Castle Unit Study

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How do unschoolers approach to learning about castles? From Tudor Castles to building our own in Minecraft, here is how we organized our castle unit study.

When inspiration strikes, we love to take the opportunity and run with it. As unschoolers, this is how we plan our schooling year. It is not based on curriculum, it is based on interests and passions.

My boys have been fascinated by castles for a while now but it ebbed and flowed. When we started reading Britfield & the Lost Crown, the passion for this topic returned. We decided to use that book as a castle unit study and are really enjoying it so far.

The closest the boys have ever been to a castle is to Casaloma in Toronto, Ontario. We actually went there with their granddad, who is British, and he was telling the boys all about the castles that he has visited. Ever since then, the boys have always wanted to go see a real, British (or European), castle.

We do have the pleasure of seeing photographs that our friends have taken on their journies around the UK. Last summer, our friends moved to England and we have been living vicariously through them and their adventures and explorations.

The above picture if their friends as they explored Caerphilly Castle. The castle is in South Whales and was built in the 13th century.

Our Castle Unit Study

Our castle unit study is an ongoing project. The topics I discuss here are just ones that we have explored already.

If you have any suggestions for things we could add, please let me know in the comments down below!

Minecraft Castles

So often, the world of Minecraft is overlooked for its educational value. Around here, we love Minecraft. The value it provides is amazing. Plus, it can give this mama a few moments of peace during an otherwise busy day.

Our local library is full of Minecraft books. From novels of Minecraft adventures to how to create different structures or work with redstone. We were able to find many different helpful building books.

We recently found this book, which features a beautiful castle on the cover. With the ideas and fascination about castles already brewing in our brains, it sparked the idea that we could build our own castles. My eldest’s castle that he created is in the picture above. It reminds me of Mont Saint-Michel, the way it is perched on an island.

If your children want to try and make their own castle but need some inspiration, there are many different tutorials that they can follow. If they need some inspiration, they can look at this tutorial on YouTube. It is a simple castle that has lots of detail to get them started.

Mapping

One new project for our castle unit study is mapping castles that we study.

While perusing Google, we found this map of castles in England:

This map gave us the idea to map the locations we were researching.

We recently purchased a large map of the UK and our plan is to place stickers on the locations of all the different castles we study to mark their location. We have a poster-sized world map as well, which we will use for the castles we learn about that are outside of the UK.

Castle Documentaries

Sometimes, the closest you can get to a castle is watching a documentary about castles. There are many wonderful documentaries about castles on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

• Windsor Castle: After The Fire (also on Prime Video)
• Great British Castles (found of Netflix)
• Great British Estates
• Secrets of the Tower of London (also found on Netflix)
• Henry VIII’s Palace (also found on Netflix)
• Secrets of Chatsworth (Netflix)
• Secrets of Highclere Castle (Netflix)

Many of these documentaries are great because you get to learn more about the lives of the people who lived in these magnificent buildings.

There are also many videos about castles and people exploring castles on YouTube.

Fictional Castles

There are many, wonderful, fictional castles. From castles that exist in books and movies, to castles from video games. There are so many castles to explore

Our favourite has to be Hogwarts Castle from Harry Potter. Not only does Hogwarts have the allure of being a castle, but the magic surrounding the castle also makes it even more fascinating.

Other fictional castles of that we have discovered:

• The Chronicles of Narnia
• Bowser’s Castle – Mario
• Princess Peach’s Castle – Mario
• Hyrule Castle – Zelda

And let’s not forget the many iconic castles found throughout the works of Disney.

Can you think of other fictional castles? Let us know in the comments!

This is just the beginning of our journey to learn about castles and the life of those who lived in them.

There is so much information out there because the history of castles has been centuries in the making. It is amazing that buildings built as early as the 12th and 13th century, still survive to this day.

We are excited that one day we will be able to explore a castle.

Have you ever been to a castle?