Childrens Rights

How to get around?

Pages 3-4: Questions each group must answer about

their civilisation. Hint: Read questions first so that you can keep an eye out for the answers! Pages 5-7 Ancient Greece Pages 8-10 Romans Pages 11-13 The Vikings Pages 14-16 The Celts Pages 17-19 The Aztecs Page 20 Vocabulary If you find words highlighted in red, on this page you can find what they mean.

Questions for each group

In the specific civilisation you are

studying was there education? Who went to the schools? If the children didn't go to school what skills did they learn? What type of things did they learn at school or at home?

Questions for each group

Was education different for boys and

girls? If so why? Would you prefer to learn the way they did in that civilisation? Do you think the childrens rights we learned are in place in your civilisation? Why?

Ancient Greeks
Going to school At 3, children were given small jugs - a sign that

babyhood was over. Boys went to school at age 7. Girls were taught at home by their mothers. A few girls learned to read and write, but many did not. Schoolteachers needed payment, so poor boys did not get much education. A wealthy family sent a slave to walk to school with the boys. The slave stayed at school to keep an eye on them during lessons. Most Greeks schools had fewer than 20 boys, and classes were often held outdoors.

Education in Greece
What did Greek children learn?
Girls learned housework, cooking and skills such as

weaving at home. Boys at school learned reading, writing, arithmetic, music and poetry. They wrote on wooden tablets covered with soft wax, using a pointed stick called a stylus. They used an abacus, with beads strung on wires or wooden rods, to help with maths. Part of their lessons included learning stories and poems by heart.

Romans
Did Romans go to school?

Most children in Roman times did not go to

school. Only quite rich families could afford to pay a teacher. Most schools were in towns. Not many girls went to school, but some were taught at home by tutors, who were often educated slaves.

Romans
Boys from rich families learned history,

maths, and literature at school, to prepare them for jobs in the army or government. In poor families, girls and boys had to work, helping their parents.

The Vikings
Children

Babies were given little Thor's-hammer

charms, to protect them from evil spirits and sickness. A boy usually took his father's name too - so Eric, son of Karl, became Eric Karlsson. Girls often took the same name as their mother or grandmother.

The Vikings
Viking children did not go to school. They

helped their parents at work, and learned Viking history, religion and law from spoken stories and songs, not from books. By 15 or 16 they were adult. It was common for a girl's father to choose her husband.

The Celts
Children in the past did not always go to

school to learn. Early farmers learned how to plough and to tame animals instead. Long ago in Ireland from about 600 B.C. people who have been called 'the Celts' had the custom of sending their child to another family to be reared and taught certain things. This was called fosterage.

The Celts
Children would be taught practical things. A

boy might learn how to herd cattle, how to horse-ride, play sports or use weapons. A girl who was fostered might learn about cooking and looking after animals or how to sew and make clothes. As there were no books then, children did not study reading or writing.

The Aztecs
Aztec children were raised by their parents with

concern that they learned their responsibilities and basic life skills. At the age of fifteen all boys went to school which was called a telpuchcalli ("house of youth"). They learned the history and religion of the Aztecs, the art of war and fighting and civic duties of everyday citizenship. All boys were trained in war and there was great competion between the schools.I n addition to their schooling all boys also had to work hard on their family's land.

The Aztecs
In Aztec society, females were thought of as

subordinate to men so they were mostly taught from home. They started spinning at four and cooking at twelve. The schooling of girls was a basic training for marriage, except that noble girls spent a year at the age of twelve or thirteen helping in the temples. Because of this temple training, some girls went on to become priestesses.

Vocabulary
Weave to make by passing threads or strips over and

under each other. She is weaving a beautiful rug. Arithmetic - the method and process of using whole numbers to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Stylus - a pointed instrument used for writing, or for cutting, engraving, or punching writing or tracing on or into a surface. Literature - writings that have lasting value. Literature includes stories, poems, plays, and essays.She studied literature before she became an English teacher.