Guide to Classics for Home Educators

This is a guide for anyone self-studying Classics subjects (Latin, Greek, Ancient History, Classical Civilisation). This is usually home educators, though some students self-study when their schools don't offer the subjects. Either way: congratulations for making a great choice!

I'll give an overview of each of the different subjects below, along with suggested resources (scroll down to the relevant subject if you like). But first, some general points:

1. It is entirely possible to study all of the Classics subjects independently, with or without tutors or courses (though most do choose some form of extra support, even if just for exam technique). If you're planning to sit exams you just need to make sure you find an exam centre willing to take private candidates for the exam board you're using (all Classics subjects are through OCR except for some Latin GCSE options). Always check the exam board's specification to understand what is covered in each exam and which options you can choose.(1)

2. You'll need to be willing to put in plenty of effort! All of the subjects require lots of study time and dedication, plus the self-motivation needed to study independently.

   
   

3. When you're self-studying you don't need to do it in a classroom-style way: there is a wide choice of learning materials available to suit your learning style. You can take as long as you like (whether that's to focus in and cover a course quickly, or take your time absorbing it and building stronger foundations in the subject). Text books are invaluable for structuring your learning, particularly if you're aiming to sit exams, but beyond that you can shape the learning journey that suits you.

   
   

Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions about options, resources, etc., or would like any help with studying Classics. I am a home educating parent and I have tutored a large number of students through these courses, both home-educated and school-educated, so I should be able to help with most queries!

Sections below on LATIN, CLASSICAL GREEK, CLASSICAL CIVILISATION, and ANCIENT HISTORY.

Photo: my own.

LATIN

Available at GCSE, AS and A-Level. Excellent range of text books available for the language component for all levels, and for the A-Level Literature components. For GCSE there is less material available for the Literature, and Literature and Culture, components. Even if you are just studying the language for fun the following suggestions are good resources to use.

GCSE: the most popular board for GCSE is OCR, though some students choose Eduquas or CAIE. My own preference is for OCR because there is excellent supporting material available for the language component of the exam, and the change of Literature options every two years means the questions are usually more straightforward (they don't need to invent new questions from the same material year after year). It's also widely available to independent candidates at exam centres. I've provided links to each of the specifications in the Resources section at the bottom of this page.(1)

Text books:

Latin to GCSE Books 1 and 2 by John Taylor

Pros: They are clear, thorough, and include interesting stories to translate that provide the background context of Roman history. Book 2 includes practice exam papers, and there is a supplementary Latin Stories book available for extra practice. Perfect for self-study. My favourite option.

Cons: Some students may find them too compact and prefer a slower option.

de Romanis by Katharine Radice et al.

Pros: Includes lots of material to establish the context of Roman history and mythology (so students also studying Classical Civilisation may benefit from this).

Cons: Personally I find the books messy in terms of both layout and approach, and the order that grammar is introduced counter-intuitive. Some students like the style, so it's worth looking at the books in a bookshop or online before purchasing them to see if you like the look of them.

Cambridge Latin Course.

Pros: Supported by useful online resources; familiar to some parents from their school days.

Cons: Repetitive and designed for classroom use, takes several books to get to GCSE level; the stories can be quite silly!

Oxford Latin Course

Pros: More thorough than the other courses, and progresses to a higher level (good at preparing students for further study); follows the (mostly fictionalised) life of the Roman poet Horace, a nice way of giving an insight into the late Roman Republic through stories.

Cons: Designed for classroom use, not easy to use for self-study unless you have a parent already familiar with Latin to guide you through it.

Literature Papers: the options will depend on which exam board you choose. You'll need to check the exam board's specification to find out what your options are. For OCR you'll sit two papers from which you have a choice of five options: two prose options, two verse options, and one Literature and Culture (Roman life topics: i.e. no Latin to translate!). Generally students would choose one Literature + Literature and Culture, or one Prose + one Verse (you can choose two prose or two verse, but the exams run at the same time so you'd need to sit the two papers back-to-back). Some students prefer literature, others have had enough of translation, or are also studying Classical Civilisation and appreciate the crossover of material in the Literature and Culture component. The resources available will vary a lot according to which option you choose, and these change every two years, so I'll do a separate post on them. Even for Literature and Culture, the prescribed sources booklet is intended as a starting-point, and you'll need to do a lot more study on the topics; another post forthcoming on that!

