Fine Arts Study: December 2011

Composer: George Frideric Handel

We spent some time with Handel last December, but we’ve added a few things to our studies this year.

Watching: Handel’s Last Chance

(We recently added this 6 DVD set to our collection. We’ve watched and loved the artists and inventors sets.)

Reading: Handel, Who Knew What He Liked by M. T. Anderson

We are still enjoying all our other books and CDs (at the link above), especially our Handel’s Messiah Family Advent Reader.

 

Artist: Norman Rockwell

Reading: Norman Rockwell: Storyteller With a Brush by Beverly Gherman (Have I ever mentioned how much I adore really great picture book biographies? Put this one on the list!)

(We also have a couple great over-sized books of Norman Rockwell illustrations to pour over.)

Watching:

And the perfect blend of art and poetry for this December:

Norman Rockwell’s Christmas Book--filled with Christmas poetry by Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll, and more. Synchronicity!

 

Christmas Poetry

Memorizing:

Christmas Bells

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
    And wild and sweet
    The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
    Had rolled along
    The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
    A voice, a chime,
    A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
    And with the sound
    The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
    And made forlorn
    The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
    “For hate is strong,
    And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
    The Wrong shall fail,
    The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

Fine Arts ~ November 2011

Poet/Author: Robert Louis Stevenson

Reading:

Poetry for Young People: Robert Louis Stevenson
A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson

Memorizing:

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
’Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside--

‘Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Listening:

Artist/Illustrator: N. C. Wyeth

Reading:

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth (How is that for synthesis?!)

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth

N.C. Wyeth’s Pilgrims, text by Robert San Souci

Watching:

 

 

Composer: Edvard Grieg

Printing:

Edvard Grieg at Making Music Fun.

Listening:

Radio shows about Edvard Grieg at Classics for Kids.

And (be patient…it really gets going about 1:40):

Fine Arts Study ~ October 2011

(Finally adding to my Fine Arts Monthy Features resources…)

Poet: Robert Frost

Reading:

A Swinger of Birches: Poems of Robert Frost for Young People illustrated by Peter Koeppen

Poetry for Young People: Robert Frost

Listening:

(Which led to the interesting discovery of birch swinging.)

 

Artist: Edward Hopper

Reading and Looking:

Edward Hopper: Summer at the Seashore (Adventures in Art by Prestel)

Edward Hopper (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists)

Art Appreciation Lessons at Garden of Praise

Watching:

(An excellent, short, family-friendly, biographical video about Hopper.)

Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist.

~Edward Hopper

 

Composer: Igor Stravinsky

Listening to radio shows at Classics for Kids.

Reading Igor Stravinsky (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers).

Listening and Watching:

(The complete ballet is available in five parts on YouTube.)

At the Ballet

I got out of the house! And Lola attended her first ballet. We went to the Hult Center with our best friends and watched the educational performance of Alice in Wonderland. It was a big hit with the boys (minus Leif who got to stay home with Dad) and Lola was an angel (did you doubt it?).

Fine Arts ~ January

In continuation of our Fine Arts Monthly Features:

::For January, we are reading about the artist Thomas Gainsborough at Garden of Praise, and we've purchased small art stickers from Dover.

::We're printing Franz Joseph Haydn's biography page over at Making Music Fun, as well as printing and playing his Surprise Symphony. And we are enjoying another one of Anna Harwell Celenza's beautiful composer picture books, The Farewell Symphony. We'll also be listening to the radio shows about Haydn at Classics for Kids.

::We're savoring A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard (and illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen, two of my favorites!) and Poetry for Young People: William Blake.

Tyger, Tyger, burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

::And copying a few reasonable words in our best handwriting:


Two wrongs don't make a right.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Fine Arts ~ Hallelujah!

Artist: Botticelli

Learn about Botticelli and his painting, Madonna and Child, here at Garden of Praise.

Composer: George Frideric Handel

Printing: Meet George Frideric Handel at Making Music Fun.

Listening to: Classical Kids: Hallelujah Handel!

Reading: Hallelujah Handel.



Sharing: The Handel's Messiah: Family Advent Reader. (More about this here.)

Singing:

Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. The kindom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah!

Watching: 650 singers burst into Hallelujah as part of a Random Act of Culture.

Christmas Poetry:

A Christmas Carol

by G. K. Chesterton

The Christ-child lay on Mary's lap,

His hair was like a light.

(O Weary, Weary were the world,

But here is all aright.)

The Christ-child lay on Mary's breast,

His hair was like a star.

