Miss Marple Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Ds#4 actually said (volunteering the information - no coercion from me) that the Iliad was "sorta interesting". This comes after watching a few episodes of the Vandiver lectures on The Iliad and then reading the corresponding chapters. And, if you wonder about his enthusiasm, let me just say that "sorta interesting" at this point in his teenage life is high praise indeed :D. I highly recommend that particular course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Cynthia! I was just thinking about you today and wondering how school was going. Nicole M. had told me about the Vandiver lectures so I had them on hand when dd started the Iliad. She loved the book for the first 330 pages but hit a snag on the lists of those that were killed. Anyway, she is just finishing the lectures and thinks Vandiver is fantastic, but my kids have yet to meet a TC lecture that they didn't like. Is you son going to do the Aeneid or is this it for the really big epics? I'm so glad to hear that he finds the Iliad "sorta interesting.":D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted January 8, 2011 Author Share Posted January 8, 2011 Mucho better! I have had to put a few pet projects aside in order to accomplish the bigger picture that will better serve the boys in college, but I'm getting over the disappointment. The extended family seems to be more stable right now (another big surgery coming up in February though), the market is D.E.A.D. right now so I'm not doing much with the properties (and I did put my foot down and tell my mom that I just couldn't go over there everytime the realtor wanted to show it), and I enrolled the boys in an online class each which seems to be teaching them some good study habits and test taking habits. The online class has an interesting component which sent me into hives when I learned about it. The boys have to do a research project for each test. The test is proctored at the local library and completed online (IOW I'm not anywhere around). Each test requires that a 500 word essay be written based on the research topic the student chose. No notes or other material can be used in the test or essay writing. So...I hyperventilated a bit and then made ds write an outline of what he needed to say as well as the format and memorize it. Of course, I was totally worried about the grammar and punctuation (praying that MCT grammar would do the job!). And he got an A! I guess I shouldn't have worried so much and now I appreciate the activity. It has made ds more responsible and he realizes that he needs to pay close attention to detail. After we finish The Iliad we will move on to the Aeneid rather than The Odyssey. This is due to time constraints and the amount of other literature I want to cover by the end of high school. The boys are very familiar with The Odyssey story (Odds Bodkin does a great job with his narrative) and we have watched a dvd of the story (did fast forward through the island of the Sirens part). The Teaching Company has not made Vandiver's Aeneid in dvd format and from what I understand have no plans to do so. I have the old VHS version so I'll have to dig out the VHS recorder! Vandiver is one of our favorite lecturers. Glad you are enjoying them as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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