Friday, December 10, 2010

Middle Ages Homeschool Resources

Here is a list of resources compiled from recommendations from other homeschoolers on the Well Trained Mind Boards. Books marked with an x indicate they were mentioned multiple times. I added in books that I was reminded of that we enjoyed last time we did the middle ages. I also have a few more books listed at the end that I found searching. I'll need to check these out to see if they are good.

The good news is that I am pretty sure we have over half of these books in storage. The bad news is that we're going to need a lot of bookshelf space for this era. And I think that our reading list will probably outpace the time alloted for the middle ages. But this is a good problem to have. Better than the alternative.

1066: The Year of the Conquest

Adam of the Road

Adventures in the Middle Ages: Good Times Detective Agency – Linda Bailey

Adventures with the Vikings: Good Times Detective Agency – Linda Bailey

The Ancient Celts (Scholastic; some detailed description of pagan practices)
The Apple and the Arrow

Augustine Came to Kent (Bethlehem Books)

Bard of Avon- Stanley

The Beduin’s Gazelle (stand alone sequel to The Ramsey Scallop)

Beorn the Proud – Madeline Pollard

Beowulf: A New Telling – Robert Nye

Beowulf – Ian Serraillier

The Bible Smuggler

The Black Arrow (by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The Blue Fairy Book (and other colors, by Andrew Lang)

Brother Caedfael mysteries – Ellis Peters

Canterbury Tales retold by Geraldine McCaughrean
Castle (by Macaulay)

Castle Diary - Richard Platt x

Cathedral – David Macaulay

Catherine Called Birdy - Karen Cushman

The Children of Odin (by Padraic Colum; Norse myths)

Crispin: Cross of Lead – Avi x
D’ Aulaire’s Book of Norse Myths x

Dark is Rising sequence – Susan Cooper (as a treat after we’ve read Arthur)

Days of Knights and Damsels (activity book)

The Door in the Wall x

Famous men of the middle ages x

Famous Men of the Renaissance

Favorite Medieval Tales - Mary Pope Osborne

Good Masters, Sweet Ladies x
The Hidden Treasure of Glaston – Eleanore Jewett (Bethlehem Books)

Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott (Great Illustrated Classics)

Joan of Arc – Stanley xx

King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table – Roger Lanceyln Green

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table – Rosemary Sutcliff (The Sword and the Circle, The Light Beyond the Forest, The Road to Camlann)

King Arthur and his Knights (CD) – Jim Weiss

The King of Ireland's Son (by Padraic Colum)

The Kings Shadow x

The Kitchen Knight – Margaret Hodges

Knight’s Fee – Rosemary Sutcliff

Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare

Leif the Lucky (by D'Aulaires)

The Little Duke – Charlotte Yonge

The Making of a Knight -

Marco Polo for Kids (activity book)

Matilda Bone - Karen Cushman

Medieval Fashions (Dover coloring book)

A Medieval Feast - Aliki

Medieval Tales (by Mary Pope Osborne)

Men of Iron – Howard Pyle

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (by Howard Pyle)

The Midwife's Apprentice - Karen Cushman
The Minstrel in the Tower

The one and future king TE White x
Otto of the Silver Hand (by Howard Pyle)

The Pied Piper of Hamelin (by Browning; included here based on its setting of the late 1200's, not on when it was written)The

Ramsey Scallop – Frances Temple

The Red Keep – Allen French

The Road to Damietta by Scott O'Dell - about the life of St. Francis

Robin Hood

Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest

Saint Patrick: Pioneer Missionary to Ireland (Christian Liberty Press)

Saladin Diane Stanley

The Samurai’s Tale – Eric Haagard

The Seventh Expert

Shakespeare Stealer series

The Shield Ring – Rosemary Sutcliff

The Shining Company – Rosemary Sutcliff

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – Tolkein

Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady

Son of Charlemagne - Barbara Willard

St. George and the Dragon Margarete Hodges (My kids loved this so much the first time through the middle ages that we about wore out our copy.)

Starry Messenger (about Gallileo)

The Story of King Arthur and Other Celtic Heroes (by Padraic Colum)

The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow – Allen French (Bethlehem Books)

Sword in the Stone xx (Separate entry because it was specifically mentioned)

The Sword in the Tree - Bulla

Sword Song – Rosemary Sutcliff

Tales from Arabian Nights (because it fit with the caliphat and harun-al-rashid)

The Trumpeter of Krakow -

Usborne Internet-Linked Medieval World

Usborne Norse Myths
The Viking News

Whipping Boy – Sid Fleishman


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Books I found in my searches that look interesting:

Bearskin – Howard Pyle

Big John’s Secret – Eleanore Jewett

The Great and Terrible Quest -

Margurete Makes a Book -

Minstrel in the Tower -


Sword of the Rightful King – Jane Yolen

The White Stag – Kate Seredy

The big list is a little anglocentric. Having been in Germany last history cycle, we had a heavy exposure to figures like Charlemagne and William the Conquerer. I’d like to find more books about central European stories and history, like the Niebelungenlied and Ludwig der Springer. And religious figures like Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, whom we kept running into (but who I'd not heard of before as a protestant American). I think that I need to find some good versions of Grimm’s fairy tales.



1 comments:

dstb said...

Great list! We did this time period 2 years ago (wow, time flies!). My boys ages 11 and 13 now, really liked the following from your list:
Beowulf (Nye)
D'Aulaire Myths
Good Masters, Sweet Ladies (we got it on CD from the library with different actors playing the parts and it made it very enjoyable)
Son of Charlemagne
Rolf and the Viking Bow
Trumpeter of Krakow

My kids also liked the following books by GA Henty (some were Audio versions from Jim Hodges or Jim Weiss)
In Freedom's Cause
Lion of the North
Wulf the Saxon
The Lion of St. Mark

Enjoy the Middle Ages!
Sarah