9th Grade Great Books Check-in

[swimmermom3]

I thought there were several board members with 9th graders who started their Great Books studies in the fall of 2012. Could you please report in and let us know how it is going. Hits? Misses? Are you using TWTM or doing something else?

 

Thanks so much!

[elegantlion]

We started Ancients this year with the plan to do Roman-Middle Ages next year. A few weeks ago, ds decided he wants to read about wars with guns. So we're shifting gears and doing American history next year and adding some Roman and MA this year.

 

So we've read a few GB and are cutting a few from the list (may add them in future classes).

 

Gilgamesh was good, but he wasn't as enthused with it as I was. We listened to some Famous Greeks lectures, and are now near the end of The Iliad. We're reading most of it aloud and it's taking longer than I had planned. We finished book 18 today This is one of my favorite books, and some of the enthusiasm is rubbing off on ds. Today we decided to recast the characters as superheros/movie characters just for fun. We decided Hektor is The Rock of Troy (played by The Rock), Odysseus is Batman because he's resourceful, Achilleus is IronMan, and Nestor is Bruce Willis. The Vandiver lectures don't touch on that twist, yet we're enjoying them too. :coolgleamA:

 

After we're done with The Iliad we'll move to The Odyssey, then The Aeneid. That will leave a little time for Middle Ages and we'll do some Canterbury Tales and maybe a few other short selections. We read Beowulf last year and plan on doing Dante's Divine Comedy in 11th for a philosophy of religion class.

 

In Philosophy we'll be reading some Plato, Last Days of Socrates, and some Aristotle, not sure which ones yet. We read the Allegory of the Cave earlier this year.

 

He's decided he likes philosophy, so we'll touch on GB through philosophy in coming years.

[swimmermom3]

Elegantlion,

 

Did you use the Annenberg lecture for Gilgamesh? If so, how did your ds resond to that? Now you have me wondering what Sailor Dude will think of Gilgamesh. He just finished finals today, but I have assigned him some work due the first day of our classes next week. This is probably crazy, but I am thinking of running The Iliad and Gilgamesh side-by-side. We will be doing a quick review of epics, oral tradition, and translations, as well as introducing some literary criticism, namely archetype. There is a lot to play with for comparing and contrasting between the two. Am I overly ambitious?

 

I love your idea of recasting the characters. Are you mostly just discussing the works?

[elegantlion]

Elegantlion,

 

Did you use the Annenberg lecture for Gilgamesh? If so, how did your ds resond to that? Now you have me wondering what Sailor Dude will think of Gilgamesh. He just finished finals today, but I have assigned him some work due the first day of our classes next week. This is probably crazy, but I am thinking of running The Iliad and Gilgamesh side-by-side. We will be doing a quick review of epics, oral tradition, and translations, as well as introducing some literary criticism, namely archetype. There is a lot to play with for comparing and contrasting between the two. Am I overly ambitious?

 

I love your idea of recasting the characters. Are you mostly just discussing the works?

 

We did use that lecture, it helped. It was also our first work of the year, which I think was part of the issue.

 

I don't think you're overly ambitious, Gilgamesh is a quick read and I think the context with Iliad would be interesting.

 

We're discussing, ds think Achilleus is a whiny child. He's also doing a writing project, sort of a beginning literary analysis. I'll see if I can find the thread where I got the idea. Ah here it is. I'm using Choifarm's suggestion from post 8. Instead of index cards, he'll either type it up or write in a "book" he made with some decorative paper. I've modified it a little using epithets instead of character descriptions and focusing on metaphors or similes

[bugs]

We're in Ancients this year. The following list are the books/stories my son has read so far and his rating (take it for what it's worth :tongue_smilie: ):

Various books of the Bible (forgot to have him rate this)

The Epic of Gilgamesh - 3 (out of 5)

Selections from Bulfinch's Mythology - 3

The Iliad - 5 (with Vandiver lectures)

Aeschylus, 1 : The Oresteia : Agamemnon, the Libation Bearers - 2 (therefore did not force him to read the last one)

Antigone - 2 (This was actually reading for Classical Writing.)

