Almost every child would receive at least a couple years of schooling; boys in the beginning, then wealthy girls, and lastly some peasants when schooling was free. Students would learn to read, write, and do arithmetic. They would sit on the floor in classrooms and take notes by writing on wooden tablets covered in black or green wax with ivory or bone as pens. Many schools would operate without books.

Schooling could start as early as the age of six and at the ages of fourteen or fifteen the child could go to a university. The teachings would come from Pliny and other Roman philosophers. Children would learn from hunters, poachers, and trappers as well. Boys and wealthy girls could be sent to nunneries where they would learn reading and writing as well as how to pray. If children took this seriously, which few did, they could be chosen to live a monastic life and be raised by monks.

Boys and girls alike could be apprentices. They would be sent out as soon as they were capable, or after they had finished schooling. They were sent out around when they were early teens. Apprenticing was not always easy. For example, if an apprentice who was learning to make metal locks ran away, the master was required to look for him for a day and inform the father the next. If the boy didn’t return within a year, the master was not required to take him back.

After they schooled or sometimes instead of schooling, children would learn a trade. If their own father didn’t teach them, he would apprentice out of the house. A child was an apprentice for around five to nine years depending on the trade they were learning. After a child had fully learned a trade, he would leave and take on that trade for himself. A master would agree to teach a child and to give him food, water, shelter, and take care of him if he became ill.

A journeyman is someone who has worked as an apprentice and has earned the right to earn a daily wage by working under someone or assisting them in their trade. The apprentice would agree on a certain amount of time to work for the master and when that time was up he would become a journeyman or a master himself. An apprentice wouldn’t receive pay for the work he was doing. He were not allowed to get married until he became a journeyman.

At the time when wealthy girls were allowed to go to school, they could be taught how to read, write, sew and spin; but then they would also learn to horseback ride and hunt with falcons. Aristocratic women were taught to read devotional texts, keep household accounts, and teach their children letters. St. Anna was the icon for schools because she was depicted as the woman who taught the Virgin Mary to read. Mothers of all social ranks were required to teach their children the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Hail Mary.

In China, Confucius, who was a Chinese philosopher, was alive. The Tang Dynasty was coming into power. It held the most populated city at the time, Chang’an. This led up to the Silk Road which was a network of interconnected trade routes that connected parts of Asia to the Mediterranean world and parts of Africa to Europe. Marco Polo led Europeans into Central Asia and China. In Japan, shoguns and samurais were introduced. In India, the Gupta Empire which lasted from 280 to 550 was just coming to an end. Their caste system was invented around this time. India’s caste system was a group of several communities that people were divided into. These became their social classes.

In Central and South America, the Mayans were in their Classic period that lasted from They were now the most populated and culturally diverse societies in the world. In North America, Ancient Pueblo people were roaming the United States. They were Native Americans located on the present-day Four Corners. In Africa, the Ghana Empire came into power. It was the first of many powerful empires that would rule in Africa. The slave trade was created around this time and existed for thousands of years after. In the Middle East, Omar Khayyam was alive. He was a Persian mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, and poet.