Alternative to Odessey with MFW AHL?

[abc123mom]

I was wondering for any of you who may be using MFW AHL-did any of you substitute Odessey w/ something else or just skip it. Is there a movie recommendation for this? The reason I ask is that my DD has been sick lately and missed a lot of school. I am trying to think of a way to cut out something or at least make it a bit quicker to help her get caught up.

She has many plans this summer so I dont know that we would be able to squeeze it in there either. Thanks for any advice.

[Wendi]

There are some film versions, but I haven't seen any of them, so I can't recommend one. Also, there is "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", which is a comedy re-imagining of the Odyssey. I have thought of having ds watch it when he reads The Odyssey.

 

If your dd likes audio versions, there are a number of them on Audible.com, including a dramatization that's less than 4 hours.

 

Another suggestion is having her read Rosemary Sutcliff's The Wanderings of Odysseus, along with a selection from the Odyssey, instead of the whole Odyssey.

 

Wendi

[Donna A.]

I would recommend having her listen to the audio version if you're wanting to follow through on all the writing assignments in AHL as scheduled. If you're willing to tweak the English part of it during those weeks like we did, then you could just have her read an unabridged version instead of the abridged, and use it for out-loud discussion.

[Julie in MN]

there is "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", which is a comedy re-imagining of the Odyssey. I have thought of having ds watch it when he reads The Odyssey.

Wendi, I never knew that! I googled the movie & there it is, in plain sight! Now I understand why some of that movie is so very weird. I like the music and the basic story is fine but those weird parts were disturbing & now I understand them. Thanks!

 

Another suggestion is having her read Rosemary Sutcliff's The Wanderings of Odysseus, along with a selection from the Odyssey, instead of the whole Odyssey.

 

My son is saying he liked Sutcliff better than Homer :) Plus I think she tends to add things from the Aeneid etc that help tell more of the story (well, I know she added the Trojan Horse in her first book). Of course, adding the Homer selection as Wendi mentioned would help him see that Sutcliff's is simplified & modernized, but since I know you've already done the Iliad, that might just come up naturally in conversation. I wonder about doing Sutcliff with The Teaching Company videos?

 

I do think it's possible to just use the time to work on other English-related things that you've been wanting to get to. I never have a shortage of those :)

 

Or study another book and get a Smarr guide on that one. Smarr individual book guides have the vocab, questions, & thinking points, but the writing part is in Smarr's writing book so you'd need to use your AHL lit guide for that. There are other sources for lit guides. I used this free site with my older dd on occasion: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/

 

I've also seen movie "study guides" that study movies almost like studying literature, noting plot as well as things like lighting effects. There are individual guides by Zeezok http://www.zeezok.com/cat-z-guides-to-the-movies.cfm and a book Movies as Literature by Kathryn Stout, one of the original homeschool curriculum leaders. You probably won't find the Odyssey but at least you'd be studying & learning!

 

All in all, my opinion is that subbing will be more work but not impossible. The most important things I would want to retain would be studying something in more depth than elementary school, using the writing tools, and tying things in to the theme of comparing Biblical ancient history to all other sources.

 

Julie

Edited April 22, 2011 by Julie in MN

[MommyThrice]

Also, there is "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", which is a comedy re-imagining of the Odyssey. I have thought of having ds watch it when he reads The Odyssey.

Wendi

We watched this after we finished the Odyssey and ds wrote a compare/contrast paper on the book & movie. He really enjoyed that.

 

We bought an audio version of The Odyssey and cheap paperback copies (same translation - Robert Fagles) for each child so we could read along and mark sections while listening. We also enjoyed the Teaching Co. lectures by Vandiver.

 

That's not exactly "cutting" the Odyssey from your schedule, but maybe you could just skip it for now and move on with MFW, then do this over the summer and call it "fun.

[Lori D.]

For a shorter version you could read in a few days, check out the beautifully illustrated Rosemary Sutcliffe retelling "The Wanderings of Odysseus".

 

We really enjoyed the 1997 film version of "The Odyssey" starring Armand Assante.

 

Once you've done either of the above, check out the Coen Brothers' film, "O Brother Where Art Thou", which alludes to a number of characters in the Odyssey, and is set in 1930s Deep South. (Ulysses is the Roman version of the name Odysseus, and the main character is called Ulysses; his wife is called "Penny" (short for Penelope); he meets a blind seer, a large one-eyed man con man who preys on others (Cyclopes), and seductive women who betray him (sirens).

 

Enjoy! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Lori D.]

Wendi, I never knew that! I googled the movie & there it is, in plain sight! Now I understand why some of that movie is so very weird. I like the music and the basic story is fine but those weird parts were disturbing & now I understand them. Thanks!

 

 

Julie, in addition to referencing the Odyssey, "O Brother" contains an incredible theme of what I think of as "three possible responses to faith":

 

 

1. character of Delmar O'Donnell ("Delmar," by the way translates to "of the sea" -- maybe another Odyssey reference?!)

Child-like faith. Truly believes and is transformed by his faith, shown in the beautiful baptism scene, and from that point on, he has a changed nature in the way he responds to everyone.

 

 

2. character of Pete Hogwollop

At the beginning of the film, the innate sin nature of man (betrayal of God by man) is portrayed by Pete's cousin who turns Pete and other 2 into the Law; Pete, enraged that he could betray his own kin, calls his cousin "Judas Iscariot". Later, Pete himself betrays the secret of the treasure, and when he confesses it to Delmar and Ulysses, he says, "I'm sorry I betrayed you; must be my Hogwollop blood." Another thought: is Pete's name based on Peter, the apostle who denied Christ 3 times, but was forgiven and became the "rock on which Christ built His church"?

 

Pete gets baptized, but it is not a genuine faith/repentence. For example, he "backslides" and is the character who first hears and recognizes the "siren's call" (the 3 women at the river), and is the one who is sold back into prison (slavery of sin). Now back in the hands of the Law, he has a moment of realization about how the Law leads to death (threat of the hangman's noose in front of him). The Law cannot save us, where as the Spirit (faith in Christ) sets us free.

 

Pete faces the noose a second time at the end of the film with the 2 companions, and genuinely now understands his helplessness to save himself and his need for salvation and who alone can provide it, as his prayer is: "Good Lord, what do we do?"

 

 

3. character of Ulysses

The skeptic. Disbelieves and mocks throughout until faced with the hangman's noose -- and even when he pops up out of the flood water that saved him, he continues to be a skeptic.

 

 

Interestingly, when the 3 characters pop up out of the flood water (another baptism?!) -- a miraculous rescue from the threatened death of hanging in response to their prayers. They are alive and float on the waters on a COFFIN (symbol of death) -- Pete (now genuine faith) is next to Delmar (child-like faith), while Ulysses (the skeptic) holds on to the other end of the coffin, alone.

 

 

To really get into the spiritual themes in the film, read through the script sometime -- it is absolutely amazing! Anyways, just a few things to think about the next time you watch that film! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Julie in MN]

Julie, in addition to referencing the Odyssey, "O Brother" contains an incredible theme of what I think of as "three possible responses to faith":

 

Lori, wow, just wow.

[MommyThrice]

Interestingly, the Coen brothers are Jewish. And they didn't even realize the similarity to The Odyssey until they were already into production, then they say, "It kind of evolved into that."