Parent Tip: Lesson 2.5
In Lesson 2.5: Greek & Latin Roots 2, your child will continue to learn about Ancient Greek and Latin word roots (introduced in Lesson 1.5: Greek & Latin Roots 1) and begin learning about epic poetry. The poem excerpts from Beowulf, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid are age-appropriate but contain both unfamiliar words and some violence, as befits epic, heroic stories. We’ve used the Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf, the Richmond Lattimore translation of The Odyssey, and the Robert Fagles’s translation of The Aeneid. The Heaney and Lattimore translations capture the feel and spirit of the original languages well (a big part of our goal in this lesson), and we recommend that you stick with them if your child decides to read the rest of the poems.
When your child reads the poem excerpts for this lesson, we strongly encourage you to have your child read them out loud, the original form of epic poems, and to go slow and reread the passages as many times as they need to ensure they understand what it says. Please use the vocabulary definitions in the SeeSaw slides (click on the quotation mark at the bottom left of the slide) when your child runs into unfamiliar words that they can’t decode from context.
Of the three epic poems, Beowulf is the most accessible to children in elementary and middle school. We encourage you to listen to Seamus Heaney’s audio recordings of Beowulf in modern English to experience the poem’s full power; the recordings make for great long-drive material or long evenings at home. Bonus: listen to a bit of Beowulf in Old English, too! In addition to root and vocabulary memorization, we want your child to get a feel for the sound and essence of Ancient Greek, Latin, and Old English, even though we are only dipping our toes into the languages. It will enrich their lives, their minds, and their writing.
Finally, though your child will learn to write epic poetry in this lesson, we do not explore or expect your child to master the particular meter of Homeric poems or Beowulf. We cover poetry rhythm and meter later in our curriculum.
