SCM Discussion Forum

1. 

   9arrows4God
   Member

   Okay doing yet more research tonight.  Read excerpts from "The famous men serie" and really I just do not want to even get into that kind of detail of any false god/esses type stuff.  It is not that I do not tell the children about it, we have discussed it and we have read and enjoy the Torjan Horse story.  This is easy to discuss - the actual event and city may have actually been true, but like many nations we add is idols and such to the stories.  This I can discuss and we have looked very briefly at some of the short points on this in an Usborne book. 

   I feel we do not need to read actually full stories on them.  Even though I can explain to them see how it fits and copies various bible stories. 

   I do not say this to put down anyone that does, just I do not want to but yet I want to use the SCM guide, since I love love her slowly going through the bible and tips on BOC entries and such. 

   Is there not a reading out there that has just the great real people of Greece and Rome and maybe from a Christian author.  I just want to know about the actuall real life characters that shaped greece and Rome. 

   Will I be able to still use the SCM and not be missing a ton of it.  Am I only left with the bible part of it?

   There has to be books out there with real life people of the time.

   Also looked at plutarch's works but looks like his is all about the god/desses that effected the people as well and hard to understand.

   I know from a couple other posts on here that some mamas are in the same boat so someone must of found some alternative.

   I also chose not to read the actual Homer books.  At first that is all I thought I was going to avoid not knowing that the Famous Men series and other spines are heavy on the god/godeses.  Just thought they were only famous men.

   Sorry so long winded and thanks to all the replies of late - all have helped in rounding my thoughts.  And going forth with our various SCM materials I bought - that I love and the next order I will be placing.

   Lots of hard work has gone onto this site.

   Love all teh DVD series on here.  They are so wonderful to watch and be encouraged. 

   We need Sonya up here in Saskatchewan, Canada at our homeschooling conference - it would set many mamas free.

   Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
2. 

   Sonya Shafer
   SCM Team

   As you move along in the Famous Men book, you will see more on the actual people. Feel free to skip the myths and legends in the front of the book.

   I'm not sure how much mythology is in Three Greek Children by Alfred Church, but you might take a look at that one as another possibility.

   Bless your heart, I would love to encourage the mamas in Saskatchewan.

   Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
3. 

   Bookworm
   Member

   How old are your children?  I'll go dig through my shelves.

   But I do have to mention--when writing/learning about the very ancient Greeks, you really can't get around the false god issue.  If you don't want to go there, then just don't do it until your children are older or ready.  But you can't really understand the ancient Greeks if you don't understand what they believed.  I mean, these guys really truly thought they had to appease their gods, they truly thought they could tell the future with animal entrails, they made their choices based on the worldview they had, and it won't make much sense to us if we do not also understand the worldview they are coming from.  The best Christian in the world could write a book about these people, and that person would still have to deal with this issue.  There's no way around it--they were idol-worshippers.  They acted like idol-worshippers.  Their every act and deed was informed by what they believed. 

   If you have very young children, then perhaps just skip it.  Do another time in history, OR just cover the Bible history and do some very light reading on Greece/Rome.  If you really want to address this and your children are a little older (say, 4th and 5th grades and up) then you might consider the Truthquest guides on these topics.  They are excellent in identifying the worldview of these people and how it affected their behavior.

   Or, get some of the books listed and just skip the parts you don't want to read.  You are going to have a hard time eliminating any mention of false gods.  Plutarch really isn't going to fit your needs, because although there is history IN Plutarch, Plutarch's Lives are not history stories.  They are character/citizenship stories.  If you want history, I'd go elsewhere. 

   I do have some books.  If I know how old your children are, I can tell you what we did at that age. 

   Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
4. 

   9arrows4God
   Member

   Thanks for the reply,  I have no problem at all mentioning about their false gods and who it is what effected their lives but I would rathers it not be the actuall full story itself.  Engrossing them in the the actual myth.

   We talk very openly about idol worship and reasons they do this or that.  But just not reading their actuall "doctrin" if that is the right word, on their idols.

   Would like something that tells of the actual real people and their contributions to history and in and of that possibly it will tell some of their beliefs that may have affected their decisions.

   Does this make sense.  :O)

   Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
5. 

   csmamma
   Member

   I understand your concerns with not wanting to expand on Greek Gods and such. We chose to wait until our boys were in older grades to cover Egypt, Greek and Rome. We then used the TruthQuest History guides to help us see Gods hands in history in the midst of such pagan beliefs. TQ caused us to see just how their beliefs affected their decisions in more ways than one.

   Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
6. 

   9arrows4God
   Member

   Thanks, I will have to check out TQ, so it is just a reading not a bunch of questions and such to?  I do not want a whole program.  I can not really wait for older and such.  As I have 9 children ages almost 14 and under.  So it is doe it once and learn in rotation.  I can not have a bunch of different topics going on, day is busy already.  Young ones just keep coming in on history on where ever the rotation is and then start over what they did not lear when the full rotation is over.  :O)

   Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
7. 

   csmamma
   Member

   TQ is simply a list of living books with a commentary throughout to help you see Gods hand in history. You can view samples and find out more about it here http://www.truthquesthistory.com/  Its very CM friendly and designed to use with multiple children. Blessings to you and yours! Heather

   Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
8. 

   Sanveann
   Member

   I'm curious as to why some families choose to limit mythology -- anyone care to explain to me? Also, do you avoid teaching your children about modern religions other than Christianity?

   I LOVED reading about Greek and Roman mythology as a child, and I never found it confusing to my faith (and my parents were pretty lackadaisical Christians, so I didn't have a great foundation, either). It really sparked a fascination with ancient Roman history that continues to this day, and that my husband now shares with me. (Downside: I had a really hard time convincing him we weren't naming our youngest son Augustus.)

   Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
9. 

   labellavita
   Member

   we too limit exposure about false gods.  My children know about them, we discuss the beliefs of the Greeks and how they did not know the One True G-d, and I do not glorify those gods. 

   My personal focus with my children as been biblical history as I want that to be my children's foundation in history, in my house it is more important than American history, but that is us and what we believe.  You can't teach biblical history w/o getting into false gods somewhat, its in there (Ex: the story of Moses), but knowing there were false gods and some of the beliefs of the Egyptians and getting into the "cool" factor and drawing pictures of them, creating art in their likeness, etc are two different things.  We don't dig deep into it, don't study them out, their 'powers', etc.  My children are elementary aged so that is what we've been doing.  When they are older it may be different, but this has been our approach to mythology so far and I don't see us venturing too far off of this path.

   Sanveann - we limit mythology because we do not believe it edifies the One True G-d, He has very strong words to say about this. Yes, our children need to understand idolatry existed and still exists and we talk about that, but it is one thing looking at something from a purely historical point of view, and immersing ourselves into the fantastical stories. 

   At this point in time we don't delve in deeply into other religions because my children are still establishing their own foundations.  We talk about other religions, but its not a study, IYKWIM.  We believe a solid grounding in the Bible is important FIRST, because if they see G-d's heart and wisdom as He's revealed Himself to us through His Word, and establish their own relationship with Him, my children can then easily discern falsehood from truth without me having to give long lessons on it.  At their age I don't think its fruitful to pull them into all different kinds of directions with lots of falsehood, immerse them in Truth, then they can easily see falsehood.

   Guide them in the way that they SHOULD go.

   I believe I understand what you are talking about, I was a Latin nut, LOVED Latin, Roman history, culture, gods, etc, I was in deep, but I'm so grateful that the Lord stripped that from me.

   Hope I explained that well, feeling kind of blubbery at the keyboard.

   Blessings,

   Ginnie

   Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
10. 

    labellavita
    Member

    9arrows:

    P.S. ~ I'll look on my shelves and see what books I have, or books that I've heard of. 

    My children actually have developed discernment and will tell me if they don't want to read a book because its delving into magic, sorcery, false gods, etc., so I know in some books we've skipped chapters (sometimes even whole books).  And unfortunately, that is one thing you will just have to do because what you and I believe and want to do in our homes is not the norm. 

     

    Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
11. 

    9arrows4God
    Member

    Also wanted to say - that our children will also come up to me and mention when a book has those elements or something that is not pure.  Sometimes it is just something little but effects the puriety of the mind.  I love seeing this. 

    Sanveann - yes we do discuss even religions of today, in fact it happens lots as we shop at an organic food store and well talk and visit with many different cultures and have had them to our farm and had great discussions.  God told us to live our light and he came and talked to those that did not know Him.  So we to - do this.  So they get to see first hand the effects on peoples lives.  All without having to go into the details of their gods. 

