Celebrating Saint Joan of Arc

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August 4, 2016 By Jennifer 15 Comments

I’ve always held a fascination for Joan of Arc, ever since I was a little girl.

The historical story is a remarkable one, no matter what one believes.

To hear heavenly voices and do something amazing, to save one’s country and obey God – it’s the stuff of dreams and fairy tales.

But Joan did all that and more.

Joan was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1431, after a politically-motivated trial. The appellate court retried Joan and declared her innocent on 7 July 1456. She was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920.

We’re focusing on European history this year since we’re living in Germany.

We spent several weeks reading about Joan of Arc, the 100-year war, and other issues of the Middle Ages.

To celebrate the end of the first unit of our history cycle 2, we visited Rouen – where Joan of Arc was tried and executed.

For our Joan of Arc Unit Study, we read lots of books, watched some films, completed notebooking pages, and traveled to Rouen.

Books:

Joan of Arc: The Lily Maid by Margaret Hodges

Joan of Arc by Michael Morpurgo

Joan of Arc: Heroine of France by Ann Tompert

Dove and Sword: A Novel of Joan of Arc by Nancy Garden

Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley

Joan of Arc by Demi

Joan of Arc by Josephine Poole

Joan of Arc by Mark Twain

DK Biography: Joan of Arc by Kathleen Kudlinski

Joan of Arc (Step into Reading) by Shana Corey

My son especially loved this book and it was very accurate, not dumbing anything down.

Joan of Arc (Dorling Kindersley Readers, Level 4) by Angela Bull

Films:

Joan of Arc with Ingrid Bergman and Directed by Victor Fleming

Joan of Arc with Leelee Sobieski

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc with Milla Jovovich

The Passion of Joan of Arc (The Criterion Collection) with Maria Falconetti

Joan of Arc Interactive DVD by Nest Learning

There’s also an activity book here.

Activities:

St. Joan of Arc coloring page from Catholic Icing

Reenaction with Legos by Adventures in Mommydom

Simple Joan of Arc Lapbook from Homeschool Epiphany

Online documents of Saint Joan of Arc Trials

Interactive Maps of Travels of Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc notebooking and coloring pages from Shower of Roses

Joan of Arc notebooking page from Homeschool Helper Online

NotebookingPages.com has a set of Middle Ages notebooking pages that included a set for Joan of Arc

Our Field Trip to Rouen:

Eglise Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc de Rouen

Since 1979, this church stands on the Old Market Square where she was burned. It is both a church honoring St. Joan of Arc and a civil memorial with a cross and eternal flame in the courtyard. The outside is modern, designed by architect Louis Arretche, evoking the sea with a cover of scales in slate or copper. The roof of the church is meant to resemble an overturned Viking ship and consuming flames. Inside, there are remarkable stained glass windows of the old church Saint Vincent Renaissance. There are no relics of St. Joan of Arc.

Cross Monument Eglise outside Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc de Rouen

Eternal Flame at Base of the Cross outside Eglise Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc de Rouen

Front Facade of Eglise Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc de Rouen

Eglise Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc de Rouen downspout

Bust Statue of Joan of Arc

Michel Coste Statue of Joan of Arc

I paid €0,50 for an English brochure.

Joan of History and Message Brochure

Hours:

Monday to Thursday, Saturday : 10am to 12pm and from 14h to 18h

Friday and Sunday : 14h to 18h

Closed : 25 December and 1 January.

Rouen Cathedral

Joan of Arc was put on trial in the bishops’ palace, but we felt it fitting to visit the famous cathedral.

The highest spire in France, erected in 1876, a cast-iron tour-de-force rising 490 ft above the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen. Claude Monet immortalized Rouen’s cathedral facade in his paintings.

Rouen Cathedral

A chapel is dedicated to Joan of Arc.

Joan of Arc Chapel in Rouen Cathedral

New Joan of Arc Museum in Rouen

Interior courtyard of the Bishop's palace Rouen

The kids loved these discovery booklets with puzzles, questions, activities, and information about the life and times of Joan of Arc and the city of Rouen.

Joan of Arc Museum Discovery Booklet for Kids

The Joan of Arc museum has projected videos and images that explain the story of Joan in each room of the bishop’s palace. It’s quite innovative and exciting and holds everyone’s attention really well.

There are statues and artifacts at the end of the tour.

We viewed the tower from the attic window.

Joan of Arc Museum

We bought a rare souvenir in the museum gift shop:

Joan of Arc and Rouen Book Souvenir

See info about Historial Jeanne d’Arc here.

Individual Tickets €9,50 or Family Ticket €26

Hours:

31 May to 1 October:

Tuesday to Sunday: 9.45 a.m.–7.45 p.m. (last visit begins at 6 p.m.)

1 June to 30 September

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday: 9.45 a.m.–7.45 p.m. (last visit begins at 6 p.m.)

Friday and Saturday: 9.45 a.m.–8.45 p.m. (last visit begins at 7 p.m.)

Joan of Arc Tower

This dungeon was part of the castle built in 1204 by Philippe Auguste. It is all that remains of the Rouen Castle. Joan was held prisoner here during her trial.

