Nicole Alderman

Riona Abhainn wrote:Runic alphabet stuff, write each other notes.  I'd say learn to navigate with a sunstone and twilight board, but that would be hard without going out to sea to test haha.

It'd be super fun to show them how a sunstone works. It's not hard for us to get cloudy days!

I wonder if the kids could make a twilight board? (They also seem to be called Uunartoq disks)

Eric Hanson wrote:I do, however, want to know how this ends up working out.  If you are interested, I can give you some background information about Viking exploration.

I'd love that!

Robert Ray wrote:Someone mentioned runic alphabet, what about runestones? Carving a soapstone Thor's Hammer would be a relatively easy mold. But hot metal and kids could be problematic. Cast them off site and then show how to cast one if you are going to give them to the students.  Zamac is pewter like and a bit cheaper.

We'll definitely be carving runes into soapstone! Welding soapstone sticks are easy to carve into and really afforable. I used them three years when I last taught medieval history (thread about carving into welding soaptone)



The last time I taught this, I asked a local countertop company for soapstone, and they donated little pieces to us. But, the soapstone was much harder than the welding soapstone, and the kids struggled to carve into it. I'm not sure how to source affordable soapstone that's large enough for the kids to carve into, and that's actually soft. Ordering it online is pricey, and the pewter seems even more costly...especially for 75 kids.

I thought, at first, that I could just pour the pewter into a one-sided mold, but everyone seems to use two-sided molds with a sprue. That makes things even more costly and complicated than I was assuming!

Eric Hanson wrote:It’s not exactly Viking, but it’s an old traditional Norwegian food—more like a pastry—called Lefse.  And for pronunciation, it’s Lef-Sa.

It takes potatoes, boils them, double mashes them until they are completely smooth and creamy.  From there they are placed on a Lefse griddle (it’s an actual thing you can get on Amazon.).  If you don’t want to get the Lefse griddle, a large flat surface griddle will probably work.  They are cooked into what is essentially a potato tortilla.  It is thinner and sweeter than a flour tortilla.  Once it is cooked, remove and place on a plate.  One batch will make a lot of Lefse.

When eating, traditionally the Lefse is buttered and then sugar is added.  My personal adaptation was to add cinnamon with the sugar—YUM!  Then roll into a little tube.  And finally EAT!! Yay!  You have yummy Lefse!!

Oh, lefse, I need to make that! I've had it once time during a family reunion when I was like 9 years old, and it was SO GOOD. I begged my mom to make it again, and she never did. But, we did eat a lot of Swedish pancakes (I would always sprinkle those with sugar and roll them up. Yum!). My grandfather was 100% Swedish. His grandfather immigrated from Sweden as a small boy. I have a *tiny* little Swedish coin from 1867 that probably came from when he immigrated. Pepparkakor and Springlerlee cookies were things we always ate at Christmas time. It looks like pepparkakor is dated back to the 1300s...and springerlee is actually German! Lefsa (at least as we make it today) can't be medieval, because potatoes come from South America. (Looks like the original lefsa was made with flour and was more of a cracker!)

Ooooooh! Cow horns sound super fun to work with. I wonder what all is included turning a cow horn to musical horn--do we just saw and sand, or is there cleaning out of the inside? Will any vegan kiddos be sad? I didn't have anyone worry about the leather, but not everyone realizes leather is animal skin (I did have some "vegan" leather in case anyone was worried, but no one is.)

Eric Hanson wrote:It would be a big project, but how about a longboat?  Maybe 1/0 to 1/4 scale.

If you thought you could get some scrap metal, maybe a Viking Axe (not functional) or a replica of a Viking shield.

This is the sort of stuff I'd love to do...but how? I've got a total of 75 kids, spread over classes that once a week with 12-16 kids. Like, if we all worked on something, maybe we could...but I like for them to leave the classroom with the thing they built. Any ideas on tiny shipbuilding?

I'm really tempted to teach tablet weaving, but I'm trying to keep a decent balance of skills learned. They'll be doing a big section on spinning wool (make clay whorls, assemble and decorate spindle, spin wool, dye wool), so I worry that more fiber arts might be too much?

The skills the kids learned the year before, in Ancient history, were:

Ancient History wrote:Clay work:

• Clay pots
• Clay cuneiform tablets
• Clay game pieces for Royal Game of Ur,
• clay toys modeled after the Indus Valley clay toys

Painting:

• Cave art with raw ochres, chalk, and charcoal
• Watercoloring Royal Game of Ur
• Watercolor on plaster for hieroglyphs
• Watercolor on papyrus to design Egyptian god/goddess bookmark
• Watercolor frescos

Fiber Arts:

• Making twine from daylillies and nettles. Nettle stomping fun!
• Harvesting cotton from cotton bowls when learning about India
• Watching me spin linen thread for their papyrus Egyptian god/goddess paintings
• Making leather pouches
• Tying "bamboo" slats to make bamboo scrolls
• Wet felting "pot holders" in the style of the nomadic steppe's felting
• Making quipus--twinning and knotting yarn

Writing:

• Making clay cuneiform tablets
• Painting Egyptian hieroglyphs
• Painting chinese characters

Other:

• Paper mache Greek masks (never again!)
• Beading bracelets with lapis, clay, carnelian, agate beads
• Carving cuneiform seals in crayons

Seeing that list, it was pretty textile heavy...because I love textiles! And, textiles are super important throughout history. I just sneakily want to give the kids a wide range of skills, and appeal to as many different interests as possible.