    It is always amazing how we are amazed to such great depths of history that was totally paganistic.  We are drawn towards that which is not true.  I am not saying I am not interested in Greek and Roman.  It is hard not to be somewhat amazed but we need to question why we are soooo amazed and so drawn to immerse ourselves.   Even though we think we are only touching it lightly.  It warns us that these things seem good to us - Satin  comes to deceive - makes things look enticing and gives us thoughts that we must know this or that in order to understand ourselves better.  Looking to man more.    These are just some of my thoughts. 

    And also want to apologize for some of my bad grammar and spelling.  With many little ones runnig around I just trying to type what I can and send it, not checking it properly.  Hopefully it is not to jumbled.  My head goes faster than I type.  And I actually type pretty fast.  That and the kids that keep coming up and talking to me while I type.lol 

    Trust me God has sent many real life people in our lives that are from very different walks - (to the point - it just amazes us on why he is allowing it)  when most of our "Christian" friends barely see anyone outside their church family.  And in these times we have wonderful discussion with the people themselves and when they leave and we discuss as a family together - it roots us even tighter to the word of God.   Life is a good teacher.  And that is without going into the actual details of their gods. 

    Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
12. 

    Sanveann
    Member

    I can understand your feelings on your kids not learning about mythological gods/goddesses, though we'll have to agree to disagree there :)

    I guess I'm not sure I see what the harm is in being drawn to any given period of history, though. Does it make a difference if one is particularly interested in ancient China vs. Victorian England, or ancient Rome vs. colonial America? When I was in college, I was fascinated by the culture and history of China. I minored in Asian studies, in fact, and took many classes on Chinese culture, history, geography, literature ... even a year of Mandarin. But I never had any interest in studying, let alone practicing, Eastern faiths.

    I think -all- history is worth studying in depth, and that for whatever reasons, some of us are more drawn to some times than others. My mom's particular love is for Civil War-era history; my uncle's is for German history. In addition to ancient Rome and China, I also particularly love learning about Michigan history. I'm also hoping to learn more about British history in the near future, so my kids can appreciate my husband's family's heritage (FIL is a Scouser).

    Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
13. 

    amandajhilburn
    Member

    I wanted to say that the age of the children makes a big difference in my opinion. Studying world religions in college and memorizing the powers of all the Greek gods and goddesses (for example) in 1st grade are two different things.

    I have experienced first hand how confusing it can be to little ones. My son (at age 6) was terrified by the stories I began to read to him from S.Bauer's Story of the World. The Egyptian myths and stories that were meant as historical fiction really bothered him. He could not tell what was myth and what was fact. We stopped after a couple of days of trying to seperate the two and decided to use SCM's Genesis-Deut. & Ancient Egypt. He was able to handle studying it then.

    Enter 2nd grade....We began module 2 of SCM history but he confused some of the myths in Famous Men of Greece with the APOSTLES!! Not good! That happened because I tried to explain to them before we began that the Greeks worshipped idols like the Egyptians did and that the apostle Paul went to Greece to teach the people there about the One True GOD. He still got so confused that we had to stop using module 2 and skip to module 5 for some more American history.

    His sister who is 2 years older did not have a problem with seeing the truth from the myth. However, she got so interested in the Greeks that she wanted to talk about the goddesses all the time, draw them, learn their powers, etc. We (my husband and I) did not think that it was good for her to be that engrossed in idolatry at age 9. So we really had issues with both children regarding idolatry and myths in history.

    I plan to begin a chronological study of history next year when my children are in the 4th and 5th grades. I believe that they will be more able to discern truth from error then.

     

    Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
14. 

    9arrows4God
    Member

    Hmm I had another post I posted here and it is not here.  Not sure if it got lost or somehow did not go through.

    Such a great group of ladies here.

    Sanveann-- I do agree studing history of different aras is very good.  I think it does help us see what was happening around the world at the same time as Biblical History.  Which is good, after all - even some stuff we think is Christian rooted is actually not at all and you can descover that when studying other culture.  So I am all up on studying the different cultures - just for us not the actually detailed stories.  :O)

    I wish my other post came through, it explained more easily what I meant.

    There also is the Bible verse about to much study of books is not good.  So I just want to make I balance what we learn with what is pure, just and righteous.  That which edifies.  That which shows truth.

    Again I so wish the other post came through.  Not sure I can rewrite it now.

    Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
15. 

    Doug Smith
    SCM Team

    @9arrows4God, You still have another post a few messages above. However, you had posted two copies of it. I deleted one because it was an exact duplicate. I don't see any other posts in the spam trap or anything like that.

    Posted 2 years ago # Report Post

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