1. Saturday we were listening to The Beatles’ Blackbird in the car while waiting for Dom to get coffee. It was the first time Bella had ever heard it. She was very excited and she said it reminded her of a book… then clarified. It reminded her of the ending of The Odyssey when Odysseus finally comes home. I guess it must have been the line, “All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arrive.”
And with that I know that The Odyssey is hers. When you have made something your own so that you can make those kinds of connections….
2. Speaking of The Odyssey, Dom found this cool video on the history teachers You Tube Channel
Bella loved it.
3. Another of our library finds: How Would You Survive as an Ancient Greek?
This is a great book, full of information about daily life. And it inspired us to try to construct a peplos out of an old bedsheet:
4. Next she wanted me to do her hair. Time to re-watch this video:
5. Bella is also loving D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths
, which we got from the library. Need to buy a copy, I think.
I am amused that the child-friendly book identifies all of Zeus’ various liaisons as his “wives.” Um, yeah. That’s what they were. Wives.
6. Via Julie Davis I found this Greek Myth and History podcast. I haven’t listened to it yet, but I’m intrigued.
+JMJ+
I’ve just followed the Fiddle Oak links . . . Oh, my . . . His photographs are romantic in the way William Wordsworth’s poetry is romantic—and I want to drink them all up!
I especially love his line about loneliness as a beautiful feeling. =) There is a kind of creative freedom we can only achieve in solitude—and can only find at a “deep” point in solitude. That is, it doesn’t start the second one is alone, but maybe on the third or fourth day that one has been left to one’s own devices. So although I wouldn’t have made the connection to homeschooling (but only because I have no practical experience of it yet!), I can see why you did. Children in modern schools are hardly ever left to their own devices.
Enbrethiliel, Aren’t they just delicious? Yes, very Wordsworthian.
I loved that line too. And your point about the dep point in solitude… I haven’t had that kind of solitude since having kids and oh I do miss it.
On the other hand homeschooling is hardly a panacea. Even homeschoolers often get caught up in the zeitgeist, that feeling of needing to be constantly scheduled, always *doing*, making every moment “enriching”. It’s easy to forget the ways in which solitude, boredom, inactivity are also enriching and necessary.