The Odyssey - 4 (so far - he is only 1/2 way through. Using Vandiver lectures here as well)

 

I will have him read Oedipus The King and Oedipus at Colonus even though he gave Antigone a 2. I am just that kind of mean mom.

The plan is to have him also read the following:

In search of a homeland : the story of The Aeneid by Lively, Penelope

Selections from The Histories

Selections from Roman Lives

Selections from the Rig Veda

Selections from The Sayings of Confucius

[Kfamily]

We're just now getting ready to start our Great Books studies. I've put together a humanites approach for us, but I'm sure there will be alterations as we go along...:)

 

We're starting with the Greeks...she finished a quick overview of the civilizations before the Greeks.

 

Here is our plan (roughly):

 

Book of the Ancient Greeks (Mills) (And I have Western Civilization if I need it but I don't think I will)

Primary Sources

Story of Philosophy (just on the ancients and may add in more.....)

Art History for Young People (just the ancients) and the lectures from Khan Academy (just on ancients)

 

Literature:

She's reading Age of Fable now and we will start the Iliad next week. After the Iliad we plan on listening to TC's lectures by Vandiver. I also have Fran Rutherford's guide and some other resources....

The plan is to read these next:

The Odyssey (and use TC's lectures by Vandiver after too)

Three Theban Plays

The Oresteia

 

this may be all of it for awhile....:)

 

Then it will be time to move on to the Romans....

 

 

I just recently found a gold mine of TC lectures at another library....so this may take us even longer....LOL!

[Renaissance Mom]

We use TOG and are in yr 1 this year. I've modified the lit schedule so we could spend more time on the following:

• Many book of the Bible (following the TOG Bible Survey track)
  
• exerpts from Gilgamesh (wasn't dd's favorite)
  
• exerpts from Iliad along with Prof. Vandiver's lectures (we had great discussions!)
  
• Odyssey along with Prof. Vandiver's lectures (dd's favorite so far -- she's actually attempting her first real lit analysis paper and writing about how although Odysseus is a Greek hero, Homer shows us that Telemachus' character qualities "complete" the definition of what a Greek man should be -- or something like that -- it's still her working thesis)
  

 

We'll next tackle Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Eumenides, Oedipus, Antigone, and the Aenid -- all with Prof. Vandiver lectures.

 

For my first 9th grader, I am feeling more confident as we work through these. I was very intimidated before we began and through the first couple of months. But as I've seen my dd enjoy and grapple with these works, I've realized that my lack of experience isn't getting in dd's way at all. I'm still not sure I'm guiding her enough or getting as much out of each work possible, but I'm pleased by how my dd digs in and finds so much to bring to our discussion time. I just need to be smart enough to stay out of her way when needed!

[Faithr]

Back in 9th grade when I did Ancients with my current 12th grader we read: Gilgamesh, The Book of Job, The Iliad, The Odyssey, Antigone, The Aeneid and Ceasar's Gallic Wars.

 

We watched the beginning part of Prof. Noble's History of Western Civ. (The lectures that corresponded with Ancient History).

 

I used a mish mash of various resources for each of the books. I had some study guides from Angelicum that I had used before, plus Heroes of the City of Man by Peter Leithhart (excellent book). Even though my son is largely unmotivated, he is a good reader and he really enjoyed reading these and studying the Ancients.

[Mommyfaithe]

We started 9th grade with the Middle Ages. This year we have read some great and some REALLY good books...

So far, our favorites: the Once and Future King, Beowulf, Sir Gawain & The Green Knight....

We are now reading the Song of Roland and some of Chaucers stories.

Planning on Dante in the spring.

 

Primary documents were an eyewitness account of the crusades, a tenant agreement and we are now working on the Magna Charta.