Maybe I need to think about what skills I haven't taught them? My history classes are currently a 3-year cycle. After this year will be Age of Exploration. Here's the skills they'll learn in that:

Age of Exploration History wrote:Writing:

• Writing with quill and ink
• 17 century letter folding
• Making a botanical journal like Lewis & Clark

Metal working:

• Metal stamping (making colonial coins)
• Metal punched tin can candle holders

Clay working:

• Making clay candlesticks

Fiber Arts:

• Embroidering a pouch
• Sewing a pouch
• Spinning/dying yarn for pouch string
• Lashing sticks together to form kite frame

Painting:

• Painting flags
• Painting kites
• Making chalkboard paint and painting wood with it.

Botany:

• Wildcraft to learn about medicinal plants
• Drinking spruce tea (made from western hemlock needles)
• Making soap balls
• Plant ID and drying flowers for Lewis & Clark journal.

Other:

• Dipping candles
• Making chalk

What skills are the kids missing? Woodworking is hard to do, because knives+school = not good. They will be sanding their spindles, so that...something. I really wanted to do pewter casting, but the cost is high. Hopefully "sand casting" with chocolate and brown sugar is a good substitute. What traditional skill sets am I missing here?

Carla Burke wrote:You know you've had too much when you start spending too much time on the toilet...

I gotta laugh! So far, no toilet problems. For fun, I went and searched "How much nettle is too much to eat -ai" and the second result was my own thread, from 9 years ago: How much nettle is too much to eat?. Apparently, I'd forgotten I'd already made that thread! Let's go see what it says!

Ha!

The second reply was:

I would use "bowel tolerance" as your guide. I'm going to check with my herb group. Good question.

This year, I'll be teaching  Hands-On Medieval History. I'll have various classes, spanning Kindergarten through 8th grade. My goal is--kind of like with SkIP--to teach as many cool historical skills as possible. I had wanted the kids to carve soapstone molds for me to pour pewter into, so they can cast metal like the Vikings did. But, the more I look into it, the more expensive it is seeming. Most of the kids who signed up for my class really wanted to learn about Vikings, so I'll spend a few months studying the Norse.

So, I need some other ideas for Viking crafts. Something boat related would be cool, but what? Maybe something related to Norse mythology (*note to self: research Norse mythology more*).

Here's what I've got planned for the year thus far:

Era	Subject	Activity
Fall of Rome/Early Medieval ~476-800
	Beowulf (stories before writing)	Write an Alliterative poem
	King Arthur	Quill & Ink (Medieval European writing)
	Eastern Roman Empire	Make a mosaic (hopefully with actual stone!)
	Ancient China?	Sand casting by having kids make chocolate castings in brown sugar
	Islam & Islamic Golden Age	???
	Charlemagne/Vikings (800-1066)	Make a drop spindle
		spin wool yarn
		dye wool yarn
		Carve soapstone welding sticks with runes
High Medieval 1066-1300
	Norman Conquest & Crusades	Design a coat of arms
	Robin Hood	Paint coat of arms
	Crusades	Design a seal
	Magna Carta	Write a medieval document (law, letter, decree)
		Color wax and use yarn to make a pendant seal on medieval document
Late Medieval 1300-1492
	History of Paper/Parchment	Book Binding: Make Paper
		Book Binding: Sew signatures
		Book Binding: Make feather paint brushes (finish sewing signatures)
	Medieval illumination	Book Binding: Brainstorm/sketch illuminated letter/story
		Book Binding: Apply cover
	Medieval pigments	Book Binding: Paint Illuminated Letter with egg tempera
		Book Binding: Gild Illuminated letter
		Book Binding: Design cover
		Book Binding: Decorate Cover
	Medieval food & Medicine	Plant a medieval garden?
	Marco Polo	Make a map
	Henry the Navigator	Navigating with Mariner's Quadrant
	Christopher Columbus	Make a medieval ship from clay
	Silk Road	Silk Road Trading Game

(The High Medieval Era still needs organization. I'm going to cover the Genghis Khan, Canterbury Tales, the Black Death, the fall of Constantinople, etc. But, I'm still figuring out how I want to organize that section of the year. I'll probably just do "general medieval life" stuff, followed by historical events. I'm not sure, though.)

Medieval subjects I haven't manage to cover: Warfare, castle building, medieval trades, more I can't think of.

I really want to do something cool and epic for Vikings, and I know making spindles isn't "Viking" enough. Any ideas?

Currently drinking some plantain and dandelion tea (I would have went looking for chickweed, but a new stray cat appeared and I didn't want to scare it away). Every so often, I scoop some tea out with my spoon and let it cool and apply it to my face. The swelling seems to have gone down a bit, so that's good!

I'm not sure if I should drink a third cup of nettle tea. I've already drank/ate at least 1 cup of cooked nettle. How much is too much?

R ransom wrote:1. Make sure each human in the house understands symptoms of shock (the medical kind) and that word i can't spell for allergy can't breath (an-o-phil-lax-ixs?).  Let them know in an age appropriate way and when to call 911 (or local emergency number).

Thankfully, my husband has been off these last few days. As a hospital phlebotomist, he'd spot anaphylaxis. The interior of my throat hasn't swelled up--just the skin

So far, I've made two strong cups of nettle tea today, and ate two handfuls of cooked nettle (so yummy! Couldn't resist cooking it once I'd brought the nettle in for tea), and a few raw nettle leaves. My face is still very puffy with tiny bumps. The hives on my back and chest are very small. My neck still has bumps.

As I drink, I'm now applying the nettle tea to my face. I've got comfrey and plantain, so I'll try that soon, too! Thank you!