High School Deadline

I've been finding myself putting much more time into the elementary program lately, probably because our oldest is already old enough to enjoy hearing the stories a bit. Thus, progress in getting content up for the high school program has been slower than it should be.

I rather doubt there's anyone out these considering using the program this coming year, but I'm thinking I better crack down and see if I can get Year One of the High School Humanities Program done before the end of the summer (which to give myself time I'll define as the end of August.)

I don't foresee any further changes in the Year One reading list itself. However, I need to finish writing up the notes on each work (including recommendations on which editions to pick) and also complete the scheduling suggestions. Most of which just requires looking over my stacks of books from high school and college, and checking to see if any interesting new translations have come out recently. Not the most romantic work in the world, but very much in need of doing.

First Illustration Up

It's take our illustrator some time to get started on his research and get the first illustration inked, scanned and ready to post, but I'm proud to announce that the first one is now up.

Check out the story of Helen for our first original illustration, with many more to come in the weeks ahead.

Trojan War Stories

For the last month and change (shocking how long these things can take) I've been struggling over turning the Iliad and Odyssey adaptations. In some ways, this has been made more difficult by the fact I've been re-reading the Iliad as I go along, which results in lots of "I can't leave that out!" thinking.

Anyway, I finally got this to something like a finished state, and I've been going through reading the stories aloud to our eldest daughter as bedtime material. However, she's five (at the bottom of the intended age range) and is willing to sit back and listen to anything from Goodnight Moon to selections from Njal's Saga, so I'm not sure that the fact she keeps listening is actually a sign of success, or just general receptivity to reading. Plus she doesn't really have any feedback on whether everything makes sense, is exciting, etc.

So, a request for anyone out there with kids somewhere around 5-9 who's willing to do some experimental reading: I'd very much appreciate it if you'd read over some or all of the following and let me know if these seem like something that your child would enjoy. Better yet, if you can read them aloud to kids and let me know what their feedback is, I'd appreciate it even more.

The Trojan War: A Blind Poet Named Homer

• The Face that Launched a Thousand Ships


• The Wrath of Achilles


• The Trojan Horse

The Wanderings of Odyssues:

• The Lost Hero


• Odysseus Tells His Story


• The Hero Returns

The one thing I haven't finished yet is adding a list of good outside reading (picture books, story books and chapter books dealing with the Trojan War and Odysseus which are recommended if one wants to read further). I have a few old favorites from my childhood, and a bunch of stuff I picked up at the library that I need to look through, but if you have suggestions, do let me know and I'll include them. (Do please note the length and age level.)

Beginning Poetry Memorization

Eleanor (5) and Julia (almost 4) have memories like steel traps. One time watching a movie and they're already quoting dialogue and rattling off lyrics. Therefore, it must be time to start some real poetry memorization.

Children's poetry is tricky stuff -- we wanted something short enough to be memorable, but not too treacly. A while ago I found a copy of Kate Greenaway's Under the Window at a library booksale. I pulled that off the shelf hoping that I could find some simple poem for Julia. I wasn't overly impressed -- the pictures were charming, but the verse was too twee to be worth the effort of memorization. I have a fondness for A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, but Darwin doesn't always care for the shortest poems therein. (As it turns out, we did find one by Stevenson that we liked for Julia -- see below.) Right now our favorite poetry anthology for the girls is Classic Poetry: An Illustrated Collection, but the poems are too long for the girls to easily master in a week.

In the end, we consulted The Oxford Book of English Verse and The Oxford Book of Children's Verse to select a poem for each girl. For Eleanor we found "Morning Prayer" by Ogden Nash:

Morning Prayer
by Ogden Nash

Now another day is breaking,
Sleep was sweet and so is waking.
Dear Lord, I promised you last night
Never again to sulk or fight.
Such vows are easier to keep
When a child is sound asleep.
Today, O Lord, for your dear sake,
I'll try to keep them when awake.

Julia's was an old classic (though I'd always thought it was just an old nursery rhyme):

There Was a Little Girl
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

We practiced during the week and had a formal recitation on Sunday evening. For this week we have two new selections.

Eleanor:

How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
With gently smiling jaws!

--Lewis Carroll

Julia:

Rain
by Robert Louis Stevenson

The rain is raining all around,
It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.

Odysseus Draft

I finally completed a draft of The Wanderings of Odysseus. Generally I'm pretty pleased with it, but it's nearly twice the length of any of the other stories so far, so I fear it needs to be cut into two or else pretty seriously shortened.

Feel free to read the draft and provide any other suggestions.