History Odyssey: Middle Ages

Fifth through eighth graders learning at home or in co-ops, learning pods, micro-schools, or charter schools can use Middle Ages as their primary history curriculum. So students can work independently, the study guide is written directly to them in concise, easy to understand language.

Prerequisites

Each course in this series builds upon the writing and critical thinking skills developed in previous courses. In the first course of the series, students learned to write outlines and paragraph summaries of their reading assignments. Students will need familiarity with both of those writing formats before starting Middle Ages.

Flexible Scheduling

The 113 lessons are intended to be completed in 1-2 sittings and students will need roughly two hours 3-4 days per week to complete the course in one school year. The exact schedule can ebb and flow as needed. Completing the course will likely require more developed time management skills than the shorter lessons in History Odyssey Ancients.

Students will learn about events that occurred from approximately 250 CE to the mid-16th century. Major areas of study include:

• The Byzantine, Ottoman, Mayan, Aztec, Incan, and Spanish empires
• Medieval dynasties of China
• European royal families
• The Crusades
• The Black Death
• Japanese Feudalism
• The Renaissance and Reformation

What Skills Will Students Learn in this Course?

Critical Thinking/Multiple Resources

The foundation of the History Odyssey methodology is the idea that gathering information from multiple resources is the key to a sophisticated, well-rounded grasp of history. In this course, critical thinking skills are cultivated by the reading and writing assignments.

Most lessons assign readings from the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia as a way to introduce the material. However, as students work their way through the course, they will become accustomed to using primary sources such as the Magna Carta as well as legends and novels to conduct their research.

In this course, students have the opportunity to begin synthesizing information from various sources and presenting their own conclusions. They will complete three Venn Diagrams compiling their observations about the Shiite/Sunni, Knights/Samurais, and Central American/Southern American empires. Additionally, they will write a persuasive essay about the transition into the Renaissance.

Reading historically significant literature is an integral part of this course. Students will read:

• Fiction set in England and Central Europe during the Middle Ages
• Introductory versions of Shakespeare’s plays
• A retelling of the oldest surviving Germanic epic, Beowulf
• English folklore including the legends of King Arthur and Robin Hood
• Japanese folktales
• Folktales of the Islamic Golden Age
• Descriptive sketches of medieval castles
• Descriptive sketches of medieval mosques and cathedrals (alternative book list)
• Mexican myths (alternative book list)
• Fiction set in the Byzantine Empire (alternative book list)
•  

See the book list tab for a complete list of resources used throughout the course.

Writing assignments include two and three-level outlines, summaries of the readings, biographies, comprehension questions, story retellings, persuasive writing, and a variety of creative writing projects.

Ideally, students will have some previous exposure to outlining and writing summaries before starting this course. In early lessons, some topic sentences and example outlines are provided, but students should expect to be outlining material with little support from the guide early on in the year. Writing skills that are heavily supported include how to write a biography, how to attribute sources, and how to write a fact-based persuasive essay.

Additionally, students will have the chance to get more creative with their writing. Creative projects include:

• Sketching architectural achievements around the world during this time period
• Creating an illustrated book of Shakespeare’s plays
• Writing a newspaper article reporting on the Black Death
• Composing a haiku
• Writing speeches for Tudor family members at a family reunion

Students will regularly label maps and their timeline throughout the year to highlight geographical influences on the events of the past. For example, students will read Shakespeare’s stories in groups according to the country in which they were set. This links the achievements of the Renaissance in that country to the events of the story. At the end of the Renaissance unit, students will complete a “Renaissance Around the World” map.

There are 29 outline maps included in Middle Ages. Students will label countries, cities, bodies of water, cultural regions, empires, invasion patterns, trade routes, migration routes, and more.

Timeline Construction

Students will maintain a timeline covering this period of history. They can construct their own or use The History Odyssey Timeline. Each lesson provides a list of significant dates and events to add to their timeline as the events are covered. The last lesson of the course is a timeline analysis. Students are asked to take a step back from the details of their timeline and reflect on potential connections between concurrent events.