when did your dc read the iliad and the odyssey?

[iona]

and were they ready for it?

 

:bigear:

thanks!

 

ps

i may post this on the other board as well.

[Karen in CO]

Which translation? I think those are terrific to approach several times. My kids start off with Mary Pope Osbourne Tales of the Odyssey in K or first. We then read increasingly complex versions of them until they are ready for a Fagles or Fitzgerald translation to be studied slowly in late middle or early high school.

 

My college ds just about killed me when he discovered Homer in college. "Mom, have your read Homer? That guy is a genius!" Good thing he was on the other side of the world.

[Lovedtodeath]

Well when I was in Public School I read it in 7th grade.

 

DD has already read versions of the Iliad and Odyssey at 7 years old. You can see which ones by clicking on my sig.

[Crimson Wife]

I'd have my kids read carefully selected excerpts from the original in middle school to supplement a good retelling like Rosemary Sutcliff's. The full thing I'd wait until 10th grade or later due to content.

[AngelaNYC]

In a NYC public school in the early 80s we read it in 7th grade.

[iona]

thanks for your responses. i guess i'm thinking about the more difficult full translations in the op. I like the idea of working up to them. I was a freshman when I read them in ps and I enjoyed them. lcc1 recommends them in 6th and 7th, but they are bumped to 9th in lcc2 after reading an easier version in 3rd. (sutcliff)

I know it will depend on the child as well.

Keep the insight coming!:bigear:

[PollyOR]

Really early. I think we were following LCC's 1st edition recommendations. The Teaching Company's lectures by Prof. Vandiver were very helpful.

 

I will wait until high school for the younger girls as they wouldn't be academically ready anyway.

[Pretty in Pink]

IIRC my ds read a lengthy picture book version in 5th grade (UG TOG). I could go pull it off the shelf if you would like the title. We will do the unabridged in 9th grade.

[iona]

is it the sutcliffe one, if you wouldn't mind checking i'd like to know.

thanks:)

[Pretty in Pink]

No, it was the DK one here, and it's just the Odessey actually. I guess my memory was a little fuzzy.

[iona]

thanks. :)

[Laura Corin]

The original texts in translation? Calvin was thirteen and was ready for them. He read children's versions at around eight.

 

Laura

[angela in ohio]

My oldest dd read them in 7th grade (for fun :001_smile:.) I think they are both the Lattimore translations, though one might be Fitzgerald (they are my old college books.)

 

Younger dd is reading them now (she just finished 6th.) We will be using them for history/literature this year, so she is pre-reading them.

 

I was sick a lot this past year, and our library trips grew less frequent, so they turned to my shelves of old college books and books that I had bought for high school out of sheer boredom. I highly recommend it (well, not the sick part. :glare:)

 

They both read Children's Homer and some other children's versions a few years ago, and 7 yo ds is about halfway through Children's Homer.

[Lovedtodeath]

is it the sutcliffe one, if you wouldn't mind checking i'd like to know.

thanks:)

For the Odyssey and the Iliad I tried to find something more tame than Rosemary Sutcliff and I really like Tales of Troy: Ulysses the Sacker of Cities by Andrew Lang.

 

 

:iagree:

 

ITA with all of these as well, and funny, but I just bought Tales of Troy by Andrew Lang for my dd next year. (It’s suggested on AO) :D

HTH!

[Chris in VA]

Ds read Odyssey in 9th grade. It was his first year of homeschooling, and he enjoyed it so much that he read the Iliad on his own for fun. We used Omnibus and the Vandiviver (however you spell her name) TC tapes for the Odyssey.

 

Dd loved Mary Pope Osborne's little hardbacks on the Odyssey when she was in second grade--still among her favorites of all time. Just today, we are on the last chapter of Sutcliff's Black Ships Before Troy (which is the Iliad told more simply). Boy, is it gory--and glorious! lol

She will read Homer via Fagles in high school, if she's home.

 

I remember having to read The Iliad in high school, but I don't remember which grade.