The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop

Would you like to teach your kids about life in the middle ages? What were the lives of the peasants like? What did knights do? What did squires do? How did you become a knight or squire and how old did you need to be before you could be a squire?

The Castle in the Attic is a work of fiction (and has an evil wizard in it), but the story seems to grab children's attention, at least children grammar school children and perhaps middle school children as well. The story keeps the kids interested and they can't help but learn about a castle's architecture, how peasants lived, and how long journeys took in the middle ages.

Much of the book lends itself to topics of discussion. What is chivalry? Is a person more likely to follow the edict of a stalwart? Were all lords tyrants, or were tyrants an aberration? Could you imagine going off and leaving your family to be a page or squire at a very young age, and how did children back then cope without their parents?

This book could be read to your children and could easily start off a middle ages unit study with lots of fun and engaging potential activities, some suggestions of which are listed below.

Following the details in the story, build a castle. Learn about the different rooms in the castle, including the buttery, armory, chapel, scullery, kitchen, stable, and great hall.Castles were nothing without people, and castles contained lords, ladies, knights, pages, squires, servants, and serfs. Where did each person work and what did each person do? Which work was most difficult? Could anyone be a serf? Could anyone be a lady?Make a practice sword and shield, designing your own coat of arms. Study the different weapons used in the middle ages, including the lance, long bow, mace, dagger, and scabbard.Make a small square of chain mail to show how long it takes to make knight's armor. (A two-by-two inch piece should be sufficient). Or, make a coif out of fabric.Make a small tapestry like Mrs. Phillips. For children not adept with embroidery, use fabric paint or fabric markers instead of needle and thread. Go to the fabric store and have the children feel wool, which is what tapestries were made of in the middle ages.

Question and answers, suggested activities, and more are available at Mountain City Elementary Corner's web site.

Gwen Nicodemus has two children that she's been homeschooling all their lives. Gwen also teaches science and math classes in a local homeschooling cooperative. As a temporarily retired engineer, Gwen keeps her brain active by writing unit studies and little books for her kids whenever someone gets interested in a new topic. Check out the great free resources, including unit studies, videos, tutorials, and little books at http://unitstudiesbygwen.com/

©2011, Gwen Nicodemus

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