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Tuesday, September 27

The Odyssey & Epic Heroes

In The Odyssey, after the Trojan War ends, Odysseus sets off on a journey back home... This is one of the steps in the Epic Hero Cycle.  But what exactly is this cycle, and why is it important in literature? 

An epic hero is a person (or character) that is idolized because of admirable traits and the ability to spark hope and survival in the masses.  There have been epic heroes throughout history, spanning ancient times to modern popular culture.  These heroes show the right way to live, demonstrate morals, and help explain the meaning of life.

The Epic Hero Cycle:
  1. Hero / main character is presented.  S/he often possesses supernatural abilities or qualities, though he may not know it yet.  (This could even be as simple as an extra dose of patience.)
  2. Hero is charged with a quest -- given a mission.
  3. Hero is tested to prove his worthiness and the purpose / need for his quest.
  4. Mythical or magical beings, helpful animals, or even human companions are integral to the quest.
  5. Hero travels to a supernatural plane that normal humans cannot typically access.
  6. Hero faces a low point, despair, and the chance to give up his quest and accept defeat.
  7. Hero experiences renewal of hope and resurrection of faith.
  8. Hero regains his rightful place among the people, often with newfound respect.

We can see the Epic Hero Cycle play out in the popular series, Lord of the Rings.
  1. Frodo, a very ordinary individual, is given the ring.  He is an average Hobbit, but the ring has powers that affect others. 
  2. Frodo then volunteers for the quest to destroy the ring.
  3. Challenges that face their way and try to stop them with they must overcome, e.g. the Ithilien Rangers, the Tower of Cirith Ungol.
  4. He gains his companions, the Fellowship, even Gollum later in the book counts as a helpful companion until his role changes to an antagonist. 
  5. Frodo and Sam must cross dark places such as the Dead Marshes and Shelob's Lair.
  6. On the slopes of the Mountain of Doom, Frodo all but Gives up and Sam literally has to try and pick him back up again.
  7. In Aragorn's protagonist story Gandalf appears several times to bring new hope, e.g. his resurrection as Gandalf the White, bringing Eomer's army as reinforcements in the Battle of the Hornburg
  8. Frodo return home but finds that he does not see home quite the way he had before.


Our spine read for this unit is The Odyssey (Homer)


Get the entire unit in the World History Bundle!

Includes ten unit studies (plus a bonus!) covering World History. Each unit addresses a new topic, spanning from Ancient Hawaii to modern-day. There is also a study of archaeological concepts. 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:   Motel of the Mysteries & Encounter

Includes:
  • Motel of the Mysteries
  • Island Boy
  • Encounter
  • The Odyssey
  • A Loyal Foe
  • Indigo Girl
  • Gold Rush Girl
  • Around the World in 80 Days
  • Number the Stars
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • House of the Seven Gables (bonus)

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Wednesday, September 21

The Indigo Girl & Lowcountry History

Join us in the lowcountry of South Carolina, between 1739 and 1744, with romance, intrigue, forbidden friendships, and political and financial threats weaving together to form the story of a remarkable young woman whose actions were before their time: the story of the indigo girl....

Eliza Pinckney is credited with the development of the lowcountry indigo industry in the mid-1700s.  Indigo remained a cash crop, and an important part of the South Carolina economy, into the 19th century.  It was one of their primary exports and was used as a blue dye during the colonial period.  The existing plantation system worked well, using slave labor to cultivate both indigo and rice.

Indigo is one of the oldest dyes used for printing and textile coloring. Ancient Romans made blue ink from the plant, which they called “indicum,” and the first indigo dye was created as early as 2,000 BC in India. In fact, it is from the word “indigo” that India came to be named.  Indigo could be grown on the highlands at the same time rice was grown on the lowlands, giving many plantations a double crop. In 1773, South Carolina sent 1,107,660 pounds of indigo dye to the United Kingdom. 

The cycle of planting, processing, and marketing indigo began in March, when the fields were prepared for sowing.  Planting began in early April, with a first harvest in July and often a second harvest in August or September.  After cutting, the plant was carried to the processing site.  The process for creating indigo dye was exacting and could easily fail. Once the plant reached maturity, the stems and leaves were crushed and fermented in a series of three vats—they steeped in the first, then the liquid was piped into the second, where wooden paddles turned until it reached the right color. In a third vat, it solidified to the consistency of mud and was placed in linen bags to drain. Then it went in flat boxes to a curing shed, where it dried into cakes that could be easily exported.
Slaves were responsible for most of South Carolina’s indigo production.  Field slaves planted, weeded, and harvested the crop, and skilled “indigo slaves” worked to convert the plant to dye.  Slaves who understood the art of processing the dye had greater value, as an entire year’s product depended on the talents of the indigo maker.  After the Revolutionary War, indigo sales dropped dramatically, in part because the Continental Congress banned the exportation of goods to England. By 1800, the indigo culture had all but disappeared and was being replaced by the culture of long-staple cotton.
For many thousands of years, humans have used indigo to create a blue dye for a wide variety of textiles. Indigo was grown on hundreds of plantations in eighteenth-century South Carolina, predominantly, but not exclusively, in the Lowcountry or coastal plain. It was almost always grown in conjunction with other crops, such as rice, provisions (corn, beans, etc.), and cotton. As with tobacco in Virginia and sugar cane in the Caribbean, indigo was quite literally a foreign commodity to the early settlers of South Carolina. They did not plant indigo here as an extension of farming traditions back “home.”

