Latin and Greek and History, Oh My!

by on September 25, 2012

…in which I crowdsource our curriculum.

This year I have two 7th grade students- R and P.  Yep, R is homeschooled this year.

When I asked him what he wanted to learn about for History this year, he said Ancient Rome and Greece.  This fits in quite nicely with my plans to introduce Latin.

There are vast and rich resources for Ancient Greek and Romans aimed at Middle Schoolers.  Almost too much!  I know we have much to choose from.

However, I also want to add in Charlotte Mason style “living books”, poems, and literature.  But what to pick that is age appropriate for 7th grade boys?  The Aeneid is obviously out.  Frankly, I’m not very familiar with the genre and I will be learning alongside the boys.

What do you suggest?  I’m looking for plays, stories, poetry, and written works, preferably ones that helped shape Roman culture, but not at a high school level and I really don’t want “children’s versions” or severely abridged versions.

Ideas?

I love comments. Tell me what you think!

  • Melissa @ Dyno-mom September 26, 2012 8:25 am edit

    My 7th and 8th graders are doing ancient Greece and Rome this year, too. They started with re-reading the D’Aulaires “Greek Myths” and then Padraic Colum’s “The Children’s Homer” and “The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Before Achilles”. They are also going through the Usborn “Empires and Barbarians” and “Romans” and “Archimedes and the Door or Science”. They also have watched two PBS specials from Netflix but I hear are available at the library, one is “The Greeks” and another is “The Gladiators”. We also watched “The Last Days of Pompeii” which a little over the top dramatic. In Denver there is a new Pompeii exhibit and we are going next week. Anyway, just a list of what we are doing!

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  • Melissa @ Dyno-mom September 26, 2012 8:28 am edit

    By the way, we did the D’Aualires to remind us of who the central figures are but there is no way Padraic Colum isn’t meaty enough, really. So when you read that is is a children’s version, it is not in the sugar coated Disney way, it is substantive and challenging for that age group.

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  • GeekLady September 26, 2012 8:50 am edit

    Is there really no youth adaptation of the Aeneid? There are plenty of adaptations of the Illiad and the Odyssey from picture books to YA editions.

    I hear 6 year olds love the Illiad, especially when Achilles starts dragging the body of Hector around Troy.

    Reply
  • Melissa September 26, 2012 6:39 pm edit

    Have you looked at drive thru history for supplemental use? They have Greece and Rome.

    Reply
  • Rachel September 26, 2012 9:30 pm edit

    There’s plenty of good stuff about the Greeks in Herodotus. It’s long, but I’m sure you could find something that offers selections from it. And since he’s pretty focused on history, Herodotus tends to stay away from some of the more salacious aspects of Greek culture.

    For Rome, the philosophical writings of Marcus Aurelius are worth looking at–and short.

    Reply
  • Martha September 27, 2012 9:52 pm edit

    That’s a tough one. In high school, we translated parts of Ovid’s “Ars Amatoria,”which is the “Art of Love.” It was pretty risqué. I’ll be interested in what you find, as mine are going to be doing more with Latin in a few years. I saw a translation of “Winnie the Pooh” in Latin on Amazon once; however, I don’t think Homer wrote that one :-)

    Reply

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