Percy Jackson & Greek Mythology

The Beginning
From the empty nothingness came the embodiment of night and darkness, Nyx and Erebus. They had offspring called Hemera and Aether, who represented day and the air to balance the parents. Then Gaia, Ouranos, and Tartarus came to be the earth, the sky, and the abyss. Gaia and Ouranos had children known as the titans. They also had two other sets of children- a race of giants called the three elder cyclops and the three hekatonkheires. The cyclops had only one eye, and the hekatonkheires had a hundred hands. 

Ouranos was so frightened by how hideous his children looked that he threw them into the abyss of Tartarus. Gaia was furious and she hatched a plan with her sons to banish him to the sky. She gave her youngest son, Kronos, a scythe and told him to chop up Ouranos with it while his brothers held him down. The oldest brother, Oceanus, wanted no part in the murder so he was banished to the ocean by his younger brother. Ouranos's physical form was destroyed, and Kronos became king.

The Titans
The Titans were the first, or elder, deities. There were twelve main titans, including the parents of Zeus, Kronos, and Rhea. They ruled during what was called the Golden Age. They were overthrown by their children...led by Zeus. This was called the titanomachy.

The Chimera 
The fire-breathing Chimera was a terrifying beast with a serpent for a tail, a goat's body and a lion's head! King Sisyphus has commanded the warrior, Bellerophon, to destroy it. Soaring above the monster on Pegasus, he shoots arrows at it. Bellerophon then attaches lead to his spear and thrusts it into the vicious beast. The hero’s actions kills the fiery Chimera.

Scylla & Charybdis
On both sides of a narrow stretch of sea, monsters lie in wait. On one side, Scylla thrashes around her six snakelike heads, ready to crunch on passing sailors. On the other, Charybdis creates a deadly whirlpool. No person has ever faced these beasts and escaped unharmed. Now the king, Odysseus, and his crew must pass them to get home. They edge around Charybdis' spiraling sea, saving the ship from being swallowed whole. Scylla swoops down and gobbles up six men, and Odysseus shouts, leading the rest of the crew past Scylla and out of the deadly channel. Having survived the dreaded beasts, Odysseus and his men continue their journey.

The Minotaur
Half-man, half-bull, the Minotaur lurks in an underground maze of king Minos waiting for his next meal - children sent to him as a tribute. Lost in the labyrinth, the kids will be devoured, but brave prince Theseus has had enough of his land living in fear of the Minotaur. He accompanies the group, and is prepared to fight. Hearing the Minotaur breathing nearby, he springs toward it. Dodging the monster's deadly horns, he thrusts his sword into the beast. The Minotaur is dead, and Theseus unspools a string given to him by the kings daughter Ariadne that he wound as he walked through the maze...he leads the remaining children out to safety.

Hydra
In a swamp, creeps a deadly nine-headed serpent called the Hydra. Heracles, son of Zeus, must kill it as punishment. After Shooting arrows into its eyes , the Hydra attacks, so Heracles hits its heads with a club, knocking them off, but more grow in their place! Heracles' friend, Iolus, then leaps to his aid with a flaming torch. After an epic battle, the men finally destroy the Hydra!

Medusa
This hideous Medusa has snakes for hair, terrifying tusks, and a face that turns anyone that looks at it into stone! To please his king whom his mother is hiding from, Perseus agrees to slay the beast. Wearing a Hades helmet of invisibility and carrying the adamantine sword given to him by Zeus (not adamantuim!),and a polished shield given to him by Athena, he sneaks up on Medusa. She's asleep, but one gaze at her face and Perseus would be a statue! He looks at her harmless reflection in his shiny shield and beheads her. Victorious, Perseus flies off on winged sandals.

Read

• Percy Jackson
• An adventure-quest with a hip edge. At first glance, Perseus Jackson seems like a loser (readers meet him at a boarding school for troubled youth), but he's really the son of Poseidon and a mortal woman. As he discovers his heritage, he also loses that mother and falls into mortal danger. The gods (still very active in the 21st-century world) are about to go to war over a lost thunderbolt, so Percy and sidekicks Grover (a young satyr) and Annabeth (daughter of Athena) set out to retrieve it. Percy is an ADHD, wise-cracking, first-person narrator. Naturally, his real quest is for his own identity. Along the way, such topics as family, trust, war, the environment, dreams, and perceptions are raised. 

