It's kind of funny that we're only about 5 weeks into this year, where our focus in History is on the Ancients, and I'm already thinking ahead and making plans for next year! Anyway, we're using RC History's Connecting With History to study up through the Fall of Rome this year. This will bring us up to the beginning of the Middle Ages/Medieval history. While RC History doesn't yet have a volume available for this time period, they do have a literature-based unit study for the Medieval time period based on the Catholic textbook, The Old World and America, by Rev. Phillip Furlong.
Anyway, I have this strange attachment to the idea of studying history chronologically, as set forth in the book The Well Trained Mind (WTM). Thus, I set forth to find resources that would help me construct a multi-level, Catholic, literature-based study of Medieval times. First I looked at Pandia Press. Their History Odyssey study guides is based on the suggestions in WTM, using the Usborne and Kingfisher History Encyclopedias as core resources. Because the level one guide uses Usborne as a base, it's approach and sequence of study is different than the level two guide, which is based on Kingfisher. I still might get the level one guide as a springboard for ideas and activities...maybe.
Searching further, thinking I might use The Story of the World, Volume 2 (SOTW) as a spine for the younger kids, I came across this great resource, which aligns SOTW with different resources, including the Usborne Encyclopedia! Well, since I have no desire to use Mystery of History (MOH--I don't own it), I already have Usborne, and I'm considering Kingfisher for my oldest, I decided to replace MOH with The Old World and America. The list will eventually be capped off with supplemental literature from Reading Your Way Through History (RYWTH--5th through 16th centuries AD), an extensive list of readings through the centuries that is acceptable to Catholics. This will be helpful when approaching the topic of the Reformation.
There is still some tinkering to do with the readings. I'd like to get it down to about a manageable 36 week schedule, so that might mean grouping several non-western areas together for a short unit. Anyway, below is the document I've compiled so far.
Download medieval_history_spine_texts.doc
The areas shaded in gray indicate that there are no accompanying readings for these topics in The Old World and America. This might be a good time to rely on the RYWTH list, or you could opt to just go with the spines. Personally, when it comes to learning about The Celts, I will probably spend a little time delving into our Irish ancestry!
