Knights-in-Training

(photo courtesy of my sister!)

I love those times when you stumble on a good idea.  We chose to study the middle ages for a variety of reasons.  First, our curriculum, is based around character traits and I felt the need to emphasize OBEDIENCE this semester.  Inspiring them towards obedience instead of merely addressing disobedience has been delightful and worked well for ALL of us.  (Yup, I've been challenged on the whole obedience front as well.)   Second, given my boys desire for bravery and battles, I knew it would be a highly interesting topic for them to study.

The deeper we delved, the more inspired they became. They wanted to emulate knights in every way...  So I decided to have them 'train' to become knights.  The training was rigorous (for little boys), including daily running, archery practice, sword fights, stick horse rides to the park (in full armor - you should have seen the curious looks of our neighbors!) to stage mock battles and learn the art of warfare (high ground is a plus), jousting practice, shining my silver (since their armor consists of cardboard, foam and paper mache), etc.

But we didn't stop there...  No, I decided in the name of seeking to raise modern-day knights, that I would introduce them to the idea of chivalry!  Did you know that the medieval idea of chivalry involved more than simply how a gentleman treats a lady?  It is a far-reaching code of overall character.  As I read, I just knew that my boys would be drawn to this and so I decided to take some extra time in their knighthood training to include talking about, practicing and rewarding chivalrous behavior!

I printed off the list on paper, burned the edges to give it an 'authentic flair' (that made me happy more than it did the boys, but whatever) and posted it up so we could review it daily!

My boys are also big chart kids.  They just love to chart progress and see it visually, so we printed off charts for the two older boys.  Stars were bequeathed when I spotted heroic feats of chivalry!  It was fun to watch them step in and defend their baby brother against 'injustice' (warring other brother), see my boys race out to open the car doors for Aunt B, see the son who has been struggling with lying, fess up and speak the truth (even though it meant facing consequences - a true sign of bravery and strength I told him.), and have boys eager to carry groceries to the car and then into the house! 

Even now that we've moved on from our unit on the middle ages, they are still eager to grow in strength and valor on these areas.

At the end of our unit, we had a dubbing ceremony where the boys were each knighted by the 'king of the house.'  They were quite serious about it all, preparing the throne room and kneeling so reverently.  Even the three year old slowed down from his frenzied running (that is the norm at the end of the day) to watch and participate.

I've come to realize that this training in chivalry is only the beginning.  I pray they will continue to grow in strength, love for the King of kings, defending the weak and taking stands for what is right and true!

Related Post: Knights-in-the Making
                            King Focus

{Free printables} Knights Code of Chivalry and Knight Training Log 

And because I just love books and sharing book recommendations, here are some of our favorites from this unit!  (Apologies: the Amazon book widget is not showing up in Google Reader...)