I enjoy learning right along with my daughters. Because I homeschool them, I study topics I most likely would have bypassed if I wasn’t teaching. For the past few years, we’ve studied an historical era in-depth. We’ve covered ancient Egypt, Greece/ Rome, medieval/ Renaissance, and this year we’re taking on the Viking era.

At the end of our studies, I’ve taken the children to museums or faires to make the history come alive. After learning about Greece, we visited the Getty Center in Los Angeles and enjoyed seeing a special exhibit about children of Greece and their toys. At the end of our Renaissance unit study last year, we visited the Southern California Pleasure Faire, a Renaissance re-enactment. It was fun watching the artisans create drip candles, hair decorations, glass ornaments, signs, more. We didn’t get to the Rosicrucian Museum as planned to see Egyptian artifacts, but I have taken the girls to The Museum of Man in San Diego to see Egyptian and Peruvian mummies.

Today we studied something interesting—Viking Picture Stones or Image Stones from Gotland, an island in the Baltic sea off the southeast coast of Sweden in Scandinavia. The Ekeby Stone found in Gotland is a piece of art. Craftsman from about AD 1000 etched pictures into the stone. The remaining is actually a remnant of the original carving. It was recarved into a tomb chest.

The Vikings, like other ancient cultures, loved storytelling. The Icelandic Sagas were passed down by oral tradition for many centuries before they were written down. Some of the supernatural and fantastical tales were depicted in the Image Stones. Very few exist today because, through time, the etchings weathered. Other images from the stones were cut and placed in churches or homes. Most of the best remaining Picture Stones are in museums.

I’d like to read some of the translated Icelandic Sagas so I can learn more of the Viking mythology and thinking. I’d love to view many of the Image Stones and learn more about them. To see these, I’d have to travel to Sweden to The Historical Museum of Gotland; the National Museum of Antiquities in Stockholm; or the museum at Bunge, northern Gotland.

Wouldn’t you like to travel to Sweden to see the Gotland Picture Stones? I sure would!

Viking Picture Stones

http://www.gotmus.i.se/1engelska/bildstenar/engelska/picture_stones.htm

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Posted by mom2ZAW

You just need to go to Fargo, ND. They have lots of great Norwegian and Viking stuff there. I loved living close to Fargo! You betcha! :o)

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Posted by MamaBugs

I am glad to see I am not the only mom who is learning along side her children. Bug is doing Sonlight 200 this year (about the spread of God's Kingdom) and let me tell you...I am learning things I never knew! Now if only I can get caught up to her in the readings...

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Posted by Anonymous

As the Mickey Mouse Club groomed the children of the 60s for the 70s revelry cycle so is the Disney-production that is Hannah Montana grooming the children for the next revelry cycle, 2010-2020. The incest photo was a clue.
Similarly, as guitar strumming was a very activity sociable back then so is Guitar Hero the training tool used to gain male interest today.
Osama struck a "deal" with a record company executive in 2007::::With this Democrat in office I suspect we are going to witness an intense revelry cycle like we experienced in the 1970s.

It's children who go to heaven, not old people. Old people became corrupted, fell for temptation and will be reincarnated.
Your children are the ones with the opportunity now. You must sacrifice to give them the best chance possible. You must bravely face god's tests and do the right thing.

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