We didn’t have time to walk over to the tower, but we saw it from the window of the museum.

Tickets € 1.50

Free for children under 18

Hours:

1 April to 30 September

10am to 12.30pm and from 14h to 18h Monday through Saturday. From 14h to 18h30 on Sundays.

October 1 to March 31

10am to 12.30pm and from 14h to 17h Monday through Saturday. From 14 to 17.30 on Sundays.

Closed: Tuesdays and 1 January, 1 May, 1 and 11 November, 25 December.

Rouen is a fun town with lots to see and do, a nice market, and plenty of restaurants and shopping.

We would love to see Domrémy and Reims someday.

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Illumination Art Study

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April 26, 2016 By Jennifer 4 Comments

We’ve been fascinated with studying Illumination in medieval art.

We traveled to Ireland and saw where the Book of Kells was created.

We’re amazed and thankful that monks worshiped God in such a creative way!

We love this: Marguerite Makes a Book.

We discussed how paint was made in medieval times.

Red

Madder: made by boiling the root of the madder plant rubia tintorium

Vermilion: found in nature as the mineral cinnabar

Rust: found in iron oxide-rich earth compounds

Carmine, also known as cochineal: carminic acid from the female Dactylopius coccus insect is mixed with aluminum salt

Crimson: also known as kermes, extracted from the insect Kermes vermilio

Lac: resinous secretion of insects

Blue

Woad: produced from the leaves of the plant Isatis tinctoria

Indigo: derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria

Turnsole: also known as folium, a dyestuff prepared from the plant Crozophora tinctoria

Ultramarine: made from the minerals lapis lazuli or the cheaper azurite

Smalt: now known as cobalt blue

Yellow

Weld: processed from the Reseda luteola plant. This is the oldest European dye plant in the world!

Turmeric: from the Curcuma longa plant

Saffron: from the Crocus sativus

Ochre: an earth pigment that occurs as the mineral limonite. Can be heated to become red ochre.

Orpiment: arsenic trisulfide

Green

Verdigris: cupric acetate, made by boiling copper plates in vinegar

Malachite: a mineral found in nature, copper carbonate

China green: a plant-based pigment extracted from buckthorn Rhamnus tinctoria or R. utilis berries.

White

Lead: made by corroding sheets of lead with vinegar, and covering that with decaying matter, such as dung, to provide the necessary carbon dioxide for the chemical reaction

Chalk: calcium carbonate

Black

Carbon: from sources such as lampblack, charcoal, burnt bones or ivory

Sepia: produced by the cuttlefish

Iron gall ink: iron nails would be boiled in vinegar; the resulting compound would then be mixed with an extract of oak apple (oak galls).

Decorations

Designs and Borders

Illustrative miniatures or decorative motifs may enclose the whole of the text space or occupy only a small part of the margin of the page. Some borders were in panelled form while others were composed of foliate decorations or bars which often sprouted plant forms and are known as “foliate bar borders.”

Lettering

The parchment was ruled, usually with leadpoint or colored ink. Ruling lines helped the scribe to write evenly and were part of the design of the page. The scribe wrote with a quill pen made from the feather of a goose or swan. The end of the feather was cut to form the writing nib. A slit cut into the middle of the nib allowed the ink to flow smoothly to the tip of the pen. The appearance of the script—whether rounded or angular, dense or open—was partly dependent upon the shape and the angle of the nib.

Gilding

Gold: leaf, gold hammered extremely thin, or gold powder, bound in gum arabic or egg

Silver: either leaf or powdered

Tin: leaf

We chose to make historiated initials.

These were pages of initials that portray figures or scenes that are clearly identifiable, telling a story.

I printed large Old English initial outlines for each of the kids to decorate with their story.

They began with outlining borders and decorations in pencil.

They soon realized how much work must have gone into the illumination of pages and books. They were tired of the detail work after just a few minutes. They took a break and went back to work the next day.

I was impressed with how each of them expressed themselves with their letters by drawing their favorite things and using their favorite colors.

Tori drew lots of flowers and made her initial shiny.

Katie made her entire page shiny and drew lots of undersea animals.

Alex drew leaves, stars, and flowers and cats playing music and wearing hats.

We then framed the initials and hung them up in their rooms!

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County Meath in Ireland

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March 17, 2016 By Jennifer 3 Comments

We saved the best for last on our Ireland trip.

We drove from Ashford Castle to County Meath to tour all the sites we’ve only read and dreamed about.

It’s about a 3-hour drive, depending on traffic and weather…and GPS mistakes.

We stopped first at Trim Castle.

My ancestor, Hugh de Lacy, constructed Trim Castle over a thirty-year period with his son, Walter.

Construction of the massive three-storied keep, the central stronghold of the castle, was begun in 1176 on the site of an earlier wooden fortress. Ready for occupancy in 1173, Trim Castle is the largest, best-preserved Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland. Trim get its name from the Irish áth Truim, meaning “The Ford of the Elder Trees.”

The kids were excited to run up to the gate.