Make / Do

• Lego Ancient Greece activity pack
• Make Greek Hoplite armor
• Make a Greek vase ; decorate it with mythological creatures

Watch

• Percy Jackson double feature DVD set

Define / Identify

• Zeus
• Hera 
• Poseidon 
• Hades
• Dionysus 
• Apollo
• Artemis
• Ares
• Athena 
• Hermes 
• Aphrodite
• Hephaestus 
• Demeter 

Think

• Why were the Greek myths important to the development of ancient Greece as a civilization?
• What is your opinion of the religion of ancient Greece?
• What role does pride play in Greek mythology?

Access all of the mythology units in the World Mythology Unit Studies Bundle!

Includes sixteen unit studies covering world mythologies. Each unit addresses a new topic, spanning ancient through modern history.

• Each unit has introductory text, which will give the student basic background information about the topic at hand.
• There are photographs and illustrations, and we have also included primary documents when available.
• After this text, there are featured videos, which augment the background information and help make the topic more accessible for more visual students.
• You will also find a short list of reading books, including a featured novel that the unit builds upon.
• There are vocabulary words, places, and people to identify.
• Reading comprehension, critical thinking questions, and writing assignments are included.
• We add fun with hands-on activities and extra videos to watch that will bring the era to life.

Product sample:  Percy Jackson & Greek Mythology

These studies are directed toward upper grades students, but some have resources for younger students so that the whole family can work together. Our family has used unit studies as curriculum for many years, and we hope that your family will enjoy these, too!

Kane Chronicles & Egyptian Mythology

Egyptian Creation

At first, there was only Nun. Nun was the dark waters of chaos. One day, a hill rose up out of the waters. This hill was called Ben-Ben. On this hill stood Atum, the first god. Atum coughed and spat out Shu, the god of the air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. Shu and Tefnut had two children. First, there was Geb, the god of the earth. 

Then, there was Nut, the goddess of the sky. Shu lifted Nut up so that she became a canopy over Geb. Nut and Geb had four children named Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys. Osiris was the king of the earth and Isis was the queen. Osiris was a good king, and he ruled over the earth for many years. However, everything was not well. Seth was jealous of Osiris because he wanted to be the ruler of the earth. He grew angrier and angrier until one day he killed Osiris. Osiris went down into the underworld and Seth remained on earth and became king. Osiris and Isis had one son called Horus. Horus battled against Seth and regained the throne.  After that, Horus was the king of the earth and Osiris was the king of the underworld.

The Goddess Isis

When her husband Osiris was killed and dismembered, Isis was seen as a dedicated wife by searching high and low for his remains. It was Isis who supposedly taught the people of Egypt about the institution of marriage. As the mother of Horus, the protector god of kings, Isis represented the ultimate mom.

Isis was the patron goddess of magic and healing and was one of the most powerful deities of ancient Egypt. She was said to know everything on heaven and earth except for one thing: the secret magic name of Ra, the god of the sun and king of all the other gods. So Isis hatched a plan to learn it. She made a snake out of dirt and some of Ra's sweat and laid it down on the ground where he be sure to walk by it.

When he stepped on the serpent, it bit him. Isis rushed to Ra's side when he called out for help. She told him that she could heal the poisonous bite with a magical spell, but would need to know Ra's ren (true mane or secret name) in order to properly do the incantation. After learning his name, Isis did indeed heal Ra, and was all the more powerful in the end!

Our spine read for this unit is Kane Chronicles.

Access the complete unit study in the World Mythology Unit Studies Bundle!

Includes sixteen unit studies covering world mythologies. Each unit addresses a new topic, spanning ancient through modern history.

• Each unit has introductory text, which will give the student basic background information about the topic at hand.
• There are photographs and illustrations, and we have also included primary documents when available.
• After this text, there are featured videos, which augment the background information and help make the topic more accessible for more visual students.
• You will also find a short list of reading books, including a featured novel that the unit builds upon.
• There are vocabulary words, places, and people to identify.
• Reading comprehension, critical thinking questions, and writing assignments are included.
• We add fun with hands-on activities and extra videos to watch that will bring the era to life.

Product sample:  Percy Jackson & Greek Mythology

These studies are directed toward upper grades students, but some have resources for younger students so that the whole family can work together. Our family has used unit studies as curriculum for many years, and we hope that your family will enjoy these, too!

Using the Good & the Beautiful with Upper Grades - Middle & High School

If you’ve been on any homeschooling chat groups lately, you’ve probably heard of The Good & the Beautiful…..but most of what’s out there is aimed at younger children.  Our kids are in middle and high school, and we wondered how the program would work for older kids.  After two years of using it, I can honestly say that it works WONDERS!

*We did not receive anything for writing this.  We love the curriculum and have found that a lot of folks have questions about the upper grades, so wanted to share our experiences.*

Updated 10/4:  Common Questions about Homeschooling High School with The Good & the Beautiful Curriculum  (follow-up post)

See how we used TG&TB in elementary grades.

