The Trojan War: a story that launched at least a thousand stories. We will spend a few hours each Tuesday engaging with a variety of material related to the epic tale, including: a survey of the mythology and history of ancient Greece; an in-depth reading of Homer’s The Iliad; a review of the triumphs and tragedies of the search for historical Troy; a look at some of the ways the Trojan War is depicted in popular culture; a brief study of how Greek mythology was used as a foundation for Roman mythology; and an in-depth reading of Virgil’s The Aeneid.
Equivalent to one year of high school English.
September 18: Greek Mythology & History of Ancient Greece
September 25: Greek Mythology & History of Ancient Greece / Troy
October 2: Greek Mythology & Homer and “heroic hexameter”
October 9: Greek Mythology & The Iliad
October 16: Greek Mythology & The Iliad
October 23: Greek Mythology & The Iliad
October 30: The Iliad
November 6: Quiz / The Iliad
November 13: The Iliad
November 20: The Iliad
November 27: Search for Troy
December 4: Midterm
January 8: The Song of Achilles
January 15: The Song of Achilles
January 22: Ilium
January 29: Ilium
February 5: Ilium
February 12: Ilium
February 19: Ilium
February 26: Olympos
March 5: Olympos
March 12: Olympos
March 19: Olympos
April 2: Olympos
April 9: Olympos
April 16: Quiz & Roman Mythology
April 23: The Aeneid
April 30: The Aeneid
May 7: The Aeneid
May 14: The Aeneid
May 21: The Aeneid
May 28: Final
Books (in any format/device: book, phone, tablet, Kindle etc.) Required:
The Iliad translated by Caroline Alexander
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Ilium by Dan Simmons
Olympos by Dan Simmons
The Aeneid translated by Stanley Lombardo
It is really important each participant has the correct translation of The Iliad and The Aeneid, because they won’t be able to keep up otherwise. The translations are all significantly different and we will be doing a bit of reading out loud each week.
All of these books contain some mature, high school level themes, including some violence and mild sexual content. Contact us for more detail if you like.
We are looking forward to in person programming in the fall! Harmony has filled up fast but we still have a few spots open on Thursdays for 4 to 10 year-olds. The summer is whizzing by so consider registering now. Please direct all questions to katherine@talkingsticklearningcenter.org. We look forward to hearing from you!
There are changes on the horizon at Talking Stick. We are reorganizing due to the pandemic and are planning in-person programming (Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 9am to 3pm) for 4 to 10 year olds as Harmony Learning Community at Awbury this fall. Registration opens in May. Please check back soon for details or email Katie at katherine@talkingsticklearningcenter.org with questions.
While Math Circle will not be held in conjunction with Talking Stick at this time, Rodi will continue to run classes and can be reached at rodi.steinig@gmail.com.