Simply Charlotte Mason — Charlotte Mason method homeschool helps.

The Bonus Features below are related to our book Matthew through Acts & Ancient Rome.

Be sure to check back here from time to time. We will be adding new and updated resources related to the book as we get them.

Oxford First Ancient History book

Unfortunately, the Oxford First Ancient History book recently went out of print. We would recommend replacing those readings with living biographies of the early church fathers who lived in Ancient Rome, such as the stories found in Trial and Triumph or Peril and Peace: Chronicles of the Ancient Church.

Optional Resources

• Life in Ancient Rome Coloring Book from Dover Publications

  These pictures are quite detailed with a brief explanation on each one. Older students might want to use colored pencils or even watercolor paints.

• Roman Empire Expansion Maps

  This is a great resource to use along with the map drill in the lesson plans. You can select a time period during the Roman Empire and see on the map all the land it controlled during those years. As you work your way through the time periods, you will be able to see how the Roman Empire expanded and then contracted again as it lost control over many regions. Highly recommended.

• Rome Antics by David Macaulay

  Thanks to Michelle for recommending this title: “It is along the lines of ‘Traveler in Rome’ but the Cliff Notes version. More like portraits of Rome built around a short story of a homing pigeon delivering an important message. Great when you have young ones piggy backing lessons. My 6 yo got much more out this than Traveler thanks to the descriptions in the back of the book but my 10 & 12 yo’s still enjoyed it.”

• An audio recording of Famous Men of Rome can be found on LibriVox. It’s not the Greenleaf Publisher’s version, but it could help a lot with pronunciation of those names. (Thanks to Rachelle for suggesting it!)

Lesson 28

Thanks to Sue in MN for helping us update this lesson. Lesson 28 says to label Yugoslavia on the map. But Yugoslavia no longer exists. It has been broken up into the countries of:

1. Bosnia & Herzegovina
2. Croatia
3. Macedonia
4. Montenegro
5. Serbia & Kosovo
6. Slovenia

The handbook already had us label Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia so we just labeled these others also.

Lesson 29

You may enjoy reading “Horatius” the poem by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay. You can find it at EnglishVerse.com.

Optional Activities

Many hands-on activities are available if you would like to supplement your study of Ancient Rome. Here are some suggestions (in random order) with links to details.

• Learn Latin

  Three resources that we like are Minimus: Starting Out in Latin for 7–10 year olds, Getting Started with Latin for 4th through 12th graders, and the Cambridge Latin Course also for 4th through 12th graders.

• Roman Numerals

  This module makes a great backdrop for learning Roman numerals. Practice writing your phone number, age, address, zip code.

• Roman Name Calendar

  The names of the months on our calendar have come down to us from Ancient Rome. Use the names on this chart of the Julian Calendar to make a Roman year calendar of your own, or write Roman names on a modern-day calendar, and use it throughout the year.

• Roman Feast

  Prepare and partake of a Roman feast in traditional style. Here are some details about Roman meals, some antique Roman dishes, real Roman recipes, and information about Roman food (with more recipes).

• Mosaics and Murals

  Try your hand at creating pictures using mosaic squares. You can experiment with squares of various colors of paper. When you’re ready, you can tackle re-creating one of these Ancient Roman mosaics.

• Games

  Build and play one or more of these nine Roman board games.

• Virtual Tour of a Roman Fort

  Take a virtual tour of Housesteads Fort on Hadrian’s Wall.

• Technology Behind the Colosseum
  Explore behind the scenes of the Colosseum and learn how this massive construction project was engineered.

• Link shared by Michelle for Ancient Rome lapbooks

  “There are many ideas and printouts for lapbooks which is incredibly helpful with younger ones but also helpful for reviewing or having extras for the portfolio.”

Optional Map Studies

Many thanks to Linda for posting the details on how to do map studies the way she was taught when she attended a British school. Feel free to incorporate some of these along with your geography reading and map drills.