A Little Background

In case you’re unfamiliar, The Good & the Beautiful is a relaxed approach to homeschooling.  I have to jump in here and say that, the first time I saw it, I really didn’t think it would be enough for a school year.  My fear was that it would require a lot of supplementation, but it doesn’t.  In fact, in only six months of using this curriculum, my struggling middle school learner jumped FOUR AND A HALF grade levels in reading!

The price is very affordable for families, there are morals included in every lesson, and it’s designed for the busy mom with its open-and-go format.  While it is Christian-based, it offers up a neutral world-view, allowing parents to tailor it toward their family’s beliefs.  The print quality is amazing, and the vintage reading material is a delightful change from what our children were gravitating toward before we switched to this curriculum.

Access extras that moms have pulled together, including videos.

What’s Not Included

When looking at this curriculum for upper grades, bear in mind that you’ll need to go outside it to choose a math program, as they are still writing the early elementary levels.  Personally, we use Saxon and have been very happy with it.  

You can use their science program for early middle grades, if it helps you to teach younger kids at the same time, but it’s not really rigorous enough for a standard middle school curriculum, and definitely not enough for high school.  We typically switch to Apologia around 5^th grade, using their Exploring Creation with… series as a transitional tool into their upper grades courses.

You can choose to order printed or downloadable curriculum.  Our family has selected primarily print format because it's such high quality at an affordable price.  We do, however, print some....and large families might find it more cost-effective to purchase curriculum once and just pay to have it printed.  We recommend the Homeschool Printing Company.  Here's a video of our experience, as well as a coupon code to use there!

SchoolhouseTeachers has many excellent options for science, foreign languages, maths, and electives, which are currently not offered for upper grades students by TGTB.  We have used their website for several years and love it!  They also have courses for parents, a print magazine, and extra goodies and giveaways just for their subscribers.  You can try them out for only $5 - with complete access to everything on the site - to see if it's a good fit for your family.  Two good places to start are High School Courses and High School Help.

So what exactly DO we use?  

History, handwriting, and language arts – which covers a lot more than just reading and writing!  The Good & the Beautiful’s language arts is one of my favorite program components, as it covers reading, spelling, writing, dictation, literature, grammar, vocabulary, geography, and art.  By including geography and art, it takes a bit of a unit study approach.  For example, in High School-1, unit five covers the Arctic areas.  They read a book about the Arctic, and the geography, art, vocabulary, and writing assignments tie in with that region.  You can cover quite a bit with just the one class!

Language Art & Handwriting

At the middle grade levels, my students are working more independently, but still need instruction, particularly on the grammar concepts and sentence diagramming.  We also do spelling and dictation aloud together.  This is a time when they are learning to work alone, but not quite ready for the whole enchilada.  It is at this level that we also use the handwriting – particularly levels 5 and 6, which focus on cursive.  The handwriting curriculum not only teaches letter formation, but grammar, states and capitals, and presidents.  There is also quite a bit of student drawing involved, which my kids love!

Peek inside Levels 5-7.

Once they hit high school, however, the curriculum is set up to reinforce those skills of time management and responsibility.   Divided into ten separate units, the student is able to take a unit and work on it for two to three weeks before turning it in for grading.  If more instruction is needed, he can come and ask (and I do check in occasionally), but it’s his responsibility to progress at a pace that finishes the unit on time.  

Peek inside the High School Language Arts curriculum.
See inside Language Arts Level 2 curriculum.

History
Our family has always loved to read aloud books together….from the Little Golden Books to entire series (such as A to Z Mysteries and Magic Treehouse) and now we’re reading big chapter books together.  The history curriculum has a minimum of four read-alouds each year, so if you don’t like reading together, it might not be a good fit for your family.  However, for us, it’s given the kids the perfect excuse to still curl up with mom in their teen years.

One of the things I like about history is that it takes the classical education approach – of four different eras of history – and teaches from all four of those each school year.  Rather than doing an entire year of ancient history, we’re doing one quarter on ancient history each school year (with each year focusing on a different region, such as Egypt or Greece).  It’s easy to get burnt out on a particular era when you’re knee-deep in it for an entire year, so we like that things get mixed up!

Here are some of our favorite read-alouds!

The history includes read alouds, audio recordings, and accompanying worksheets.  At the middle school level, these worksheets include timelines, coloring, extra readings, and short research assignments.  At the high school level, all of these are included as well as projects.  Each quarter (each historical era), the high school student has a short list of projects to complete before we move on to the next era.  This goes back to student responsibility and time management.  He can do them little by little throughout the quarter, or save them for an all-nighter on the last day of the quarter (which, I hope he learns from!!), but it’s his responsibility to do a good job within the time constraint.

