Ave! Hail!
I have begun the homeschool planning for the upcoming school year. I think I have mentioned before that we will be learning about Ancient Greece and chemistry. I've actually been more excited about chemistry (which is probably making my mother laugh to read that), mainly because it is something new, and I like nothing better than researching and planning a new subject. Greece? Not so much.
I figure this is about my fourth (maybe fifth?) time through Greece. We have always cycled through the eras of history, spending a year each on Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment. Anything past that we would handle as a separate unit study. After the Enlightenment, we would head back to Egypt (again), because there were always younger children ready to start and older children who could do more in-depth learning. Around and around and around.
So here we all are back to Ancient Greece. I was feeling it to be a little difficult to even sit down and pull out the books on Ancient Greece. I would still be avoiding it except for Rick Riordan. If you do not have grade school aged readers, you might not recognize the name. Rick Riordan is a wildly popular author of multiple series of chapter books which take the stories from mythology and set them in modern times. My crew, especially G. and L. are a little fanatical about them. They have read them all. G. has listened to them all as well. (Consequently, the entire house has heard bits and pieces of various books, making a very odd conglomeration as it is rarely the same book, much less the same series when next you here some.) As a result, they all adore the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths, and are actually rather well-versed in them. (G. prefers the Greek and Norse myths, while L. prefers the Roman ones.)
G. has double-checked several times that we are studying Ancient Greece this year because she is very excited about it. Thus, when I did get up the energy to pull out all the Greek books (which have nearly all been read by G. and L. in their quest for more information), I realized two things. First, I'm going to have to step my game up a bit. Due to a spring and summer spent endlessly reading about Greece and Rome, they know a lot. What I did six years ago when they were five just isn't going to cut it. Second, I am finding myself a little excited about it because they are so excited.
I had an audience as I worked on the first bit of my lesson plans. You can't just start with Greece proper, but need to go a bit further back and start with the Minoan culture on Crete. As I worked, I would be asked questions about what I was doing and so I mentioned that. One girl, probably G., said something along the lines of, "Oh, I know about the Minoans. There was King Minos and the Minotaur and they liked to jump over bulls." Pretty much it was my outline in a nutshell. I've ordered some new books which I will hide until we're ready to start school.
I always try to find interesting documentaries which go along with what we are studying about. I still had an audience as I watched the beginning of a nearly hour long documentary about archaeologists working on Crete, particularly at the Palace of Knossos. The girls all watched the first few minutes with me which was just a woman talking about what was going to shown. It seemed like it would work, so stopped it and wrote down what I needed to know. The girls seemed disappointed, so I asked if they thought it looked interesting. There were excited affirmative answers.
In some ways planning is going to be very easy, as my audience is going to be pretty happy with whatever. It is also going to be trickier than usual as well because I would like to present some new information to them.
Eventually, they all wandered away, and I continued planning. In the background I hear the resumption of sword fighting in the loft. (Did I mention that all this time, multiple children are wearing togas and carrying swords? There has been a lot of toga wearing recently. L. would like everyone to create special school togas for when we are doing Greece and Rome.) I try to tune out the sword fighting, but one line filters through as I hear one girl shout, "Ave! Hail!" There is a pause, I hear a chuckle, and then a laugh followed by, "I just said Hail1 Hail! Just two different ways."
Maybe one thing I can do over the next two years is sort out the differences between Greece and Rome just a little bit.
I figure this is about my fourth (maybe fifth?) time through Greece. We have always cycled through the eras of history, spending a year each on Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment. Anything past that we would handle as a separate unit study. After the Enlightenment, we would head back to Egypt (again), because there were always younger children ready to start and older children who could do more in-depth learning. Around and around and around.
So here we all are back to Ancient Greece. I was feeling it to be a little difficult to even sit down and pull out the books on Ancient Greece. I would still be avoiding it except for Rick Riordan. If you do not have grade school aged readers, you might not recognize the name. Rick Riordan is a wildly popular author of multiple series of chapter books which take the stories from mythology and set them in modern times. My crew, especially G. and L. are a little fanatical about them. They have read them all. G. has listened to them all as well. (Consequently, the entire house has heard bits and pieces of various books, making a very odd conglomeration as it is rarely the same book, much less the same series when next you here some.) As a result, they all adore the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths, and are actually rather well-versed in them. (G. prefers the Greek and Norse myths, while L. prefers the Roman ones.)
G. has double-checked several times that we are studying Ancient Greece this year because she is very excited about it. Thus, when I did get up the energy to pull out all the Greek books (which have nearly all been read by G. and L. in their quest for more information), I realized two things. First, I'm going to have to step my game up a bit. Due to a spring and summer spent endlessly reading about Greece and Rome, they know a lot. What I did six years ago when they were five just isn't going to cut it. Second, I am finding myself a little excited about it because they are so excited.
I had an audience as I worked on the first bit of my lesson plans. You can't just start with Greece proper, but need to go a bit further back and start with the Minoan culture on Crete. As I worked, I would be asked questions about what I was doing and so I mentioned that. One girl, probably G., said something along the lines of, "Oh, I know about the Minoans. There was King Minos and the Minotaur and they liked to jump over bulls." Pretty much it was my outline in a nutshell. I've ordered some new books which I will hide until we're ready to start school.
I always try to find interesting documentaries which go along with what we are studying about. I still had an audience as I watched the beginning of a nearly hour long documentary about archaeologists working on Crete, particularly at the Palace of Knossos. The girls all watched the first few minutes with me which was just a woman talking about what was going to shown. It seemed like it would work, so stopped it and wrote down what I needed to know. The girls seemed disappointed, so I asked if they thought it looked interesting. There were excited affirmative answers.
In some ways planning is going to be very easy, as my audience is going to be pretty happy with whatever. It is also going to be trickier than usual as well because I would like to present some new information to them.
Eventually, they all wandered away, and I continued planning. In the background I hear the resumption of sword fighting in the loft. (Did I mention that all this time, multiple children are wearing togas and carrying swords? There has been a lot of toga wearing recently. L. would like everyone to create special school togas for when we are doing Greece and Rome.) I try to tune out the sword fighting, but one line filters through as I hear one girl shout, "Ave! Hail!" There is a pause, I hear a chuckle, and then a laugh followed by, "I just said Hail1 Hail! Just two different ways."
Maybe one thing I can do over the next two years is sort out the differences between Greece and Rome just a little bit.
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