(O stern and cunning are the Kings,

But here the true hearts are.)

The Christ-child lay on Mary's heart,

His hair was like a fire.

(O Wear, Weary is the world,

But here the world's desire.)

The Christ-child stood at Mary's knee,

His hair was like a crown,

And all the flowers looked up and Him,

And all the stars looked down.

Fine Arts ~ November

Getting in the last of November's fine arts studies. (By the skin of my teeth. Again.)
Read about artist Benjamin West here.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

At Making Music Fun, print the composer's biography, worksheets, simple sheet music, and lesson plans! (Be sure to scroll down for the additional links.) Listen to the radio shows about Bach at Classics for Kids.

WATCHING:

READING:

Bach's Goldberg Variations by Anna Harwell Celenza

LISTENING:

Mr. Bach Comes to Call

John Milton (1608-1674)

We are reading about John Milton in A Child's Introduction to Poetry.

Reasonable Words

Procrastination is the thief of time.

Well begun is half done.

Music and Math

We are currently attempting to learn to play the tin whistle (along with music theory) in our Classical Conversations classes. This is a wonderful way to introduce children to an instrument. Not only is a tin whistle an instrument that is used in orchestras, it has smaller holes than the recorder (making it easier for little fingers), is simple to play, is inexpensive, and takes up very little space.

One of the boys' CC tutors shared this incredible website with video tutorials and sheet music, everything you need to begin playing the tin whistle! No more excuses for not learning an instrument!

Speaking of music theory, Making Music Fun is a treasure-load of free printables. Check out these free music theory worksheets. I love the composer biographies and free sheet music. (We printed out a very simple version of Bach's Musette in D for this month's composer studies.) We also used the It All Adds Up! free rhythm worksheets to switch up our math review for a day or two. (Scroll down to the bottom of the music theory worksheets page.)

Which leads us to math. I've been using math-drills.com for our (free) easy-to-implement math review worksheets the last few weeks. Check out the index at the top of the page. There are over 6000 free printable worksheets (with answer keys!). Nice.

Appalachian Spring

I love a great non-fiction picture book, biographies in particular. I found Ballet for Marth: Making Appalachian Spring at the library and had to pick it up. One of Levi's favorite songs is Simple Gifts, and the boys have all loved the Appalachian Spring/Simple Gifts performance on Blast! (a fabulous DVD also available through Netflix) which is the second video below.

Ballet for Martha is a beautifully illustrated story about the collaboration between Martha Graham the dancer, Aaron Copland the composer, and Isamu Noguchi the artist. Together they created the ballet Appalachian Spring. The writing is strong and simple, echoing the themes of the ballet, with additional biographical information and a detailed list of notes and sources at the end.

I was able to find a video of the original ballet (1940s) for the boys to watch. (Oh, for the love of YouTube.)

Fine Arts ~ October

Shakespeare (again), Vivaldi, and Rembrandt

I've had a few other things on my plate {grin}, so my monthly fine arts features post for the month of October went by the wayside. Since it is still October (by the skin of my teeth), let's pretend that I'm still on schedule and enjoy a little culture, shall we?

In honor of St. Crispin's Day (this past Monday, October 25th), how about a lovely speech from Shakespeare's Henry V:

(Incidentally, we were learning a bit about the Hundred Years' War between England and France for Classical Conversations this month. I love it when lessons converge like that. Sweet!)

You can't go wrong with Vivaldi's Four Seasons (Autumn, of course) a la Disney's Fantasia:

Be sure to listen to the great radio shows about Vivaldi over at Classics for Kids, listen to Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery from Classical Kids, and print the Vivaldi page from the Famous Composers Wall Chart at Practical Pages. Print the composer's biography or print and play a simple version of Vivaldi's Spring at Making Music Fun.

Looking for an exquisite picture book to read while listening to Vivaldi's music? Look no further, I, Vivaldi is just the ticket.

I just can't help myself. Rembrandt's self portraits... wait for it... set to Vivaldi's Winter:

We read the Rembrandt book in the Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series, but I made a lovely discovery. Our library now carries the DVD version. Score.

And here we have more Rembrandt at Garden of Praise and Practical Pages.

Let's wrap up with a few reasonable words:

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Make hay while the sun shines.

Voila, my work here is done.

Fine Arts ~ September

Our Fine Arts bulletin board is now up! I found the perfect empty wall space facing the boys' bedroom door, so they will see it every time they come out of their room. Excellent. I used an old bulletin board I had and painted the cork black. Then I used foam letter stamps to paint Poetry, Words, Music, and Art at the top. (Okay, so the words aren't perfect, but better done imperfectly than not at all....)

