Barbarians

As several homeschool curriculum have Ancient and European history starting at primary and elementary grades I've been searching for resources that meet those needs. A family member will be covering the Fall of Rome moving into the Middle Ages as part of a grade 2 curriculum and I've been looking for some books that address that time period accurately, but keeping the age level of the child in mind when writing about the topic.

In my search I came across Barbarians part of the X fighters series. I am not often a fan of the extreme styled books as they tend to lose sight of the education in order to provide the shock and awe factors to get parents and children to buy the book. I was suitably impressed with this book.

There are thousands of books that focus on the Middle Ages for children, some clearly more accurate and authentic than others, but a selection for parents, homeschoolers, and teachers who want materials to use with primary and elementary children. I've found the periods between Rome and the more established Middle Ages to be a bit more challenging as the material can be more complicated and it hasn't always been traditionally material for this age group.

The book begins with an introduction to who the Barbarians were and the main groups of Barbarians, the Celt, Saxons, Franks, Goths, Huns, and Vandals. A handy map is provided to demonstrate where these groups eventually ended up living, although the book explains they didn't all begin in these areas. I thought the author did a good job of giving an age appropriate explanation of the relationship between the tribes and Rome.

The theme Xtreme Fighters is built around mini biographies of 5 Barbarian Chiefs. The biographies are brief, but certainly could lead to further research if so desired. The books counts the leaders down from 5 to 1.

1.Attila the Hun
2.Alaric I Visgoth
3.Queen Boudicca Celtic
4.Gaiseric Vandal
5. Clovis Frankish Chief

The author provides information about weapons, writing, and battle tactics. War is never pleasant in any time period and any discussion of it often has certain unpleasant facts. I didn't find the author to be be inappropriately detailed, but as with all books you may want to preview before reading with or giving it to a child to read if you are concerned that some information might not be appropriate. I find people have different levels of tolerance. I plan on having this book available next year, others may feel differently.

Doll Crafts: A Kids Guide to Making Simple Dolls

My younger sister and I spent hours as kids making dolls of all kinds from clothespins, empty thread spools, socks, and other materials and then building them homes from abandoned shoe boxes. We'd make beds and chairs and cut out windows covering them with plastic and decorating the home with Mom's scraps of fabric. The homes were never going to win prizes, we didn't have money for fancy doll houses or dolls, but it didn't stop our interest in creating them. I often think it stimulated our creativity because we had to make everything.

I was intrigued when I saw Doll Crafts: A Kid's Guide to Making Simple Dolls, Clothing, Accessories, and Houses listed as a new offering at the library. These kids craft books can be hit or miss. This one didn't disappoint. It had a wide range of options for kids interested in simple quick to make projects so they can play now and those who want to explore the crafting side of doll making a little more and learn some new skills. Just a note these projects are geared for children, it is not a book for adult doll makers. However, it did surprise and intrigue me the types of skills they introduced for hair and clothes creation.

The book begins with an introduction explaining the tools and terms used in the book. If you have experience with sewing most will be familiar to you, however I always find it a good idea to make sure the author and I use the same language when discussing crafts.

The book begins with a recipe for Gingerbread dolls or what most of us call cookies. I guess this is a childhood experience most kids shouldn't miss. I'm not sure I'd have included it in a doll making book, but I wasn't the author. From their we move on to a chapter on paper dolls and I must confess this took me back to my childhood with things I had almost forgotten. First we have directions for a paper doll chain, then the author moves on to making and dressing paper dolls. From there we move on to using brass brads (she tells you to check the office supply store to find them) to make dancing paper dolls. I had forgotten about making these in school. Filling out the paper doll section is a selfie paper doll and a gymnast that almost moves us into the area of puppetry.

The next section is one very beloved from my childhood, clothespin dolls. This section only merited a page before she moved on to spoon dolls and handkerchief dolls.

The next large section is folk dolls and she begins with the corn husk doll. She also includes directions for an apple and radish head dolls. I've seen apple dolls, but never the directions for making one, not that I've looked. I'd never actually heard of a radish doll.

My older sisters made yarn dolls and I still have a couple of Christmas ornaments they made as children that hang on my Christmas tree. Directions are provided for making them in the next section of the folk dolls. There are directions for a worry, healing, string, and stick doll in this section as well. The section includes a Voodoo doll although I think for kids I might have left that one out.

Following the folk dolls we move on to soft dolls beginning with a pocket gnome. We move from there to sock dolls and then felt dolls.

The next large section covers making doll clothes and ranges from simple to more complicated projects.

At the end we have a few pages dedicated to housing. I would have liked to have seen more here, but that could be a personal bias because I spent so many hours building my own as a child.

Overall I think this is a pretty amazing book. I'd have loved to have had access to it as a child because this isn't one of those books where you need tons of unavailable products to make the first project. Some like the clothespins are now more craft items than they were when I was a child, but the items used to decorate them are things that can be recycled from other projects, recycled clothing, etc.

