Chainmail 101

The boys decided last week that they wanted to make chainmail for the Ren Fair this weekend.

First, the needed supplies... I used 16 gauge wire from Home Depot. It is sturdy enough to hold up to the abuse of my children but still pliable enough to bend relatively easily. I also got a new pair of wire snippers because all of ours were pretty dull!









Then I took a GIANT knitting needle and used that to make a "spring" with the wire. I knew there had to be a use for a 35mm knitting needle. I surely can't knit with it! LOL






Then I snipped off each round forming a whole lot of rings!!!








Using this website, I then began assembling the rings. It was difficult at first because nothing was very secure but once I finished a three inch strip or so it became far more manageable. After I was working with it for a while I hung it from my curtain rod so gravity could help instead of hinder! If I had done that from the beginning it might have been easier!

Of course my first thought was, "Wow, that would make an awesome curtain!" Because I need another hobby!!!

The boys have decided that they are no longer interested in making their own chainmail. They are also very grateful they did not live in the Middle Ages because chainmail is way too time consuming to make.

The World Social Studes Yellow Pages

This book is from my new favorite series. This is basically a checklist of things you need to cover for each topic or civilization. The first section is a small overview of history and geography skills. This strikes me as a list of things you can expect to know after finishing the book. Next comes the world history section. It is laid out chronologically, beginning with the rise of civilization all the way through to the year 2000. Each civilization has a list of people, events, lifestyle, places, achievements and terms that is relevant. You can study as much or as little as you want. The "Key Achievements" section has turned out to be a great place to pull project ideas from. After that, it has important lists such as a time line of explorers, historic places and a glossary. The last part is on World Geography with checklists for geographical terms, sections on population, major sights, world nations and a glossary.

I love this because I know HOW I want to teach history I just don't know WHAT I need to teach. This tells me the topics, people, places and things and lets me find the information in a format that I like.

I have been using books from the library, SOTW Activity Guide, Lapbooks from Hands of a Child, Peoples of the Ancient World Series (That is peoples with an "S", there is another series with no "S" that I didn't like.) and projects from the internet to fill in the information needed.