Progressing through Plutarch's Lives

So far in Plutarch we have studied Theseus and Romulus, Publicola (or Poplicola) and Solon. This has been one of the few books I've read out to the girls in a while as they think they've gotten a little old for such a thing, but we found it was necessary when they just weren't grasping the story. Reading out loud has brought even more great discussion. We've looked for each leaders gifts or strengths and asked ourselves if that would still make a great leader today. We've watched how the leaders have evolved from being heroic based on the killing of thieves (not something we admire today) to being heroic based on justice and mercy to the poor, which is still a high ideal today.

It's great too to see names that were mentioned in Herodotus and Spielvogel come up in Plutarch. During our reading of Solon Cereus, Cyrus & Cinncinatus were mentioned.

I've truly enjoyed this time together and hopefully we'll do more books out loud in the future. Sophocles is up next, a drama, which is meant to be heard, not read. I do think students need to learn to decipher the great books on their own, but alternating with a good read and discuss method seems to benefit them too.

I hope you all are enjoying your studies!