Artist: Francisco Goya

I printed the Goya page from the Famous Artist Wall Chart (scroll down a bit to #2) at Practical Pages. This is posted on our Fine Arts bulletin board. Then I printed the featured work by Goya at Garden of Praise along with the description at The Metropolitan Museum of Art for our picture study (which will also be posted on the bulletin board when not in use). We will do a few of the Goya activities at Garden of Praise and read Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: Francisco Goya.

(All printed pages for the bulletin board go in page protectors. Printed worksheets are saved in the same sleeve as the picture study for easy access. Each month, we'll take down the pages and put them in a fine arts 3-ring binder with tabs each for artists, composers, and poets.)


Composer: Henry Purcell

We are reading about Henry Purcell at Wikipedia (and listening to samples of his music!). I printed his portrait with basic biography information for our bulletin board. I have the DVD of Purcell's opera, Dido and Aeneas in my collection, so we will dust it off and watch it.

Selections from YouTube:

Poet: William Shakespeare

I've posted previously about our Shakespeare studies. This time around, we'll be reading about Shakespeare in A Child's Introduction to Poetry and enjoying Poetry for Young People: William Shakespeare. I also printed his portrait (from Wikipedia) along with one of his poems for our bulletin board.

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind

by William Shakespeare

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember'd not.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Reasonable Words:

To go with our theme quote for fine arts studies ‎("One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe), I thought I would add a few reasonable words to our bulletin board each month. I'm using Proverbs and Idioms from A First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. (We will also use the proverbs for handwriting copy work during the month and those pages will go in the fine arts notebook.)

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Little strokes fell great oaks.

Orchestra and Poetry

Another month of warming up for our fine arts studies.

I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to review the instruments of the orchestra before diving into our monthly composers.

There are several books about instruments of the orchestra, but I like Story of the Orchestra since we have it on hand and will be using it for many of the composers, as well.

I remember learning about the instruments with Levi at San Francisco Symphony Kids when he was only two years old. He loved looking and listening to them and could name them all! This is a great interactive site for older kids, as well.

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin is a fun, classic picture book (and was also a Reading Rainbow episode if you can get your hands on it!).

The Philharmonic Gets Dressed is a unique way of looking at the instruments of the orchestra and the people who play them!

For your listening pleasure, try The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. There are various recordings, but I happen to love our version narrated by Sean Connery. (Or you can listen and learn about Benjamin Britten and The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra with activity sheet and quizzes at Classics for Kids.)


Our recording of The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra includes Peter and the Wolf (also narrated by Sean Connery). Peter and the Wolf is a necessary part of cultural literacy for children (in my not so humble opinion).
There are several picture book versions of Peter and the Wolf such as Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf: With a Fully-Orchestrated and Narrated CD . Be sure to check your library!

My boys have enjoyed the DVD Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf / Royal Ballet School (which is available through Netflix).

For an animated (unnarrated and darker) version, try Peter and the Wolf (available on Netflix Instant Play).

Don't forget YouTube videos of The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Peter and the Wolf, and various instruments!! Here are a few (slightly cheesy) selections for you:

For poetry this month, we're enjoying our new book and CD, Poetry Speaks to Children.

Mozart

We warmed up for our monthly fine arts studies with a mini unit on Mozart. The boys were already familiar with these resources from our own shelves:

Mozart: The Wonder Child
(Another beautiful picture book biography from Diane Stanley.)

Mozart's Magnificent Voyage
Part of the stellar Classical Kids series (I think we own them all, and my boys LOVE them), this CD combines a fictional story about three dream children from Mozart's opera, biographical information about Mozart's life, and excerpts of Mozart's music.)

Mozart's Magic Fantasy
(Also from the Classical Kids audio series, this is a wonderful introduction to Mozart's opera, 'The Magic Flute.')

(This picture book is also a great way to familiarize children with the story of The Magic Flute.)

The Magic Flute performed by The Metropolitan Opera
(This is a mesmerizing performance of The Magic Flute. The fantastical costuming, abridged story, and English translation make it a wonderful introduction to opera for children. Especially if they have listened to the above CD to whet their appetite.)

As always, don't forget to check out the radio programs about Mozart at Classics for Kids, as well as the printable activity sheet corresponding with the radio show!!

Fine Arts Monthly Features

‎One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song,
read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible,
to speak a few reasonable words.

