Posted in Curriculum

Well we finished up TOG Year 2 Unit 1 a bit ago and then took a break for a bit and will be starting Unit 2 today.  Before we move on I wanted to blog a bit with some final thoughts on the Middle Ages and things we added to it.

First of all, I need to say that we had a TON of fun with this unit!  We had some great field trips and learned a lot.  Our lap books are great (we used the TOG ones for this unit).  We actually did not have a big end of unit celebration.  We had considered it, but we had already been to a medieval feast at Castle Anam Cara.  We had also been to a Renaissance Faire.  And had even been to the Higgins Armory Museum.  There wasn't really anything we could do to top it.  And since it was Chanukah when we were ending, we celebrated that instead.  I do already have End of Unit Trips planned for the next 2 Units, so that will make up for it I think.

People area always asking me what I supplement with, so I thought I would talk about that instead.

First I have an all around Jewish History Spine that I am using.  I pull pages from there whenever it is appropriate.  The spine I am using is a 2 book set called "Understanding Jewish History" by Sol Scharfstein,  A lot of this set is available at Google books

I have linked to the first book, which goes up through the Middle Ages.  Book 2 starts with the Renaissance and is here to.  This is just a matter of fact account of Jewish History.  I would put it at an upper Elementary level, and I often just pull out important points instead of reading it word for word.

Probably the foremost Jewish historian is Rabbi Berel Wein.  Doing a search for his name on Amazon will get you pages of his books.  His website (click on his name to link to it) it also a veritable treasure chest of information.  I use it a lot for myself.  His books called "Sand and Stars" are an excellent Jewish Children's History series, but a bit old for my girls.  I fully intend to use them through the middle school/dialectic stage years.

Also, on Aish.com Ken Spiro, another excellent Jewish Historian has written a Crash Course in Jewish History.  It is all listed in time line form and is an easy way to find material to supplement with. 

For anyone really wanting to understand Jewish History, I would skip the Josephus, and check out these resources.

A few other books we supplemented with specifically for this unit:

The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela: Through Three Continents in the Twelfth Century by Uri Shulevitz.  This is a picture book based on the journals of Benjamin of Tudela.  A real Jewish traveler who explored most of the known world during the Crusades.  The journals have been edited and written for children, but the reading level is really for upper elementary ages. But it is a picture book and the pictures really add to the story.  An interesting fact about Benjamin of Tudela - while he never went to China, he was the first person to ever mention it's existence in his journals - more than 100 years before Marco Polo went there.  This book is the very definition of a "living book".  It really helped bring this period alive for my daughters.

The Fateful Mission by Meir Baram  (sorry I couldn't find a picture of it).  I assigned this book to Little Miss.  It is probably appropriate for ages 10-14 more though.  But she could handle it.  This story is historical fiction placed in France during the 13th Century (during the Crusades) and is based on actual events.  It is about a young man who is trying to save the Talmud before the Crusaders get there to destroy it.  I chose this book for Little Miss, because it was about saving books instead of people, so violence was less in this book.

2 other books which I also considered - and may have them read when they are older - were The Parnas also by Meir Baram and Fall of the Sun God by  Henye Meyer both of these books were about Jewish young people who were trying to escape from the crusades but they detail a lot more death and destruction than Little Miss is ready for.  They are both excellent books and would make nice additions to a middle school or older curriculum though.

So those are the major things we used.  I think for us a lot of it was more what we left out - which was a lot.  But I think my girls have a great handle on the Middle Ages.  We now move on to the Renaissance!