Mountain of Grace Homeschooling and Life Thereafter : Review~ Persuasive Writing and Classical Rhetoric from Silverdale Press LLC

The kids and I were recently given the opportunity to review a wonderful writing curriculum from Silverdale Press LLC. The Persuasive Writing and Classic Rhetoric: Practicing the Habits of Great Writers was a fantastic classical writing curriculum to use!

For this review, we received a digital download for the Persuasive Writing and Classical Rhetoric: Practicing the Habits of Great Writers. The curriculum package includes the Lesson Book, Student Reader, Consumable Workbook, and Answer Key.

The Lesson Book is 235 pages. It includes lesson plans and ideas to discuss over the week. The lesson book is written to the parents, but an older student could easily read the lesson book and work independently. I think discussing the lesson together with your student would lead to deeper thinking. The Lesson Book introduces the Profile in Rhetoric (great writer being covered that week), objectives that should be covered and learned during the week, and the four day schedule for what should be covered each day. Each lesson is about 5-7 pages long. There is plenty of information provided on the topic being covered, the writer being discussed that week, and tips in becoming a better writer. The notes provided in the lesson allow parents and students to dig in and really discover the world of writing. Students will learn how to write interesting works, how to take notes, how to pick a subject, how to arrange your thoughts, etc.

The Student Reader Book is 111 pages. The reader is broken up into lesson too. Each week the student will read about great writers. Patrick Henry, Saint Augustine, John F. Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan are just a few of the writers that students will read and learn about. The reader provides the students with excerpts from famous writings from the various men and women covered during the course.

The Consumable Workbook is 202 pages. The workbook provides the students the 4 day schedule for the week. During the week, students will define key terms, answer review question, work on writing exercises, and finish the week off with writing prompt.

The Answer Key is 68 pages long. It's for the teacher! Teachers will find a rubric to evaluate the weekly 500 word writing exercise the students will work on each week. Answers to the questions found in the student workbook are also included.

Persuasive Writing and Classical Rhetoric: Practicing the Habits of Great Writers is geared for students ages 14-18. This course is a 36 week language arts curriculum for students in grades 9th-12th. Students will learn how to write persuasively by following the Classical Rhetoric approach. By studying the great classical writers, students will learn how to apply the habits of these great men and women.

Not only will the students focus on writing, they will also read and interpret great works of non-fiction. Through this multi-step process, the eager student will learn about writing styles, proper grammar and sentence structure, and clarity in writing. The classical approach is an exceptional way to help student's writing techniques flourish!

So How Does Persuasive Writing and Classical Rhetoric: Practicing the Habits of Great Writers Work?

The writing curriculum is broken up into 36 weeks. Each week is broken up into a four day schedule. So, for example, during week 2, students will read a speech from John F. Kennedy and work on learning some of the habits of the great writers.

On day one, students will read lesson 2 and answer lesson 2 review questions. On day two, they will read John F. Kennedy's Rice Stadium Speech in the reader and then answer the questions about the speech in the student workbook. On day 3, students will work on the writing exercises included in the student workbook. Finally, on day 4, students will write 500 words on the wiring prompt provided.

What Did We Think of Persuasive Writing and Classical Rhetoric: Practicing the Habits of Great Writers?

I was extremely impressed with this curriculum. It was everything a homeschooling family following a classical approach would want in a writing curriculum. I enjoyed the variety of writers included. I was pleased to see men, women, and saints included. I loved seeing strong Catholic men included in this writing curriculum. I liked the fact that older, more mature topics were being covered and discussed. Planned Parenthood and abortion are just two of the topics that I thought were important for young adults to know about and discuss.

"an investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."

~Benjamin Franklin

Therese was a little on the younger side for this curriculum. In fact, she was below the recommended grade suggestion. Michael currently does 8th/9th grade work, so he made it into the recommend grade suggestion, but I will admit that his writing is not quite that strong yet. Both of them struggled with some of the readings, questions and writing exercises. I strongly suggest to follow the grade guidelines. We worked through the first 3 lessons, but then had to stop due to a family situation. This family emergency stopped our schooling and basically put our life on hold for a few weeks. With it being so close to the end of the year, I decided to restart the program next fall and have the kids work through this fantastic writing curriculum next year.

Michael loved looking through the reader. He was thrilled to see Saint Augustine, Justice Scalia, and Ronald Reagan. He considers all three of these men great role models and men to study further.

Do you have younger students that want to learn more about history, social studies, or writing?

Silverdale Press LLC offers a wonderful selection of unit studies for younger and older students.

The White House Holidays Unit Study was also reviewed by the crew. It covered important holidays like Labor Day, Martin Luther King Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine's Day. These unit studies are geared for students ages 5-18. The unit studies offer two options for study. One lesson is geared for students in elementary school, while the other lesson is geared for junior/senior high school. This perfect for families that school together. The whole family can learn together!