Castles and Medieval Fun

My 13 year old and I read the book "Castle" by David Macaulay together. He absolutely loved reading about the history and building of the castle. He has another larger DK book on Castles and as we read told me about his previous knowledge on the topic we were reading about and expanded our discussion. The images (drawings) being b/w are a perfect match so that details of the castle stand out.

After reading this story, we watched the accompanying PBS special Castle by the same author. The movie is s a perfect tag-a-long going into further details and highlighting real castles and showing the details of the Castle that was discussed in the book.

To follow up on the book/movie, my son is now building his own brick castle. We ordered a kit and it includes everything to make little bricks from molds and then directions on exactly how to build the castle.
I highly recommend purchasing the book, movie and castle building kit together if you or your child is interested in castles and/or medieval studies. All three provide great discussion, for both visual and auditory learners as well as a hands-on learning experience.

The Building of our New Backyard

We live on a hill and have had no place for the children to really play outside but in the street in front of our house. Last summer our wonderful field across the street that was filled with trees and wildlife was stripped and turned into a housing development. We took advantage of the situation and worked with the contractor to bring in over 2000 cubic feet of dirt and build a very nice back yard area last November. Unfortunately, the weather turned too cold and final grading and seeding was not completed. We will need to finish that part up this spring. We are very excited to be able to put up a swing set and play area for the children this coming summer (after we reseed, add trees/shrubs to the hill and add a fence around the steep slope).

Those that love construction vehicles and big equipment will sure love this video :)