A child who can cope with Shakespeare should be able to cope with Sophocles, shouldn't they? Translated. It's not like I want the kid to read the original, just, you know, get an idea of how a Greek play worked.
Not according to Ditz. Much eye~rolling. Aristophanes...ok, definitely not suitable. We skirted quickly around the whole Olympic Game thing. Eeeew! was Ditz's reaction to that! We are doing a lot of skirting because there's a lot of *eeew~ing* going on. I hate doing the Greeks; I really do & they just can't be avoided because they are foundational to Western civilization but oh my goodness I could do without the whole eye~rolling thing when we get to the icky bits. Deal with it, my daughter, & move on. No~one is telling you their *lifestyle choices* were morally right, just that that's the way things were.
I know people who've just avoided the whole issue but I've never understood how you could do Ancient Greece & do that because you miss the whole point of how they thought & if you miss that you've missed the point ~ at least that's the way I see it & I don't gloss my history. Doing that is at best getting closer to downright untruthful than I like.
So far there's nothing we've touched on Ditz has liked; gods & goddesses? Nope. Myth & legend? Give that a miss. The Games? As already mentioned...Eeew! Which leaves us with music, history & art (sorry folks, we don't do politics or the more usual stuff; that would be to have both of us glassy~eyed)~ I am on my way down for the third time. We are struggling our way through one essay. One. Ditz is digging deep into the trenches but I have one last card to play: Plaster of Paris!
Yes, siree, Plaster of Paris may yet win the day. One foil baking tray, 5 tubes of poster paint & wet plaster = one fresco painting a la Ancient Greece! I am reverting to type. All the colouring in is driving both Ditz & I a bit batty. Too much of a good thing & not enough creativity? So I found this book, Geography through Art, & thought I could mix that into my History mix & give Ditz a more creative outlet.
I do hope it's just puberty causing all this negativity & teenage angst because I sure am sick of it already & Ditz used to be such a happy little learner. It's hard work being all excited & creative on my own!
8 comments:
as i was reading about ditz' hatred of all things greek;) i kept thinking... *frescoes!* you should have her do a fresco! and then i read that they were the final thing you hit on with her, lol!
that was our saving grace 'round here too:D
WOW Home Schooling is hard work and not just for the kids! I don't know if I would be capable of making a subject interesting using their own God-given interests and gifts. I guess with my son, I would have to use music or weather somehow to enforce the subject!
This is his last year of public education and then it's 4 years of college next Fall. He seems to enjoy the subjects he has this year even though the idea of the Math & Sciences would have me curled up in a fetal position in the corner!
Connie
Wow thats harsh, not enjoying the greeks. There are ome fantastic fiction-ish books which are fairly well based on the truth (as much as we knowit) but I expect they would all be gross too ;o)
have fun with the plaster, looking forward to the results!
xc
of course if I were better educated I would have spell checked that before I left the comment, sigh
xc
Diane, we think enough alike for it to be scary given how much water there is between us! :)
Connie, There are days the thought of throwing my daughter in public school is incredibly attractive ~ until I remember how awful our local high is & how many of the *nice* kids have gone down the gurgler there.
Hojo's, we have the fiction books. I'm not sure Ditz's opinion of those is printable on a nice blog like this. ;P I'd get her to do some Thucidydes, which at least has the benefit of being *straight from the horses mouth* so to speak but it wouldn't do me any good. She's just being incredibly difficult this year. I think it's the age ~ hormones & other gross stuff that makes me go *Eeewww!*
As for not liking the Greeks ~ my area is the Celts. Completely different mind set. Completely different ideas of beauty, form, use of space ~ oh, & the role of women! Almost a pity Ditz han't heard of Feminism. I could go places with that.
I'm not big on the Greeks myself. One thing I do like, though, is the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan. The first in the series is called The Lightning Thief. They're so funny!
Mrs Mordecai, great idea. I've read & enjoyed these; Ditz read & didn't enjoy. However you've made me think: Part of our problem is Ditz & I are so alike & the poor child's struggling for her own identity? Will chew this over & see.
Thanks for posting on my blog! I'm bookmarking and will be back later when the kiddos are quiet. :-)
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