JudoMom Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I'm considering buying the Ancient World Reader set for my boys. It includes: Tirzah A Place in the Sun Beauty in the Fields Bible Wars & Weapons Rise of the Golden Cobra Aesop’s Fables Theras and His Town Detectives in Togas Polycarp It also comes with a Reading Schedule. It would cost me the same as buying all of the titles individually at Amazon, and I won't have to schedule them. Are these titles suitable for boys? We're doing a Mystery of History/SOTW1 combo. Would I be better off hand picking titles and scheduling them myself? The first time we went through Ancients we did minimal outside reading. Opinions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1shortmomto4 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I've worked through the Ancients books this year from WP - (at least most of the them). Tirzah and Beauty in the Fields are definitely girl books - good but girl characters. The list changed this year so I didn't know what Polycarp was so I looked it up on Amazon and it was given a 5-star rating and appears to have boys as main characters. Bible Wars and Weapons in a nonfiction-type book somewhat in cartoon form. Personally, I think you could pick a few and use the Sonlight catalog and pick a few more from there and you'd be fine. Typically the schedule for the WP books are just 1 to 2 chapters. The one thing that I've figured out this year is that my kids (who are doing the Ancients for 7th and 9th grade) did not enjoy all of the ancient-period read alouds so we've switched in some other favorites just because. The Ancients tends to have names of characters and places that are hard to read/pronounce and it becomes less enjoyable. Another option is look at some of the read-alouds from the Quest program - coming to mind would be The Golden Goblet (I wasn't sure about this one but someone said to stick with it and we did and ended up enjoying it). The classic Illiad and Odyssey and for boys who really love that war/soldier thing Gladiator. I personally found after been there/done that, that I should have just picked a few from the various programs. And finally, the Illuminations program that was beta-tested this year has used some great literature so you might try checking their list out for some suggestions (they read the Epic of Gilgamesh and Adam of the Road if I remember correctly). Just a few rambling thoughts. Heidi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 It also comes with a Reading Schedule. It would cost me the same as buying all of the titles individually at Amazon, and I won't have to schedule them. Sometimes I think I'll buy just about anything if it comes with a schedule. ;) Of course, then I see the schedule and it doesn't match up with anything else we're doing, so I end up ditching it and using the books willy-nilly. :glare: I don't know how this particular set of books is scheduled, but when we used a complete WP core, some of the books were scheduled concurrently, with each day consisting of reading a few pages of one book, followed by a few pages from another, and another.... and it drove us nuts, because we do better when we read one book at a time, and quite a bit of it each day. I'm not familiar with most of the books on the list, but usually, when I buy a "package," I end up with enough books I don't want, to make the package price a lot less of a bargain than I'd hoped it would be. I hope others post reviews of the books, though, as I'm looking for "boy books," too! Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iammommy Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 nt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 Sometimes I think I'll buy just about anything if it comes with a schedule. ;) You're not kidding me, Cat. I think I'm suffering from burnout, though, because I'm considering K12 for next year (and I already have most of my stuff purchased or I'm settled on). I'm just so tired of planning. I wish I was like some others who could wake up, look at the next lesson, and do it every day. But I found out early on in my hsing career that if it's not written down I do not get it done. So I have to schedule everything I want to get done, even if I should be able to just pick up the book and go. Heh. That's probably more than you wanted to know. Thanks for the reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 I've worked through the Ancients books this year from WP - (at least most of the them). Tirzah and Beauty in the Fields are definitely girl books - good but girl characters. The list changed this year so I didn't know what Polycarp was so I looked it up on Amazon and it was given a 5-star rating and appears to have boys as main characters. Bible Wars and Weapons in a nonfiction-type book somewhat in cartoon form. Personally, I think you could pick a few and use the Sonlight catalog and pick a few more from there and you'd be fine. Typically the schedule for the WP books are just 1 to 2 chapters. The one thing that I've figured out this year is that my kids (who are doing the Ancients for 7th and 9th grade) did not enjoy all of the ancient-period read alouds so we've switched in some other favorites just because. The Ancients tends to have names of characters and places that are hard to read/pronounce and it becomes less enjoyable. Another option is look at some of the read-alouds from the Quest program - coming to mind would be The Golden Goblet (I wasn't sure about this one but someone said to stick with it and we did and ended up enjoying it). The classic Illiad and Odyssey and for boys who really love that war/soldier thing Gladiator. I personally found after been there/done that, that I should have just picked a few from the various programs. And finally, the Illuminations program that was beta-tested this year has used some great literature so you might try checking their list out for some suggestions (they read the Epic of Gilgamesh and Adam of the Road if I remember correctly). Just a few rambling thoughts. Heidi Thanks, Heidi :001_smile:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I hope others post reviews of the books, though, as I'm looking for "boy books," too! We're not doing Winter Promise, but we are on the ancients this year. Here are some of the books my son (just turned 11) has read this year that have been big hits: Aesop’s Fables Boy of the Painted Cave Children’s Homer Dar and the Spear Thrower Gilgamesh the Hero Golden Goblet Tales from India (Ramayana) The Golden Goblet The Way of Alexander the Great Theras and his Town Top 10 Greek Legends: Zeus on the Loose Tusk and Stone Of the ones that are coming up in the remainder of the year, he seems most excited about these: Detectives in Togas (which had read aloud to him a few years ago) Eagle of the Ninth Horrible Histories: Rotten Romans Mystery of the Roman Ransom Maybe that will spark some ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 A Place in the Sun I have to say, my son read this one, too, and it got a big "eh" from him. It was fine, just not as good as some of the others. For ancient Egypt, he much preferred Golden Goblet. He read The Cat of Bubastes, too, which fell somewhere in between these. I think the Golden Goblet was his favorite of that set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnowWhite Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Can you get the buy 3, get one free deal from Amazon on this deal? Or are the books available used at betterworldbooks.com (free shipping all the time there)? As the previous poster mentioned, WP reader schedules are typically "Read chapter 1 on Mon, chapter 2 on Tues, chapter 3 on Wed, chapter 4 on Thurs" so not terribly helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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