 

As far as our study, I am using Windows on the World as a skeletal format...to introduce different aspects of literature. I would love to add in some TC lectures etc., but we are so short on time....and I would rather read and discuss WITH my kids ( little ones are listening, and actually have some really cool insight) than focus on lectures or video. This is the one part of our homeschool that am still in love with...it is the one part that keeps me keeping on....

 

 

[Dee in MI]

We're almost exactly where elegantlion is. We're following the WTM recommendations just about to the letter. So far we've done Gilgamesh, Old Testament through Job, and we're on Book 21 of the Iliad. I really liked my son's paper on the Old Testament, which was a comparison of the flood stories of Gilgamesh, Noah, and Deucalion.

 

We are using the VanDiver lectures for the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid. I am also using the Audible recordings for the Iliad and the Odyssey, though I feel slightly guilty about it. We follow along as with the reader. We're co-reading the sections of the Iliad that are skipped in the recording, which is about half of it. (My son reads a paragraph, I read a paragraph.)

 

We will not make it through twelve books this year, but our selections are pretty meaty.

[elegantlion]

Elegantlion,

 

Did you use the Annenberg lecture for Gilgamesh? If so, how did your ds resond to that? Now you have me wondering what Sailor Dude will think of Gilgamesh. He just finished finals today, but I have assigned him some work due the first day of our classes next week. This is probably crazy, but I am thinking of running The Iliad and Gilgamesh side-by-side. We will be doing a quick review of epics, oral tradition, and translations, as well as introducing some literary criticism, namely archetype. There is a lot to play with for comparing and contrasting between the two. Am I overly ambitious?

 

I love your idea of recasting the characters. Are you mostly just discussing the works?

 

Another idea for reading Gilgamesh alongside the Iliad. In book 19 of the Iliad Achilleus talks about the preservation of Patroklos' body. I find that an interesting contrast between Gilgamesh mourning over Enkidu until the maggot dropped from his nostril. What is the difference between the Greek desire to preserve the body and the Ancient Near East acceptance that a body decays?

 

We also decided that after reading that book that Odysseus should be on a box of Wheaties as he supports the breakfast of Champions. :D

[swimmermom3]

We started Ancients this year with the plan to do Roman-Middle Ages next year. A few weeks ago, ds decided he wants to read about wars with guns. So we're shifting gears and doing American history next year and adding some Roman and MA this year.

 

So we've read a few GB and are cutting a few from the list (may add them in future classes).

 

Gilgamesh was good, but he wasn't as enthused with it as I was. We listened to some Famous Greeks lectures, and are now near the end of The Iliad. We're reading most of it aloud and it's taking longer than I had planned. We finished book 18 today This is one of my favorite books, and some of the enthusiasm is rubbing off on ds. Today we decided to recast the characters as superheros/movie characters just for fun. We decided Hektor is The Rock of Troy (played by The Rock), Odysseus is Batman because he's resourceful, Achilleus is IronMan, and Nestor is Bruce Willis. The Vandiver lectures don't touch on that twist, yet we're enjoying them too. :coolgleamA:

 

After we're done with The Iliad we'll move to The Odyssey, then The Aeneid. That will leave a little time for Middle Ages and we'll do some Canterbury Tales and maybe a few other short selections. We read Beowulf last year and plan on doing Dante's Divine Comedy in 11th for a philosophy of religion class.

 

In Philosophy we'll be reading some Plato, Last Days of Socrates, and some Aristotle, not sure which ones yet. We read the Allegory of the Cave earlier this year.

 

He's decided he likes philosophy, so we'll touch on GB through philosophy in coming years.

Sorry, more questions.

 

Did you or your son have favorite lectures in the Famous Greeks lectures? I know we don't have time for all of them and I guess I have the same questions for The Iliad? Did you listen to all of the lectures? I am disinclined to skip any, but again time is short. It figures Sailor would come home during our favorite time frame and leave only half a year for ancient history and GBS.

