Where to start

[Karen]

I am new to Memoria's Classical Studies curriculum, though years ago we studied history using the Greenleaf Famous Men series with my older children. It was their favorite history curriculum we used.

I now have 2 remaining children at home - one going into 9th and one going into 5th grade. Does anyone have suggestions of what I should go back and cover with them - possibly even speeding up a year course to cover it in a semester? Should I try to cover all 3 years of the Intro to Classical Studies in one year with my bright 5th grader? Should I have my 9th grader read it on her own?

I would appreciate any suggestions.... They have both already studied American history and have a solid knowledge of the Bible.

Thank you!

[tanya]

Karen,

It might be helpful to you to look at the Highlands Latin School website (www.thelatinschool.org). You can see the curriculum by grade, which is a nice guide, but you can adjust it as you wish since you are homeschooling.

Your idea to use the Intro. to Classical Studies course to catch up is a good one. Since you feel good about your children's knowledge of the Bible, you could even skip that part and only do the mythology and Roman history. We do have an online summer course using this curriculum that will last one month and would be a really quick way to catch up. But I don't know how you feel about summer work. If you're interested, you can look at the summer courses at www.memoriapress.com/course.

Your 5th grader is easy for me to advise; if you want to look at the HLS website and give me a call, I'd be glad to help you. The 9th grader is more difficult. I would suggest for he first year: a study of mythology (using the intro. course or our D'Aulaires course), a study of Roman and Greek history (using our Famous Men series or a new series we are publishing soon), a reading through of a simple Trojan War story (my favorite is The Trojan War by Olivia Coolidge; Rosemary Sutcliffe also has one). Your goal here is to be ready to read the Iliad and the Odyssey after this year of preparation.

What about Latin? Do you plan to incorporate that into your curriculum, or is it already there?

I'll be glad to help you further if you want to give me a call.

Thanks,
Tanya

[tarry_willson]

go to www.thelatinschool.org