Our Favorite Things!

In which we check in weekly and update our Favorite Things: resources that fueled our curiosity this past week.

Documentary of the Week: Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire

History Channel documentaries have their detractors. Believe me, I've read enough reviews to know that there are people who take serious issue with how flagrantly the HC uses anachronistic firearms in their World War series or how loosely they adhere to details like strictly realistic period dress. These things don't bother me so much as the annoying way that they've structured their most recent documentaries to cite celebrities alongside of (or even worse, instead of!!) historians. Stupid celebrity worship! This series on the rise and fall of Rome is recent enough that their dramatizations kept the boys enthralled - but they stuck with actual historians to narrate throughout...and we had our favorite (Thomas Martin, hands down). This series leaves a lot to desire in explaining the nuances of the politics of the Republic; it should probably be named Roman Military Campaigns: Rise and Fall of an Empire. Regardless, it's a great series - worth sticking with all fourteen episodes - which you can see free on YouTube if you don't mind the low resolution upload.

Game of the Week: Code Names Pictures

I have never played Codenames before, although it's been on the list for awhile. I have an avid gamer who is not yet reading and so I'm always eager to find a game that lets us avoid the hold-up of having to read everything to him (Dominion = Nightmare). This is a great solution. No reading necessary, so even the youngest can play. But it's also sophisticated and challenging enough that the adults can put all the kids to bed and spend two more hours playing. Yep. It happened.

Bonus Awesomeness: Talkbox.Mom

Learning a language. It's so hard!!! Adelaide has got the solution - it's moms the world over who teach kids to speak their first language...you can use the same principles to teach them a second language (as you learn one yourself). Pick a language and speak to your kid as you change diapers or dish out snacks or play in the backyard. You can start with a book / downloadable audio that has 2000+ words and phrases that moms use basically every day. And if you're ready to go hard-core, subscribe to THE BOX and have a new set of beautiful laminated / illustrated word sheets and tags as well as challenges that will keep you learning until the next box comes.

We love this program! And we're doing Hebrew, of course, but also available are Spanish, French, German, Italian Mandarin, Japanese, and Romanian. There are several languages available on pre-order and if you have a specific language in mind that TalkBox doesn't carry yet, ask about it. That's how the Hebrew program came to be. :) Check it out.

Don't forget to peek at my Instagram to see what awesome books we enjoyed this week. Got a favorite resource that fueled your curiosity this week? Leave a comment and point me in the right direction!

#Homeschool #Homeschooling #History #Documentary #Youtube #Rome #Empire #nature #talkbox #hebrew #foreignlanguage

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won't cost you any extra money, they will help us keep this site up and running! Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

Sunday Sweep - 1066: A Year to Conquor England, Wizard, Brave Wilderness

Time for the Sunday Sweep! Favorite resources that fueled our curiosity this past week.

Documentary of the Week: 1066: A Year to Conquer England

Dan Snow is our gold standard for documentarians. This show was our introduction to him. He tells the story from so many different angles: what effect did weaponry have in outcome of the battle of Hastings. What about the weather? The available food? How about the massive amounts of dung produced by the army waiting to invade (I mean, come on, who thinks of THAT?!) And he not prompts the question, he wades into some sort of hands-on experience that illustrates the point, whether it be swinging a replica of a Norman sword at a pig carcass, or visiting a french bakery that specializes in norman-era food or facing a huge pile of horse poop and grabbing a shovel...he brings so many elements of the story together so that you don't just have an understanding of the basic strategic moves; you feel like you've been immerse in the actual drama of the times.

1066: A Year to Conquer England is a three-part series. Just try the first one. You'll be hooked, I promise.

Game of the Week: Wizard

Wizard was recommended to us by a math tutor. It is not a "math game", but she presented it to us as a great way to practice concepts of probability. Yeah. Plus, it's just so much fun. My dad told me that it's like Tricks with a different scoring system. We keep a running tally and just play a round or two when we have a few free minutes.

Bonus Awesomeness: Brave Wilderness

This is one of my boys' all-time favorite YouTube channels. I'm still trying to decide if Coyote Peterson is brave or totally nuts in his quest to get animals up close for the cameras. We've watched him get bitten by an alligator, a snapping turtle, a tank full of leeches and a gila monster; we've seen him get stung by fire ants and bullet ants and wasps and cow killers. It's definitely a high-adrenaline nature show and some people call him the next Steve Irwin. I don't know if I'd go that far, but the boys have certainly picked up a lot of nature knowledge from watching this channel. Check out the trailer:

Don't forget to peek at my Instagram to see what awesome books we enjoyed this week. Got a favorite resource that fueled your curiosity this week? Leave a comment and point me in the right direction!