 

How are you handling Philosophy? I had the thought for both Religion and Philosophy and Fine Arts to at some point give ds one full credit for each, even though we would cover the material across four years in its appropriate time frame. I haven't quite figured out the breakdown yet, but will get there once our classes are under way.

 

Are you reading Sophie's World?

 

 

 

We did use that lecture, it helped. It was also our first work of the year, which I think was part of the issue.

 

I don't think you're overly ambitious, Gilgamesh is a quick read and I think the context with Iliad would be interesting.

 

We're discussing, ds think Achilleus is a whiny child. He's also doing a writing project, sort of a beginning literary analysis. I'll see if I can find the thread where I got the idea. Ah here it is. I'm using Choifarm's suggestion from post 8. Instead of index cards, he'll either type it up or write in a "book" he made with some decorative paper. I've modified it a little using epithets instead of character descriptions and focusing on metaphors or similes

 

I like that Annenberg one for Gilgamesh as it shows how the work still influences other works today.

 

:lol: You know, that is not the first time I have heard that assessment of Achilles. Nicole M. had a rather riotous comment on his conversation with Thetis and my dd would never have gone past that point if it weren't for Elizabeth Vandiver and her excellent explanation.

 

Thank you so much for the link to Choirfarm's suggestion. I can definitely use that here and I like your modification with the epithets.

[swimmermom3]

We're in Ancients this year. The following list are the books/stories my son has read so far and his rating (take it for what it's worth :tongue_smilie: ):

Various books of the Bible (forgot to have him rate this)

The Epic of Gilgamesh - 3 (out of 5)

Selections from Bulfinch's Mythology - 3

The Iliad - 5 (with Vandiver lectures)

Aeschylus, 1 : The Oresteia : Agamemnon, the Libation Bearers - 2 (therefore did not force him to read the last one)

Antigone - 2 (This was actually reading for Classical Writing.)

The Odyssey - 4 (so far - he is only 1/2 way through. Using Vandiver lectures here as well)

 

I will have him read Oedipus The King and Oedipus at Colonus even though he gave Antigone a 2. I am just that kind of mean mom.

The plan is to have him also read the following:

 

In search of a homeland : the story of The Aeneid by Lively, Penelope

Selections from The Histories

Selections from Roman Lives

Selections from the Rig Veda

Selections from The Sayings of Confucius

 

Hurrah! Someone else who is reading outside of the Western Canon. How are you deciding on which selections from the Rig Veda and Confucius?

 

I have this cool TC lecture on Homer and Vedic poetry that I would like to take advantage of; I am just not sure what to read.

 

Thank you for rating the readings too. That is very helpful here.

[bugs]

Hurrah! Someone else who is reading outside of the Western Canon. How are you deciding on which selections from the Rig Veda and Confucius?

 

I have this cool TC lecture on Homer and Vedic poetry that I would like to take advantage of; I am just not sure what to read.

 

Thank you for rating the readings too. That is very helpful here.

 

I have no idea which ones he will read...I guess I figured I'd start looking on these boards for recommendations :D .

[bugs]

Did you or your son have favorite lectures in the Famous Greeks lectures? I know we don't have time for all of them and I guess I have the same questions for The Iliad? Did you listen to all of the lectures? I am disinclined to skip any, but again time is short. It figures Sailor would come home during our favorite time frame and leave only half a year for ancient history and GBS.

 

 

 

Hi, I know you didn't ask me this question but I thought I'd answer it for you anyway :laugh: . My son really enyoyed the Vandiver lectures. He listened to the Odyssey lectures over Christmas break even though he hadn't started reading the book.

[elegantlion]

Sorry, more questions.

 

Did you or your son have favorite lectures in the Famous Greeks lectures? I know we don't have time for all of them and I guess I have the same questions for The Iliad? Did you listen to all of the lectures? I am disinclined to skip any, but again time is short. It figures Sailor would come home during our favorite time frame and leave only half a year for ancient history and GBS.

