Should we do the Iliad/Odyssey or not?

[Meadowlark]

I'm trying to decide what to do next year for my son next year in 8th. He's been homeschooled with MP since 6th grade. This year he is doing FMOG and the 7th grade Lit sequence.

My dilemma is that he is going to public high school. Would it serve him best to do the Roman/Greek history and Iliad/Odyssey....OR to do a more well-rounded history curriculum that will give him a broader knowledge base going into high school? I will also add that he's not especially "academic" and I really see him possibly going into the military or some other trade. On one hand, I know he's been prepared to dive into it (and who doesn't want their child reading the classics?) but I also know him and so I'm conflicted. Advice?

[jen1134]

That's a tough one. On the one hand, I would be inclined to give him what he won't get at all in public school (Classical History/Iliad/Odyssey), but on the other hand I would want to give him the True Version of of what he will get there

[Nerdmom]

Could you do Book of the Ancient Greeks & Romans as history, and Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid as literature? That's not a light load, so I definitely would not do any other history or lit on top of that. But it would be a nice homeschool capstone course.

Does his public school have Latin? If he can still be immersed in the ancient world, I might change that plan...

[Meadowlark]

I have an 8th grader this year and so already own everything for the 8th grade lit-so I'm inclined to do that for sure. I could just do The Ancient Greeks and Romans, but the same question remains-for a child headed to HS, shouldn't I go a bit broader? In general, I totally believe in MP's "deep, not wide" approach-but in this case I'm just not sure. The high school is totally traditional and tech driven. He will be taking World History, American History, etc...mostly from a computer. The other things I'm looking at would be the Catholic Textbook Project books, or even something like Christian LIght's new Western Course for 7th grade. It looks like that one is very independent and would cover the highlights-although a little too broadly for my taste. But alas, he would get "it all" and I would do whatever I could do drill those facts so that there's a decent takeaway.

[tanya]

This is a tough one. But I tend to lean toward sticking with the classics because he won't get those in a public high school. They will cover American and modern world history because that's what they do. And honestly, after his experience with you at home, they will probably not be challenging to him! So why not give him the benefit of a good classical education before he heads off? It will be more difficult, preparing him for high school courses. And it will give him the context of where our modern history originated. I found, when my kids went to college, that they had been well-prepared with their classical studies to tackle anything. It wasn't necessarily what they had studied. It was the rigor required to do difficult things, and then they got to college and could face any challenge with success. And I did not have motivated students, which always shocked and frustrated me since I am so motivated myself. Where did they come from?!!

Tanya