(Sorry this is so long, but it's the minimum you'll have to know to form relevant opinions, and I don't want to get into the: "that's a good idea, but it won't apply here because . . . " loop which helps no one and always comes across as ungrateful or argumentative.)
I'm working on a spec-fic novel. I'm blocked because I don't know some things which aren't important to the story, per se, but they'd be important to the characters. The absence of insight into a portion of their daily activities has created a wall around them at a time when I have to be especially close.
Premise:
The protagonist is a time-traveler. Needing a safe place for R&R between trips, he set up housekeeping in early 15th Century England.
This entails buying some 8-year-old girls to serve as maids. Reasons:
1) The natives then/there were particularly suspicious of people who lived alone. They would never believe even a minor noble would cook his own meals or wash his own clothes. Having locals living in his house will prevent a lot of distrust.
2) Adult servants would spy on him.
3) His claiming he has to train them to do things the right way feeds into the 'foreign nobles are very fussy' mentality.
4) If they were any older, they'd be harder to coerce into washing their hands, brushing their teeth, and taking baths regularly (it was an era when even the king had serious b.o., rotten teeth, and fleas).
5) He's sort of a nice guy, and while he can't save the whole world, he can take a few destined for drudge slavery and give them an easier life as housekeepers.
6) It's nice to have a maid!
He splits their days between education and housework because:
A) He buys/trains far more than are necessary to keep the house spotless (Reason #5, above).
B) There might come a day when he doesn't come back from one of his trips, and he wants them prepared to go out into the world as something other than household drudges.
C) The lessons are open-house, and those natives who come to spy on him might learn something that would make them better people and, in turn, that world a better place to live.
The major problem I'm having is what to teach them.
Reading and writing are marginally acceptable in that setting (teaching slaves to read was considered eccentric, but it wasn't against the law).
Literature is iffy because of the lack of novels written for 15th Century slaves.
Arithmetic is fine, but anything beyond simple trig would be wasted.
I believe Philosophy would be best worked into other material rather than presented as a stand-alone course.
The local priest will teach them those parts of the Bible which the Church considered suitable for laymen to know.
History is taboo. He's supposedly from a land beyond China, so he shouldn't know anything that's happened in that part of the world since the flood. Locally available books were rare and treasured -- nobody would loan one to somebody who'd let slaves handle it.
Economics would be meaningless.
Botany is about the only science which wouldn't tread dangerously close to heresy. Chemistry and astronomy are completely taboo because of their association with the black arts. (The Church is very tolerant because of his generous donations, but there are limits on what they'll allow.)
Medicine is a minefield.
Art, music, etc. are difficult because he isn't particularly gifted, and the instruments/materials of the time were very limiting.
What would be useful for them (and the world of that time) to learn?
I'm working on a spec-fic novel. I'm blocked because I don't know some things which aren't important to the story, per se, but they'd be important to the characters. The absence of insight into a portion of their daily activities has created a wall around them at a time when I have to be especially close.
Premise:
The protagonist is a time-traveler. Needing a safe place for R&R between trips, he set up housekeeping in early 15th Century England.
This entails buying some 8-year-old girls to serve as maids. Reasons:
1) The natives then/there were particularly suspicious of people who lived alone. They would never believe even a minor noble would cook his own meals or wash his own clothes. Having locals living in his house will prevent a lot of distrust.
2) Adult servants would spy on him.
3) His claiming he has to train them to do things the right way feeds into the 'foreign nobles are very fussy' mentality.
4) If they were any older, they'd be harder to coerce into washing their hands, brushing their teeth, and taking baths regularly (it was an era when even the king had serious b.o., rotten teeth, and fleas).
5) He's sort of a nice guy, and while he can't save the whole world, he can take a few destined for drudge slavery and give them an easier life as housekeepers.
6) It's nice to have a maid!
He splits their days between education and housework because:
A) He buys/trains far more than are necessary to keep the house spotless (Reason #5, above).
B) There might come a day when he doesn't come back from one of his trips, and he wants them prepared to go out into the world as something other than household drudges.
C) The lessons are open-house, and those natives who come to spy on him might learn something that would make them better people and, in turn, that world a better place to live.
The major problem I'm having is what to teach them.
Reading and writing are marginally acceptable in that setting (teaching slaves to read was considered eccentric, but it wasn't against the law).
Literature is iffy because of the lack of novels written for 15th Century slaves.
Arithmetic is fine, but anything beyond simple trig would be wasted.
I believe Philosophy would be best worked into other material rather than presented as a stand-alone course.
The local priest will teach them those parts of the Bible which the Church considered suitable for laymen to know.
History is taboo. He's supposedly from a land beyond China, so he shouldn't know anything that's happened in that part of the world since the flood. Locally available books were rare and treasured -- nobody would loan one to somebody who'd let slaves handle it.
Economics would be meaningless.
Botany is about the only science which wouldn't tread dangerously close to heresy. Chemistry and astronomy are completely taboo because of their association with the black arts. (The Church is very tolerant because of his generous donations, but there are limits on what they'll allow.)
Medicine is a minefield.
Art, music, etc. are difficult because he isn't particularly gifted, and the instruments/materials of the time were very limiting.
What would be useful for them (and the world of that time) to learn?
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