How lovely it is to get back to blogging after so long away! Our home leave in England finally came to an end and we've been back in Russia for a week now. The entire contents of our house (minus the larger items of furniture) were in storage, so it's been a huge job getting everything unpacked and back into place, but I finally got to a stage this evening where I could say 'I'm done'! I'm sure I'll write a post sometime on the trials of packing and making multiple moves overseas :-)
In the meantime, I wanted to write this post on Living History ever since I came across this road name in the town in which we were living:
"Look, look!" I shouted at Sophie (aged 7) as we were driving past, "Hengist Road!" She looked at me a little blankly. "You know, we've been reading all about him and the Saxons in our school book". (We've been reading 'Our Island Story' by H.E.Marshall as part of the Ambleside Online Curriculum for Year 1). Fortunately she seemed to remember who Hengist was. "Hmmm," I continued, "I wonder if.......?" And sure enough we came across:
I was one very excited homeschooling mummy! Ok, ok, yes I need to get out more, but after that we started noticing names such as 'Saxon Hotel' and the 'Aethelstan Pub'. Suddenly the history we'd been reading about was coming alive.
We were also reading about King Alfred for school. One of the books mentioned he'd been crowned in Winchester, a town very close to where my sister-in-law lives. With a bit of persuading, Hubbie let us have an hour wandering around Winchester town centre, where we came across this statue of Alfred. Unfortunately my camera battery had died (note to self: homeschooling mothers on a mission must always check batteries are fully charged on all electronic equipment), but I found this small photo on the web.
This is Corfe Castle, which dates back to the 11th century and was built by William the Conqueror. The kids had great fun filling in a treasure hunt quiz, where they learnt lots of interesting things about who had been imprisoned in the castle and so on, and they even won little medals at the end.
The highlight was getting to dress up as knights and ladies and stage mock sword fights in the grounds of the castle!
I'm so glad I was able to supplement our history studies in this way. The children genuinely enjoyed going around the museums we went to, and were super-excited when I told them they probably had some Viking blood in them from their Great Grandmother's side.
I think I'm going to start making a list of all the places I want to visit in England on our next home leave. In the meantime, we'll be checking out the local museum here in our town in Russia to learn a little of the history of the people from this region.
Qu: What opportunities have you had to involve your child(ren) in Living History?
Qu: What tips do you have to keep history trips interesting and fun?
As always I love reading your comments!
Abide in Him!
