We started by putting Viking times in context by browsing through A Street Through Time once more, but our main "spines" were read-alouds of a few pages at a time from Eyewitness Viking and Usborne Viking World.
Big K also read Time Warp Trio: Viking It and Liking It and Horrible Histories' Vicious Vikings while the Beena really enjoyed browsing the Viking section of Usborne Time Traveler. Early on we read a simple version of Beowulf and many tales of Norse Mythology from the wonderful D'Aulaire Book. The kids, they do love their monsters. We finished up by reading Harald the Ruthless.
I like to tie subjects together whenever possible, so along the way, not long after our visit to the aquarium, we folded in some science by reading The Cod's Tale (fabulous book, like all of Mark Kurlansky's books) which has several pages about the Viking use of dried cod, which in part allowed them to sail long distances and settle briefly in North America. A few informal and impromptu art projects were generated from The Story of the Vikings (Dover Coloring Book) and Viking Designs (Dover Clip Art).
And because I like to engage in what the kids are studying too, I read A Viking Voyage: In Which an Unlikely Crew of Adventurers Attempts an Epic Journey to the New World and The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman.
Next week we'll segue into expanded medieval study, which I think will take a couple months. I'm drowning in options planning this one, rather than the relatively sparse pickings for kids' books on Vikings. Thinking to start next week by reading about the Silk Road, linking the Vikings with Constantinople and on to other parts of the then-known world, then circling back to a few pages in the Usborne World History Encyclopedia to set the scene before diving into the era of castles and knights with both feet. Here we go!
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