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Mythology..anyone study this?


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There's a wonderful text/workbook called "Classical Mythology & More: A Reader Workbook" by Marianthe Colakis and Mary Joan Masello that is excellent and all inclusive.

 

You can also take the National Mythology Exam and/or the Medussa Exam each year. I'm not sure if the registration deadlines for these exams is passed for this year's March exams or not...If you're interested for this year, I'd suggest you go quickly to their websites!

 

There are also computer games like "The Age of Mythology" which my boys play endlessly! And for Christmas this year, Santa brought a card/battle game called "Roma" which has been a big hit, too!

 

We study Mythology almost every year as it's a subject that my boys just love.

 

Myra

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We treated mythology only as background information for understanding how it affected development of the ancient and classical world and not as a separate subject, but there's no reason why you couldn't do a course for credit. I think Teaching Company has a course on mythology taught by Elizabeth Vandiver (sp?). My son enjoyed our homemade "History & Philosophy of Science" built around a TC course plus three of the recommended texts. I enjoyed doing that because most of the hard work was already done. All I had to do was come up with some written assignments. Mostly, I watched the dvd's had had a great time discussing with ds.

 

Here's one possibility for how something like this (TC centered course) might look:

 

Watch dvd's together with student practicing notetaking if that's something you think worth doing. Then, discuss the dvd's/reading assignments and compare student notes of the dvd lectures to the course outline provided.

 

Read one or more of the recommended books from the coursebook and do a combination of short written responses to questions, out of class essays of various types, and even timed essays as exams if you're also doing test prep. The TC coursebooks have lots of discussion questions which can be adapted for writing essays:

 

Discuss the development of....

Compare/contrast...

Define...

Show how the assumption that ______________led to _______________for a particular civilization or era.

Give your opinion of why__________________________seemed to capture the imagination of people living in _____________________during the ______era.

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There's a wonderful text/workbook called "Classical Mythology & More: A Reader Workbook" by Marianthe Colakis and Mary Joan Masello that is excellent and all inclusive.

 

You can also take the National Mythology Exam and/or the Medussa Exam each year. I'm not sure if the registration deadlines for these exams is passed for this year's March exams or not...If you're interested for this year, I'd suggest you go quickly to their websites!

 

There are also computer games like "The Age of Mythology" which my boys play endlessly! And for Christmas this year, Santa brought a card/battle game called "Roma" which has been a big hit, too!

 

We study Mythology almost every year as it's a subject that my boys just love.

 

Myra

 

Taz & I used the same materials, and now my youngest two play Age of Mythology & Age of Empires I, II & III.

 

We also found an OP book titled, Encyclopedia of the Classical World, by J. Croon. Our edition is 1965 & published by Prentice-Hall. We also have Bulfinch's Mythology, Edith Hamilton's Mythology, and all the Greek, Roman, and Asian mythologies by various translators.

 

We also searched the web for unit studies & Syllabi and used the following on-line course materials as a course of study during 9th & 10th grades:

http://www.mythfolklore.net/

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I found this at a used book store: Myths and their Meaning by Max J. Herzberg. I really like the end of chapter work with Specific Literary References, Suggestions for Oral and Written Composition, Word Study, Questions for Review and the Reading List. I think the actual literary quality of Bulfinch's Mythology is better but I like this book for study ideas and information.

 

Here it is at Amazon if you want to see it:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Myths-Their-Meaning-Schools/dp/0205084370

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Look at the information on the National Mythology Exam. Add in the Percy Jackson and the Olympian books for fun. We also read the Iliad with Plaid Dad's guide. It's great and if I think long enough his other name will come to me. pm me if you are interested and I'll look it up. My son was in 7th grade and loved mythology. I think you can find enough to put together a full credit's worth. We also listened to Fagles Odyssey on cd. The dc had read Black Ships Before Troy and the one about the Odyssey by Suttcliffe so they were familiar with the characters before reading the originals. The Teaching Company dvds are good too depending on how much detail your dc are interested in. Have fun!

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There are also computer games like "The Age of Mythology" which my boys play endlessly!

We study Mythology almost every year as it's a subject that my boys just love.

 

Myra

 

My 9 year old has loved Mythology from babyhood. She prefers Greek and Norse but has a fondness for Egyptian and Celtic too. Age of Mythology is her favorite PC game and she just got the Titan expansion pack for Christmas.

I think she has listened to them and read them so many times that she has memorized a great deal.

Some wonderful resources are:

d'aulaire's Book of Greek Myths

Mary Pope Osborne's Tales from the Odyssey

d'aulaire's Book of Norse Myths

audio, Egyptian Myths, Jim Weiss

Tales of Ancient Egypt, by Roger Lancelyn Green

 

websites:

http://www.mythweb.com/

http://www.rcs.k12.va.us/csjh/mytholog.htm

http://www.cumbavac.org/Greek_and_Roman_Mythology.htm

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Ovid's Metamorphoses is beautifully written. We liked the Mandelbaum translation. As mentioned by others Edith Hamilton is a great reference. Mythology buffs will get even more out of books like the Aeneid and Dante's Inferno compared to less fully prepared readers.

 

Sometimes you could read the great books and research/go down bunny trails when there are interesting myth references.

 

Literature analysis questions could include, for example, why do you suppose the author used a particular comparison or reference to an event or person from mythology in this part of the poem/play/etc? Is it effective? Try this in your own writing.

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