We just opted for the self-guided tour instead of the extra group tour of the keep. It would have taken over an hour and we were a bit pinched for time. I didn’t know if Alex would have found it interesting enough to listen to the guide for that long.

We bought the guide book and that is quite comprehensive.

The keep is a twenty-sided cruciform design with walls 3m thick. It was protected by a ditch, curtain wall, and moat.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Trim Castle declined in importance, and it was allowed to deteriorate.

Admission Prices:

Adult €4 | Child/Student €2 | Family €10

Castle Excluding the Keep – Adult €2 | Child/Student €1 | Family €4

Alex enjoyed seeing the stocks outside the castle grounds. He had asked about them and had a hard time understanding.

Experiential learning is always best.

We walked the trail around the castle and across the River Boyne bridge to see the Sheep’s Gate and Yellow Steeple ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey.

St. Patrick’s Church is in the background, to the left.

St. Patrick

After getting a treat at a shop in town, we got back in the car.

Our next stop was The Hill of Tara.

It was cold, windy, misty, and quite muddy.

I lost my grip and slid halfway down one of the hills, thinking the Fenians were dragging me back to the Underworld.

The megalithic passage tomb called the Mound of the Hostages (Duma na nGiall) is the oldest monument on the Hill of Tara, dating between 2500 and 3000 B.C. The passage, 4 m in long and 1 m wide, is divided by sill stones into three compartments, each containing cremated remains. There’s a lovely etched stone inside with a triple spiral triskelion.

The Lia Fáil or Stone of Destiny stands about one meter high on the King’s Seat.

According to legend: if touched by a worthy king, the stone would scream its approval. It could be heard all over Ireland.

It didn’t scream for us.

Admission Fees

Adult: €4.00
Child/Student: €2.00
Family: €10.00

Then, we drove to Newgrange.

We arrived just in time for the last bus from the visitor’s center to the site. You can only visit the Newgrange archaeological site with tickets, the bus trip, and a guide.

The mound dates to 3,200 BC, which makes it older than Stonehenge and Great Pyramids of Giza. It is approximately 80 m in diameter with the base consisting of 97 stones.

At dawn on the winter solstice and for a number of days before and after, a shaft of sunlight enters the chamber through an opening in the aperture above the entrance.

Pictures aren’t allowed inside. The ceiling is so low, adults have to bend over a bit, but can stand up at the end. The ground actually rises gradually from the entrance to the rear. The passage ends in a cross-shaped chamber. The passage points southeast and is a little fewer than 19 m long. The chamber consists of three recesses with a corbelled roof. To construct this roof, the builders overlapped layers of large rocks until the roof could be sealed with a capstone, 6 meters above the floor. After 5,000 years, the roof is still waterproof.

There are large stone basins in each recess and the walls are decorated with carvings of geometric designs like diamonds, triangles, spirals, and triskelia.

Kerbstone 52 is directly opposite the entrance stone on the outside of Newgrange. You can see carved spirals, diamonds, and triangles on the left, and more elaborate shapes on the right.

Visitors Center and Newgrange Megalithic Tomb

Adult: €6.00
Senior/Group: €5.00
Child/Student: €3.00
Family: €15.00
Average Length of Visit is 2 hours.

Some great educational resources on the Brú na Bóinne site.

The Battle of the Boyne site and museum is just down the road from Newgrange, but it was getting late and we were tired and hungry.

We drove to the city of Kells to see some sites and eat dinner.

Kells derives from the Irish Ceanannas Mór, meaning “great residence.”

We saw the 9th century Market High Cross as soon as we drove into Kells. The carvings depict scenes from the Old Testament.

The Abbey of Kells was first founded by St. Columba in 554. We’re so glad we watched The Secret of Kells!

The Book of Kells remained at Kells Abbey until the 1650s, when Cromwell’s troops were stationed in the town. It was sent then to Dublin for safekeeping. In 1661, the Book of Kells ended up in Trinity College, Dublin, where it remains.

The Round Tower is 90 feet high and unusual in that it has five windows, rather than the usual four, overlooking the five main roads into the town. The Churchyard Wall marks the original limit of the monastery. It was rebuilt in 1714 and 1998.

St. Columcille’s House probably dates from the early 10th century and is characteristic of an oratory from that period. There is no mortar in the house, it is stacked and angled stones, an amazing feat of early architecture. There was an underground passage from the house to the church.

The Abbey gates were locked and the old lady who holds the key to St. Columba’s house wasn’t home.

We had dinner at The Bective. It was recommended by a sweet local passerby when we were looking at the Round Tower.

The food was quite divine. I’m just not sure what the restaurant wants to be: it’s not a pub, but neither is it fancy white tablecloths.

We were squeezed into a small table in the middle of the room since we didn’t have a reservation.

Instead of water, we were served a Tang-like orange cordial. We loved that. Don’t get me wrong: I grew up with Tang and it’s a delightful memory.

The service was iffy.

I had to beg for a waitress to explain their beer selection from a smudged chalkboard in the far back corner of the restaurant. If they advertise “local craft beer” then maybe they should have a menu I can read up close. I was never quite sure which lady was our main waitress.