Peek inside the history curriculum.

What is Sparks Academy?

 Sparks Academy provides live / blended classes for high school students, using The Good & the Beautiful for language arts, Apologia / Berean Builders for science, and Notgrass for history.  These classes meet weekly, allowing students the opportunity to discuss the literature, get additional instruction on concepts covered, and show off their art projects and recitations.  Students alsoto receive a grade for these courses from a source outside of the home.

Sparks Academy is not affiliated with The Good & the Beautiful, but is run by parents who use and love their curriculum.  They are providing support, accountability, and community for upper grades families who use this curriculum by creating an online homeschool co-op for high school students.  Currently, students can register for High School Levels 1-3 in language arts.  There are also writing consultation packages for Level 6, Level 7, and High School (for those who only want essay feedback).

Visit Sparks Academy to Learn More!

Looking Ahead

The number of upper grades families using The Good & the Beautiful is sure to grow in the future, as the current elementary-age families progress.  If you’re ahead of the curve, have no doubt…this is still an amazing curriculum for middle and high school students!   This video shows the materials more in-depth.

An integral part of any well-rounded high school curriculum is literature!  Though not part of the TGTB curriculum, this free book list is designed for 8th – 12th grade college-bound students, and includes many classic pieces of literature as well as more modern day stories. The books represent a range of historic eras, and include elements from both American and World Literature courses. Parents should read the book description ahead of time and choose books based on their personal standards. It is not expected that every child will read every book on this list, but should be used as a guide for what colleges will expect to see on a well-rounded reading list.

You might also like Beautiful Book Studies!

Each unit addresses a new topic, including science, history, and geography.  Each unit has introductory text, which will give the student basic background information about the topic at hand.

• You will also find a short list of reading books, including a featured novel that the unit builds upon.
• There are vocabulary words, places, and people to identify.
• Reading comprehension, critical thinking questions, and writing assignments are included.
• We add fun with hands-on activities and extra videos to watch that will bring the topic to life.

Table of Contents

• The King’s Fifth
• Red Falcons of Tremoine
• Golden Hawks of Genghis Khan
• Red Hugh of Ireland
• Calico Captive
• The Story of Eli Whitney
• Island of the Blue Dolphins
• The Lost Kingdom
• The Secret Garden
• Heidi
• Girl of the Limberlost
• The Winged Watchman
• When the Dikes Broke
• Using the Good & the Beautiful in High School

Product Sample:  Red Hugh of Ireland & the English Civil Wars 

The books selected for these unit studies can be found in the upper grades areas of The Good and the Beautiful Book List.  However, Homeschool On the Range and Sparks Academy are not employed by or affiliated with, nor do they receive any compensation from, The Good and the Beautiful.  It has simply been their curriculum of choice for many years.  These unit studies are not endorsed by The Good and the Beautiful or Jenny Phillips.

Someday We Will Fly -- Life in the Shanghai Ghetto

Someday We Will Fly (Rachel Dewoskin)

Warsaw, Poland. The year is 1940 and Lillia is fifteen when her mother, Alenka, disappears and her father flees with Lillia and her younger sister, Naomi, to Shanghai, one of the few places that will accept Jews without visas. There they struggle to make a life; they have no money, there is little work, no decent place to live, a culture that doesn't understand them. And always the worry about Alenka. How will she find them? Is she still alive?   Meanwhile Lillia is growing up, trying to care for Naomi, whose development is frighteningly slow, in part from malnourishment. Lillia finds an outlet for her artistic talent by making puppets, remembering the happy days in Warsaw when her family was circus performers. She attends school sporadically, makes friends with Wei, a Chinese boy, and finds work as a performer at a "gentlemen's club" without her father's knowledge.  But meanwhile the conflict grows more intense as the Americans declare war and the Japanese force the Americans in Shanghai into camps. More bombing, more death. Can they survive, caught in the crossfire?

Our Thoughts on the Story...
It was new territory, as this was an element of World War 2 we knew nothing about...a completely new setting.  However, the book was kind of all over the place and difficult to follow at times.  The circus element ties both settings together, and it's interesting to 'people watch' some of the minor characters in the book, but there are too many underlying plots...kidnapping, overcoming grief, flight of the refugees, the missing mother...it all sort of becomes too much for the reader.  If you're interested in learning Mandarin, there are several phrases and such that you can use as a starting point!

