One of the most fascinating periods in history is the Renaissance.

The Renaissance overlaps with the middle ages and historians are not all together in agreement on the exact time period.

Some historians give the time period known as the Renaissance between 1300 to 1600, others 1350 to 1600 and still others 1400 to 1600.

One thing they seem to all be in agreement on though is that it was a time in history of significant changes in art, science, history, literature and music.

Prior to the Renaissance life in Europe had been affected by wars and the Black Death. But now Italian scholars began to take a interest in the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans. This time period is called ?The Renaissance? and it literally means ?rebirth?. It was a revolutionary period in which the arts and sciences eventually changed the whole world.

The term renaissance was first used in the 18th century to describe the reappearance of classical (ancient Greece and Roman) architectural forms in 16th century buildings.

The Black Death, The Hundred Years War, the invention of the printing press and the life of Leonardo da Vinci are a few of the significant events of this time period. Leonard da Vinci is known as a renaissance man. He was a painter, architect, inventor, scientist, poet, musician, and teacher. The Renaissance Man or Renaissance Woman was encouraged to be skilled in a variety of subjects including literature, painting, science and music.

The Renaissance began in northern Italy with the cities of Florence, Venice and Genoa. During the Middle Ages, it seems that Italy had been spared some of the economic crisis that swept through the rest of Europe. Northern Italy was a center for international trade as well as a place to exchange ideas or a rebirth.  Middle class Italian families like Medici, Sforsa and Visconti encouraged people to get involved in art and literature, even personally sponsoring some of these writers, painters and sculptors.  It is a time when sculptors, painters, artists and writers flourished.

Another key concept of the Renaissance was the humanist movement of learning. This was a method of learning that the Renaissance thinkers felt was successful and important and had been used by ancient Romans like Cicero. This return to the way the classical thinkers approached study is one of the reasons why the Renaissance is considered a rebirth or a return.

During this time period, many achievements were created in the areas of literature, art and philosophy. These fields came to be known as the humanities. Ideas became more human and less dominated by religion.

The Renaissance eventually spread elsewhere in Europe. France, England, the German states, the Netherlands and Spain all experienced a renewed interest in learning the arts. The Renaissance did begin later in those countries, closer into the 1600s.

The changes made in the Renaissance and through exploration as well, marked the beginning of a modern world that develop rapidly over the next centuries.

Other units on my site here to go with this unit:

Peregrine Falcons.  Glass Blowing.    Pirates.

Lapbook

Picture to help in one possible layout of lapbook/Please look down farther to get pics of our lapbook done for this co-op.

Pieces to decorate a lapbook outside flaps or notebook pages.

                         

[download id=”8579″]                               [download id=”8582″]

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One is labeled, one is not and one just has the boundaries of The Holy Roman Empire.

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Minibooks About Leonardo da Vinci:

    

[download id=”8593″]                                   [download id=”8595″]

                

                            

[download id=”8597″]                                          [download id=”8599″]

 

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This is a fun activity to do with your children, mine loved it. Da Vinci wrote backwards and no one really knows why. In this minibook, there is an alphabet printed backward. Invent a code by writing backwards and crack the code! (Hint: You need to use a mirror )

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Minibooks about William Shakespeare

                                   

[download id=”8607″]                                              [download id=”8609″]

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Tudor England

                  

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Important Events of the Renaissance and Reformation Timeline

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Thy Words – Vocabulary and Pocket

          

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Miscellaneous

Use this scroll to write about various points in this unit and place around your lapbook pages or notebook pages

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Pictures of our Renaissance Lapbook done for our 2010/2011 Co-op theme.

(Note: All minibooks for the lapbook pictured above and this one are ours and found on this page. )

This is more of a notebook/lapbook. The idea I got from Homeschool Helper. Go here to see how to add multiple folders like I did. Then we covered the pages in metallic cardstock which is the color the boys chose. Then we put the minibooks on the metallic cardstock. The red strip going across the stop is red velvet.

Front of lapbook               This is the first two page spread

The next two page spread

Then the next page

Patterns for Costumes

My littlest guy played Robin Hood in our Renaissance Co-op. This pattern I used the cape. On the pattern that is on the left, look at the picture at the bottom right. Simplicity Pattern No. 5512.

For the pattern on the right,  even though he was not a pirate, the shirt and pants on the pattern was much more time period. It is Simplicity Pat
tern No. 3644.

Simplicity Pattern 5512                   Simplicity Pattern 3644

My big guys, I found it was easier to buy part put together and make part home-made (like my curriculum..hee hee..).

So my middle guy, I bought his pirate coat and black shirt and had sewed his vest and pants. The pants that came with the jacket were velvet and my middle guy couldn’t do that..lol..plus here in South Texas it can still be hot even at the Ren Fest in November.

So the patter on the left shows his pants and the vest we did was the bottom right picture. It is Simplicity Pattern No. 4923

The same was true for my high school guy. I bought him a shirt and vest and we had made an overjacket and made black pants. We use the same pattern for his pants and my middle guy from No. 4923.

The only thing he liked about McCalls Pattern was that the overjacket had points at the bottom of the jacket. Look at the pattern on the right and then look at the picture on the right. But he wanted NO sleeves since he was all ready wearing a shirt. We bought a heavier material, almost like a leather like quality and wrapped silver belt material around his waist.

It’s kind of hard to see the point at the bottom of the jacket on the right side but it is different than the bigger pic. shows on that pattern.

Simplicity Pattern No. 4923             Simplicity Pattern No. M5446

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Other links from other resources that go with this unit:

Albrecht Durer – Renaissance Artist Study.
Free Art Era Timeline – From Pre-Renaissance to 18th Century.
Free Tutor Times Lapbook.