It is possible that African slaves transported to early South Carolina might have had some experience with indigo cultivation in their native land. Enslaved people were certainly deeply involved in the production of indigo in early South Carolina, but it seems unlikely that they would have had the freedom to cultivate the crop and manufacture the blue dye for their own use. It is estimated that fifteen slaves were required to plant and tend fifty acres of indigo, and another twenty-five 'skilled' slaves were needed to transform that fifty acres of plants into dye.
Though not constructed until 1814, Fort Sumter plays an important role in lowcountry history.  It was built on an artificial island and protects Charleston Harbor from naval invasion.  The fort was named for Revolutionary War hero General Thomas Sumter.  When the American Civil War began in 1861, the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter.  Touring the fort today, you can see a pre-war South Carolina state flag, and the remains of the bombed out walls.  It was originally three times as tall as it currently stands.

Today, you can see hints of the old South Carolina tucked in plantation sites and historic stops along the state's scenic byways.  Remnants of slave culture remain, too, such as this bottle tree.  The folk-art legend of the bottle tree began in the Congo during the ninth century.  Blue bottles were hung upside down on trees and huts as talismans to ward off evil spirits.  Bottles were also tied to trees near important locations such as meeting places or crossroads to trap any spirits that were travelling.
Modern downtown Charleston is a hodgepodge of old and new - with historic, two hundred year old sites butted up against modern construction.  Off-the-beaten-path beaches still show glimpses of another time, while the Cooper River Bridge is a testament to the continual progress of the city.

Take an Aerial Tour of Charleston

Our spine read for this unit is The Indigo Girl

Get the entire unit in the World History Bundle!

Includes ten unit studies (plus a bonus!) covering World History. Each unit addresses a new topic, spanning from Ancient Hawaii to modern-day. There is also a study of archaeological concepts. 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:   Motel of the Mysteries & Encounter

Includes:
  • Motel of the Mysteries
  • Island Boy
  • Encounter
  • The Odyssey
  • A Loyal Foe
  • Indigo Girl
  • Gold Rush Girl
  • Around the World in 80 Days
  • Number the Stars
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • House of the Seven Gables (bonus)

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Monday, September 19

Books to Celebrate the Autumn Holidays


As part of our continuing series on Celebrating the Holidays through Literature, this month we are bringing you a collection of autumn stories to share with your children!  This includes Halloween, Veteran's Day, High Holidays, and general autumn books.

Download the entire holiday bundle of book lists for free.  Can't get enough of the holidays?  Incorporate the Bricks Through the Year and History of Our Holidays bundles into your homeschool year, too!

  

Books Celebrating Autumn

Children's Books for the High Holidays


Books about Halloween

Books on Election Day


We also love watching the Charlie Brown double feature It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown!

Have a wonderful autumn literary adventure!



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Monday, September 12

Things Fall Apart + Colonization of Africa

In the novel, Things Fall Apart, the effects of colonialism were extremely evident in the Igbo society.  As the white Englanders moved into the native's land, their cultural values, religion, and family life changed.  While upset by the colonialism of their society, the they were incapable of doing anything to reverse the changes...

As part of the Industrial Revolution, by 1840 businessmen from Europe had established small trading posts along the coast of Africa, but they seldom moved inland, preferring to stay near the sea.  Large parts of the continent were essentially uninhabitable for Europeans because of their high mortality rates from tropical diseases.

Later industrialization brought rapid advancements in transportation and communication, especially in the forms of steamships, railways and telegraphs.  Medical advances, such as the development of quinine for malaria, also played an important role in making the tropics more accessible for Europeans.

In 1884, the Berlin Conference was a starting point for partitioning the Dark Continent.  During what became known as the "Scramble for Africa," seven European powers divided, invaded, and occupied most of the land over the next 30 thirty years.  At the time, Europe was experiencing a depression.  Africa had an abundance of raw materials, such as oil, ivory, rubber, wood, and gum, that could be used for profit.  Nearly 90% of Africa was under European control by the onset of World War I.

The European countries were able to colonize rapidly because there were rivalries between African leaders.  These kings and chiefs were competing with each other to be the richest and most powerful within their tribes.  Natural disasters also played a big role.  In 1895, a serious drought reached many regions in Africa, and hardly any crops were produced.  The food shortage which followed caused the death of many people and animals.  In addition to this was a plague of locusts,  and a cattle plague broke out during the 1890’s, killing cattle, sheep, and goats.  This led to even more deaths of animals and people, and due to their physical and mental weakness, the Africans were unable to fight against European powers.

Also, an outbreak of new diseases made an appearance during the late 1890’s, one of the first being smallpox.  The Europeans had developed immunity to these diseases due to past experiences, but the indigenous African population had no immunity or resistance to these diseases and thus they weakened the African population.  A large number of the African population thus died out, or became too weak to fight back.

