The Medieval Peasant



Student's (age 14) notebook page
Remember we I had the boys make a Feudal system diagram-chart to review the hierarchy of the social ranks in the feudal system?
Student's (age 11) notebook page

We colored in the bottom row, "Slaves," "Serfs," and half of the rectangular box labeled, "Freemen." They also colored in a box at the bottom of the chart and labeled this, "Peasants" to indicate that the Slaves, the Serfs and half the Freemen made up the class referred to as Peasants. We will be continuing to refer back to this chart as we go through our studies of the different levels of society. Then the boys learned what it was like to be a peasant. We...

  • dressed in peasant clothing and worked as a peasant, clearing a field of rocks.
  • Roleplayed: Impact of the Norman Invasion.
  • learned about Old English.
  • made a model of a Wattle and Daub house and Floor mat.
  • learned about Medieval Instruments.
  • did peasant math problems.
  • played the Game of Skittles, with Throwing Hammers, Foot Races, Bucket Races.
  • learned about Peasant Food and made and ate Frumenty.
  • made an Olive oil lamp.
  • learned about the Black Death and looked at the "cures" they had for it.
  • Carried out historical inquiry with the Riccall mystery.

Early Middle Ages: The Normans, part three: The Riccall Bones Mystery: How do we Carry out Historical Inquiry?

  • Tended a garden.
  • Food Storage: Canned food. Made jelly. Dried herbs.
  • Cooked a meal over campfire.
Beekeeping

  • Reviewed our visit to a beekeeper.
  • Read Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray.  Adam meets many people on his travels from several different medieval occupations including minstrel, pilgrim, squire, preacher, miller, merchant and plowman. Some of these characters try to encourage Adam to take up their profession, but Adam makes up his own mind in the end. We will be researching and writing reports as we learn about medieval occupations of the different levels of society. Drawings and photos in costume can be added to the report.

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