Writing is an area in our homeschooling that my children still struggle with, so when we were offered to review a writing curriculum from Memoria Press I was beyond thrilled! Michael and Therese were given the option to work through the Classical Composition I: Fable Set and the Classical Composition II: Narrative Set.
Memoria Press is a leader in the classical christian homeschool curriculum. Over the past few years, we have been blessed to use a wide selection of the curriculum from Memoria Press. We've studied Trees, Birds, States and Capitals, Literature, and Latin. You can read my review for.... First Form Latin and 5th Grade Literature Set.
For this review, we received the Classical Composition I: Fable Set, the Classical Composition II: Narrative Set, and the Classical Composition Accelerated I Fable and Narrative Stage Lessons Plans.
The accelerated lesson plans allow students to work through the material at a quicker pace. This lets them complete both programs within 34 weeks. Students would spend 18 weeks on the Classical Composition I: Fable Set and 16 weeks on the Classical Composition II: Narrative Set.
The Classical Composition I: Fable Set comes with a Student Book, a Teacher's Guide, and Instructional DVD. The course is geared to students in grades 4th through 12th. Students will begin to learn how to use words to write engaging stories and bring to life the imagination of the reader. It will help students write more creatively and have less boring stories.
The Student Notebook is spiral bound. The beginning of the book contains instructions for teaching the lessons, an introduction to the Fable Stage, and a Definition of Terms used throughout the book.The Student Workbook is broken up into 20 lessons. All the lessons deal with a different Aesop Fables. So for example, Lesson 6 is the tale about The Flies and the Honey-Pot.
The Lesson is broken up into 5 sections. Students will work on plot components, word variations (synonyms), how to create an outline, paraphrasing, and rewriting sentences to learn how to
vary their sentences when writing. An appendix at the back of the book provides students with descriptions of the figures of description they will learn during the course.
The Teacher's Guide has all the same pages as the student book, but includes answers and suggestion for answers. The book also provides teaching prompts for parents or instructors. The appendix in the back of the book provides examples of the figure of description taught during the course.
The Instructional DVD is geared for the students. The lesson are well explained and lead the students through the writing process. The videos allow older students to work more independently.
You can watch a sample video of the DVD here.
The Classical Composition II: Narrative Set comes with the Student Workbook, Teacher's Guide Book, and Instructional DVD. The course is geared for students in grades 5th-12th.
The course is set up in the same way as the Classical Composition I:Fable Set. The student and teacher books are slightly thicker than the Fable Set. Instead of focusing on fables, this course focuses on narratives. Just a few of the narratives covered are The Song of the Vineyard, The Frog Prince, The Good Samaritan, and The Foolish Rich Man. Students will work on sentence variation, outlines, paraphrasing, and descriptive writing. This courses helps reinforce all that was learned during the Classical Composition I: Fable Set. Since the students will be reading longer pieces, their outlines and writings will be longer. This will help them begin to write more in depth work building their confidence and writing skills.
How Did We Use Classical Composition I: Fable Set and Classical Composition II: Narrative Set?
For this review, we received one full set for one students of each course. I purchased an additional student workbook for each course. I wanted both Michael and Therese to work through the program. Since the kids were older, we are following the accelerated lessons plans I describe earlier. For our normal 34 week school year, the kids will complete both the Fable set and the Narrative set.
The recommended schedule is spending 10 days on each lesson, which means about 1 lesson should be able to be completed in 1.5 weeks. We found this pace to be very easy to follow. There were a few days were we had outside engagements, so we did double up on a few days. Again, we found it very doable.
What Did We Think of Classical Composition I: Fable Set and Classical Composition II: Narrative Set?
I LOVED it and surprising the kids enjoyed it too. Usually they hate any writing course we use. There was no complaining from the peanut gallery!
I found the course to be well-done and easy to follow. The instructions were great. I loved how it focuses on increasing the students vocabulary, which will help them grow in their writing standards. No more boring, simple sentences. In the few weeks we have already completed, I have seen a tremendous improvement in their writing abilities. The first lesson, both Michael and Therese, struggled to come up with sentence variations. They ended up using a thesaurus, a dictionary, and some help from mom. By week 5, they were becoming pros at it. I was impressed with how much they had already learned in 5 weeks!
Both Michael and Therese found the instructions easy to understand. The prefered the outline explanation a lot better than another writing course we had used in the past. I'll be honest they hated the other one. The outline instructions from Memoria Press were clear, concise, and made the whole process make sense. This was their own words.
This curriculum was a huge win for us. I am already looking into the next two courses. I love how Memoria Press has a suggested scope. It even offers suggestions, that are completely doable, for students that start the program later. My only regret is not giving this program a try when the kids were younger. I honestly believe they would have been stronger writers. I know that if we continue with the Classical Composition courses, my kids will be stronger writers!
The rest of the crew have been busy reviewing New American Cursive, Traditional Logic I, Traditional Logic II, Classical Composition I: Fable Set, and Classical Composition II: Narrative Set.
Click on the picture below to read more great reviews about curriculum from Memoria Press!
Till Next Time,
Monique
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