The Plutarch Primer: Publicola (Revised)

by Anne E. White, Plutarch

Publicola, one of the first consuls of the Roman Republic, was "the most eminent amongst the Romans" and 'the fountain of their honour." This updated edition of The Plutarch Primer includes vocabulary, discussion questions, and other study aids for young students and their parents/teachers, plus edited text for Plutarch's Life of Publicola. It is designed especially for those who are new to the study of Plutarch.

Genres: History, School, Education, Biography, Classics

66 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 2015

Reviews

[Darlene Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read with Olivia for school (y4). Publicola was our first of the Lives of Plutarch. It was a tough one, but we got through it and Olivia gleaned more about Publicola’s character and virtues than I thought she would from such a difficult read. Anne White’s guide was very helpful in regards to splitting it up, vocabulary, and narration prompts. Many of my prompts were simply, “What did we just read?!” We finished with a proud sigh of relief and triumph.

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

My whole family (including the 7 year old!) loved our first encounter with Plutarch. Thanks Anne for making it possible.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

We finally finished our first Plutarch Life! This was difficult for both of us but we did it and we're excited to move on to the next one!

[Amy Meyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful beginning to trying to read Plutarch to the children. I have been wanting to do this for a while, and after listening to a Circe podcast interviewing David Hicks, who with his brother, is translating some of the Plutarch Lives into more modern English, I decided to give Anne White's primer a try. I told the children it would be challenging and bribed them with bubble gum to the best listener for the day. Thus we got through the 12 "lessons" in 11 readings, and the children did really well. But it would be much nicer with more modern English. Perhaps I'll get to the point where I don't need Anne's helps, but for a beginning it was very nice to have a short introduction, the "Life" already broken up into short, coherent readings with vocab helps and narration prompts. It does seem expensive to pay for just one Plutarch "Life," but the succeeding volumes by White have three. Afterwards, my oldest boy, history buff, asked if we could go on reading more Plutarch! Triumph. We'll do another life this year or next at the latest.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I half expected fireworks to sound off after we finished reading this book. Having never read Plutarch I was scared. This book really made Plutarch approachable. I can honestly say I’m looking forward to the next book in White’s series.

[Caroline Norris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This term was our first foray into Plutarch, and Anne White’s “Primer” with the life of Publicola made it feel so much less intimidating! We enjoyed learning about Publicola’s life and diving into Roman culture and customs. It is so fascinating to read historical accounts of Ancient Rome! My ten year old son gave it two thumbs up! We read Stories from Rome by Mrs. Beesly, which are basically retellings of stories from Plutarch, as a means of easing into Plutarch, and while we really enjoyed that book, I think we still would have been just fine jumping in during Year 4 to the “real thing” using Anne’s guides.

[Staci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne White's guide has made our first Plutarch life a success. I won't say that Plutarch is our favorite school subject, but my sons and I enjoyed it. Anne's guide made it very accessible and easy to teach.

[Lindsey]

I won’t say that I enjoyed this, but I am trusting that I will see the fruit as we continue on with Plutarch

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

We did it. Our first Life and it was hard. Thank you, Anne White, for getting us through.

[Melissa Grice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with my Year 4 student as our first Plutarch. It was definitely not easy reading, but worthwhile, and I’m looking forward to reading more Plutarch. Anne White’s notes were exceptionally valuable in helping guide us through the reading.

[Jessica Atwater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever since I was in love with the movie "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" as a child, I thought, "Some day I will read "Plutarch's Lives." In more than 30 years, this is my first completed reading of a single life, and I loved the experience. This book made approaching Plutarch much less intimidating. We used it as a school read aloud this term with three of my children, the 10 year old, the 12 year old, and the 15 year old. Of all the things we read, this was the most challenging, and we did struggle at times.

I found that children enjoyed the lessons more if I gave less: fewer vocabulary explanations, less frequent stopping for narrations and to check comprehension, less background. I read the introductions myself, but I didn't read them aloud. We used some of the narration discussion prompts, but not even close to all. By the end, I felt confident enough to add a few discussion prompts of my own after listening to narrations.

Our favorite experiences this term included acting out the scene where Publicola sends his daughter away as a hostage, she escapes and returns to him, and he sends her back and reading the complete poem "Horatius at the Bridge," after reading the part of the life where the story comes from.

We had one really bad day where I read sentence by sentence and tried to get my kids to explain what was going on. I wanted to make sure they were following. Instead, I broke their ability to follow the narrative thread, and no one comprehended any of the lesson. I learned I need to trust my children to pay attention and get what they can get. Listening to a five to ten minute reading, they had a surprisingly good grasp on the events, and when there were things they had understood incorrectly, I could gently correct and explain.

After this experience, I feel I still have a lot to learn about teaching Plutarch, but this book was just what it purports to be, an excellent primer. I am excited to read more Plutarch next term.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a read-aloud, and my first experience with Plutarch. I appreciated the built-in study guide and discussion questions, and found that the reading sparked some very good conversations especially with my two older sons.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, Anne White, for making Plutarch so approachable! :)

[Angie Libert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks for making Plutarch so accessible, Anne. :)

[Amanda Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for instructing students.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read during morning time ...krb 6/2/22
At one point I thought of cutting out Plutarch for other things but Jacob said no! He enjoys it.

[Kaysie Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks To Anne White we had a great first read of Plutarch!

[Kara]

I was always intimidated by Plutarch, but Anne White makes it so incredibly accessible. I’ll be using her guides for future lives!

[Astrid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let Anne White hold your hand through Plutarch- her notes and explanations of terms are instrumental towards a deeper understanding of the text.

[Catie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice introduction to Plutarch. I can recommend this to anyone who wants to teach Plutarch's Lives in your homeschool, but doesn't know where to begin.

[Katie Krombein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great little primer on Plutarch! The introductions, vocab lists, and narration ideas are great.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son and I made it (sometimes trudgingly) through our first Plutarch. I’m thankful for Anne White’s work to help us and look forward to reading more in upcoming school years.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was our first Plutarch and Anne White's guide made it easy and enjoyable - my 10 year old Y4 loved it.

Update: Read this a second time this past term with my rising Y4, and got even more it out of it this time. Enjoyed it even more this time around.