Have you read these books? If so, are they necessary and did your kids enjoy them?

My 11yo dd read Detectives in Togas in the last 6 months and really liked it. It was one she brought to me afterward and said, “Mom, you should read that one to the younger kids, it’s great.”

Great reads all of them!

I did Archimedes as a read aloud with my 11 yr old son. Even as a read aloud I thought it was a little above him in many areas where it goes into detail about all the math, astronomy, etc that Archimedes pioneered. It was tough for me to follow. I wish I would have waited until he does Ancients for the second time in 9th grade. I have Galen on my shelf and I am going to flip through it to see if it is difficult as well. If so then I will wait.

I agree with sltress about Archimedes.  My 9 year old actually screams when she hears the name.  The first few chapters of his history were fine, but the later chapters that delve into the thinking and calculations of his discoveries were way too much for her.  For example, it talks about different types of levers (there are three.)  The children need to understand the differences between them and identify what type of lever a given object is in order to really get anything out of it.  IMO it’s too much thinking for a 9 year old.  It really took the joy out the experience (sucked it out like a vacuum 🙁

If you really want to read this book, I suggest you just read the first few chapters and skim through the rest.

Also, as Robin stated, Jim Weiss’ audio is wonderfully done.  It gives that age group the intro to Archemedies they need without burdening them.