The Lighting of a Fire!: Part Sixty-one--Swords of Honor: A Knight’s Crusade for Right, part one

Miles Christi Sum - I am a soldier of Christ

If there could be a perfect school year, this was probably it. The stars were definitely aligned. Everything that could have gone right, did:

I only had one child in school--a responsible teenager, which was easy;
our school group had many talented, dedicated mothers who contributed so much
we planned and followed our year schedule to the day--with a large group we had to
the answer to the "teen scholar" question finally exceeded my expectations [See Student Presenters]

RATIONALE - Our rationale followed the code of chivalry for knights who were to be loyal to God, loyal to their earthly lord, and gracious to women.

YEAR OUTLINE -

Our year focused on 3 famous people from the 3 classes of medieval European people:

Those who fought - the kings and nobles
Those who prayed - the churchmen and monks
Those who worked - the peasants

These became our three major components with emphasis in three topics:

person, place, thing (building)

We spent 2 weeks in each topic--6 weeks in each component. Then we added a sabbatical week at the end of the components to allow students time to finish component projects and get them ready to present at our component closing day.

King Arthur

Sword in the Stone (King Arthur)

Merry Olde England (England)

Dungeons and Dragons (castles)

Santo Francesco

St. Francis and the Fantastic Monastics (St. Francis)

Lo Stivale (Italy)

Brown Robes and Bowl Cuts (monasteries)

Jeanne d'Arc

Maiden Warrior (Joan of Arc)

L'Hexagon (France)

Gothic Gargoyles and Griffins (cathedrals)

We added two small components at the beginning and end of the year:

Armaturum Dei (Armor of God): Learning to put on the armor of God, and knight training

Deeds of Arms: tests to become a knight, dubbing ceremony

CURRICULUM WRITING WEEK

I got our home ready for the maximum amount of inspiration for writing week...

...and before other school events held at our home this year.

I borrowed these banners from a friend to use during our Shakespeare school year. When I asked to borrow them again, she told me to keep them. I still have them because I never know when I might be asked to decorate a castle again!

Amanda, Sadie and I wrote our school song. I've written many school songs, but have never seen one come together so easily and powerfully.

This song became my favorite. When Karen heard it she said that it was her life's theme song. Even now this song brings tears to my eyes. We sang it at Karen's grave almost a year after her death.

The music is called Coronation from the film, Stardust. The words at the beginning were taken from a talk by Sheri Dew, Knowing Who You Are—and Who You Have Always Been. "Noble and great. Courageous and determined. Faithful and fearless. That is who you are, and that is who you have always been. Understanding that truth can change your life, because this knowledge carries a confidence that cannot be duplicated any other way."

Noble and Great

Courageous, Determined

Humble and True

Valiant and Virtuous

Faithful and Fearless--

Here we stand at the edge of night

With sword in hand we crusade for the right.

Face the foe--the battle is long.

Undaunted we rise triumphant pure and strong.

At the breaking of the dawn

We see the victor's crown

We serve our Heav'nly King

To our Duty we are bound

We fulfill our Destiny going forth as Warriors

Miles Christi Sum

I found this design from a book, and asked Karen to draw our mindmap with the armor of God in the shields at the bottom:

She did a beautiful job! When she finished we realized that she put Jeanne d'Arc on the left instead of the right. The big 3 components are across the top, and King Arthur is supposed to be first on the left.

Karen scanned her drawing and swapped Jeanne d'Arc for King Arthur. Perfect!

OPENING DAY AT HOME

ARMATURUM DEI

We did all the regular things for opening day, like get our binders ready.

I probably helped Giselle make this chart. For many years I made kids' charts thematic to match our school. Giselle didn't know she was going to be Joan of Arc at this point. She chose to put her name as Elaine The Lady of Shalott

I covered our journals of discovery with a blue leather skirt from a thrift store--the cheapest way to buy real leather. Then I stenciled on a fleur de lis in gold. This was reminiscent of the journals of discovery that Polly made for our Shakespeare year.

Giselle received this Knight's Guide--how to be a knight and how to put on the armor of God.

The booklet contained a tracker for completing assignments. I didn't make this, but it was great, especially for younger students.

KNIGHT'S TRAINING

The first field trip was Knight's Training in Southern California. I was out of town, so Chase took Giselle, and they met up with our group. Chase is demonstrating a chainmail shirt.