They didn’t pay attention when we all ordered and then switched up two of my daughters’ meals so I had to scramble to share around to cover up their mistake. I understand it’s odd for my teen to order off the kids’ menu and my 10-year-old to order an adult meal, but that’s just normal for us. The chicken wings my one daughter ordered off the kids’ menu came out all spicy sauce and all, but they quickly replaced them with plain ones. Maybe the menu descriptions could be a little clearer.

The salmon and trout were some of the best I’ve ever had.

I ordered a mushroom au gratin that was like cheesy cream soup. It was good, but not what I expected.

Their card machine was on the fritz so we had to pay cash.

We then drove back to Ashford Castle. It was late when we arrived.

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Ancient Greek Vases Art Study

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January 20, 2016 By Jennifer 10 Comments

We loved learning about ancient Greek pottery.

We completed several projects to learn about Greek vases.

We recently traveled to Greece and saw many beautiful examples of Greek pottery with all sorts of designs, shapes, and colors.

We loved the artwork of owls, octopuses, wrestlers, and more!

The handles on some of these vases are very ornate.

We loved reading about the different uses for the pottery based on their shapes.

First, we designed a vase on regular paper.

Tori was very particular about her geometric designs.

Katie loves any and all art projects.

We cut out paper vases with our designs.

We got the inspiration for our scratch vases here.

We practiced on the scraps of scratch paper to see how to use it since it’s a new concept.

Then we cut out colored scratch paper in a vase shape and made designs on the vases.

Our final project was to make actual vases!

I gathered the materials for our Papier Mâché vases project.

(We also have a fresco art project coming up!)

I collected free newspapers, balloons, tape, and cardboard for the bases, tops, and handles.

The girls cut strips of newspaper.

I made the glue and we covered the balloons and cardboard pieces with strips of newspaper.

Papier-Mâché Recipe:

1 part flour to 5 parts water
Boil about 3 minutes and let cool

I laid out newspapers to collect drips and we used our art trays to keep the vases steady. I poured the glue into an aluminum pan.

Notice there are no pictures of the actual Papier-Mâché-ing.

It was so sticky and messy that we had to take showers and I had to mop the floor twice, even with the newspapers and trays catching most of it.

It took a looooong time for the bases to dry completely.

Then, we painted the vases a solid color!

We used tubes of acrylic paint – mostly black, orange, brown, red, and white to be more authentic.

We added fun details in another color like the vases we learned about: people, animals, geometric shapes.

Our completed vases!

We had lots of fun learning about Greek pottery and creating our vases.

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Ancient Mycenae

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January 12, 2016 By Jennifer Leave a Comment

We took a day trip to Mycenae.

The archaeological site of Mycenae comprises the fortified acropolis and surrounding funerary and habitation sites. Most of the visible monuments date from 1350 to 1200 BC.

We stopped into the little museum first.

We were so excited we go to wander all over the ruins and explore.

The Lion’s Gate is still magnificent, even headless.

We even walked down into a cistern. We used our phones as flashlights.

The tombs of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon are enormous.

Adult tickets are €8 and kids are FREE!
Ticket is valid for the Archaeological Site, the Museum, and the Treasure of Atreus.

The Treasury of Atreus is across the street. We just walked, but there is no sidewalk. There is a little trailer with ice cold water that’s super affordable.

Check out our Eating Through Greece post! See our whole Greek trip itinerary here.

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Ancient Olympia

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January 7, 2016 By Jennifer Leave a Comment

We took a day trip to the ancient city of Olympia.

This is where athletes lived and trained during ancient times.

There are many temples and training buildings in great condition.

Tori ran around the Olympia stadium.

Stadium at Olympia

The entryway into the stadium:

Entryway into the Stadium

Outside the entrance were statues erected from fines of athletes who cheated. On the bases of the statues were the athletes’ names and nature of penalty. I think we should reenact this practice.

The track is 212.54 m (697.3 ft) long and 28.5 m (94 ft) wide and surrounded by grassy banks on all sides. All the seats were made of mud and on the southern slope there was a stone platform, the exedra, on which the Hellanodikai, the judges, would sit. The stadium could hold 50,000 spectators.
The games were held between 776 BC and 393 AD. The games were held every four years at the beginning, and the middle of the “Great Year”. The Great Year, was a way that people in Greece would determine the difference between solar and lunar years.
There were three stadiums constructed. The first one, (Stadium I), was created during the archaic period. It was mainly used to hold games for the contestants of nearby city-states of Greece. (Stadium II) was built to the east of the first stadium, this was built to add on events. In addition, a racetrack was also built. It was built ideally next to a large hillside that served as a natural sitting area. The third stadium, (Stadium III), was built mainly to hold larger audiences. Along the embankments surrounding the stadium are large wells that not only served as water offerings, but also served as votive offerings, mostly of bronze.
For all participating city-states, a sacred truce was made by the three kings Iphitus of Elis, Lycurgus of Sparta, and Cleisthenes of Pisa. The truce ensured that no one would be hostile towards one another and it also ensured a suspension of any executions for the duration of the games. From the lists that we have of victors from these Olympic games, we know that the Olympic games eventually brought in many champions from different parts of the world. Champions were from as far as Sicily and Northern Africa. See more.

