How we homeschooled today #37
Plus a short review of Caroline Lawrence’s The Thieves of Ostia
A day out with Granny and Grandpa today, so a little light on the learning:
Before we left this morning we read more of the latest delivery from Mysteries in Time, all about the Pony Express and the invention of the telegraph.
On the train journey we revised another chapter of Basil Batrakhos, the textbook/story we are using for Ancient Greek. It’s aimed at 9-12 year olds so we are taking it very slowly.
On the outing we went to a nature reserve and spotted dragonflies and butterflies, and spent a long time watching how barges move up and down a canal using a lock.
On the journey home we talked about how the Pony Express and the canals were two horse-driven innovations that were rendered obsolete by new technologies in the form of telegraphs and trains. We also dug out the ‘multiplication lucky dips’ from last week (the advantages of not clearing out my giant rucksack too often) and practised some times tables.
Lots of reading back at home, including: Pompeii, Daedalus and Icarus, more Mysteries in Time stories, and The Little Ships.
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The Thieves of Ostia by Caroline Lawrence
I loved this book, but I’ve hidden it from my children.
Regular readers will know we were reading this recently. We were enjoying it, but it was right at the edge of my daughter’s reading ability and she got distracted by a different book. I picked it up myself over the weekend.
It’s so good. It’s full of historical details about the real Roman port of Ostia (which you can visit). For an adult it’s a sort of cosy thriller/mystery. It’s a perfect summer read and you can smell the salty air and the pine trees; it made me desperate to fly to Italy. Amazon says it’s for 9-11 year olds but there are reviews saying children as young as six enjoyed it. As I was happy to read it aloud the age guidance didn’t bother me; we often read books for older children.
But.
The story includes dogs being beheaded, a suicide, and children running away from kidnappers who want to sell them into slavery. A young girl dies after contracting rabies from a wild dog bite and we are told all the details. One of the children has had his tongue cut out. Now I am a bit of a wimp, and I’m probably guilty of trying to wrap my children in cotton wool. Maybe they’re tougher than I give them credit for; they do love the Greek myths, which are not exactly wholesome. But there’s no way I’m letting my children read this just yet. I recommend it, to you and to your children if you judge them to be brave enough and not to have nightmares about hydrophobia. There’s a whole series, and I can’t wait to get the next one for myself.
(If you’re studying Romans, Caroline Lawrence also worked with the University of Reading on Romans Revealed, an online project where you learn about Romans in Britain through real archaeological finds and imagined stories. You can listen to the archaeologists talking about the finds. I’ve only had a quick look but it looks good.)
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