouldn't be a terribly engaging field trip for a super little one, as it's just a museum and historic house tour, BUT it has a Junior Ranger program that will engage elementary and up, AND it's indoors, so you've got something to do for the morning even if the weather is cruddy.

Newport Aquarium 

You can simply go to Newport Aquarium, of course (which is technically across the state line in Kentucky, but it's nevertheless practically in downtown Cincinnati), but I highly recommend one of their Family Overnights, which my Girl Scout troop attended over the summer. We didn't get as much sleep as I wish I, personally, had, but we did see every single thing in the aquarium, much of it via private tour, and many backstage scenes that regular aquarium visitors don't get to see. And since our arrival was in the evening after the aquarium closed to the public, and our departure was just as the aquarium was opening the next day, it took care of our overnight and left the days free for more sightseeing!

Riverfront Park

Seasonally, this is the BEST thing to do in Cincinnati! You could spend the entire day at the Riverfront Park, walking the whole stretch and stopping for the carousel, the porch swings overlooking the river, the shady spots to sit in the grass, tons of creative, interactive features and playgrounds and mazes and climbing structures and wading areas all along the paths:

There weren't food carts, though, at least on the day that our Girl Scout troop was there, so finding a budget lunchtime option was a struggle. Finally, we settled on burgers and hot dogs at the single spot under one of the bridges, so if you go during a mealtime, plan to pack or leave the park to eat in a restaurant downtown.

Jungle Jim's

Yeah, this is my kids' favorite thing to do in Cincinnati. There are two Jungle Jim locations, and we've been to both of them by now and like them both equally. I'm there for the interesting international food--I was able to find spoon sweets!--but the kids are all about the novelty food:

It's also often international, and we'll take it home and make a taste-test out of it. I like to pretend that it's educational.

Trying new things is ALWAYS educational!

Obviously, we've only just tapped the surface of what Cincinnati has to offer the traveling family, and we've already got more to do when we go there than you could possibly do in a single weekend. 

And we still haven't gone to a baseball game!