The Listening Grove · Fifty Famous Stories Retold
Chapter 37: Socrates and His House
A Charlotte Mason read-aloud lesson. Press play, with the lesson.
What is Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 37, Socrates and His House, about?Parent review
Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 37, Socrates and His House, is a story about being content with little and valuing true friendship above appearances. Socrates was a wise man in Greece whom young men traveled far to hear speak, and he was so pleasant and delightful to listen to that no one ever tired of him. One summer he built himself a house so small that his neighbors wondered how such a great man could be satisfied with it, and they asked him why he would build such a tiny box for a home. Socrates answered that there was little reason, but that small as the place was, he would count himself happy if he could fill even it with true friends. The story's point is that a wise man measures his home not by its size but by the friends who fill it.
Say what you remember!
Tell what you remember from the last chapter.
What happened in Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 36, The Brave Three Hundred?Have a look
In the last chapter, The Brave Three Hundred, we learned that when a mighty Persian army marched toward Greece, Leonidas, the king of the Spartans, and three hundred of his soldiers held a narrow mountain pass against them rather than surrender. Though vastly outnumbered, the Spartans fought bravely all day until every one of them had died, but they took twenty thousand Persian soldiers down with them. Their sacrifice helped save Greece, and their courage is still remembered thousands of years later.
Read the previous lesson: The Brave Three Hundred →Show what you know!
Use your printable Lesson Guide. Fill in the vocabulary you know, then click to check your work and learn some new words today.
What are the difficult or advanced vocabulary words in Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 37, Socrates and His House?wisdom, delightful, content, dwellingHave a look
- wisdom: the ability to see what truly matters
- delightful: very pleasing
- content: pleased and satisfied with what you have
- dwelling: a place where people live
Locate it on the map!
Use your printable Lesson Guide. Use an atlas and fill in the blank map if you can find the geographic location, then click to check your work.
What important geographic location connects with Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 37, Socrates and His House?
- Find Athens (Greece): Baldwin simply says Socrates lived "in Greece," but history places him in the city of Athens, where he spent his life talking with the young men who gathered around him, including in the little house of this chapter.
See it on the mapHave a look
This matches the map in your Lesson Guide.
The Books come Alive!
Read or listen to Chapter 37 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold, the Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition, read by Laura Caldwell.
Read by Laura Caldwell for LibriVox (public domain), professionally adjusted and trimmed by Kindred Thicket.
What do the Teacher’s Notes tell us about Chapter 37 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold?Parent review
This is a Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition. Baldwin’s 1896 words are read exactly as he wrote them, and we add Teacher’s Notes with historical and literary context.
- About the whole bookFifty Famous Stories Retold gathers real history together with well-loved legends and traditions. These notes tell you, story by story, which is which.
- "to learn wisdom from him"Socrates would not be called a teacher and never took a penny for talking. Young men followed him about the city because they wanted to, not because he kept a school.
- "One summer he built himself a house"This story is not history. It comes from a book of moral fables written in Latin about four hundred and fifty years after Socrates died. It is a good old tale about him, not a record of a house he built.
- the "true friends" replyThe saying is far older than this book, and the wording here is a loose retelling. The fable it comes from gives Socrates one short line: he only wished he could fill the house with real friends.
Memory becomes Action!
Use the Response Resource* to remember and spell tricky names. Choose one way to narrate.
*Materials in the Lesson Guide.
What is the list of names, people, characters, and places that are important in Chapter 37 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold?Socrates, The little house, GreeceHave a look
- Socrates: A wise man of Greece.
- The little house: The house Socrates built for himself.
- Greece: Socrates's country.
Chapter 37 Q & A
This is a Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition. Baldwin’s stories mingle real history with beloved legend, and here is what to know about this one.
Did Socrates really build himself a tiny house?
This particular story is not history. It comes from a collection of moral fables written in Latin about four hundred and fifty years after Socrates died, so it is best read as a cherished old tale about him rather than a record of an actual house.
Did Socrates charge for teaching, running something like a school?
No. Socrates refused to be called a teacher and never accepted payment for talking with people. Young men followed him around the city simply because they wanted to, not because he kept a formal school.
Is the famous line about filling the house with "true friends" exactly what Socrates said?
The saying is real and far older than this retelling, but the wording here is a loose version of it. The original fable gives Socrates one short line: he wished only that he could fill the house with real friends.