Guests and patrons stayed in a fancy house with a mosaic pool and lovely courtyard.

Guest House Pool

Here’s what it used to look like:

Leonidaion

Alex liked the Philippeion, commissioned by Alexander the Great.

Philippeion

I just wanted to see the workshop of Pheidias!

Workshop of Pheidias

The building was erected in the second half of the fifth century, when Pheidias, after completing the sculptures for the Athenian Acropolis, went to Olympia to work on the statue of Zeus. Excavation finds and pottery date it precisely to 430-420 BC. Later the workshop became a place of worship containing an altar for sacrifices to various gods, which Pausanias saw in the second century AD. In the fifth century AD, a Christian basilica was erected over its ruins.
The workshop, a rectangular hall oriented east-west with an entrance on the east side, had the same dimensions (32 x18 x 14.50m) as the cella of the temple of Zeus, probably to facilitate the construction of the statue. Built of shell-limestone, it was divided into three naves by two rows of columns. The statue probably stood in the central, wider nave. It had a wooden core which the sculptor revetted with gold, ivory and glass plaques. These were worked in the adjacent south wing of the workshop, which sheltered the craftsmen. A wealth of excavation finds, including clay matrices for the folds of the statue’s robe, pieces of ivory and semi-precious stone, bone goldsmith’s tools, glass flower petals and a most important small black-painted oinochoe inscribed Pheidio eimi, or “I belong to Pheidias” all come from this area. See more.

There’s a nice museum where we cooled off and saw some of the artifacts from the workshop of Pheidias.

Molds from the Workshop of Pheidias

The girls liked the statue of Victoria Nike.

Victoria Nike

This was one of our favorite trips. It was the least anticipated and we were so pleasantly surprised. It was quite warm that day and the ruins are extensive. There’s a shop by the parking lot for treats and a nice cafe in the museum where we got ice cream.

Combo tickets for adults for the ruins and museum are €9 and kids are FREE!

Check out our Eating Through Greece post! See our whole Greek trip itinerary here.

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Writing Cuneiform on Clay

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November 19, 2015 By Jennifer Leave a Comment

We’re on cycle 1 for our history again this year – Ancient Studies.
We did this project last cycle too!

We learned about writing cuneiform on clay tablets.

I divided the bucket of clay into thirds and gave a handful to each kid.

It was cold and hard.

They molded the clay into their trays.

They realize how much work it must have been to get the clay tablets prepared for writing. And they would have been heavy!

So much easier to have paper and pencils ready available!

I provided a page from the Story of the World workbook with examples of simplified hieroglyphics and cuneiform writing corresponding to our alphabet.

The girls wrote their names in cuneiform:

Alex wrote his name and then molded his clay into a fox.

Of course, they all played with the clay until their hands were sore!

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Visit to Dachau

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September 28, 2015 By Jennifer 1 Comment

After our idyllic weekend in Bavaria, we drove home past Munich and visited Dachau.

It was a humbling experience for our family visiting Dachau to learn about WWII history.

We recently had studied about Dachau and other concentration camps in our history studies.

There is a tragic beauty to the area with its trees, memorials, and austere gravel path.

We were quiet and wide-eyed as we emerged from the visitor’s center and restrooms, and seemed to leave modern society.

There are stations with signs throughout for a self-guided tour.

We followed the path which mimics that of the prisoners entering the concentration camp.

I whispered explanations and read the station signs aloud to the children.

Station 1: In Front of the Jourhaus

The Dachau Concentration Camp opened with the arrival of the first prisoners on March 22, 1933. This is a remnant of the train platform and tracks.

The Jourhaus served as the main exit and entrance to the prisoners’ camp and as the main office of the camp SS.

Station 2: The Jourhaus

The Jourhaus served as the main exit and entrance to the prisoners’ camp and as the main office of the camp SS personnel.

The ominous front gate with its ironic motto: Work Makes Free.

I shed tears as I walked through these gates.

Station 3: International Memorial

Officially dedicated in 1968, the International Monument was designed by the Yugoslavian artist and concentration camp survivor, Nandor Glid.

Station 4: Maintenance Building

Today the exhibition documenting the history of the Dachau concentration camp is located in the rooms of the former maintenance building.

We rushed through the museum last since I wanted to make sure we saw the memorials.

We skipped the video as recommended for ages 12+. They were locking the doors as we finished the last part of the exhibit.

During the ordeal of roll call, the prisoners were confronted with the inscription painted on the roof of the maintenance building which read: “There is one path to freedom. Its milestones are: obedience, honesty, cleanliness, sobriety, diligence, orderliness, self-sacrifice, truthfulness, love of the fatherland.”

Station 5: Shunt Room

This is the section of the Maintenance Building where prisoners were admitted.

Station 6: Prisoner Baths

Also in the Maintenance Building. The baths were the last station of the admission procedure.