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

As I mentioned before, I'm setting up a composer/artist/poet of the month study. When I was plotting out the schedule, I tried to keep the flow roughly chronological, somewhat connected to the time period we are studying in history, occasionally in context with other activities/studies/holidays, and tied in with our Classical Conversations composers and artists. That was no small task for me, but I persevered. This is what I came up with:


2010

July: Mozart

August: Instruments of the Orchestra, Poetry Speaks to Children

September: Purcell, Goya, Shakespeare

October: Vivaldi, Rembrandt, (more Shakespeare)

November: Bach, Benjamin West, Milton

December: Handel, Botticelli's Madonna and Child, (Christmas Poetry)



2011

January: Haydn, Gainsborough, William Blake

February: Beethoven, Morisot, William Wordsworth

March: Brahms, Winslow Homer, Robert Browning (and Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

April: Dvorak, Seurat, Edgar Allan Poe

May: Wagner (opera), Cassatt, Emily Dickinson

June-Aug: Tchaikovsky (ballet), Degas (and Impressionists), Edward Lear (and Christina Rossetti)

September: Debussy, Carl Larsson, Walt Whitman

October: Igor Stravinsky, Edward Hopper, Robert Frost

November: Grieg, N.C. Wyeth, Robert Louis Stevenson

December: (Handel), Norman Rockwell, (Christmas Poetry)



2012

January: Grandma Moses, Puccini (opera), Rudyard Kipling

February: Georgia O'Keeffe, Holst, William Carlos Williams

March: Magritte, Gershwin, Sandburg

April: Dali, Copland, Hughes

May: Pollock, Britten, Edna St. Vincent Millay

June: Warhol, Bernstein, Maya Angelou


Each month, I will attempt to give details about what resources we are using for each composer/artist/poet, as well as how I'm using them. As I add resource posts, I'll link them through this post and try to keep it updated so all the details are available in one place. Any general resources will be listed at the end of this post as I find them.

Classics for Kids ~Free online composer studies. Excellent radio shows, printable activity sheets, and detailed lesson plans. Highly recommended!!

Making Music Fun ~ A WEALTH of free printable treasures. Composer biographies, free sheet music (including simple versions of classical music), music theory worksheets, and more!

San Francisco Symphony Kids ~Free online interactive site. Particularly useful for learning about the instruments of the orchestra.

Story of the Orchestra ~Excellent illustrated hardback book with CD. Covers the instruments of the orchestra and famous composers (and musical periods) listed chronologically. Recommended!

Classical Kids audio series ~Stellar series of audio productions introducing children to the lives of famous composers and their music. Highly recommended!

Practical Pages ~ Wow! Free printable lapbook pages. Famous artists, famous musicians, and art projects.

NotebookingPages.com has free printable art, artist, music, and composer pages available.

Harmony Art Mom ~ Free artist and composer studies, as well as many other art projects. (To find the artist/composer links, scroll down and on the left.)

Ambleside Online is an amazing resource for Charlotte Mason style education. Here are their music appreciation/composer study and artist study links.

Garden of Praise ~Free online art appreciation/lessons for children.

Art Projects for Kids ~ Be sure to check out this incredible blog. Many free art project ideas, often inspired by famous artists--check out the post tags/labels such as Van Gogh.

National Gallery of Art for Kids ~ (Free online) interactive art activities and projects.

Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists ~Series of picture books about famous artists.

A Child's Introduction to Poetry ~Beautiful hardcover book with entertaining illustrations introducing children to the world of poetry. Second half of the book lists a selection of famous poets in chronological order with a short biography and samples of the poet's works. The included CD makes this book a unbeatable resource.

Poetry for Young People ~Excellent series of picture books, each featuring a famous poet. The books begin with biographical information about the poet followed by illustrated selections of the poet's works.

The Fine Arts

The internet is a beautiful, beautiful thing for homeschoolers. There is such an abundance of resources available to parents and their children for little to no cost.

My favorite new site: FAMOUS PAINTINGS Art Appreciation/Lessons For Kids.

These studies of Famous Paintings were written on an elementary level, but will be of interest to all ages. They will help students become familiar with and learn to appreciate the works of famous artists. Teachers, for each lesson you will find a biography of the artist, a study sheet, a worksheet, a greyscale print of the picture, a jigsaw puzzle, a printable and online crossword puzzle, word search, and word scramble, links for further research, and links to art lessons for many of the artists. There are posters, books, and videos you can order.