#Homeschool #Homeschooling #Science #Documentary #Youtube #DanJones #1066 #nature #coyotepeterson #bravewilderness #wizard

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won't cost you any extra money, they will help us keep this site up and running! Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

Hobby History - The Tudors

The Engineer and I share a hobby: obsession with history.

In our shared daydream, we will one day take a vacation that allows us to tour every major Civil War battlefield, or follow in the steps of the Oregon Trail pioneers, or (the latest one) step on the shores of Normandy on the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

We've also decided that "one day" we will tour the Castles of Britain. And when we do, we will be armed with just a little knowledge about who lived in them. To that end, we have been on a British Monarchy kick for the past year.

The War of the Roses, the Victorian Age, and current Queen Elizabeth (Netflix's The Crown, thank you very much). Since our available time to feed this hobby is pretty much restricted to after the kids go to bed, which means that we get our continuing education the cushy way: through documentaries and historical dramas. So, from Henry VII to Elizabeth I, here are a few of our favorite Tudor things:

Henry VII

The reign of Henry the VII brought the War of the Roses to a close. The White Queen is a historical drama series that covers the end of the Plantagenets and the ascendancy of the Tudors. The acting, the filming and the dialogue are all top-notch (the costumes and sets are are pretty but ridiculously anachronistic). After each episode, we would read the Wikipedia or Encyclopedia.com entry (super academic of us, right?) to see how well the series followed actual events. The Engineer's oft-repeated comment was: So much drama! You couldn't make this stuff up!

*Starz made it, so expect all Starz-y things like occasional nudity and sex scenes. The violence is minimal. You can watch the entire season free with Amazon Prime.

Now that you've got the War of the Roses background, just skip The White Princess, the follow-up show that tried to capitalize on the fandom surrounding the White Queen. Bad acting, bad scripting, and totally forgettable. Instead, fill in the blanks about King Henry VII with this excellent documentary: Henry VII: The Winter King

Its a tough job to unite a divided country and author Thomas Penn does a great job of presenting both the the victories and shortcomings of Henry VII.

*We watched for free on Amazon Prime, but you can also get the entire thing on YouTube.

Henry VIII

Which leads us of course, to the infamous Henry VIII. There are probably hundreds of documentaries and dramas because, come on, a character as monumental and salacious as Hank 8 is fodder for endless retellings, and we'll probably revisit his reign at some point and I'll have to update this post. But for now, I'll keep it simple and recommend the show that gives a great overview and includes all the major characters - Cardinal Woolsey, Thomas Moore, Thomas Cromwell, Charles Branson and, of course, wives 1-6. Under Henry VIII, Britain broke with the Roman Catholic church and the far-from-noble reasons why are explored in this series.

The opinion of historians on this show are mixed, but it seems that the final word is that it's a super sexed-up show that accurately encapsulates the non-stop intrigdrama of the court of Henry VIII.

*Nudity, violence - lots of violence, like 1000-ways-to-die-a-horrible-death violence. I spent of a lot of our TV time with my hands over my eyes and I'm SO GLAD I live in a time and place where we scream at each other on twitter rather than conniving to have each other end up with their neck on a chopping block.

Edward VI and Bloody Mary (oh, and Lady Jane Grey)

Each of Henry's (legitimate) children got a turn to sit on the throne, which gives a little clue about the turbulence of the times. You've also got a 9-day reign by a cousin sandwiched between these two. This oldie, but goodie, documentary is a good introduction to what made each of these short-lived monarchs tick.

Elizabeth 1

At this point in our Tudor exploration, we've only gotten one Elizabeth series in: BBC Masterpiece's Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen. It's a decent introduction to a woman who was an absolute force of nature, but I know that we have not even scratched the surface of all that is Elizabeth I's reign.

I'm on the lookout for all things Tudor, so if you've got a favorite resource, share!

#GrownupHomeschool #Documentary #Youtube #Tudors #History #Britishmonarchy #HenryVII #HenryVIII #EdwardVI #BloodyMary #Elizabeth

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won't cost you any extra money, they will help us keep this site up and running! Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!