War of the Roses lesson

Can I just say that a few weeks ago when we got back into our history lessons I was incredibly excited? I’ve been eagerly looking forward to digging into all of the fun of the Renaissance and Reformation (huh, I thought I had a landing page for this), and we kicked this year off with a bang with the War of the Roses lesson. But technically this is from the Middle Ages.

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My kids were not quite so excited because they had been enjoying the last week or so of lazy summer days, but I was excited to try out my spiffy new Illuminations schedule, and see if everyone was still up for the block scheduling which had worked so well for us at the end of last year.

The jury is still out on block scheduling, but our first big history lesson was a hit.

War of the Roses lesson supplies

Of course, our base supplies for this lesson was our The Mystery of History 3* book and notebooking pages, but then I had a brainstorm (because most history lessons on my blog start off this way), and I grabbed some markers and cut copy paper in half.

Specifically you need 4 markers (I love these Pip-Squeaks Markers*): yellow, red, black, and brown, my boys added in a few extra colors, but I wanted to keep it simple

War of the Roses lesson

For those of you unfamiliar with the War of the Roses, it’s an English Civil War of sorts between two rival houses.  It’s called the War of the Roses because one house has a white rose (York) and the other a red rose (Lancaster) as their family crest.

While the textbook did a fairly good job of simplifying a rather complex subject and my kids’ notebooking pages certainly attest to their understanding all of what was going on, I wanted them to see the back-and-forth nature of the wars.

You’ll notice these pictures are essentially different variations on the same thing.  A crown with a symbol for that dynasty, if we learned about any kings from that dynasty they’re named, and then a cloud with weapons to symbolize fighting, and then a new dynasty.

Symbols used for dynasties

Saxon: cross (they are supposed to be Christian kings)

Vikings: no symbol

Normans: fleur de lys (they were French, and I’ve spelled it wrong)

Pantagenet: Red or White Rose, depending on Lancaster or York

Actually, because I was rather intrigued by the concept in the activity pages of our textbook I went back a few hundred years and started off with the first ruling group we knew of.  The Saxons.  Then I showed how control changed from time to time with battles, and we saw the Vikings replace the Saxons, and the Saxons replace the Vikings again (with a brief reminder of who Edward the Confessor was from The Mystery of History 2*).

And we did a brief review of William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings.  Notice how different my son’s lesson is from mine.

But after a while, we’d covered all of the prior English dynasties, and were ready for the confusion.

We watched as Henry VI and Edward the IV passed the crown back and forth for several years.

Then we watch Edward the IV, Edward V and the big debacle that was Richard III transpired (in a minute I’ll have some videos to share on this whole craziness).

And all of the big confusion being settled when Henry VII (a Lancaster) marries Elizabeth of York and just says, “Forget the whole York vs. Lancaster thing, I’m gonna form a new house: Tudor.”  And thus was the Tudor dynasty born, and from that, we get some of the most influential kings and queens in all of England.

Some great videos to reinforce your War of the Roses lesson

If you can find this copy of Richard III* for less than the $85 listed I highly recommend watching it with your middle school and high school kids.  It’s very intense, so I would not recommend it for younger than 13.  I did not watch it with my kids this time around. I also opted not to show the kids Henry V* even if I really wanted to (Princess was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the time).

But, here’s what I did show them:

and then this video:

Of course, you also have to include the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s English history bit:

The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s version of Shakespeare’s histories.  Jeff and I saw this play on our honeymoon so this ridiculous play holds a special place in my heart.

Sadly I don’t really have many War of the Roses lessons pinned or other materials to share with you, if you’ve got a post feel free to share it in the comments.

Follow Ticia Adventures in Mommydom’s board Mystery of History 3 on Pinterest.

More Renaissance and Reformation ideas

• Forerunners to the Protestant Reformation
• Queen Elizabeth portrait’s art lesson
• Spanish Armada history lesson
• STEM: measure Columbus’ ships
• Prince Henry the Navigator, inspiration for the Age of Exploration

Originally published on September 9, 2015, but I’m teaching this lesson again today, and needed to review for myself, the War of the Roses lesson is a tad complicated.