 

How are you handling Philosophy? I had the thought for both Religion and Philosophy and Fine Arts to at some point give ds one full credit for each, even though we would cover the material across four years in its appropriate time frame. I haven't quite figured out the breakdown yet, but will get there once our classes are under way.

 

Are you reading Sophie's World?

 

 

 

I like that Annenberg one for Gilgamesh as it shows how the work still influences other works today.

 

:lol: You know, that is not the first time I have heard that assessment of Achilles. Nicole M. had a rather riotous comment on his conversation with Thetis and my dd would never have gone past that point if it weren't for Elizabeth Vandiver and her excellent explanation.

 

Thank you so much for the link to Choirfarm's suggestion. I can definitely use that here and I like your modification with the epithets.

 

We didn't really have a favorite Famous Greeks lecture, I can't find my notes to see which ones we listened to. We also did Origins of Ancient Civilizations, and lectures on Akhenaten, King Tut, and Ramses from Great Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt, If I had to pick one set of lectures, it would be the Origins of Ancient Civ.

 

We aren't reading Sophie's World, but I own it. I may have him read it later, but he is a slow reader. For philosophy this year we're reading through the Theory of Knowledge book from Cambridge. It's epistemology mostly and generates a lot of discussion. After that we'll delve into Plato and Aristotle.

 

My current philosophy plan is as such:

 

10th - Ethics

We're also doing a Star Trek elective where we will discuss the philosophy/culture surrounding different aspects of that world

11th - Philosophy of Religion

12th - Eastern Philosophy

 

We also just finished watching The Dark Knight Rises - which might be my new favorite movie ever, huge Batman fan- and I can foresee some great discussion coming from that. Maybe a philosophy of the Dark Knight unit study. :D

[swimmermom3]

We're just now getting ready to start our Great Books studies. I've put together a humanites approach for us, but I'm sure there will be alterations as we go along... :)

 

We're starting with the Greeks...she finished a quick overview of the civilizations before the Greeks.

 

Here is our plan (roughly):

 

Book of the Ancient Greeks (Mills) (And I have Western Civilization if I need it but I don't think I will)

Primary Sources

Story of Philosophy (just on the ancients and may add in more.....)

Art History for Young People (just the ancients) and the lectures from Khan Academy (just on ancients)

 

Literature:

She's reading Age of Fable now and we will start the Iliad next week. After the Iliad we plan on listening to TC's lectures by Vandiver. I also have Fran Rutherford's guide and some other resources....

The plan is to read these next:

The Odyssey (and use TC's lectures by Vandiver after too)

Three Theban Plays

The Oresteia

 

this may be all of it for awhile.... :)

 

Then it will be time to move on to the Romans....

 

 

I just recently found a gold mine of TC lectures at another library....so this may take us even longer....LOL!

 

 

Kfamily, it's good to "see" you.

 

Which Story of Philosophy are you using: McGee or Durant?

 

I had no idea that Khan had expanded beyond math and science. There are several art videos in there that I can use. Thanks so much for mentioning that. Now if you could just make the days a bit longer, all would be well. :D

 

Also, I have heard good things about Rutherford's guide. Would you mind sharing your thoughts on it as you start working in it?

 

Best wishes as you start your Great Books journey.

[swimmermom3]

We didn't really have a favorite Famous Greeks lecture, I can't find my notes to see which ones we listened to. We also did Origins of Ancient Civilizations, and lectures on Akhenaten, King Tut, and Ramses from Great Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt, If I had to pick one set of lectures, it would be the Origins of Ancient Civ.

 

We aren't reading Sophie's World, but I own it. I may have him read it later, but he is a slow reader. For philosophy this year we're reading through the Theory of Knowledge book from Cambridge. It's epistemology mostly and generates a lot of discussion. After that we'll delve into Plato and Aristotle.