Our spine read for this unit is Things Fall Apart


Find the full unit in the Advanced High School Literature bundle!


Includes six unit studies covering a variety of topics presented in more mature literature selections.
  • 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.
Our family has used unit studies as curriculum for many years, and we hope that your family will enjoy these, too!
 
Units include:
· Oliver Twist & the Industrial Revolution
· Things Fall Apart & the Colonization of Africa
· The Chosen & the Zionist Movement
· Five People You Meet in Heaven & Human Impact
· The Things they Carried & the Vietnam War
· Crime and Punishment & Free Will vs Determinism
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Tuesday, September 6

Hatchet & Mastering Outdoor Skills

In "Hatchet," Brian is the sole survivor of a plane crash, and must rely on his wits and learn how to survive on his own - off the land - until he is saved  At one time, most children learned these skills, but now we have to seek opportunities for teaching them…

Six Outdoor Skills to Learn in Your Backyard

  • Clean Water.  The first, and most important, skill you need to master is finding clean drinking water.  If you live in an area with access to water, you will need to purify it through boiling or using a filtration system.  You may need to locate water, so learn to build a still to collect this precious resource.
  • Create a Shelter.  After finding water, you'll want to figure out shelter, and do it before it gets dark.  Take into account the environment and weather when choosing whether to build a lean-to, cave shelter, or brush tent.  Exposed areas can be windy and difficult to protect from weather.  Desert washes are subject to flash flooding.  Dead trees in the forest can be dangerous if they fall.
  • Navigate the Wild.  Your phone GPS won't always be available, and knowing how to navigate using the sun, stars, and nature could mean the difference in survival!  It's also important to learn how to use paper maps and a compass.  Practice these skills in your neighborhood.
  • Build a Fire.  This can be difficult, but is important for warding off predators, providing heat and light, and attracting attention from would-be rescuers.  Collect kindling and sticks to get your fire started.  Don't cut down trees, as fresh wood has moisture that will create a lot of smoke and be difficult to get burning.
  • Tie Knots.  If you know how to tie knots, you can build a shelter, set traps, and create tools.  Three of the most basic and useful are the square knot, bow line, and half hitches.  Use some cording and a rail to practice your skills
  • Taking Care of Business.  When nature calls, you want to answer carefully.  Human waste needs to be kept far away from your water source.  This seems like a small skill, but can make a big difference in survival!

    Six Essential Wilderness Survival Skills

  • Positive attitude:  You can live 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water, and 3 minutes without air…but only 3 seconds without a clear mind.  Panic leads to bad decisions, and while fear is a natural reaction to emergencies, being able to relax and make a smart judgment will be the most essential skill of all.
  • Water:   Remember that whole three thing?  Focus on water.  Find it, purify it, drink it, and store it for later.  Water naturally runs downhill, so that is where you will find it.  You can often follow animal tracks right to a water source as they need water just as much as you do to survive, and they will know of any available water sources.
  • Fire:  Fires not only can be used for warmth, to cook food and boil water, but they can also be used as a signaling device.  Losing body heat can kill you just as quickly as lack of water.  The most important part of building a fire is the location.  The fire needs to be located in a place where the wind will not blow directly on it.  You will need tinder, such as dry grass or small twigs, to spark life into the fire.  You’ll also need kindling (pencil-sized pieces of wood) to build the flames.  Finally, you’ll need larger logs to maintain fuel for the fire.    See - How to Build a Fire
  • First aid: Knowing how to both avoid and treat common health problems such as blisters, insect stings, hypothermia and dehydration, as well as larger issues such as broken bones and snake bites, is a critical wilderness survival skill.  You can download the Red Cross "Wilderness and Remote First Aid" reference guide for free.
  • Shelter:  Whether from cold, rain, wind or heat, you must be able to protect yourself from the elements.  You should build your shelter with just enough room to lie down.  Your body heat will help keep your shelter warm, so the smaller the space the warmer it will be.  Usually it’s worth at least taking 30 minutes to make a thick layer of leaves into a bed so you don’t lose insane amounts of body heat from direct contact with the ground before considering a fire.
  • Food:  Survival is hard work!  Keeping your energy up is important, as you will be burning a lot more calories than you are used to burning.  Contrary to popular belief, plants are not your best avenue in a survival situation.  If you do not know exactly what you are doing you can actually end up poisoning yourself.  A few food sources that are a safe bet are insects, worms, and furry mammals.   See - Wilderness Survival - Finding Food and Water


Our spine read for this unit is Hatchet (Gary Paulsen)


Access the entire unit in the Literature-Based Science Bundle!


Includes nine unit studies covering a variety of science topics presented in literature selections.
  • 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.
Our family has used unit studies as curriculum for many years, and we hope that your family will enjoy these, too!
 

Units include:
  • Misty of Chincoteague & Horses
  • Hugo Cabret & Clocks / Time
  • Caroline’s Comet & Astronomy
  • Fuzzy Mud & Microbiology
  • Hatchet & Outdoor Skills
  • Airplanes & Flight
  • Marine Biology
  • Human Anatomy
  • Plant Dissection

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