This is our catalog of courses. We will occasionally adjust the course listing to reflect the addition of new courses and the retirement of others.
Let’s meet the man who brought Athens to the height of her power and then dragged her into a war that nearly destroyed her! The Golden Age of Athens can also be called the Periclean Age. Come see what made Athens so golden in the fifth century—sculpture, architecture, philosophy, rhetoric, war on land and sea, and plague. This life has it all. We’ll get to know the man and see what lessons we can draw from him today. How can we lead well? What mistakes does he make? From whom did he learn the most?
Total classes: 14
Prerequisite: None
Suggested grade level: 7th to 9th grade
Suggested credit: One semester History
Description
The classes will be taught in the Charlotte-Mason style, with the readings small enough to happen in real time, followed by oral narration. The teacher will act as guide, philosopher, and friend, introducing each lesson by alleviating difficulties and wrapping each lesson by synthesizing the students’ contributions and observations. Each class will have a weekly written narration on a question related to the in-class narrations.
Outline
Class 1: How to Read Plutarch; Writing a Narration; Getting to Know Yourself…
Class 2: Virtue and Teachers: Sections 1-4
Class 3: Character and Politics: Sections 5-8
Class 4: Rise to Power: Sections 9-11
Class 5: Public Works: Sections 12-14
Class 6: Unifying the Greeks: Sections 15-17
Class 7: Pericles in Battle: Sections 18-21
Class 8: Empire: Sections 22-24
Class 9: War on Samos: Sections 25-28
Class 10: The Peloponnesian War: Sections 29-33
Class 11: The Plague Hits Athens: Sections 34-35
Class 12: The Plague Hits Home: Sections 35-37
Class 13: The Plague Hits Pericles: 38-39
Class 14: Thucydides’ Perspective on The Plague: A Cross-Pollination
Materials and Homework
Course materials: Provided by the instructor, a translation by the author for middle-schoolers. Plutarch’s own words in a 21st-century idiom.
Homework: You will see oral narrations practiced in each recording by the students. It would be good to pause the video and try these narrations yourself before listening to the students narrations. The written narrations should be completed within a couple days of watching each video. Each class will close with a question to guide the students’ written narration. Some of the best narrations from the Live Class made it into future recordings, so keep an eye and ear out to hear how the students themselves improved.
