The Book of the Ancient Romans & The Aeneid Lesson Plans {Review}

The Book of the Ancient Romans & The Aeneid Lesson Plans

Thanks to the TOS Review, I was delighted to receive and review the complete set of the Dorothy Mills, The Book of the Ancient Romans edited by Memoria Press with their Student Manual, Teachers’ Guide with solutions, and the text. While the curriculum is such that you can just jump in and go, I’m a person that for now at least in my earlier years of homeschooling enjoys a bit of direction. This is provided in the Lesson Plans by Memoria Press.

In the introduction, I discovered that Memoria Press recommends that your student has taken The Book of the Ancient Greeks & Homer studies in the year prior to studying Dorothy Mills’ Ancient Romans giving them a firm foundation on which to build. After having a few weeks and nearly a dozen completed lessons under my belt I’d say that you can succeed with jumping to the Ancient Romans first, but it would make the entire picture of ancient history much clearer had I immersed myself in the Greeks first before the Romans. More to look forward to for now!

The lesson plans of the Ancient Romans takes about 16 weeks dedicated to Dorothy Mills text, The Book of the Ancient Romans. The lessons have a strong cadence of read the lesson, do the pages in the student manual, work the activities (map/timeline), test, repeat until it’s completion and then in a second semester the lesson plans follow Virgil’s The Aeneid, specifically a David West translation. At this time I’ve been working through the Ancient Romans set, but I haven’t acquired The Aeneid set yet so I can only complete the first half of the lesson plans thus far. Yet with just this progress I can already tell you this is a great course for a full school year!

Memoria Press has put these lessons in their Accelerated Eighth Grade path (presumably that will make it in the Standard Classical Core Ninth Grade plan as well depending on which route you choose if you’re following their curricula). Going through The Book of the Ancient Romans, your student will be educated in history, character, and historical background of later days and then going through The Aeneid in their curricula will support your student toward a preparation of AP Virgil as well!

I have to confess that studying this alongside the possibility of reading Beowulf, the Story of Christianity, The Book of the Middle Ages, Canterbury Tales, Henry V, Sir Gawain & the Green Knight; as well as studying Poetry, Prose & Drama, and Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics sounds like an immersible dream to me!

In other notes, if you’re a take a class online type of person, Memoria Press Online Academy also offers a course entitled Classical Studies II: The Ancient Romans, Cicero, & Tacitus. This adds another classical work and rounds out to 1 high school credit.

Read more about my thoughts on The Book of the Ancient Romans Complete Set...

Make sure to check out the parts of my Kindergarten review in posts!

Part I – Lesson Plans

Part II – Recitation & Phonics

Part III – Math

Part IV – Copybook & Memory

Part V – Enrichment

Part VI – Conclusion

You might also be interested in Junior Kindergarten.

Part I – Lesson Plans

Part II – Phonics

Part III – Math

Part IV – Poetry

Part V – Prayer & Devotion

Part VI – Crafts