Preparing Hearts for HIs Glory:
We have been reading "Door in the Wall," which has become another favorite book of Emmett's! I love how these living books help us truly 'meet' characters living in different time periods, as they give such a better glimpse into what it was like to live during that time period. Robin, a young boy, is the son of a Lord who was set to become a page, then a squire, then a knight. His father headed off to battle, while his mother headed off to care for the queen, and Robin was left alone in their castle with a the servants awaiting a knight to come get him for training. When the plague came, so many people died that the castle became desolate, and Robin became ill. Blessedly, a monk heard of Robin's condition and came to care for him as all the servants were gone. As Robin's legs had become useless during his illness, the monk carried Robin to their monastery. There, spoiled little Robin became a brave young man, learning to whittle, learning to read, and learning to write. His first written words were a letter to his father, in the hopes he would come for him when able, though Robin was well-cared-for at the monastery. He even learned to swim, though his legs didn't work well. Finally, with a pair of crutches to help him, Robin is the hero who saves the day when he is moved to another castle that soon is under siege. I'll not ruin the story by giving away the ending completely, but this is a must read that fully captures the Middle Ages - how young children (even very privileged wealthy young children) were not typically taught to read or write, were often 'raised' by other people as they trained to become a knight or whatever their lot was in life, how castles and feasts and countless servants were common, how the people of the land holed up in castles for protection for very long periods of time, and how the love of Jesus could still be found in the work of the monks at the monasteries. What a wonderful book to accompany our readings within "Child's History of the World".
For Emmett's history project, Emmett learned the role that relics played and how worship of these misled people. As relics were considered to be holy, people often mistakenly made them their idols and worshiped them, thinking the relics brought them closer to God. As Emmett made his own imaginary relic, we read about the Crusades, and how very sad it was that so many lives were lost. With little preplanning, for a very very long pilgrimage, so many in the Crusades lost their lives. The saddest Crusade, in my opinion, was the Children's Crusade. As Emmett finished his relic project, we discussed how important it is not to worship creation rather than the Creator. We are told to only worship God and never created beings, such s angels or created things such as relics. Finally, we studied lines of longitude, the Prime Meridian, and then we traced the Crusades route on the globe and realized why it took so long to arrive in Jerusalem when traveling that great distance by foot. What a wonderful week of learning we had!
In Christ,
Julie