Vikings

On the way home from the movie theater, following How To Train Your Dragon, Hannah said, "Mom, I know that dragons are not real, but what about Vikings?"
















And so a summer school topic was inspired.

What They Knew:  

Hannah:  They have their own handwriting, they fight, they lived in houses with roofs made of straw.

Seth:  They fight.

We covered a lot of aspects of Vikings:

• where they lived
• what their houses were like
• how they ran their towns
• what their boats looked like and were used for
• what foods they ate
• what clothes they wore
• what tools they used
• how we know about them
• their alphabet, Runes
• their beliefs, including the gods, and how we got many of the names of the days of the week...
• Erik the Red, Greenland, Vinland, Iceland, etc.
• their weapons and forms of fighting
• unique customs
• followed their travels on a world map
• discussed why/how they disappeared

They wrote their names in Runes.  












































And finally, we built this boat.  The day after Hannah decided to do Vikings for our next lesson, we came across this kit in the clearance bin at Michaels.  (yes, Michaels, despite my extreme dislike for them...they have the best assortment of fabric paint colors) .  At any rate, it was fate.  These kits are usually more money than I am willing to spend, but this boat has become a well loved and well used toy at our house...totally worth the 3$ I spent!

First Seth had to show me that he could make a sea horse out of these pieces.


































































Finished.  I told them to show me their Viking faces.  Yikes!
















What They Learned: 
Hannah:  Vikings were very good at shipbuilding, they killed or banished people that broke the rules, Vikings often went to other lands and traded, or raided.  They wore gold, some people were rich, their ships were strong and fast and they put their shields on the sides of the ship, they carved heads of animals on their ships, they liked to fight, and feast, and their meetings were called "things".  The days of the week were named after the gods, Thor, Woden, and Frey/Freyja.

Seth:  Viking boats were fast.  They were also strong.  They killed whales for food.  They growed their own food.  They traveled to Greenland and Iceland.  They made their own weapons.

Another segment that we added to our school time was one on money.  My sister gave Hannah a bunch of foreign coins for her birthday.  So each "school" day, we pick out a coin, find the country on the map, discuss how many US dollars/cents it would be worth, whether or not it is still used today, etc.  They have really liked this part.  And so have I!

Next week:  Pirates!  (I know, it's so similar to Vikings...I will have to spin it a little to be more educational, and less horrifying.)