French Revolution Unit Study + Beheaded. The Guillotine Mini Book

Tiny was all ears or is that all heads up (ha ha corny, I know I am a geek) when we studied the next sub-topic in our unit study.  When it comes to gore, why are our kids so heads up about topics like this?

Well it’s no doubt this topic was fascinating, but at the same time it would make quite the essay for a high school topic on capital punishment.  We touched on some of that in our school day, but mainly we focused on some of the science and history behind the guillotine because of Tiny’s age.

A lot of our facts and reading came from the Learning Through History magazine which is not printed anymore, but you can still buy the cds.  We have the issue on the French Revolution and it had some note worthy facts about the guillotine.

Here are a few:

• The machine weighed around 1300 pounds or about the weight of a small car.
• The guillotine metal blade weighed 88 pounds.
• The height of the guillotine was around 14 feet tall or about the top of a basketball goal.
• The falling blade had a rate of speed of about 21 feet/second, faster than a fastball thrown in a baseball game.
• The beheading took 2/100 of a second, quicker than you blink.
• The time for the guillotine blade to fall down to the victim took 1/70 of a second, quicker than you can say guillotine.

Because the guillotine remained the official French form of execution until 1981, when the death penalty was abolished, there is some footage about guillotines on YouTube.  At least one of them is real.

I really did not see the learning value of allowing Tiny to watch them, so I am not listing any here.

I focused more on the facts stated above.  There is a book that is for ages 12+ that was recommended in the magazine if you want to look at it.  We had enough information with the magazine, but it certainly is worth a look at the history of it and if you want something more age appropriate.

The guillotine is a noteworthy invention by the France to a terrible problem of how people were executed.  Prior to the guillotine, people were burned at the stake, drawn and quartered or pulled apart by horse or oxen.

I think that is enough to introduce at Tiny’s age and since I wanted him to focus on some of the science or facts behind it, it allowed us to study this topic and it not be all about the French terror.

Download the The French Guillotine minibook here.

Soon, I will be showing you the placement of the minibooks on the file folder.

Are you caught up with us yet?

Hugs and love ya,

See more of our posts about the French Revolution!