asta Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 I've been looking at any and all available guides for the "Great Books" that I can find. Only they all appear to be "with Trinitarian thinking and a Biblical worldview" (Omnibus) or "orthodox Catholic" (Kolbe) or "classically Christian" (can't remember - didn't bookmark that one). The Greeks were Pagans! So were the Romans! I don't want to compare Homer to the principles of Christianity - I just want help slogging through the bloody book! (or, rather, books - high school English Lit courses) I found this one place: http://www.greatbooksdiscussions.org/index.html but it is an actual "class" type thing, not a "study guide" to be used in a homeschool setting. Has anyone encountered secular guides that aren't simply "SparkNotes" but rather "guide" guides? asta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted June 7, 2008 Author Share Posted June 7, 2008 Gee... if I want my kid to put off high school for a few years, Hewitt is writing something: Other titles on the drawing board for future years include: American Literature, Early-Mid 20th Century British Literature, Early-Mid 20th Century Shakespeare: Histories and Sonnets Victorian Adventures Arthurian Literature Ancient Greek and Roman Literature Renaissance Literature French Literature Classic World Literature Science Fiction asta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Great Books Discussions is the same as Great Books Academy. They sell just the study guides at http://www.greatbooksacademy.org I believe they have an annual sale in the summer that should be coming up - 20% all materials. Mortimer Adler also put out a set of guides: The Great Ideas Program. It is basically a set of guides with discussion and questions on the great books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 Great Books Discussions is the same as Great Books Academy. They sell just the study guides at http://www.greatbooksacademy.org I believe they have an annual sale in the summer that should be coming up - 20% all materials. They look like two different websites. I saw a review of the Great Books Academy's Socratic Discussion class on another forum that was pretty bad. The person's 8th grader had taken it and said the "chat" function of the course was completely off task and filled with political and religious opinion (instead of coursework). Gah. asta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 Mortimer Adler also put out a set of guides: The Great Ideas Program. It is basically a set of guides with discussion and questions on the great books. Where do you find these guides? I can only find his list. asta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PamJH Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Take a look at litplans.com. I just found it, and it looks like a lot to wade through, but I did find some pretty good samples. For example, there's a good one for "Frankenstein" by the Glencoe company and appears to be free. There are also quite a few Frankenstein plans that are expensive, not mention confusing. But, as I said, I've only had a cursory glance through this. This site could be the answer to a secular homeschooler's prayers. What a stupid pun. Sorry about that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PamJH Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 I just googled "study guides" glencoe and came up with a lot. Maybe this would be a better search. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PamJH Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Try this Google search: "study guides" glencoe "title of book" This should turn up PDFs of study guides that appear to be decent, complete with questions and activities. I tried using sparknotes for my daughters 9th grade lit, but those left a bit to be desired (too tough or too easy). I've looked at glencoe's Frankenstein, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Huckleberry Finn. There's bound to be more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Adler's Great Ideas Program I don't think they are currently in print. E-bay usually has the best price. I just checked and the only set on right now is nearly $50.00 with shipping. Amazon has used sets for around $30.00. I bought a set for about $15.00 with shipping - so I would just keep an eye out for a few weeks. You have to check the standard used book outlets. "great ideas program" as your keyword will usually bring up the right books. It is a ten book set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 There is a study guide for the Odyssey put out by Garlic Press (cute name) about which I've heard good things. It's available here: http://www.garlicpress.com/cgi-bin/shop_gp.cgi Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan P. Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 I have it. Highly recommend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fractalgal Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Are you looking for this site: http://www.angelicum.net Our entire curriculum - consisting of books, lesson plans and tests for each course, and Great Books study guides [for high school levels] - are organized in our bookstore by subject, and grade level. Only books used in our courses are carried by our bookstore. What one sees in the bookstore is our entire curriculum. We have available free placement tests we can email, for optional guidance in selecting grade levels, for each course. Testing may be done using our optional quarterly tests, or parents may grade as they wish (parentally-provided grading is accepted, and is simply footnoted as such on the transcript). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura K (NC) Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 I've been mapping out how to use The History of the Ancient World next year. At the end of the books SWB lists her sources for each chapter. Voila, she provides the context and an overview for: Epic of Gilgamesh Polybius, Rise of the Roman Empire. Plutarch's Lives (many lives... Marcus Cato, Artaxerxes, Alexander, Romulus, Lycergus, Theistocles, Pericles, some others) Livy Early History of Rome, Herodotus Histories Josephus, Antiquities Tao te ching Jewish and Christian scriptures (which are part of cultural literacy even for a non-Christian... Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Judges, Chronicles, Kings, Ezra, Jeremiah, Daniel, Luke, Acts These are just a subset of the works that she quotes in the book. I've decided to go ahead with the History of the World, and have my kids do a chapter every other day or so... spending less time on chapters about Asia and more on the last chapters about Rome, and take the authors above and read them directly as we get to them in the book, counting them as both literature and history and spending at least 2 hours a day on the whole project. This is a very secular way to be guided through some ancient Greek and Roman literature, but not a hands-off kind of history class for the parent. I'm a Christian (Catholic, so this might help some others who are reading this but not the OP... sorry for taking your thread to do this) so I'm very pleased that I will also be able to do Laura Berquist's ancient history syllabus using The Founding of Christendom by Carroll. That book will be excellent for a Bible history credit, to which we will add reading the scriptures as they coincide with SWB's book, making the total time per day about three hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted June 9, 2008 Author Share Posted