Medieval History Reading

 

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is reading aloud with my kids. Let me just start by admitting that reading aloud doesn't always go smoothly around here, but I love reading aloud and think it is important, so we persevere.



This year, Jessica has been good enough to create book lists for us geared towards a few different age groups.  There are so many great titles here.  Doesn't it just make you want to get a cup of coffee and curl up on the couch?

Although the lists are grouped by approximate reading levels, I find my bigger kids still love flipping through the picture books, and my younger kids will listen to the longer books if I read them aloud.

Enjoy!

Kindergarten to 3rd graders:

The Holy Twins: Saint Benedict and Scholastica, by Kathleen Norris and Tomie DePaola

The Knight and the Dragon, by Tomie DePaola

Castle: How it Works, by David Macaulay

Clown of God, by Tomie DePaola

Brigid's Cloak, by Bryce Milligan

The Making of a Knight, by Patrick O'Brien 

The Saint and His Bees, by Dessi Jackson

Caedmon's Song, by Ruth Ashby

Hidden Tales from Eastern Europe, by Antonia Barber

National Geographic Kids: Everything Castles

The Kitchen Knight, by Margaret Hodges 

Fourth to Sixth graders:

Cathedral, by David Macaulay

Castle, by David Macaulay

The Big Book of Knights, Nobles, and Knaves

The Illustrated Book of Knights, by Jack Coggins

St. Benedict, Hero of the Hills, by Mary Fabyan Wyndeatt

Augustine Came to Kent, by Barbara Willard

Son of Charlemagne, by Barbara Willard

Otto of the Silver Hand, by Howard Pyle

St. Francis and St. Claire, by Helen Walker Homan

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, by Howard Pyle

If All the Swords in England, by Barbara Willard

The Raven and the Cross, by John Tully

St. Dominic and the Rosary, by Catherine Beebe

And for older kids, all of the above, plus:

The Restless Flame: A Novel About St. Augustine, by Louis de Wohl

Citadel of God: A Novel about St. Benedict, by Louis de Wohl

Men of Iron, by Howard Pyle

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver, by E.L. Konigsburg

Adam of the Road, by Elizabeth Janet Gray

Good Book Discussions

 

This year we will be reading and discussing Good Books together at Colm Cille Club.  Depending on how your family works, these might be independent reads or family read alouds (even better).  Either way, enjoy! 

Kindergarten to Third Grade:

October 1: Across a Dark and Wild Sea, by Don Brown

October 29: Clown of God, by Tomie de Paola

December 3: The Kitchen Knight, by Margaret Hodges

February 25: Marguerite Makes a Book, by Bruce Robertson

March 25:  Medieval Tales that Kids Can Read and Tell, by Laura Czarnota

May 6: The Sword in the Tree, by Clyde Robert Bulia



Fourth and Fifth Grade Book Discussion Lists and Dates:

October 1:  Beowulf: Dragonslayer, by Rosemary Sutcliff

October 29: Francis and Clare: Saints of Assisi, by Helen Walker Homan

December 3: The Story of King Arthur & His Knights, by Howard Pyle

February 25: St. Hyacinth of Poland, by Mary Fabyan Windeatt

March 25: The Emperor's Winding Sheet, by Jill Paton Walsh

May 6: The Shakespeare Stealer, by Gary Blackwood

 

Books and Resources 2014-2015

To supplement our printable memory work curriculum, you will need to purchase a few resources for Colm Cille Club.

We now have an Amazon Affiliates account, so CCC earns a commission on anything you buy after clicking over to Amazon from this website.  Happy shopping!

All families with students in grades K-6 should purchase one copy per family of each of the following books.  Material from these books is included in our memory work.  The English from the Roots Up book contains many more vocabulary words and explanation of the roots we will be studying.  The CCMemory contains full science lesson plans.

English from the Roots Up, Volume 2

Classically Catholic Memory Beta Year Teacher's Manual

Fourth through sixth graders will need this writing book, which is on clearance right now at the Institute for Excellence in Writing:

Institute for Excellence in Writing Medieval Studies

And for those who don't already own it, each family with children 7 and under should have a copy of Making Music Praying Twice:

Making Music Praying Twice

Labels

Here are some ideas for labels, so that future generations of CCC moms (or, us... when we have memorized so much information we can no longer remember anything else) can look for helpful tips.  If your post doesn't fit into any of these, no label is fine, too.  Comment below with further suggestions if there is something we might post about regularly I missed.

Homemaking
Pre-school
History
Geography
Poetry
Grammar
Music
Science
Math
Timeline (for the videos of the signs)
Scripture
Catechesis
Teaching Memory Work
Other Homeschooling (in case someone wants to post about their phonics or math ideas, etc.)
Year One
Year Two
Year Three

So, as an example, if I found a great history resource for Ancient History, I might write a post up about it and label it History, Year One.  Down the road another mom could click on the label "Year One" and get all our notes and ideas.