Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Greeced Out


Sunburst finished up her study of Ancient Greece in October.  My initial plan was to let it rest after our trip, but she refused to take a break.  This block was the most fun yet!

We ended up with more than we could fit in one main lesson book, so I showed Sunburst how to put together a small accordion-style book (similar to a Greek scroll, but folded-- maybe the blurry picture below helps?).  The smaller book ended up holding the bulk of Greek history (30 - 5x6 inch pages), from the early settlement to the famous battles and leaders.  She included form drawings, portraits, and relevant quotes.  She is really proud of this little book, and her work truly reflects that, both inside and out.



Her regular main lesson book is packed with the mythology and the wonderful stories.  Sunburst read Rosemary Sutcliff's retellings of both Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, then she copied out the beginning of the original Odyssey in Greek.  She also read Padraic Colum's book The Golden Fleece.  They all made it into her main lesson book, as well as the Greek alphabet, a study of Greek columns, a small subset of Greek words, a map, and her sketches from our trip to the Acropolis.  Her enthusiasm for the work and her focus continues to impress and amaze me.  Here's a little sampling:







Here are a few of my chalkboard drawings from The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Perseus, respectively:



We love, love, loved our study of Greece, but a person can only do so much before becoming Greeced out.  ;)  We took a break from history in November (with the minor exception of mathematical history), and we're feeling rested and ready for more.  We're hoping to ease our way into Ancient Roman history next!

8 comments:

  1. Its nice to see what we have to look forward to next year.

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  2. Cathy1:28 AM

    Sunburst,

    Your main lesson book is beautiful. I can see how much love you have put into it. I want to learn all about Ancient Greece just looking at it!

    Thanks for posting, Sara. As a fellow Waldorfy homeschooler I really appreciate it.

    Can't wait to see what Moonshine has been up to......

    Blessings,
    Cathy

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  3. Beautiful work! You are right, Ancient Greece could go on and on and on, but we realized the same is true for Ancient Rome. We've done half of our Ancient Rome material, but there is so much more!

    What size do you use for your regular main lesson books?

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  4. Beautiful work, Sara and Sunburst! Inspiring as always. :-)

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  5. Thanks for the sweet words, everyone. :)

    Eva, our main lesson books are 9.5 x 12.5 inches. I bought them when Mercurius was still selling to homeschoolers, but I'm almost out and will need to find a new source soon.

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  6. Anonymous1:09 AM

    Please bottle up Sunburst's enthusiasm and sell some to me so I can douse my ds#1 with it! He is such a serious grump, and never wants to carry on with anything other than LEGOs.

    Greece is one of my favorite countries! My dream come true was visiting the Parthenon. :) Makes me wish I'd done something like this with my kids (I suppose it's never too late).

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  7. Mercurius still does sell to homeschoolers. You just have to order at least 10 main lesson books, I believe.

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  8. I am just catching up on your posts and let me say... WOW!!!! This is amazing work and I cannot wait to show Pablo, my 5th grader. Truly inspiring!

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Thank you for taking the time to leave a message. I appreciate your sweet words so much!

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