AS/A-LEVEL: only available through OCR. Plenty of resources available, many published by Bloomsbury. The textbook Latin Beyond GCSE is a good starting point, but it's intended precisely as that so you'll need to supplement it with other resources. At the very least you'll be glad of a copy of Kennedy's Shorter Latin Primer (feel free to amend it to Kennedy's Shortbread Eating Primer in the time-honoured tradition).

For unseens: Mathew Owen's Prose Unseens for A-Level Latin and Ovid Unseens are very helpful. There's also Latin Unseens for A-Level by Ashley Carter, and OCR Anthology for Latin AS and A-Level: Shorter prose authors by Katharine Radice, and an equivalent book for verse authors by John Godwin, so there's no need to go short of practice.

For prose composition: there's another Bloomsbury book, Latin Prose Composition by Andrew Leigh. I am still very attached to my ancient copy of Colebourn's Latin Sentence and Idiom and my even more ancient Bradley's Arnold. You might also benefit from Meissner's Latin Phrase Book.

For the literature options: Bloomsbury publish books to support these, and you will also be able to find commentaries and other resources to support them. The options change every two years so I won't add specific resources here but may do a separate blog post on them later.

There are various course providers available for group study as well as tutors (like me) for 1:1 tuition, and you can also find lots of Latin and Greek summer schools around the UK and abroad for intensive study.

CLASSICAL GREEK

Available through OCR at GCSE, AS and A-Level. My preferred text books to start your journey are John Taylor's Greek to GCSE series (Bloomsbury), and a copy of Abbott and Mansfield's A Primer of Greek Grammar will never go amiss. You can also sit a Certificate in Classical Greek, which covers half the GCSE language material (Taylor's Book 1), and no Literature. For A-Level, of course, you'll need a lot more. I won't include much on here as Greek at any level not an option widely taken by independent candidates.

CLASSICAL CIVILISATION

Available as GCSE, AS or A-Level, all through OCR. Excellent text books available at all levels.

The course is perfectly set out for self-study, and apart from the prescribed sources (available from the OCR website) the text books cover everything you need for GCSE and a lot of what you need for AS and A-Level (though for the latter a lot of extra reading is recommended). All textbooks are published by Bloomsbury, all contain recommendations for further reading, and all have companion websites with extra supplementary resources.

Classical Civilisation introduces students to a broad view of the classical world, through excerpts of literature in translation, visual arts, social and cultural aspects of history, and other aspects of the ancient world. At GCSE the questions for Classical Civ are mostly shorter (lots of 1, 2 and 3-mark questions; the highest tariff question has 15 marks available, compared to the 25-mark essay question for Ancient History; so students who are less confident with essay subjects often choose Classical Civ for that reason.) If you're not sure whether this or Ancient History is a better choice for you, have a read of the specifications for both(1) and read the section on Ancient History below.

GCSE: it's not uncommon for students to cover this course in one year (either a calendar year - many home educators continue to study through the summer holidays - or an academic year September - May exam period). It's perfectly doable, but there is quite a lot to pack in, and most choose to cover the course over two years.

For paper 1, the thematic study, you can choose to study Myth and Religion or Women in the Ancient World. For paper 2, literature and culture, you can choose to study The Homeric World; Roman City Life; or War and Warfare. When choosing your paper 2 option, you may want to consider whether you'd like an all-Greek option (Homeric World), an all-Roman option (Roman City Life), or one with both Greek and Roman content (War and Warfare). You may want to study some of the Odyssey (Homeric World) or the Iliad and the Aeneid (War and Warfare). You may be taking the Literature and Culture paper for Latin GCSE and want the crossover of topics with Roman City Life.