Station 7: Courtyard and Bunker

There were three detention buildings (bunkers) in camp.

Station 8: Roll-call Square

The open area was able to hold fifty thousand people.

May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933 and 1945 because of their fight against National Socialism unite the living in their defense of peace and freedom and in reverence of human dignity.

Station 9: Barracks

A total of 34 barracks were located on the right and left of the camp road. It was pretty devastating to view the conditions of the 2 reconstructed barracks. Outlined beds of gravel show the location of the former barracks. They have numbers in front of each bed.

Station 10: Camp Road

A line of evenly-spaced poplar trees was planted on each side of the camp road in 1937. The original trees were cut down in 1964 and the current trees were planted in the 1980s.

I was reminded of this poem by my favorite poet:

Wind shakes the big poplar,
quicksilvering
The whole tree in a single sweep.
What bright scale fell and left this needle quivering?
What loaded balances have come to grief?

~Seamus Heaney

And Psalm 137: 1-6:

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
    when we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars
    we hung our harps,
for there our captors asked us for songs,
    our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
    they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How can we sing the songs of the Lord
    while in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
    may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
    if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
    my highest joy.

There are seven watchtowers. The grass was off-limits. Prisoners were shot if they touched the grass.

Station 11: Crematorium

We did not go into this area. There are some monuments.

Station 12: Religious Memorials

Carmelite Convent
The Protestant Church of Reconciliation
The Jewish Memorial
The Russian-Orthodox Chapel
The Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel (below)

Station 13: International Memorial

This part of the monument recalls the triangle badges that marked every prisoner as of 1937.

At the end of the monument are the words “Never Again” in Yiddish using Hebrew letters, and in French, English, German and Russian.

An urn with the ashes of the unknown concentration camp prisoner lies before it and recalls the fate of the thousands of people whose corpses were burnt in the crematorium. It was buried here in May 1967. The panel on the left narrow side of the monument notes further: “This monument was erected in honor of the tens of thousands of martyrs, who died here as victims of National Socialist tyranny and was dedicated on September 8, 1968 by the Comité International de Dachau.”

When we left, we started to walk down the Path of Remembrance, but it was too far and we were all exhausted.

The commandant’s house:

Former Business Enterprises of the Dachau Concentration Camp

We saw this poignant memorial as we left the parking lot. We didn’t notice it when we turned in.

My children were aged 5, 8, 9, and 14 when we visited Dachau. They understood and were respectful of all the monuments and exhibits. You know your kids best, if they can handle and understand such an experience. It was very moving.

Visitor Info:

Open daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Closed December 24.

Entry is free. Parking fees are €3,00 per car.

View the guidelines for visitors here. (We saw a man wearing a pretty graphic inappropriate T-shirt. Don’t be that guy.)

It’s about 4 hours from Ramstein and 5.5 hours from Spangdahlem.

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Cookie Maps

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September 15, 2015 By Jennifer 15 Comments

We made homemade cookie maps for our Ancient Egypt studies!

I baked large chocolate chip walnut cookies for our yummy map bases.

I made simple blue and green icing for the Nile River delta.

The girls were so careful as they drizzled the icing to form the rivulets and fertile plains.

After we decorated and discussed the Nile River delta and growing cycles, I let the kids further decorate with fun sprinkles and candies.

Use your favorite cookie recipe! Chocolate chip, sugar, or butter cookies work great.

Also, play dough, salt dough, or cookie dough make fun maps.

Also see this salt dough map of the Nile River Delta and these landform maps. Check out no-bake cookie dough maps .

Icing:

about 1 cup powdered sugar
a couple tablespoons milk
a couple drops food coloring

How do you make history fun?

Linking up: Life of Faith, The Educators Spin on It, Kiddy Charts, ABC Creative Learning, Living Montessori Now, Simple Life of a Fire Wife, Burlap and Babies, Written Reality, What Joy is Mine, Diamonds in the Rough, 3GLOL, Time Warp Wife, F. Dean Hackett, Cornerstone Confessions, True Aim Education, Los Gringos Locos, Hip Homeschooling Blog, Hip Homeschool Moms, A Little R&R, Raising Homemakers, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Handmade for Elle, Happy and Blessed Home, Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons, The Jenny Evolution, Eats Amazing, Christian Mommy Blogger, The Deliberate Mom, Frogs Lilypad, Imparting Grace, I Choose Joy, XOXO Rebecca, Design Dining and Diapers, The 36th Avenue, Alayna’s Creations, 123Homeschool4Me, Crafty Moms Share, Faith Along the Way, Arabah Joy, The Resourceful Mama, Buns in My Oven, Sunny Day Family

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How We Do History

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May 25, 2015 By Jennifer 7 Comments

We primarily use Tapestry of Grace for our homeschool.

It encompasses most of our curriculum needs and we only add math, science, and foreign language to complete our studies.

Tapestry of Grace is a four-year cycle, similar to other classical history programs.