And there are 48 artists/masterpieces to study!! You could study one artist a month for four years! Fabulous, I tell you!

I've mentioned it before, but have you checked out Classics for Kids? Learn about the instruments of the orchestra and famous composers with radio shows, games, worksheets, quizzes, and even detailed lessons plans covering concepts such as Rhythm, Melody, Form, Timbre/Tone Color, Harmony, and Style. You can study composers by Classics for Kids' monthly featured composer, alphabetically, geographically, by musical period, or in chronological order.

For more about the individual instruments in the orchestra, try San Francisco Symphony Kids. YouTube is an excellent place to search for composers, musical instruments, and artists, as well.

Field Trip #17: Swing Kings

A nearby performing arts center offers educational performances of selected ballets. Many school classes attend, and the Hult Center reserves the box seats for homeschoolers. Tickets are only $5! Last spring, Levi and I attended Peter Pan with our best friends.

We were so disappointed that the performance for Beauty and the Beast was cancelled this past fall due to scheduling conflicts, so we had months of anticipation leading up to Swing Kings. It was fabulous, upbeat, and comical. And only 45 minutes long...perfect for the 4 young children along. This was Luke's first taste of a ballet performance, and he declared he loved it.

Guess Where We Will Be Visiting?

Levi and Luke's favorite YouTube video:

Art and Music

Art: Art has been the easiest subject to incorporate into our days. Our shelves are full of books of beautiful art, and we've borrowed additional titles from the library. You can find many of my recommendations here in my Amazon book store, or by clicking on the Fine Art Friday label.

Very simply, I try to read/view at least one book weekly with the boys. Sometimes our art book selection corresponds with other studies such as geography or science. More often, though, I just grab a book, and we enjoy it while sitting on the couch together. Occasionally, we'll view additional masterpieces by an artist on the computer, possibly printing a favorite for our collection.

Don't skip art because it is too overwhelming to plan for (when added to everything else on the list)! Add an art book to your library list and just make a point to look at it with your children sometime during the week. Stock your shelves with a few quality books of art and let your children gaze at them during quiet time.

We began reading Cave Paintings to Picasso this past year in conjunction with our history studies and will continue using it as a resource in the coming years. This book features 50 masterpieces from around the world, arranged chronologically with descriptions and historical information.

I also hope to begin drawing (very informally) with the boys every week or two using the Draw Write Now series.

(Art updates will be posted with the Fine Art Friday label.)

Music: I wrote a little about our music studies here, but I'll summarize again for you. I like to read a book once a week, either a picture book about a musician or a page or two from books such as Story of the Orchestra (a terrific introduction to instruments and famous composers), A Child's Introduction to Ballet, or Bravo! Brava! A Night at the Opera. Either at that time or later in the week we listen to a CD, watch a performance on DVD, watch a You Tube clip, or learn more about a composer at Classics for Kids. I don't put much (or any) time into planning for these lessons and keep the atmosphere very casual.

Levi has now been taking piano lessons for almost a year (thank you, Lynn, for being a wonderful instructor!!), and I am considering starting Luke this year, as well. I very much love the beginning piano books that Levi is using. Simple classical melodies, hymns, and jazz tunes enhance our music studies. I try to have Levi practice daily.

(Music updates will be posted with the Music label.)

Church and State

We enjoyed David Klinkenberg in concert this evening. He is truly a joy to watch and his musicianship is phenomenal. What an incredible young man of God.

Changing the subject, has everyone recovered from the elections? As proud and thankful as I am to be living in the United States, I am filled with hope and peace when I realize that God is bigger than America.

I appreciated Prairie Chick's thoughts on the Kingdom that transcends nations. She shares a thought-provoking perspective from Philip Yancey. I enjoyed What's So Amazing About Grace much more than I expected. Maybe I need to add The Jesus I Never Knew to my 2009 reading list (which I am in the process of writing up and will share soon).

In Sync

We are reading In Search of a Homeland: The Story of the Aeneid for our historical literature. For our music studies this year we are reading (and listening) about opera and ballet music, stories, and performances. I picked up a DVD performance of the opera Dido and Aeneas. I just love it when things come together like that!!


Levi also read through the first three books in Tales From the Odyssey by Mary Pope Osborne. This series retells selected stories from Homer's Odyssey. These chapter books also include information about Homer and the Odyssey, a map of Odysseus' journey, and a list of the names, pronunciations, and sketched pictures for the main gods and goddessess. They are a terrific introduction to the Odyssey as read-alouds or can be read alone by the child reading beginning chapter books.