Greek Mythology Resources for Your Secular Homeschool • Valerie Fowler Writes

Do you study mythology in your homeschool? How about Greek mythology specifically? While we enjoy and appreciate tales from various cultures, we find ourselves coming back to these Greek mythology resources, as they quickly became our favorite myths to study.

Years ago I had this idea to introduce world mythologies to the Agents as part of our homeschooling. I figured we would take maybe a semester—or two, tops—read some cool stories, discuss their similarities and differences, and move on.

However, they found these myths way more interesting and entertaining than I ever imagined. Basically since then we have never stopped incorporating these tales into our studies. Mythology is now a regular subject on our agenda, like language arts, math, or history.

I am not exactly sure when {or why} Greek mythology resources became our preferred, but over the years we have read more ancient Greek stories than other mythologies we have introduced. We have loved the following titles in particular, and hope you will, too.

Bookshelf showing old-looking texts in three rows with spines out.

Note: I have linked each of the titles below to its Goodreads page so you can check out more information and see which titles would be a good fit for your secular homeschool.

There are literally thousands of wonderful resources when it comes to studying Greek mythology. There is no way this could ever be an exhaustive list or even anything close.

Instead, the titles listed here are ones we have used personally as part of our homeschool reading rotation. Toward the end of the list I included several fictional series the Agents have enjoyed reading independently. Some stories place Greek gods and goddesses in modern environments with modern problems; others are choose your own adventure style books.

Contents

First, a Few General Titles

While each of these does include names and places specific to Greek mythology, they do not solely focus on it. These books introduce myriad characters, covering a wide variety of gods, goddesses, mythical creatures, and fantastical beings. An excellent place to start if you aren’t sure what direction you want to take or what types of mythologies might interest you and your students most.

Children’s Book of Mythical Beasts and Magical Monsters

M Is for Monster: A Fantastic Creatures Alphabet

Mythology {DK Eyewitness Book}

Basher Mythology: Oh My! Gods and Goddesses

Note: These “alphabet” books {like M Is for Monster} are not just for littles. They include tons of good info for older kids as well. The Zeus book is just one of dozens we have read over the years. We also recommend the entire Basher series; it is fabulous.

Best Greek Mythology Overview

This book—written by Donna Jo Napoli and illustrated by Christina Balit—is beautiful and uses flowing, poetic language to tell each story. It covers about two dozen “key characters” while also providing sidebars with additional information to help tie everything together.

Treasury of Greek Mythology

The collection of biographies and stories presented here makes an excellent starting point for diving into Greek mythology resources specifically.

I also highly recommend the other mythology books by the same author and illustrator. We are currently reading their collection of Old Testament myths.

Other Good Starting Points

These titles present lots of basic information as well, some in nontraditional ways. Great overviews for learning about the key people and events, and appropriate for all ages.

Greek Mythology {Junior Genius Guide} {One of several fun books for kids written by Ken Jennings. Yes, the Jeopardy champion.}

Weird But True Know-It-All Greek Mythology

Z is for Zeus: A Greek Mythology Alphabet

The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus

Overhead view of multiple books with spines showing or opened to random pages.

Books About Individual Goddesses and Gods

These books from the World Mythology collection provide a short, simple introduction to some of the prominent players in the world of Greek mythology. They are quick but very informative reads for helping to get to know who’s who. Note that a few selections use the Roman name as the title.

Achilles

Aeneas

Athena

Cyclopes

Odysseus

Poseidon

Theseus and the Minotaur

Venus

Zeus

Books About Life in Ancient Greece

Additional books we have read about life in ancient Greece. {We highly recommend all of the books in the You Wouldn’t Want To Be series.}

Ancient Greece and the Olympics {Magic Tree House Research Guide}

Art and Religion in Ancient Greece

Top 10 Worst Things About Ancient Greece You Wouldn’t Want to Know

You Wouldn’t Want To Be a Greek Athlete: Races You’d Rather Not Run

You Wouldn’t Want To Be a Slave in Ancient Greece: A Life You’d Rather Not Have

Mythology Rocks!

The Mythology Rocks! books offer re-tellings of various mythological tales with commentary from academics who study the specific mythology. {They also have books covering African, Chinese, Celtic, Mayan, and Aztec mythology.}

Gods and Goddesses in Greek Mythology Rock!

Heroes in Greek Mythology Rock!

Ancient Greek Mythology

This books series was a hit with the Agents. They have more of a graphic novel style and feel.

The Gods and Goddesses of Greek Mythology

The Heroes and Mortals of Greek Mythology

The Monsters and Creatures of Greek Mythology

Homer’s Epic Poems

Of course no post about Greek mythology resources would be complete without mentioning these stories. We love these tales of the Trojan war {The Iliad} and the travels of Odysseus {The Odyssey} as re-told by both authors listed below.

Each book has short chapters, plenty of illustrations, and were good for both elementary and middle school. {But could definitely be appreciated by older students as well.}

The Iliad by Rosemary Sutcliff {illustrated by Alan Lee}

The Odyssey by Rosemary Sutcliff {illustrated by Alan Lee}

The Iliad by Gillian Cross {illustrated by Neil Packer}

The Odyssey by Gillian Cross {illustrated by Neil Packer}

Teen girl with dark hair wearing jeans and a gray shirt sitting on a red couch reading a book.

The following three series, of course, are well-known works by author Rick Riordan. He also writes several mythology guides as well. {Although we have not personally used them—which is why we did not list them here.}