There's also a little bit about them in the previous chapter, "Leading Lights":
- Suddenly high in the darkness they saw a flicker of bright flame. There was another and then another, and then a pale blaze lighting a cloud of smoke. They all looked up towards it as if they were looking at a little window, high up in a black wall. As they watched, the figure of a man jumped into the middle of the smoke, a black, active figure, beating at the flames. The flames died down, and it was as if a dark blind were drawn over the little window. Then a new flame leapt up and again the man was there, and then that flame died like the others and there was nothing but the dark.
I mention this excerpt (and the following chapter, of course) because charcoal is a subject that we study in middle school in Waldorf. Chemistry, in grade 7, would be the most likely time. In fact, I recently talked with a 7th grade Waldorf teacher in Ireland that made char cloth with his class.
If you study the American Revolution in grade 8 (The Age of Revolution), charcoal would fit in perfectly here as well. Who can forget the 1776 song between Abigail and John Adams about saltpeter and pins?
The three ingredients for black powder are sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter.
Of these, you have to mine sulfur, but you can make charcoal and saltpeter yourself with a little know-how!
Besides having a story you can use to tell children about charcoal burning, visuals are also nice. So I thought about the living history programs done by the BBC. Zac watched the first three of these when he was nine.
TV Shows - age 9
Secrets of the Castle (medieval France under King Louis IX, 1230s & 40s)
Tudor Monastery Farm (England, Tudor period, King Henry VII, 1500)
Tales from the Green Valley (Wales, Stuart period, King James VI/I, 1620)
We have not yet done the other three, but I watched them on my own:
Victorian Farm
Edwardian Farm
Wartime Farm
Because charcoal burning was such a key profession, they often mention it in these programs. For Tales from the Green Valley, it is in the May episode (3:54:05 - 4:01:37).
It is also covered in Edwardian Farm, in a longer segment which I can't seem to find right now! If someone knows of a link to it, please let me know.
Fun fact: Swallows and Amazons also has a lot of sections in it about reading a barometer, so I've addded them to my Barometer blog post!
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Immersive Experience
Immersive Experience
Immersive Experience
