Rutherford's Questions for the Thinker Greek/Roman study guides

[Faithr]

Someone asked about these study guides and I'm sorry but I can't seem to locate the thread. Anyway, I received them and I said I'd post information about them for those who are considering buying them. They look excellent.

 

Fran Rutherford is a homeschooling mom who saw a need for these types of study guides. The questions look great and; very detailed and are keyed to page numbers in the particular editions/translations she has chosen to use. In addition to the reading comprehension questions that walk one through the material, there are, at the end of each list of questions for each book, 'Question(s) for further thought' and vocabulary lists. The guides also have black and whilte maps and a timeline of major events. There is a pronunciation guide as well as very striking black and white illustrations. They are spiral bound.

 

The Greek guide covers The Iliad (Lattimore), The Odyssey(Lattimore), Selections from The Histories by Heredotus(de Selincourt, Penguin Classics), History of the Peleponnesian War by Thucydides(Great Books), Anabasis: A History of My Times by Xenephon(Warner, Penguin Classics), The Oresteia(Vellacott, Penguin Classics), The Three Theban Plays(Fagles, Penguin Classics), The Clouds(Moses Hadas), The Republic(Grube). It even includes the Hippocractic Oath and the Oath of Lasagna so you can see how our culture has changed.

 

The Roman Guide is set up the same way, except it has a page on Roman numerals. It covers The Early History of Rome by Livy ((Selincourt, Penguin Classics), and selections form The War with Hannibal. The Conspiracy of Catiline by Sallust(Handford, Penguin Classics), Attack on an Enemy of Freedom and Attack on Misgovernment by Cicero(Grant, Penguin Classics), The Annals of Imperial Rome by Tacitus (Grant, Penguin Classics), The Aeneid (Fitzgerald, Vintage Classics), selections from Metamorphases(Gregory, A Mentor Book), Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Staniforth, Penguin Classics), selections from Early Christian Writings (Staniforth, Penguin Classics), The Confessions by Augustine (Blaiklock, Nelson), The City of God by Augustine(Bettenson, Penguin Classics). The Brothers Mennaechmi by Plautus (Watling, Penguin Classics), The Brothers (Adelphi) by Terence(Graves, Aldine Publishing)

 

I am so impressed by both the Greek and Roman guides! They look so well organized and thorough. You could conceivabely just purchase the Teacher's guides and then dictate the questions to your students, if you wanted to save money, BUT I think this would be a really, really arduous task since there are so many questions. The student books are really nice. The TM is basically the student's book with the questions answered.

 

The only two places I know of where you can purchase these guides (and I'm sorry I don't know the websites but you can google) are Aquinas and More and Guardian Angel books. Both of these are Catholic online book suppliers, however, I see nothing in these guides that would make them exclusively Catholic. They could serve anybody, Protestant, pagan, Jewish, Muslim, etc, who was interested in a thorough study guide through the classics of the Ancient World.

 

Hope this helps!

[Kfamily]

Thank you Faithr! It was me who asked about the guides. Thank you so much for remembering to review them. I haven't received any responses back (and I posted at LCC yahoo group too) so your feedback is wonderful. They sound great and since I will need all the help I can get I will get both the student and teacher guide for them.

 

Thank so much!:001_smile:

[elegantlion]

Thanks! I was looking for information on these today. Your post was most helpful. FYI they are also available through Emmanuel books.

[Kfamily]

Hi,

I just ordered and received Old World Europe from Rutherford at the Aquinas site which covers the Middle Ages broadly. I really like this guide. She is working on one for American and Russian history and literature. I will gladly purchase this too when it is ready.

 

Old World Europe focuses on these texts:

 

Epic Poetry:

The Divine Comedy

Paradise Lost

Beowulf

 

History:

Rule of St. Benedict

Life of Charlemagne

 

Philosopy:

The Prince

 

Poetry:

The Song of Roland

Selections from Canterbury Tales

 

Novel:

Don Quixote

 

Just wanted to share....:001_smile:

[Hoggirl]

Does the student write in answers in his/her copy?

[Mrs Mungo]

Does the student write in answers in his/her copy?

 

Also, could you use these (effectively) without the student book?

[Kfamily]

Yes, the student would write his/her answers in the student book. There isn't a ton of room but it should be enough most of the time.

 

I would think you could get by with just the Teacher Edition but only if you're willing to do much of it orally and then retype the questions for further thinking (if you wanted to keep just these for written feedback).

[Shawna in Texas]

I wonder how these compare to the ones at Great Books Academy.

[elegantlion]

I wonder how these compare to the ones at Great Books Academy.

 

I haven't compared them in person, but I didn't some comparison of which books each covers. The Rutherford guides cover less quantity and there are only three currently available: Greek, Roman, and Old World Europe.

 

The Great books include four complete years and encompass a larger number of works, including science related Great Books, which the Rutherford books do not cover.

 

I also don't know if there are teacher materials available for the Great Books study guides.

 

Does anyone know how they compare in content? And do the Great Books guides provide any teacher helps?

[Guest Questioner]

Thank you for your comments. The books are available through my website which links you to Aquinas and More.com

 

I have since added digital books which you can purchase for download if you only want single copies of the guides.

 

The print guides are useful for the students to write in as they read the classic texts. That keeps everything together--questions, answers, and notes if they care to write in the margins.

 

As to the Russian and American guide, I have put that on the back burner for now. Please contact me if you have any questions.