Ancient Stream
Prehistory to 2000 B.C.
1 day per week
My daughter has just completed her first year of high school, following a curriculum that I designed for her. This is a summary of what we did. I will dedicate another post to my ideas behind this integrated curriculum. Note that she is a heritage French speaker, so we incorporate French material whenever we can, and that she is a dancer, so we also study the History of Ballet.
History – We began with Prehistory (Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Chalcolithic, the world over) and continued through the Early Bronze Age/the 3rd millennium B.C. (Mesopotamia, Old Kingdom Egypt, Malta, The Cyclades, France, the British Isles, Central Asia, the Indus Valley, and China). For a New Earth Catholic, prehistory will pose problems, since all of the Paleolithic sites and objects and most of the Neolithic have been dated to before the traditional date of Creation. This evidence exists. Two Catholic priests were involved in its earliest discovery and study. Perhaps one could study it without the dates that have been established. Perhaps the dating could be challenged, the timelines compressed.
Literature – My daughter read the Book of Genesis, chapters 1 to 11, along with the psalms that refer to Creation. Then she read the Book of Job, along with psalms about affliction. She also read The Epic of Gilgamesh, and then followed that with a selection of 3rd millennium texts, primarily Mesopotamian, but also some Egyptian.
Resources for the Study of Early Bronze Age Literature (3rd Millennium) – Parent/Teacher Preparation
Religion – n/a
French – Many prehistoric sites, especially Paleolithic and Early Bronze Age, are located in France, and high-quality museum features, journalistic reports, and documentaries in French abound, and I incorporated as many as I could find.
History of Science – Technological developments define these periods, and there were many “firsts” to note. Advanced astronomical knowledge, or at least hypotheses of it, can be traced from the Paleolithic through to the Early Bronze Age.
History of Music – My daughter listened to recreations of Sumerian music. I included both archaeological discoveries and art historical depictions of musical instruments; otherwise, the History of Music mostly aligned with the Modern Stream.
History of Art, Architecture, and Design – The evidence for these periods, especially anything prehistoric, is predominantly archaeological and art historical, so this is not treated separately.
History of Ballet – n/a
Medieval Stream
400 to 800 AD
1 day per week
History – We began with the sons of Theodosius – Honorius and Arcadius – and ended with Charlemagne. We studied the Christianization of barbarian tribes moving westward across Europe and beyond; the continuation of the Roman empire in Byzantium; and the emergence and rise of Islam. We also learned about the Gupta and Tang dynasties in India and China and the Kofun and Nara periods in Japan. We did not include the Teotihuacan and Classical Maya Civilizations, nor any Woodland Cultures in the Americas, and I wish that we had.
Literature – She read The Life of Saint Martin by Sulpicius Severus, Saint Augustine’s Confessions, and The Rule of Benedict, along with poetry by Prudentius, including the entirety of his Psychomachia, as well as by Saint Paulinus of Nola, Saint Ambrose, Saint Venantius Fortunatus, Boethius, Saint Columba, Saint Columbanus, Saint Caedmon, Saint Aldhelm, and Alcuin. She also read “The Dream of the Rood.”
Resources for the Study of Early Medieval Literature (4th through 8th Centuries) – Parent/Teacher Preparation
Religion – Weekly study of Church History covered Church Councils, Heresies, Popes, and Saints.
French – The history of France during these centuries (in particular, the Merovingians and the Carolingians) provided opportunities for reading and watching French sources.
History of Science – As with prehistory, there were technological advancements to note and advanced astronomical knowledge to acknowledge.
History of Music – Although the History of Music mostly aligned with the Modern Stream, we began with the earliest evidence for Church music in this period and traced its development to 17th century.
History of Art, Architecture, and Design – We depended on available resources, most especially SmartHistory videos and essays, to incorporate manuscripts, mosaics, frescoes, and sculpture.
History of Ballet – n/a
Modern Stream
17th Century
2 days per week
History – I will write more about how we did history (and all the areas) in a separate post. We began with 17th-century history in North America, then studied 17th-century history in England, then France, then Spain, then the Holy Roman Empire, then Switzerland (family heritage), then Sweden (family heritage), then Poland, then Russia, then the Ottoman Empire (family heritage), then Mughal India, then Ming & Qing China, and ending with Edo Japan. It worked amazingly well, but for this century only, I would divide up and distribute the 17th-century history of North America according to the relevant colonizing European country, and append it there. A mistake I made was backtracking for North American history, beginning with any 16th-century materials and events; I should have left that for when we study the 16th Century her senior year.
Resources for the Study of 17th- Century History – Designing a Curriculum (forthcoming)
Literature – My daughter read Don Quixote, plus the poetry of Ben Jonson, Richard Crashaw, John Dryden, and Luisa de Carvajal. She also read the complete sonnets of Shakespeare, plus his plays, The Tempest & Twelfth Night. Othello was on the reading list, but we did not get to it.
Religion – In the weekly Church History component, we never made it to the 17th century, but it would have been useful to cover 17th-century popes and heresies. In the weekly Theology component, selections from 17th-century religious writers were read. For the liturgical calendar, we focused on 17th-century saints.
French – My daughter read L’avare by Molière, Esther by Racine, fables by Jean de la Fontaine, and fairy tales by Charles Perrault and Madame d’Aulnoy. She also read a sermon by Bossuet and La Princesse de Clèves by Madame de La Fayette.
History of Science – This was a blockbuster century and convicted me of the importance of including the History of Science. We prioritized Catholic scientists, but did include the most significant Protestant ones (eg. Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton).
History of Art, Architecture, and Design – Every week, she studied a different Baroque artist, most of whom were Catholic, and some of whom took more than one week. I organized the artists first by country, then, within each country, chronologically. We moved through them independently of the movement through countries in Early Modern History, because the weighting of one country’s history and its art history were seldom equal. I will try to align them more closely in Year 2. My daughter also looked at the portraiture of whatever ruler she read about in history that week, as well as at the portraiture of their families, and at any contemporary paintings of contemporary events and at any visual material that is a source for the history of that week. When we moved beyond Europe, she was also introduced to the 17th-century art of each country.
History of Music – Each week, my daughter focused on a 17th-century composer, almost all of whom were Catholic, and some of whom needed more than one week. When we moved beyond Europe, she also was introduced to the 17th-century music of each country. We moved through the composer, from south to north, independently of the history, but, again, I will attempt to align them for Year 2.
History of Ballet – We began with dance at Italian Renaissance courts in the 15th Century, then moved to France in the 16th Century along with Catherine de’ Medici to study the emergence of ballet at the French court and devoted the second two-thirds of the year to ballet in France in the 17th century. Intersections with History and History of Music abounded. The poetry, costumes, music, politics, and, at moments, religion made ballet a surprising spoke in the wheel of 17th-century French history.
Nihil sub sole novum 