Sue G in PA Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Dd14 is struggling with the Lit component of AHL right now. She is a great reader and an avid reader. But she is struggling through Homer right now. And I have to be totally honest...I don't think it is a battle I want to fight right now. I hated reading Homer's Iliad. The Odyssey was a bit more palatable, but not much. So, please help me figure out how to fill in the "hole" that this will leave in her studies. I think I will have her read "The Children's Homer", but that won't take her the entire 10 weeks she has left in which Homer is scheduled. Any suggestions for other Ancient Lit. for her to read? I'm adding in "Jump In" for writing for a while b/c she needs the practice anyway. Thanks for any suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendi Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Hmm. What about Rosemary Sutcliff's version? Or historical fiction set in that time period? Another epic poem that you can compare/contrast? Would she like to do an art project, a report on some specific aspect of Greece? A claymation movie of a scene from the Iliad or the Odyssey? Wendi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 (edited) Hi Sue, I had my ds do the Iliad using the abridged audiobook (it doesn't change any words, it just leaves some sections out), Sparknotes, and the Teaching Company lectures. I could send you my schedule if you decide to use any of those. I also am having ds do all the assigned essays to keep up the skills taught at the beginning of the year. I think the same types of topics could easily be based on the Colum or Sutcliff versions, too. Those books are listed in the AHL manual as options for the Iliad. There are also several other books listed at the beginning of the AHL manual that might be good, too. The Odyssey is the bigger study in AHL. The Iliad is "somewhat optional" since it just has Marie Hazell's gentle thinking points, rather than the Smarr vocab & questions. I have a son and wanted him to know the Iliad story more than the Odyssey (and he'd read both Colum and Sutcliff before). So anyways, he probably won't do the Odyssey (he's just finishing up the Iliad essay now). We might watch the TTC lectures & do some of the AHL questions, or we might just do some of the many other things I have here for English :tongue_smilie: or some things I wrote up for him to see the mythology in his culture today. I'm going to take my son's preferences into consideration, but I don't think subbing is unreasonable at this point in the year if he doesn't want to do the Odyssey, too. And my particular son already does some little lit studies in his book club. But the other thought I have is to study more about Greece, which I love. My older dd read Caesar's Gallic War (woops, that would be getting a jump on next year!) and Streams of Civilization and some Plato (which might be covered in WHL?), and those were all good. I also wanted him to watch That The World May Know: Prophets And Kings. Or maybe go over Oedipus the King, since Freud loved him so much :) Or as I mentioned, those books listed in the AHL manual such as Hittite Warrior sound like they would add to the sense of time. Julie Edited May 4, 2011 by Julie in MN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelbe5 Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 (edited) "The Iliad for Boys and Girls" is a great retelling by Alfred Church. It is free in the public domain and the free audio is at Librivox. Edited May 4, 2011 by jelbe5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 My daughter didn't like Iliad either. She finished it, but more out of a compulsive need to finish. She didn't like the war descriptions. She likes Odyssey a lot more. I gave her the option to not use Iliad, but she kept saying "no... I'll just do it because we're "classical educators" " (with a real silly attitude in the voice). :lol: but she didn't like the book really and she's a first born loves to read kind of gal. I like Julie's suggestion of audio, condensed, spark notes and Marie's reading points. Especially during the long sections. You could also go back to the intro section of the daily lesson plans and use any of those literature suggestions. Or begin the Iliad essay writing options sooner. Some of them are general enough that it doesn't have to be based on reading in Iliad. Also if you use other reading, you'll want to fill in with writing: go back and do more from the Proverbs projects, or write another original psalm. stuff like that. and agreeing about adding in some art projects if you want or something that she enjoys doing and could be creative with it. -crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted May 4, 2011 Author Share Posted May 4, 2011 Those are great ideas! I do have Sutclif's versions and think I will just have her read those. She can write the written responses based on those chapters and probably be able to do the essay. I think she would enjoy being more "creative". My dh also suggested having her read one of the ancient tragedies to "fill in" the time. Thanks, all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.