Year 1 – Creation to the Fall of Rome
Year 2 – Middle Ages, from Byzantium to the New World
Year 3 – Nineteenth Century, from Napoleon to Teddy Roosevelt
Year 4 – 1900 to the Present Day

We used Story of the World for our first four years of homeschooling but Liz studied that so comprehensively that we needed something more in-depth after that. We tried compiling our own materials for a year, but I preferred some guidance. ToG uses Story of the World as a spine for upper grammar level.

Each year is divided into four units. Each unit is divided into 9 weeks. Within the units are color-coded study materials and resource lists for the four learning levels – lower grammar, upper grammar (logic), dialectic, and rhetoric.

I like the division of four levels instead of the typical three because it encourages me to include my littles as soon as they are able to sit for read alouds and some seat work. And now, there is even a Primer level (at an additional cost) so even preschoolers can join in the family fun! We previewed it and it wasn’t that great.

I don’t always follow the curriculum outline completely. Often I look at the overview and make a checklist for the unit and we work through that until it’s completed. We utilize the library regularly. We can’t possibly purchase all the recommended books!

The 9-week units last us between 3-12 weeks, depending on the availability of material and interest. There are 36 weeks in each year, four units of nine weeks each.

The subject threads available for each week are:

History
Writing
Literature
Geography
Fine Arts and Activities
Church History/Worldview
Enrichment
Government (high school level and an additional cost)
Philosophy (high school level and an additional cost)

We’re currently finishing up year 4. I am a bit disappointed how sparse the curriculum is for the last unit and a half for year 4. There has been much great literature written and history made during my lifetime and I have to pull it together myself, since there is so little listed in the curriculum that I paid for.

The curriculum is biased towards conservative evangelical Christian and I pick and choose what I include and omit (we will not be reading anything by John Piper nor watching Left Behind), often supplementing so my kids get a more well-rounded idea of real history and world events from all sides.

How we study history:

Geography
Timelines
Literature
Living Books
Church History
Art
Music

Maps and Geography

Most weeks, the kids have a map to label and color. It helps to visualize where in the world we are studying.

We have large world and USA maps on the wall too, for quick reference. We have several atlases and apps too.

The kids label physical and political maps, even my youngest!

I supplement our map pages with curriculum from Knowledge Quest – printables and geography galore!

We also create fun maps – with cookies, salt dough, cookie dough, or homemade play dough!

Timelines

This is the first year we’ve completed a big timeline. Tori and I essentially pasted the timeline images (from Story of the World Activity Books) on Index cards. She colored the flags but we left the others black and white. She put them in order and helped hole punch them. I strung them up with yarn in our homeschool classroom.

My Level 3 daughter completes a Book of Centuries page every week as part of her history notebooking.

Literature

Great classic literature to accompany our history studies and the time periods we learn.

You can read our ninth grade reading list here (some were family read alouds).

View all my book lists.

The literature thread has core and in-depth options each week. Most are living books that bring history to life through the eyes of real or fictional characters.

Living History Books

I love, love, love the reading lists. So many choices and we want to read them all!

We love biographies and historical fiction.

History assignments are divided into core, in-depth, textbook, and supplement.

You can see our Great Depression Unit Study with our reading lists and activities.

We were ecstatic to read War Dogs about Winston Churchill and then meet a new friend who has the same kind of poodle as Rufus!

We all thoroughly enjoyed The Secret of Priest’s Grotto. It was just a lucky find at the library! Amazing story.

Church History and Worldview

Our evening read alouds are missionary stories. The whole family gathers and I read the missionary who corresponds to our history each week.

My favorites are the Christian Heroes series. Well-written and easy to read and listen to, even for my young son. I want to collect them all!

Arts and Crafts

I fail miserably at arts and crafts.

We study artists and go see art often.

We’ve visited several art museums this year – Stadel in Frankfurt, The Louvre and d’Orsay in Paris, the van Gogh, Rijksmuseum, and Mauritshuis in Amsterdam.

We loved the history and culture in Greece.

We learned about glass and lace making in Venice.

I love Artistic Pursuits which often corresponds to our history timeline.

I vow to do more arts and crafts projects with the kids since they love it so much.

Music History and Appreciation

The kids and I love to listen to music that corresponds to our history time period.

One of our favorite books is The Gift of Music. It’s a great intro to composers.

We look up YouTube videos or search on Spotify for music and often, we notebook about the ones who interest us most.

Liz practices ragtime on the keyboard:

Videos

The enrichment thread lists recommended videos that support the topics we learn about that week.

Some films for our history lessons for year 4:

Rough Riders, Titanic, Gallipoli, Lawrence of Arabia, Chariots of Fire, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Life is Beautiful, Schindler’s List, The Pianist, The Book Thief, Unbroken, Farewell My Concubine, Ghandi, Malcolm X, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Blood Diamond, Hotel Rwanda and more!

We like PBS and the library if we can’t stream a film on Netflix or Amazon.

Field Trips

Recommendations for field trips, both real and virtual are listed on the website for each unit.

We’ve been very fortunate to be able to travel and see many sites as we study.

We enjoyed seeing Yellowstone National Park a few years ago.

