We will visit history in a chronological sequence starting from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance. Each class will focus on a few topics with lecture, pictures, and some fun stories. Each student will work on a lapbook throughout the session to be completed by the end as well as some fun crafts and a few presentations along with way.
Regarding Videos: Please keep in mind that although I usually preview all videos, there may be some that you need to view yourself to make sure you approve of the material. Especially the longer videos, I don’t always have time to watch every minute prior to posting. All videos are intended to engage the child in the subject being taught. If it doesn’t work for your child, feel free to not let them watch.
VIDEOS
1.Learn about the Anglo-Saxon language
2.Learn about virtues of Swedes and Danes
3.What if it proves the Bible to be true?
4.Modern scientists would lead us to believe that mankind and dinosaurs never existed at the same time. There is widespread belief that the earth is millions of years old and that that is when the dinosaurs roamed our planet. This thinking is contrary to that of the Creation story of the Bible, which claims that all animals, including dinosaurs, were created on the fifth and sixth days of Creation—the same time as man.
5.(Gen. 1:24-26.) So when we have accounts like these of Beowulf’s “monsters,” it can only make you wonder about the co-existence of dinosaurs and mankind! If you take the epic of Beowulf to be literal, then it demonstrates that men at one time fought for their lives against large creatures, like Grendel and the dragon. We apparently don’t have animals exactly like these around today. Are there records of other such creatures in old world literature? Absolutely! Tales of dragons, sea monsters, and other large creatures abound in China, Japan, and medieval Europe.
6.The legend of St. George tells of a knight who gave God the glory when he saved a village from a terrible dragon. St. George really lived between a.d. 250 and 300. The Bible tells stories of great animals like Leviathan and the behemoth. (See Job 40:15, 41:1; Ps. 74:14, 104:26; Isa. 27:1.) And Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had dragons engraved on his city gates. Could dragons really breathe fire? There is that possibility. We see amazing defense mechanisms in animals today—consider the skunk, the octopus, and the electric eel. There is a little bug called the
7.bombardier beetle that spits fire from a two-part chamber in its body to ward off predators. The vapor it spits reaches 212 degrees. Imagine if a large dragon-sized animal had the same defense system! That would be some serious smoke. But, besides the stories of dragons and monsters that have circulated for centuries, there are two ancient pictures in existence today of an animal that fits the description of Grendel. One picture is part of a stone carving in England. The other is on a cylinder seal all the way from Babylonia. What is most amazing is that the cylinder seal seems to portray a man trying to twist the arm off the animal! Maybe it was a common form of defense back then to break the arms of the Grendel-type species because it was too difficult to pierce it with a sharp weapon. Is there any reason to think that Beowulf is not a true story? Not from a historical perspective. According to Bill Cooper, the author of After the Flood , every character in the poem IS real. Every king, place, and event in the poem line up with documented histories of Sweden and Denmark. So it is very probable that the epic poem of Beowulf, as recorded in about the year 700, is a true-life story from the Dark Ages. If Beowulf is historically accurate, then it supports the Christian worldview. And that is very important to know. A Christian worldview is having the perspective that the things of the Bible are true, including the Creation story that places dinosaurs and mankind on earth at the same time! Isn’t it thought-provoking that even in the ancient poem of Beowulf, we quite possibly have testimony of God’s creation?
I hope you learned some history while having a bit of fun.