 

My current philosophy plan is as such:

 

10th - Ethics

We're also doing a Star Trek elective where we will discuss the philosophy/culture surrounding different aspects of that world

11th - Philosophy of Religion

12th - Eastern Philosophy

 

We also just finished watching The Dark Knight Rises - which might be my new favorite movie ever, huge Batman fan- and I can foresee some great discussion coming from that. Maybe a philosophy of the Dark Knight unit study. :D

 

I have the Origins series and Aldrete's Global Perspective lectures and will combine them. I need lectures 8-12 in Origins to flesh out that part of Aldrete's set, which has a minimal discussion of the Hebrews as does our world history text.

 

I have yet to see the Batman movies. :blushing: You are so creative when it comes up to alternative ways to teach the material. I feel so pressured to stay on the history schedule that our work is looking a bit dry. However, dh just finished watching Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, so this is Monday's Personal Finance class since the other materials aren't here yet. He thinks ds will enjoy it.

[elegantlion]

I have the Origins series and Aldrete's Global Perspective lectures and will combine them. I need lectures 8-12 in Origins to flesh out that part of Aldrete's set, which has a minimal discussion of the Hebrews as does our world history text.

 

I have yet to see the Batman movies. :blushing: You are so creative when it comes up to alternative ways to teach the material. I feel so pressured to stay on the history schedule that our work is looking a bit dry. However, dh just finished watching Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, so this is Monday's Personal Finance class since the other materials aren't here yet. He thinks ds will enjoy it.

 

I was also mentally recasting The Iliad while I was supposed to be "napping" this morning. I've never been able to sit through the movie Troy, so I'm pondering if that is worth it as well.

 

So far my real dream recasting of Troy would include:

 

Patrick Stewart - Priam

The Rock - Hektor

Gerard Butler - Odysseus (so he could play this role in The Odyssey as well)

Samuel L. Jackson - Phoinix

 

Yes, I'm making more coffee now.

 

I'll look into the Steve Jobs interview as well. Somehow two PC parents gave birth to a Mac - loving child.

 

ETA:

 

Mads Mikkelson - Agamemnon

Bruce Willis - Nestor

Colin Farrell - Aeneas

still stuck on Achilleus, Paris, and Patroklos.

[swimmermom3]

 

I was also mentally recasting The Iliad while I was supposed to be "napping" this morning. I've never been able to sit through the movie Troy, so I'm pondering if that is worth it as well.

 

So far my real dream recasting of Troy would include:

 

Patrick Stewart - Priam

The Rock - Hektor

Gerard Butler - Odysseus (so he could play this role in The Odyssey as well)

Samuel L. Jackson - Phoinix

 

Yes, I'm making more coffee now.

 

I'll look into the Steve Jobs interview as well. Somehow two PC parents gave birth to a Mac - loving child.

 

 

Gerard Butler as Odysseus? Now you are talking!

 

Somewhere in the middle of the night, while I thought I was sleeping, I managed to put together a "Literature of War" reading list, which no one in this house would be interested in except my 17 yo son, who is not at home. What's up with that?

 

I have another weird documentary for your Japanese-loving son: Jiro Dreams of Sushi. This would be for Philosophy.

[elegantlion]

Gerard Butler as Odysseus? Now you are talking!

 

Somewhere in the middle of the night, while I thought I was sleeping, I managed to put together a "Literature of War" reading list, which no one in this house would be interested in except my 17 yo son, who is not at home. What's up with that?

 

I have another weird documentary for your Japanese-loving son: Jiro Dreams of Sushi. This would be for Philosophy.

 

Well I would be interested in your literature of war reading list. I'll add that documentary to our list.

[bugs]

Well I would be interested in your literature of war reading list. I'll add that documentary to our list.

 

 

Oh yes, I would too if you don't mind. My son is listening to the TC's War and World History course. It's really up his alley.

