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Friday, November 6, 2009

Online High School Literature: The Odyssey

Update: This live course has concluded and is available as a recorded course through our Unlimted Access! service. This is a great way to learn at your own pace when your schedule allows.To subscribe or learn more: Adult and High School Online Classes

Literature: Homer’s Odyssey: The Soul of Pre-Socratic Wisdom

Dr. Henry Russell's literature courses have proven to be very popular with both students and parents:
“I have never really been interested in literature, but Dr.Russel has really helped me appreciate it allot more.”
“I enjoyed the class! Dr. Russell is great!”

"Thank you so much for the opportunity for Catholic homeschooled students to be exposed to those Catholic teachers who have a knowledge and love for the Truth. Dr. Russell's class this morning (I was listening alongside my son) was beautiful music to my ears!"
For the Spring 2010 semester, Dr. Russell will be teaching Homer and Virgil, spending 7 weeks each on the Odyssey and the Aeneid. Today we'll feature Homer's Odyssey and tomorrow will be Virgil's Aeneid.

Click on the title below to register:


Session dates: Tuesdays, January 19 to March 2, 2010
Total sessions: 7
Starting time: 10:00 am, Eastern Standard Time (9:00 Central)
Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes
Professor: Henry Russell, Ph.D.
Fee:
This course is regularly $140 for the entire 7 weeks.
Early registration discount: $25 off if registered by December 31, 2009

Course description:
It is easy, and incorrect, to remember Homer’s Odyssey as a voyage story of great and bizarre adventures. It is instead the quest to restore the broken family and restore relations with the God(s) which have been broken by human fault. The great wanderings fill only three to six books out of twenty-four. The other eighteen are devoted to the restoration of human order in the family and the kingdom. It takes Odysseus the same twelve chapters to get from the shore of his island Ithaka into full possession of his house in peace as it takes to get him home to Ithaka on his ten-year long quest. It is these beautiful chapters on human relations, as well as the wonders of Odysseus’ purgation through his quest, that make the epic a primary book of wisdom for all times and cultures.

Seven-class schedule:
Jan. 19 - Introduction to the Epics
Jan. 26 - Bks 1-4 The World Whose Fathers Have Been Absent
Feb. 2 - Bks. 5-8 The Glory of Marital Love amid Many Temptations
Feb. 9 - Bks. 9-12 Odysseus’ Tragic Flaw and Great Wanderings (Going down to the dead)
Feb. 16 - Bks.13-16 Finding Home as a Strange Land
Mar. 2 - Bks. 17-20 Restraint of Self and Testing of Others
Mar. 9 - Bks. 21-24 Justice and Restoration of the Family and Kingdom

Homework:
Dr. Russell will provide quizzes, essay topics, and a Midterm and Final Exam. Answer keys will be provided for parents to grade. Note: Homeschool Connections does not provide record keeping or transcripts.

Course materials:
Robert Fitzgerald’s translation of the Odyssey. You are free to use any translation you like, but you should have one with line numbers or it will be almost impossible to follow along with frequent references to the author’s words.

Equipment requirements:
Students are required to have high-speed internet and a headset with microphone. If you do not own a headset, you can find them for a reasonable price at Amazon.

Professor's biography:
Dr. Henry Russell is Headmaster of the St. Augustine's Homeschool Enrichment Program founded with his wife Crystal. The program began in Fall 2005 with 20 students in two living rooms and now tutors more than 70 students. He is also the President of the SS Peter and Paul Educational Foundation, dedicated to founding an orthodox Catholic Liberal Arts college in southeast Michigan.

A graduate of Princeton and South Caroline (M.S.), Dr. Russell completed his graduate work at Louisiana State University.

Formerly the Chairman of Ave Maria College's Department of Literature, he has also been a professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville and Wake Forest University. He is a founding faculty member of the St. Robert Southwell Creative Writing Workshop held in Mahwah, New Jersey.

Dr. Russell's works include The Catholic Shakespeare Audio Series. He was the Associate Editor of The Formalist from 1990-2004 and his writings have been published in various journals. He was honored to edit Dr. Alice von Hildebrand's groundbreaking volume, The Privilege of Being a Woman.

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