June 9, 2008 No, I haven't been looking for the Angelicum academy. Still seeking Pagans... ;-) The closest I've found (which I would have found much sooner had I bothered to read my latest book, The Latin Centered Curriculum ) is a couple of student/teacher books by a woman named Fran Rutherford. Mrs. Rutherford is actually Catholic, but according to Andrew Campbell (LCC author), and from what I saw of the on-line examples, her work appears secular. Greek Classics: Questions for the Thinker Review from the Love to Learn Blog: This one volume, written especially for homeschooled high schoolers, provides study questions to reflect on while reading the Greek classics. The study questions are simple and aid in comprehension. If you read the questions before reading the related passage, they give you a sense of what to look for, thus helping you stay focused on challenging subject matter. They're also helpful in discussions with an adult afterwards to help make sure that the student has comprehended the book and as starting points for further discussion on important ideas contained in the book. I was grateful to discover that the author has skillfully avoided the all-too-common problem of questions that pre-digest the story for the student or take on a condescending tone. Study materials are included for: Homer's Iliad Homer's Odyssey selections from the Histories of Herodotus History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Anabasis: A History of My Times by Xenophon The Oresteian Trilogy by Aeschylus Three Theban Plays by Sophocles The Clouds by Aristophanes Plato's Republic Detailed study questions are included for each segment of each work, and include line numbers to relate easily back and forth between the book and the study guide. There are "Questions for Further Thought" that emphasize certain parts of each book or summarize at the end. These could be starting points for writing assignments as well as fodder for discussion. Answers are included, as are timelines and a pronunciation guide. Ancient Rome: Questions for the Thinker (the description for this one is kind of disjointed - I suggest you just click on the link) The student books are $35, the teacher books are $50. ___________________________ I'm not delusional; I do realize that one can only move so far along in Roman history before bumping into Christianity. I just don't want to present ALL of history to my child through the lens of the Holy See. (something is scratching at the back of my brain right now about how the winners write the histories... only the priests knew how to write... feh) asta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura K (NC) Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 SWB's The History of the Ancient World is not from a Christian perspective. And it does give good overviews and contexts of ancient Greek and Roman literature and original sources of Greek and Roman history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted June 9, 2008 Author Share Posted June 9, 2008 SWB's The History of the Ancient World is not from a Christian perspective. And it does give good overviews and contexts of ancient Greek and Roman literature and original sources of Greek and Roman history. Oh - thank you for that. It *is* hard to tell about most of this stuff. The Angelicum academy's stuff looks great, but the big sidebar of the pope is a bit of a dead giveaway... (even if Ben XVI is an intellectual force to be reckoned with...). asta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genie Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 Oh - thank you for that. It *is* hard to tell about most of this stuff. The Angelicum academy's stuff looks great, but the big sidebar of the pope is a bit of a dead giveaway... (even if Ben XVI is an intellectual force to be reckoned with...). asta Great Books Academy is the secular "sister" school to Angelicum. I'm not sure if their Great Books guides are the exact same, or if they are secularized versions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura K (NC) Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 I didn't even mention Angelicum Academy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted June 9, 2008 Author Share Posted June 9, 2008 I didn't even mention Angelicum Academy! I didn't say you did. This person did: Are you looking for this site: http://www.angelicum.net Our entire curriculum - consisting of books, lesson plans and tests for each course, and Great Books study guides [for high school levels] - are organized in our bookstore by subject, and grade level. Only books used in our courses are carried by our bookstore. What one sees in the bookstore is our entire curriculum. We have available free placement tests we can email, for optional guidance in selecting grade levels, for each course. Testing may be done using our optional quarterly tests, or parents may grade as they wish (parentally-provided grading is accepted, and is simply footnoted as such on the transcript). asta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura K (NC) Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 Quote:Originally Posted by Laura K (NC) I didn't even mention Angelicum Academy! I didn't say you did. and your post appears right after mine as if you were replying to me. Sorry for the confusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizabeth Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Hullooo I am so annoyed that I just now discovered these well written, engaging literature guides that are thorough, strong on literary analysis and 25.00 for a semester in a reusable 3 ring binder. They appear to be secular and more important to me, much more than those foul little question/answer purporting to be comprehension type questions that abound in other books. I bought American Literature Early writers and am most pleased even with the work on the Transcendentalists. I love these and will use them again because I do not have to reinvent the wheel or use something that violates my standards of quality ,including but not limited to ,the injection of religion at every turn . Give them a whirl I think you will be pleased for the most part.:lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmen_and_Company Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Secular literature guide resources we've enjoyed during Taz's logic & rhetoric level school years: My favorite subscription resource: http://www.enotes.com/ Free resources: Sparknotes.com id you use online & do not need to download: http://www.sparknotes.com/ Google search: literature title socratic study guide Print guides: Garlic Press's The Odyssey & The Hobbit guides: http://garlicpress.com/cgi-bin/shop_gp.cgi?product=LITERATURE The Center for Learning Guides: product=LITERATUREhttp://www.centerforlearning.org/AboutourPub.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan P. Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 I found these Critical Norton guides. They looked good. http://www.wwnorton.com/college/English/nce_home.htm Jan P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PamJH Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 It has several pages of study guides beginning around page 210. Some are secular; some are from a Biblical worldview. There's a wide range of prices and depth of content, too. If you've never seen the catalog, you'll be surprised. It's huge. And free. http://www.rainbowresource.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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