Chase told me this lady got her food from the wilds of Southern California by having her bird hunt for it!

Giselle got a photo with these five sisters--they all held her as a baby and now their kids were in the same school group with her.

The students and their knight trainers

At the end of this topic Giselle received an Armor of God charm bracelet.

OPENING NIGHT FEAST

Our big opening night came after our knight training. This royal proclamation summoned everyone to the feast.

Our vision for opening night was to hold a medieval feast with a dubbing ceremony. We wanted our students to see what they would be aiming to become. We needed a king and queen to perform the accolade.

I never dreamed of dressing up as a queen until the moms asked me to do it.

Hal thought his dressing up days were over. [See Closing Day - Mount Olympus and the Guardians of the Flame.] I told him I was asked to be the queen, but needed a king. He said yes, of course. He tried on the costume I made for him, along with the helmet Hal IV just happened to buy for my birthday that year. It was meant to be!

There was great excitement for our opening night together. We gathered at a pumpkin patch owned by one of our families. It was perfect, with lighting and tables amongst huge trees. We had a head table raised on a dais with a horseshoe of tables around it. It felt very medieval.

Our feast was catered by Polly and her family. They brought the tablecloths, armetale metal dishes and goblets, centerpieces, and the medieval-attired servers. You can see every family's coats of arms behind them--made during our first component.

Below is a very short version of our royal feast. I abridged a script for a dubbing ceremony from the internet. The herald had a copy on parchment taped together and rolled into a scroll. He and the trumpeter conducted the evening festivities. I loved just relaxing at the head table.

TRUMPET FANFARE

Ken was an amazing trumpeter. He even rented a long trumpet for the night!

HERALD: All rise. Presenting Their Royal Majesties, King and Queen of our noble realm.

CROWN: Greetings gentles, and welcome all. We thank thee for thy gracious welcome.

HERALD: [After a prayer and blessing on the food]. Let the feasting begin.

Head table: Steve, Karen, Hal, Jeanne, Tammy, David

Giselle and Katy sat together since their parents were at the head table. Ken is on their left.

Karen and Sadie performed a beautiful hammered dulcimer duet.

TRUMPET FANFARE

HERALD: Each house will now present their coat of arms to our noble assemblage.

Giselle presented ours. She's in a skirt adorned with a belt and weapons. Her thrift store split shirt sleeves are held together with large, metal snap buttons running the length of each.

Our coat of arms on the left adorned our home that year.

TRUMPET FANFARE

HERALD: Lady Hatch will now lead us in a dance.

After the medieval dancing the herald talked about knights of the realm and called up a historical reenactor we hired for that evening. He was in chain mail ready to be knighted.

Herald: Your Majesties, Now before you comes Daren of Prescott.

Crown: Daren of Prescott, have you undertaken to accept the accolade of Knighthood?

KNIGHT CANDIDATE: I have.

The knight took an oath to serve God, honor and defend his family, the Crown, and the Kingdom; to defend and protect all ladies and those weaker than himself; and to be courteous to and honor his parents, etc. He pledged to enshrine the noble ideals of Chivalry...

CROWN: Then having sworn these solemn oaths, know now that We, by right of arms, King and Queen of the Realm, do dub you with Our sword, and by all that you hold sacred, true, and holy. Once for Honor... Twice for Duty... Thrice for Chivalry...

CROWN: Arise, Sir Prescott, Knight of Virtue! LET THIS BE THE LAST BLOW YOU TAKE UNANSWERED!

CROWN: My lords and ladies, I present to you Sir Prescott, Knight of Virtue! [Hal held the scroll while I read from it].

ALL: Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!

HERALD: All members of the Swords of Honor wishing to become Sir Prescott’s honorary pages, please approach and kneel before him.

The students were given a page's oath in preparation to become a squire, and then a knight

HERALD: Parents of these noble youth, come forward and bring the badge of their pledge. [Parents bring tee shirts forward]

The shirts read: Swords of Honor: A Knight's Crusade for Right, Miles Christi Sum. This photo is from a different field trip. The students didn't wear their tee shirts this evening.

We all shouted Huzzah! and sang our school song which we had learned over the last few weeks. Then more trumpet fanfare, dessert, and photos with the king, queen, and knight.