Ancient Greece and the Iditarod

I'm not sure how these two things came together, except that we were moving on to Ancient Greece and the Iditarod starts in March.  So we'll call it a calendar coincidence.

Our study of Ancient Greece has been a lot of fun.  The Boys are at a great age to study Greek Mythology - old enough so you don't have to gloss over the gory stuff.  The Mythology also really speaks to the need for heroes in boys (as evidenced by their love of comic book heroes).  Plus, it's just exciting stuff.  We have read stories from the Odyssey, the trials of Hercules, the lore of Pan.  We have studied the birth of democracy and contrasted it with the tyranny of the Pharaohs.  The Boys were fascinated with the differences between the artistic and democratic Athenians and the militaristic and minimalist Spartans.  We learned a LOT about archeology and how scientists date artifacts and piece together a picture of an ancient society.  Of course, we took a field trip to the Parthenon replica which just happens to be ten minutes from our house.  And, did I mention, we made a pretty vase!

 

  

 

We read the first two books in the Percy Jackson series as read alouds.  Again, I am really impressed with how Rick Riodan weaves the myths into a modern story while staying true to the original myth.  Even with all the mythology we were reading, we came across several references in the Percy Jackson stories that we hadn't heard elsewhere.  When we looked them up, we always found them to be almost exactly as he told them in the book.

So how does the Iditarod fit into all this?  Well, many years ago, I remember hearing a teacher giving an example of how she used technology in the classroom.  She had her class follow the Iditarod online.  I thought that was a really cool idea and it has stayed with me.  So when I saw the it was starting in March, we put it on our calendar.  We have learned about Alaska and its geography, the history of the Iditarod, the Junior Iditarod and a lot about dogs.  For our evening entertainment  (especially since it's pledge week on PBS and none of our regular shows are on), we are watching a Discovery Channel show about the 2008 Iditarod.  We've picked out our favorites and now we are tracking them in this year's race through the Iditarod site.  Pretty fun stuff.

The Boys don't want to end our study of Ancient Greece, but we're coming to the end of the unit.  They have decided to put together a two-man play of the Odyssey for their final project.  It's going to be adventurous and funny.  It will also double as their entry in the talent show our co-op will be doing in the Spring.  Stay tuned for more details.