Chinese Jews  ::  中国犹太人  ::  יהודים סיניים‬

Prior to World War 2, thousands of Jewish refugees had fled to China to escape the Russian Revolution.   They were joined by approximately 20,000 more Jews who were trying to escape persecution in the 1930s and 1940s.  They came to Shanghai because it did not have immigration restrictions, and they were allowed to come.  (Many countries at the time were turning Jews away.)  

Upon arrival, they were ushered into a tiny area of 0.75 square miles in the Hongkou District, into what was known as the 'Shanghai Ghetto.'  Many people lived in group homes, and the living conditions were very cramped.  They opened up shops and cafes, worshiped in synagogues, held Girl Guide meetings, and generally tried to bring a bit of home to the ghetto.

A Jewish girl with two Chinese friends in the Shanghai Ghetto during WWII (Courtesy Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum)

Getting to Shanghai could be a difficult and dangerous journey, but it was a risk worth taking to these families.  Families had to obtain a transit visa, which was very difficult to get.  It is said that two Asian diplomats, Suighara and Ho, went against orders and issued about 8.000 visas to save Jewish lives.  They are likened to the Chinese version of Oskar Schindler for their life-saving efforts.

The ghetto was a small area of dark alleyways and darker buildings.  Although safe from the concentration camps, Jews still had limited food, water, and medicine, and were subject to checkpoints and restrictions on where they could go.  Deep into World War 2, Nazi representatives began to urge the Japanese army (who had control of this area at the time) to exterminate residents of the Shanghai Ghetto.  They chose not to, and these Jews were kept safe.

Find upper grades World War 2 - themed unit studies in our "We Were There" section!

Shanghai Ghetto (DVD)

Jewish Holidays in Literature (free unit studies)

Author Interview - See the inspiration behind Someday We Will Fly!

We Were There with the California Forty-Niners

***Pick up your FREE Activity Pack***

In January 1848, an overseer at Sutter’s Mill in northern California saw gold flakes.  Even without social media, the word spread rapidly, and his discovery led to more than 300,000 prospectors flooding into the region!  These people came from all over the world; they came by ship, rail, horse, and foot.  What they found wasn’t exactly the expected dream….

Lack of housing and sanitation, as well as lack of law enforcement, led to dangerous living conditions.  Thievery and murder were on the daily menu.  The work was backbreaking, and few actually struck it rich.  For those who came from someplace other than America, including the many Chinese who crossed the Pacific, xenophobia and prejudice made life even more dangerous.

A lucky few were able to find gold nuggets lying on the ground early into the rush, but it quickly became a line of folks trying to find the best technique to pan for gold.  The most money, however, was to be had in banks, restaurants, saloons, and stores…those who catered to the miners.  It’s said that the amount of gold uncovered in the few years of the rush would be equal to tens of billions of dollars today!

Impacts of the Gold Rush include :

• Development of the Transcontinental Railroad
• California earning statehood in 1850
• Creation of a stronger legal system

Want to go panning for gold?  Here's a short list gear you'll need:

• Folding chair or bucket to sit on
• Waterproof boots
• Prospecting pan (deep base and side ridges)
• Tweezers (to pick out the flakes)
• Glass vials (to store your gold)
• Strainer / classifier to sift debris

Keep in mind that gold panning isn't a get-rich-quick scheme!  Small amounts of gold, such as flakes, are considerably more common to find, but even those tiny amounts of gold add up to a nice chunk of change.  Be sure to lookout for the tiniest flecks of gold, as they do add up quickly!  

Use this Gold Prices Worksheet to see how much those small amounts are worth.

Our spine novel is We Were There with the California Forty-Niners

Access the complete unit in the 'We Were There' Novel Studies Bundle!

Includes THIRTY-SIX unit studies covering World & American History. Each unit addresses a new topic, spanning the the ancient world through post-WW2.  Each unit has introductory text, which will give the student basic background information about the topic at hand.

• There are photographs and illustrations, and we have also included primary documents when available.
• After this text, there are featured videos, which augment the background information and help make the topic more accessible for more visual students.
• You will also find a short list of reading books, including a featured novel that the unit builds upon.
• There are vocabulary words, places, and people to identify.
• Reading comprehension, critical thinking questions, and writing assignments are included.
• We add fun with hands-on activities and extra videos to watch that will bring the era to life.

These studies are directed toward upper grades students, but some have resources for younger students so that the whole family can work together. Our family has used unit studies as curriculum for many years, and we hope that your family will enjoy these, too!

Product Samples:

• We Were There with Richard the Lionhearted in the Crusades
• We Were There with Byrd at the South Pole
• We Were There at the Opening of the Atomic Era