Friday 21 February 2014

Battling with the Welsh

Before Edward I became "The Hammer of the Scots", he went hammering at the Welsh.  The way that he went about having an upper hand over the Welsh was to build a formidable fortress in the form of Conway Castle.

Given that the castle had been built for the purpose of battle, we were curious to about how its structure provided a strategic advantage to Edward I's victories over the Welsh. 

The Battle Castle series appears to be just what we need to learn about this.


I bought the DVD set and we've learnt loads watching the episode that is dedicated to examining Conway Castle.  After watching the documentary I thought we ought to do something hands-on, so I suggested that we build a model of a castle.


Tiger wanted to have reenactment battles with his model knights instead.  I am not a big fan of playing with model knights, to be honest.  Believe me, I have played with model knights and soldiers to reenact many, many, many (to the power of n) battles, from the ancient times to modern warfare.   Far too many than should be reasonably expected of a normal mother, really.


After my troops had surrendered (experience has taught me that it's the only way I could end the battles), we calmed ourselves down by making the model.  Homeschooling in this household involves much negotiation and give-and-take on both sides.


I used the model making sessions to have Tiger tell me what he has learnt about Conway Castle from the documentary that makes it a stronghold for Edward I's Welsh campaigns (in addition to Caernarfon Castle), its significant features, and how it compares to the 'standard' castle model that we were putting together.


The model was quite fiddly to put together, due to its many small parts and lack of assembling instructions.  However, we managed it in the end.  It's very satisfying when our models work!




This post is linked up to:
  1. Hip Homeschool Hop (2/18/2014)
  2. History and Geography Meme: Country Studies
  3. Collage Friday - Flip Flops and Challenge on Winter Break
  4. Entertaining and Educational: National Engineer's Week
  5. Weekly Wrap-up: The One with the Cheek Cells
  6. Homeschool Mother's Journal (2/22/14)

10 comments:

  1. I did smile reading this! You are such a great mum and a wonderful homeschooler. Your relaxed but creative attitude shines through this post.
    The model looks very impressive - well done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your encouragement, Lucinda. :-) I think not being able to say 'no' to my son's request for never-ending battle reenactments is one of the ways I get to experience the "Do I have to do this?" sensation that he must sometimes feel when I ask him to do something that he's not interested in.

      Delete
  2. Very interesting. And thank you for the recommendation of the dvd set. We are currently finishing off King John and then working our way through the various kings to the end of the hundreds year war. I have to say, I'm ready to move on from the middle ages. all they did was fight! Although the plague is quite interesting.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome, Claire. Yes, we're also feeling the drain of the Middle Ages. You'll find that actually the fighting doesn't stop in later history! :-)

      Delete
  3. Those look like great resources. We've been listening to our Island Story and I agree with Claire. There are so many battles sometimes it's hard to focus on the story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know! I can't keep track of the details of different battles, but somehow Tiger has managed to do so. It helps if you're as interested in warfare and battles as Tiger does.

      Delete
  4. That model turned out great :) I have to admit, I am grateful there is little interest in warfare and battle in our house!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean, Marie. :-) I often think of how different my homeschool journey and focus would be if I had a girl. Boys and girls are so different. Then again, I am grateful to be exposed to areas because of Tiger's interest that I would not have otherwise looked into! :-)

      Delete
  5. Oops, I thought I'd commented earlier. I can't wait to reach this time period and have a valid reason to build castles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure you and your children, especially the boys, will have lots of fun studying the castles. :-)

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...