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For those who don’t know, I’m a second-generation homeschooler, and with that comes a natural tendency to tweak curriculum. I love finding ways to combine the best resources into a cohesive learning experience.
One place I’ve done that is with our Ancient Rome history studies (we do this in 5th grade). I love the classical approach and enjoy using Memoria Press’s Classical Studies curriculum, especially Famous Men of Rome. At the same time, I grew up reading wonderful living books, and I simply can’t imagine studying history without them. I also wanted to broaden our studies by incorporating a bit more non-Western history, so I looked for a resource that would help fill in those gaps.
The result was a combination of Famous Men of Rome, Story of the World, Volume 1, and carefully selected historical fiction.
Maybe you don’t want to spend hours searching for living books that complement Famous Men of Rome. Or perhaps you’re building your own Story of the World curriculum and would like to enrich it with classical biographies and historical fiction. Maybe you were already planning to use both resources but weren’t sure how to coordinate them into a manageable schedule.
Whatever brought you here, I hope this reading plan saves you time and helps you enjoy teaching Ancient Rome even more.
I’ve created a week-by-week guide for coordinating Famous Men of Rome, Story of the World 1, and historical fiction.
A few notes before you begin:
This schedule covers 36 weeks and does not include the Famous Men of Rome Final.
For Story of the World, you can simply read the assigned chapters or choose to complete the accompanying activity pages and tests. Yes, the reading for Story of the World 1 begins in Chapter 27. We do Chapters 1-26 during our Greek Myths/Ancient World year (which is 4th grade for us).
Historical fiction titles are assigned by week rather than by chapter. For daily reading, divide the total number of chapters by the number of weeks each book is scheduled.
While my book lists are definitely family-friendly, I recommend you choose books after you’ve looked into them a bit. Each family (and kid!) has their own levels of sensitivity.
Ancient Rome Reading Plan
More Famous Men of Rome Goodies:
Famous Men of Rome Jeopardy Set
Famous Men of Rome Printable Dictionary
Check out my other reading plans:
Middle Ages Reading Plan (based on Famous Men of the Middle Ages & Story of the World 2)
Need more printables for Memoria Press curriculum?
Free Printable Dictionaries for Memoria Press History
Free Printable Dictionary for Christian Studies IV