Blue Star Museums 2018

The Blue Star Museum program begins again over Memorial Day and will continue through Labor Day. The program offers free admission at participating museums to all active duty, reserve, and National Guard military personnel and their families. The program operates around the country and the website provides an interactive map you can use to locate venues here.

As always, I suggest checking out the site you want to visit before traveling there to get more information.

When I checked out this year's list, the following Massachusetts sites were participating:

Acton:
The Discovery Museums

Amesbury:
Lowell's Boat Shop

Amherst:
Beneski Museum of Natural History
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

Attleboro:
Attleboro Arts Museum
Mass Audubon at Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary

Barnstable:
Mass Audubon at Long Pasture Wildlife Santuary

Belmont:
Mass Audubon at Habitat Education Center

Beverly:
Historic Beverly

Boston:
Historic New England Otis House Museum
Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Nichols House Museum
Old South Meeting House
The Mary Baker Eddy Library
The Sports Museum
USS Constitution Museum
Willaim Hickling Prescott House/NSCDA

Cambridge:
Harvard Museum of Natural History
MIT List Visual Arts Center Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology/Harvard

Canton:
Mass Audubon at Museum of American Bird Art

Clinton:
Museum of Russian Icons

Deerfield:
Historic Deerfield
Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association

Duxbury:
Duxbury Rural & Historical Society

Easthampton:
Mass Audubon at Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary

Edgartown:
Martha's Vineyard Museum Mass Audubon at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary

Essex:
Cogswell's Grant
Essex Shipbuilding Museum

Gloucester:
Cape Ann Museum
Sargent House Museum

Granville:
NCCHP:

Haverhill:
Buttonwoods Museum

Holyoke:
Wistariahurst

Hyannis:
John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum

Ipswich:
Ipswich Museum

Lenox:
Mass Audubon at Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

Lincoln:
Mass Audubon at Drumlin Farm

Marshfield:
1699 Winslow House Museum
Mass Audubon at North River Wildlife Sanctuary

Mattapan:
Mass Audubon at Boston Nature Center

Medford:
Royall House and Slave Quarters

Milton:
Mass Audubon at Blue Hills Trailside Museum

Nantucket:
Nantucket Historical Association
Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association
Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum

Natick:
Mass Audubon at Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary

New Bedford:
New Bedford Art Museum/ArtWorks!
New Bedford Whaling Museum

Newburyport:
Mass Audubon at Joppa Flats Education Center:

Newton:
Durant-Kenrick House and Grounds of Historic Newton
Jackson Homestead and Museum
Norfolk:
Mass Audubon at Stony Brook Wildlife Sanctuary

North Andover:
North Andover Historical Society

North Easton:
Children's Museum in Easton

Northampton:
Smith College Museum of Art

Princeton:
Mass Audubon at Wachusett Meadow

Salem:
Peabody Essex Museum

South Wellfleet:
Mass Audubon at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
Springfield:
Springfield Museums

Stockbridge:
Norman Rockwell Museum

Taunton:
Old Colony History Museum

Topsfield:
Mass Audubon at Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary

Waltham:
Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation
Historic New England Lyman Estate

Wenham:
Wenham Museum

Westport:
Mass Audubon at Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary

Williamstown:
Clark Art Institute
Williams College Museum of Art

Worcester:
Mass Audubon at Broad Meadow Brook
Worcester Art Museum

Yarmouth Port:
Edward Gorey House
Historic New England Winslow Crocker House

Fairy Tale Mix Ups Three Blind Mice Team Up with the Three Little Pigs

Three Blind Mice Team Up with the Three Little Pigs is another entry in the Fairy Tale Mix-Ups series.

In this mash up we are introduced to the challenging living situations of both the Three Pigs and the Three Blind Mice which are now reaching a critical stage. We discover the Three Pigs huddled down and living safe but cramped in the small brick home of the Third Pig. Space is tight and food is running low. The mice on the other hand live in a spacious farm house, but because they can't see it is rather hard to find their way around, especially with a rather scary Farmer's wife who does not enjoy having them in her home and regularly tries to evict them.

Oddly the Farmer's wife succeeded in scaring them out of the house on the very same day the Pigs got desperate for food and made a dash for the woods to hunt for some. Despite the size of the woods they found each other and struck up a conversation about their challenging living conditions. This being a fairy tale mash up there had to be a solution. If you look at the cover you will get a hint. The mice dress up with pig noses and the pigs conceal their ears and noses with mice costumes.

Thus when the Big Bad wolf climbs down the chimney he sees tiny mice size pigs and doesn't think they'd be worth his time to eat. The Farmer's wife is terrified that the mice have grown to be pig sized and flees leaving the huge home unoccupied. The Three Pigs and the Three Mice decide a home switch would work out well as the size of each home is better suited to the other.

It is a cute story and for kids who are familiar with the Nursery Rhyme of the mice and the Three Pigs Fairy tale the elements are still there in this mash up. The endings clearly are different.