History Resources 2012

Lucy is studying both Medieval and Modern history this year. For Medieval history she is using the following:

History of the Medieval World by Susan Wise Bauer. I'd like to find a second text to be a counterpoint to this one. I'm considering The Axe and the Oath but really, I have to do some more research. Does anyone have an opinion on Norman Cantor ?

Women in World History curriculum including The Garnet Eyed Brooch - a unit study exploring early feudal England.

Selected texts - Beowulf
The Mabinogion
Dr Faustus
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Fairie Queen


I'll be kind and give her some lovely historical fiction to go along with her studies. That list is still under construction, although I think there will be another few Donna Jo Napoli books on it. Any other  suggestions are welcome :) There's a nice list here I need to make my way through as well.

Our rather hopeless library has a few titles that look promising, Bayeaux Tapestry: Story of a Masterpiece by Carola Hicks and Terry Jones' Medieval Lives.

I'm 82% of the way through Doomsday Book by Connie Willis ( yes, it's on my beloved Kindle ) and I may give it to Lucy to read as well. Lots of gory plague descriptions.


For Modern History Lucy will continue using:

A History of the Modern World by Richard Poulton.
Key Features of Modern History by Bruce Dennet and Stephen Dixon.

Snowy is doing some World History in Terms 1 and 3, courtesy of Intellego Unit Studies.
And many more Horrible Histories will feature in our educational future...

I still need to go through the bookshelves and dig out the historical fiction I read to the girls around Snowy's age.  I'm not too concerned that it match up with what he's learning with Intellego; it's more a case of wanting to sneak one or two of the genre into his read-aloud list for the year.

And poor Arwen. It'll be a case of whatever school throws at her; I hope, for her sake, she doesn't have a year of Australian history coming up...because that might be too much to handle for both of us!