What do Plutarch and the NBA draft have in common?

Dion of Syracuse! Of course.
We're reading about this one in Plutarch...
Dion (Δίων 408–354 BC), tyrant of Syracuse in Sicily, was the son of Hipparinus, and brother-in-law of Dionysius I of Syracuse.


Time of Dion, Dio or Deon, Tyrant of Syracuse, 367-366 and 357-353 BC
image courtesy of wildwinds.com

vs.

This one was just picked fourth in the NBA draft... Cavaliers Take Syracuse’s Dion Waiters With No. 4 Pick


image courtesy of: hoopsworld.com

Ancient meets modern.

Random connection.

:)

Plutarch Study - Alexander

"Using history as a mirror I try by whatever means I can to improve my own life and to model it by the standard of all that is best in those whose lives I write. As a result I feel as though I were conversing and indeed living with them; by means of history I receive each one of them in turn, welcome and entertain them as guests and consider their stature and their qualities and select from their actions the most authoritative and the best with a view to getting to know them. What greater pleasure could one enjoy than this or what more efficacious in improving one’s own character?"

~ Plutarch

So, we carry on in our study Plutarch... last term was Caesar, which was fun as it coincided on the AO schedule with our reading of Shakespeare's Caesar AND the boys have just come to Y6 in which they began reading Augustus Caesar's World. YAY! ...for making LOTS of connections! :)

This term Plutarch's life of Alexander is scheduled. Which we are REALLY enjoying. As we're piling up several terms of Plutarch studied now, we've been excited to discover several connections between famous men of the ancient world. This time as we were reading along, the boys' ears both pricked up as they heard the name of one of the generals opposing Alexander... (you'll have to read it to find out who! ;) He was just mentioned at first in passing (later in more detail), but the mere mention of his name sparked an afternoon flurry of research! Yippee!

Now, in general with Plutarch, we've kind of just taken it as another reading. I like to encourage meaningful discussion if it comes up, but mostly I'm hoping that a lot of the lessons will sink in naturally. ;) I haven't been lucky enough to coincide our study of Plutarch with a term when one of Anne's study guides was available. I like how she puts in a few new vocabulary words to watch out for, a tiny bit of background info, etc. I really like her guides. I really would like to use them. :) So, obviously, I can't wait 'til we get to a life that we can use one her studies for!!!

In the meantime, we are studying Alexander, and alas there is no study for Alexander... so, in my zeal of trying to implement our studies of Plutarch for the purpose intended (*see quote above) - encouragement of citizenship and character training... and not having the time nor skill to do what Anne's done, I've made a character sketch printable for Alexander. Keep in mind, this is intended for Plutarch beginners! I made it to help to get my student's thinking about why we're studying these ancient guys. It isn't a worksheet to be graded. Matter of fact, I gave a copy to each of my boys at the start of the term, and they are free to fill out or not fill out whichever things strike their fancy, as they go. I'm hoping this will help them keep their head wrapped around the man as the 12 week term progresses... especially as we'll have kind of an interrupted term this time around.



Download the Alexander Printable HERE.


Helpful Links:
Ambleside Online Plutarch Rotation
Why Read Plutarch?, article by George Grant
"Plutarch's Lives" as Affording Some Education as a Citizen, A Parent's Review Article, by Miss M. Ambler.
How We Study Plutarch, by lindafay - She lists some great practical ideas...

Ah. ah. ahhh... PLUTARCH!! ...bless you! *UPDATE!*

YAY!

Plutarch is now available for FREE on kindle!

I just love my kindle.

Here it is in three volumes:

Volume One

Volume Two (not free - $1)

Volume Three

You may or may not want to read the previous Plutarch post in search of seemingly elusive cheap audio... it was rather confusing and hair-brained :)  so maybe you'd better not go... ;)

*Image courtesy of GoFish

Ah. ah. ahhh... PLUTARCH!! ...bless you!

Plutarch.  On list there has been some discussion about Plutarch.  It wasn't long ago I had no idea what Plutarch was... and I probably couldn't have cared less.  But now, the enriched homeschool mother than I am; I have discovered something worthwhile.  I mean after all, it's been rated one of the top 20 books that nobody reads!  heheh. See the helpful links below if you too would like to be enlightened on Plutarch.  :)

Anyway, on the AO yahoo group (where there is almost always some interesting discussion going on), someone was looking for reasonably priced audio version of the book (specifically the life of Caesar). I looked around, and the prices range from $25 for only a few chapters of the book all the way to over $100 per volume for a 3 volume set!  Yikes.  Now, I see this is a problem and I half considered for a very brief millisecond making a recording of the book myself!!  Uh.  I don't have time for that.  SO, I had to keep looking.

Well, I have to share what I just found... 

And I think it's a secret.  I mean amazon doesn't even have the right stock photo up!  I think they're trying to keep it a mystery!  But you cannot fool me when it comes to finding a great price!!!

Plutarch's Lives by Audible Audio books only $17.30!  - ($7.49 if you have a membership)

**(editor's note: it's NOT such a great deal after all!  there are only FOUR lives included!!! see comments for details on how I could make such a nonsensical mistake... uh. sorry. I hope none of you have gone out and BOUGHT it!  I promise to check better next time!!!!)  Now, there remains the possibility that this recording does NOT contain all the lives... but MANY of the books you'll find are not complete either (my paperback copy doesn't have ALL the lives). It has a few to get you started though! ...and to me, that's perfect.  You choose. I just had to let you know ;)  **(editor's note: the following link contains 6 lives and so is a better deal, more specifically, it has Caesar, which is actually what the AOer was looking for.)  Roman Lives - unabridged (for around $20).  You'd have to find the Greek Lives somewhere else?  But it's still WAY cheaper than the Blackstone version!


Of course you can always get the audio free at librivox...
and in print for free here.

I love free.


You may be wondering...
"Why study Plutarch?  ...what in the world IS it?  All this time I thought you were sneezing..."  
You'll find the answers if you really want to know at the following links...

Helpful links:
Ambleside Online's Plutarch page... basic info and schedule.
Why Study Plutarch by George Grant... an article.
One lovely family's experience with Plutarch... a blog post.

**(This post has been edited to reflect new information.  The price I found ($17.30) is still a little better than many options available, but it has so few of the lives that it doesn't make it worth the price, UNLESS you are only specifically looking for a few lives without having to make the bigger investment.  The second option listed would be a better option in my opinion as it costs $2 more but has 2 more lives as well!) 

**(Oh and one more thing.  I enjoy reading Plutarch WITH my kids.  I think it is one of those books that I personally wouldn't really like to set my kids loose with.  I've read several warnings on the AO list that many of the lives have inappropriate themes. I think I want to be able to talk things through with them... so in this case, we would listen to the audio together.)