Announcements/Changes to Mythology in Years Four to Six
04-11-2025, 08:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-11-2025, 10:11 PM by AnneWhite.)
The AO Advisory is pleased to announce a change of pace for Years Four through Six, in the subject of Mythology.
Many years ago, when we first assigned Bulfinch's The Age of Fable, we tried to keep the reading plan simple: one-third of the book for each of those years, nothing fancier than that. However, as the full curriculum evolved, we began to notice where parts of that book overlapped with other assigned texts. We listened to users' comments about what their students liked and didn't like, understood and didn't understand about the book. Finally, we considered the fact that, in the original PNEU programmes, students in the first year of Form II (those of about age 9) weren't assigned The Age of Fable, but The Heroes of Asgard, a somewhat simpler book of Norse myths. (In fact, we know that some families are already doing this.)
We decided that, to make this part of the curriculum more intentional and useful, we would make Heroes of Asgard an official part of Year Four. The Age of Fable will now begin in Year Five, with the stories that used to be assigned for Year Four. The first term of Year Six will include several chapters from later in the book, to give maturing students some new and challenging reading. And the rest of Year Six will be opened up for the Homer retellings (or originals) that were already part of those later terms.
If you're already thinking, "How am I supposed to figure out..." or "But we already read...," fear not: more details and schedules (including links to previous schedules) will be available on the AO website. We want to make this small but important change as painless as possible.
Oh, and one more thing (how could I almost forget this?): we will also have a set of brand-new, free study guides on the website, for The Heroes of Asgard and the assigned chapters of The Age of Fable. They will be linked from the pages for each of the three years.
We are excited about this new component in the AO curriculum, and we hope that you and your students will find it a blessing in the next homeschooling year.
Many years ago, when we first assigned Bulfinch's The Age of Fable, we tried to keep the reading plan simple: one-third of the book for each of those years, nothing fancier than that. However, as the full curriculum evolved, we began to notice where parts of that book overlapped with other assigned texts. We listened to users' comments about what their students liked and didn't like, understood and didn't understand about the book. Finally, we considered the fact that, in the original PNEU programmes, students in the first year of Form II (those of about age 9) weren't assigned The Age of Fable, but The Heroes of Asgard, a somewhat simpler book of Norse myths. (In fact, we know that some families are already doing this.)
We decided that, to make this part of the curriculum more intentional and useful, we would make Heroes of Asgard an official part of Year Four. The Age of Fable will now begin in Year Five, with the stories that used to be assigned for Year Four. The first term of Year Six will include several chapters from later in the book, to give maturing students some new and challenging reading. And the rest of Year Six will be opened up for the Homer retellings (or originals) that were already part of those later terms.
If you're already thinking, "How am I supposed to figure out..." or "But we already read...," fear not: more details and schedules (including links to previous schedules) will be available on the AO website. We want to make this small but important change as painless as possible.
Oh, and one more thing (how could I almost forget this?): we will also have a set of brand-new, free study guides on the website, for The Heroes of Asgard and the assigned chapters of The Age of Fable. They will be linked from the pages for each of the three years.
We are excited about this new component in the AO curriculum, and we hope that you and your students will find it a blessing in the next homeschooling year.
Anne White, Southern Ontario
My book page at Amazon
My book page at Amazon
![[Ha ha ha ha!]](https://amblesideonline.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.gif "[Ha ha ha ha!]")
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