As a half-Scottish lad, Alisdair said he wanted to study about Scotland and its people. After a brief search at the Homeschool Share website, I found a Unit Study on Mary Queen of Scots. It is based on the book, "Mary, Queen of Scots ~ Queen Without a Country" by Kathryn Lasky (which centers around her childhood) and "Mary, Queen of Scots" by Jacob Abbott (which is available online here), that tells more about her adulthood. The latter is a very old text, having been "prepared by volunteers associated with Heritage-History, using as a copytext, the book by Mr. Abbott, which was printed by New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1860. (Originally published in 1848)."
The Homeschool Share Unit is broken down into 13 lessons which cover the major events in Mary's life. There are lapbook components for each lesson and also questions for each of the sections. Today I read all the information from the Homeschool Share website (templates here) to Alisdair, so he now has some overall idea about what transpired and what questions he will be asked to answer.
I was especially pleased to see how everything we have studied thus far, "dovetails" perfectly with this work. In Lesson One, the notes state that "Mary saw a renewed interest in fine arts and viewed the works of artists such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael" (all artists we have been working on). In Lesson Two they speak of "Michelangelo's Surprise" (the lapbook we have partially completed) as Mary married Francis, the son of King Henry II and Queen Catherine de Medici. The Medici family of Italy featured prominently in the Michelangelo book, so this gives more context. Then, back in November, when we studied about Guy Fawkes, Alisdair had a colouring picture of James VI of Scotland and James I of England. Of course he was Mary, Queen of Scots son! It is nice to see all the loose ends tying themselves together to present the bigger picture. I'd like to claim this was all due to my methodical planning - but it is delightful happenstance!
Alisdair completed the first lapbook component for Lesson One today - a map of Europe. He coloured Scotland in blue, England in red and France in pink. He also answered questions about the origins of Mary's parents and Francis' parents; where the Reformation took place; and noted where Mary was born; where she moved when she was five; and where she died.
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| Outside Cover of mini book |
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| Map and initial questions |
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