The textbook has plenty of Stretch & Challenge recommendations for further reading, as well as a companion website with extra resources and quizzes. You'll find lots of people have created Quizlet cards too. Greekmythcomix also has some excellent visual resources to support learning.

A-Level: you don't need to have studied the Classical Civ GCSE to progress to AS or A-Level, but a background interest and previous reading around the subject are very helpful. Unlike the GCSE, the AS and A-Level include a number of high-tariff essay questions.

Component 1 covers The World of the Hero; you can choose one from either the Iliad or the Odyssey, and you must also study the Aeneid.

Component 2, Culture and the Arts, gives you a choice from Greek Theatre, Roman Imperial Image, Invention of the Barbarian, or Greek Art. Component 3, Beliefs and Ideas, gives you a choice from Greek Religion, Love and Relationships, Politics of the Late Republic, or Democracy and the Athenians. So there's a broad choice of topics available; if you want to focus on political history you could choose Imperial Image and either Politics of the Late Republic or Democracy and the Athenians; if you want to include more literature you might choose Greek Theatre and Love and Relationships, and so on.

The course invites a lot of extra study and supplementary reading; much is recommended within each textbook but I'd also be happy to send you any suggestions for particular options; please contact me if you would like any help.

Photo: my own.

ANCIENT HISTORY

Available for GCSE, AS and A-Level, all through OCR. Again, supporting text books are all published by Bloomsbury, and prescribed sources are available from OCR's website. Fewer students take this option than Classical Civ, so there are generally fewer supporting resources available outside the OCR/Bloomsbury ones. But don't let that put you off: it is a great course, and there are resources out there!

These courses develop historical study skills to enable students to analyse ancient sources and modern interpretations of ancient history, and explore military, political, religious, social and cultural factors in the historical periods covered. It offers a much deeper dive into history than Classical Civilisation, which is intended as a broader view. (If you're not sure which to choose, read both specifications carefully(1), and have a look at the textbooks if you can to get a better idea of what is covered.)

GCSE: Paper 1 includes a compulsory period study on the Persian Empire and options for one depth study from a choice of From Tyranny to Democracy, Athens in the Age of Pericles, or Alexander the Great. Paper 2 includes a compulsory period study on The Foundations of Rome: from kingship to republic, and options for one depth study from a choice of Hannibal and the Second Punic War, Cleopatra: Rome and Egypt, or Britannia: from conquest to province.

AS or A-Level: you don't need to have studied the Ancient History GCSE to progress to these levels, but it would help if you had studied that or History in some form to prepare you with the sort of study skills you'll need. Background interest and reading is also helpful.

For A-Level there is one paper on Greece and one on Rome. For Greece there is a compulsory period study on Relations between Greek states and between Greek and non-Greek states 492-404 BC; and an optional depth study from a choice of three. Choices are from The Society and Politics of Sparta; the Culture and Politics of Athens; or The Rise of Macedon. For Rome there is a compulsory period study on The Julio-Claudian Emperors, and again an optional depth study from a choice of three. These are The Breakdown of the Late Republic; The Flavians; or Ruling Roman Britain.

This course also invites a lot of extra reading, and offers some really fascinating topics to get to grips with.

Resources:

(1) Exam board information and specifications:

HE Exams Wiki | Fandom

Latin:

GCSE - Latin (9-1) - J282

GCSE Latin | Eduqas

Cambridge IGCSE Latin (0480)

AS and A Level - Latin - H043, H443

Greek, Classical Civ, Ancient History GCSE, AS and A-Level:

Classics qualifications - OCR

All the books listed in this post are widely available. If they're not available in your local bookshop you can order them from Blackwell's, books for life and for learning Blackwell's (or Amazon of course). You can also get hold of second-hand copies from AbeBooks | Shop for Books, Art & Collectibles or eBay, or from home ed forums where parents are selling them once the students have completed the course. Always make sure you're buying the most up-to-date version (particularly of Latin and Greek textbooks - the Classical Civ and Ancient History books haven't changed much).

(2) Other resources:

The Classical Association has some useful resources for all these subjects Home - The Classical Association

Summer schools in the UK: Summer Schools - The Classical Association