Book of the Ancient Greeks

We are rocking along in our school year here at the Hill Preparatory Academy for Girls. Baby sister is settling in to her kindergarten work, and my big girl is having one of her best years yet. For whatever reason, some years are easier than others, and this year has been pretty relaxed. But by “relaxed”, I don’t at all mean that we’ve done less work.

As I said in my Curriculum Choices post, we are lightening up on places we’ve been too rigorous and clamping down all the more on places we feel are most important. In a good classical education, history and literature are the spine of the education. This year we are focusing the first part of the year on delving deeper into Greek and Roman history. We just finished an in-depth stury of Horatius at the Bridge, which I enjoyed as much as MA. We learned not only how to read a complex piece of writing, but we saw how devotion to country and honor and bravery were carried out in ancient Rome.

Then out spoke brave Horatius, the Captain of the Gate:
“To every man upon this earth, death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods,

Good stuff.

Now that we are finished with that gem, I wanted us to take a step back and spend a little time in ancient Greece. I’ve never really gotten a full grasp on the world of the Minoans and the Myceneans, and therefore I’ve never been able to teach it well to my little student. Memoria Press, whose history resources are incredible, has a set that I thought could give us just the background we were lacking in this area. We are now about a week into Book of the Ancient Greeks, and it is just the historical education I thought it would be. We (I) now understand the rise and fall of Crete and the Mycenean culture on Greece’s mainland. We will continue this week with learning about the early time of the Greek Empire.

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I’m learning a very interesting thing about myself with all this study of history and ancient lands and other cultures. I’ve always considered history as one of the weaker segments of my education. I hated, loathed, and despised history when I was in school. My analytical mind only wanted to study things I could “figure out” as opposed to memorizing battles and dates and rulers. But as homeschooling has given me a second education, I find history so fascinating. I’m intrigued by the choices people make and the tendencies of societies that run throughout every culture. And how it only takes one voice speaking truth to turn the tide of history.

And that makes me hungry to learn more.

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