We drove to Georgia a year ago just as we finished up studying the Civil War and we got to see an antebellum home and Stone Mountain.

We visited the Pearl Harbor sites when we lived in Hawaii.

We have traveled all over Europe for three years and visited many historical sites and museums.

Notebooking

Each week has threads with pages for activities, writing, and notebooking options.

I often gather materials and design themed unit studies for seasons, time periods, and interests.

The Student Activities Pages are an optional purchase and I use those mostly for grammar level. Liz still likes some of the graphic organizers for her history notebooking.

*All the following Tapestry of Grace pages are available as a free sample!*

This is the high school writing assignments page:

This is a Dialectic Level page. She completes the Accountability and Thinking Questions in a journal and we discuss them.

This is the Rhetoric Level accountability and thinking questions. They’re a little more in depth. It all starts to come together!

This is a Rhetoric Level page for church history and government (an optional supplement).

We often read missionary stories (sometimes a different selection than the booklist) and discuss the questions.

This is the Rhetoric Level Literature page. My daughter answers the questions in a journal and we discuss.

You can download high school credits pages for the Rhetoric Level, scope and sequence, and notebooking page templates for free from the website.

I also like to supplement the SAP with printable Notebooking Pages and we often make our own for biographies and topics of interest with the web app:

Supporting links offer great resources for each unit.

Supplements to a year’s curriculum:

Map Aids $25
Writing Aids $40-60 (I have never needed this and regret the purchase)
Lapbooks (options for ready made or pdf files) $15-75
Evaluations $15 per level per year
Pop Quiz (for dads) $50 (We never used these)
Government $15
Shorter Works (Literature Anthology) $25 (I just bought a Norton’s used)
Poetics (Literature Handbook) $20-50
Additional Printed Student Activities Packs $15-35 (great to save printer ink!)
Primer Level $49.90 (we didn’t care for this)
Lit Studies $29.95 (we don’t like these plans)

A digital edition of a year plan (updated forever) is $170 and print edition is $295.

Overall, Tapestry of Grace is the most comprehensive program we have seen for classical and Charlotte Mason style homeschooling. We love that it encompasses literature and history and offers so many options and choices.

My eldest just began college and is running the show in her history and English courses, so it’s all been worth it!

Linking up: A Little Pinch of Perfect, All Kinds of Things, The Jenny Evolution, Rich Faith Rising, Happy and Blessed Home, 123Homeschool4Me, Hip Homeschooling,

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For our Joan of Arc Unit Study, we read lots of books, watched some films, completed notebooking pages, and traveled to Rouen.

Books:

Films:

Activities:

Our Field Trip to Rouen:

Eglise Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc de Rouen

Rouen Cathedral

New Joan of Arc Museum in Rouen

Joan of Arc Tower

Rouen is a fun town with lots to see and do, a nice market, and plenty of restaurants and shopping.

We would love to see Domrémy and Reims someday.

We’ve been fascinated with studying Illumination in medieval art.

We discussed how paint was made in medieval times.

Red

Blue

Yellow

Green

White

Black

Decorations

Designs and Borders

Lettering

Gilding

We chose to make historiated initials.

I was impressed with how each of them expressed themselves with their letters by drawing their favorite things and using their favorite colors.

We drove from Ashford Castle to County Meath to tour all the sites we’ve only read and dreamed about.

We stopped first at Trim Castle.

My ancestor, Hugh de Lacy, constructed Trim Castle over a thirty-year period with his son, Walter.

Admission Prices:

Experiential learning is always best.

Our next stop was The Hill of Tara.

Admission Fees

Then, we drove to Newgrange.

Visitors Center and Newgrange Megalithic Tomb

We drove to the city of Kells to see some sites and eat dinner.

We loved learning about ancient Greek pottery.

We completed several projects to learn about Greek vases.

First, we designed a vase on regular paper.

Then we cut out colored scratch paper in a vase shape and made designs on the vases.

Our final project was to make actual vases!

Papier-Mâché Recipe:

We took a day trip to Mycenae.

We took a day trip to the ancient city of Olympia.

We learned about writing cuneiform on clay tablets.

It was a humbling experience for our family visiting Dachau to learn about WWII history.

There are stations with signs throughout for a self-guided tour.

I was reminded of this poem by my favorite poet:

And Psalm 137: 1-6:

The commandant’s house:

My children were aged 5, 8, 9, and 14 when we visited Dachau. They understood and were respectful of all the monuments and exhibits. You know your kids best, if they can handle and understand such an experience. It was very moving.

Visitor Info:

We made homemade cookie maps for our Ancient Egypt studies!

How do you make history fun?

The subject threads available for each week are:

History

Writing

Literature

Geography

Fine Arts and Activities

Church History/Worldview

Enrichment

Government (high school level and an additional cost)

Philosophy (high school level and an additional cost)

How we study history:

Geography

Timelines

Literature

Living Books

Church History

Art

Music

Maps and Geography

Timelines

Literature

Living History Books

Church History and Worldview

Arts and Crafts

Music History and Appreciation

Videos

Field Trips