The Home Education

Here is a small sample of what the new Herbology unit study has to offer!

All over the world ancient peoples have dug up, dried out, chewed, crushed, rubbed and brewed plants, and through trial and error, discovered their healing powers.It is this  knowledge that we use today for our herbal healing remedies.
Over 5, 000 years ago the Sumerians of Western Asia discovered medicinal uses for  such plants as laurel, caraway, and thyme. From there medicinal knowledge developed into Egypt where many herbs were used in the mummification process. They also used onion and garlic to strengthen the body and mint for stomach upset. In fact, he world’s oldest surviving medical text, discovered in Egypt’s Valley of the Tombs in 1874, listed 876 herbal formulas made from more than 500 plants.

Sometimes, herbal healers could be as much of a killer than the healer. Herbal remedies could also be poisons, especially during the hostile time of the Roman Empire.The study of poisons though could also bring about antidotes against the poisons. This was the type of herbal knowledge gained by the Romans.
After the fall of Rome, European medicine became a focus of the Catholic Church. Officially, the church viewed sickness as punishment from God that could only be healed with prayer and penance. In the monasteries however, the monks were copying the ancient herbal texts. The Benedictine monks adopted the Arab practice of transferring the healing powers of herbs to alcohol and flavoured wines with herbs.
From 1300 to 1650 C.E.the view of the healer changed drastically. People (specifically women) who practiced herbal medicine and made herbal remedies were deemed witches and often burned at the stake. These witch-hunts were made worse when bad doses of herbal remedy caused poisonings and deaths among the patients. Although herbalism was not wiped out during these witch-hunts, much of the knowledge became secretive.
When Europeans came to the New World, they met healthy and strong Natives. Many that experienced native herbal healing were impressed with how quick and flawless they were. Even some early American doctors apprenticed to native herbalists. Native healers, called Shaman, relied on the energies of the herbs mixed with the powers of the spirits to guide them with healing.
Colonists, armed with the knowledge of the native healing herbs, would often grow both medicinal and culinary herbs in their own gardens. Many pioneer gardens were filled with vegetables as well as herbs for cooking, healing and even dying clothing. Along with herbal remedies, pioneers were offered special elixirs that “cure” everything from arthritis to headaches.  Charlatans (tricksters) would offer snake oil, magic elixirs and liniments to cure what ailed you. Usually they had so much alcohol in them that a ‘cure’ seemed to happen, or at least you felt better for a while. These “fake” doctors became known as quacks because usually what they sold had no medicinal value.

Create an advertisement for your cure-all medicine.

For the complete unit study go to www.homeeducationresourceemporium.com/unit-studies