NOTICE: This is an older course recorded with Adobe Connect and/or Vimeo recordings. We are currently working to replace the recordings with new Zoom recordings. Please don't hesitate to email us at homeschoolconnections@gmail.
How to get the most out of Odyssey: The World Without Fathers With Dr. Henry Russell:
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First, read the course details below.
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Prepare a notebook for note-taking and homework.
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Students begin the course by clicking on the "Recording" and watching the instructor's lecture for Class One.
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Complete the Week One Activities.
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If you need review, go back and watch the recording again and/or go over the Powerpoint.
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Repeat until all classes are complete.
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Once the course is completed to the parent's satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records. Homeschool Connections does not provide record keeping.
Total Classes: 12
Duration: 55 minutes
Prerequisite: The ability to read two chapters per week with understanding.
Suggested Grade Level: 9th grade and up
Suggested Credit: One full semester credit Literature or Ancient Literature.
Instructor: Henry Russell, Ph.D.
Instructor email: maryshire@gmail.com
Course Description: Dr. Russell teaches Homer’s Odyssey as the greatest hymn to marriage and fatherhood outside of the Bible. It is also one of the West’s greatest adventure stories. It traces the quest to restore a family under attack after 20 years of the father’s absence. But to come home, Odysseus must restore relations with the Gods, which have been broken by his fault. The Great Wanderings fill only five books out of twenty-four. The other nineteen are devoted to the restoration of the family and the kingdom. It takes Odysseus the same twelve chapters to get from the shore of his island, Ithaka, into full possession of his house in peace as it takes to get him home to Ithaka on his ten-year long quest. These beautiful chapters on human relations, as well as the wonders of Odysseus’ purgation through his quest, make the epic a primary book of wisdom for all times and cultures.
Course Outline: (week by week)
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Week 1 - Chapters 1-2: The King’s House Abused; Preparing a Hero; The Polis Abused; Portents of Doom
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Week 2 - Chapters 3-4: An Ordered Kingdom; The Glory of Marriage
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Week 3 - Chapters 5-6: Kalypso’s Test; Nausicaa’s Test
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Week 4 - Chapter 7-8: A Better Kingdom; Games and Songs
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Week 5 -Chapters 9-10: Ismaros; Lotos-Eaters; Cyclops; Men Earn Their Doom; The Divine Circe
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Week 6 - Chapters 11-12: The Lessons of the Dead; More Gifts from Circe
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Week 7 - Chapters 13-14: Home as a Strange Land of Humility; The Last Shall be First
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Week 8 - Chapters 15-16: Telemakos Grown; Reunion and Plans
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Week 9 - Chapters 17-18: Humiliations of a Hero; Penelope and Aphrodite
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Week 10 -Chapters 19-20: Penelope’s Intuitions; Men Judge Themselves
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Week 11 - Chapters 21-22: The Test of the Bow; The Cleansing of the House
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Week 12 - Chapters 23-24: Penelope’s Victory; Divine Justice
Course Materials: Homer. The Odyssey. The Robert Fitzgerald translation (Vintage Classics) is highly recommended, ISBN: 0679728139. Any translation you use should have line numbers.
Homework: Each week you will read two chapters of the epic. That will take about 1 to 1.5 hours for most readers. There will be automated-graded weekly quizzes for immediate feedback, as well as two exams, one in the middle and one at the end of the course. Please come to class with thoughts and questions about what you have read.
- Teacher: Henry Russell