[Kfamily]

 

Kfamily, it's good to "see" you. It's so good to "see" you too. :)

 

Which Story of Philosophy are you using: McGee or Durant? I have both...lol....and I keep going back and forth between them....I think I've settled on McGee for now.:)

 

I had no idea that Khan had expanded beyond math and science. There are several art videos in there that I can use. Thanks so much for mentioning that. Now if you could just make the days a bit longer, all would be well. :D

 

Also, I have heard good things about Rutherford's guide. Would you mind sharing your thoughts on it as you start working in it? I'd be very happy too.

 

Best wishes as you start your Great Books journey.

 

 

It is so wonderful to have such thoughtful, helpful and amazingly brilliant ladies (and gentlemen sometimes too) here. I'm so grateful to all of you for helping me make this journey.

[NancyNellen]

I decided to do something a bit different with my 9th and 10th graders this year. We are doing a Christian literature survey and have decided to aim for depth instead of breadth, so my list is relatively short. We bagan the year with Augustine's Confessions and listened to the TC lectures. We also lined up the suggested readings in the TC course book, so we read through a number of pertinent books of the Bible and some reference material, as well. We are just now finishing a 3 month study of Dante's Divine Comedy, also listening to the TC lectures and lining up extra reading (primarily, the Aeneid, which they read last year but are enjoying again as referenced in Dante.) We also studied Dore's carvings for the Divine Comedy. We will spend the next two weeks working through some Christian poetry (primarily Donne with some others thrown in). My husband is a lover of Donne's poetry and has set a few of his works to music (he is a classically-trained composer and pianist), so he will play a major role in that study. We will finish the year with Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and Milton's Paradise Lost.

 

BTW, my husband has written the music for a Pilgrim's Progress pop-up book iPad app. A bit juvenile for high-schoolers, but it has been a great way for my younger set to be exposed to this great story. :-)

 

I have really enjoyed our conversations, and the reading list has been a good challenge for me, as well.

[KarenNC]

Those of you doing Gilgamesh might enjoy the concept album by Tony Garone.

http://www.webring.org/l/rd?ring=arizonamusicclub;id=11;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garone.net%2Ftony%2Fgilgamesh.html

I'd love to see a staging of this.

[partyof5]

My 9th grader is actually on the year 4 leg of this journey due to our schedule in previous years. She is a musician first, which is quite time consuming, and so we have streamlined the quantity of history reading a bit and made literature the focus since it's her favorite subject after music.

 

For "fun" she has been working through Beautiful Feet "History of Classical Music" on the side. Otherwise, she is following TWTM history reading recommendations alongside the literature, especially Tindall's "America: A Narrative History" and "Idiot's Guide to American Gov't". We do not have time (nor inclination) to pursue all the other Teaching Company lectures and things that I would personally love to be doing but that might send this child over the edge. ;)

 

What she has read for Y4 Great Books, taken from lists in TWTM, and mostly self-selected:

The Rights of Man (portions)

Selected Primary Sources from Fordham website

Pride & Prejudice

Selections from Poe

Jane Eyre

The Scarlet Letter

Great Expectations

Gettysburg Address

Short Stories (from IEW's Windows to the World listings)

Huck Finn (currently)

 

Coming up this spring:

Up from Slavery

Poetry selections from R. Frost

The Great Gatsby

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Our Town (maybe)

Animal Farm (maybe)

Mere Christianity

The Crucible (maybe)

An Elie Wiesel book for perhaps The Book Thief

 

Not sure about the spring readings yet. I would also like to incorporate other readings but have yet to prepare for that. I am continually impressed by the research and additional information many of you provide your children with in GB studies. In fact, I almost didn't post because I sense that our list is not as adventurous or global as some others may be. BUT, my dd is loving her reading, writing well on her literature and history topics, and we have very enjoyable discussions...all part of what I want her first of year of high school work to include.

 

I'd be interested to hear about what other Modern History resources you have used or plan to use, and what literature you would select.

Thanks for the thread! I am bookmarking for next year when we come back around to Ancients and are making some tough choices on what to tackle.