Homeschool Review Crew - Memoria Press Classical Composition Narrative Set

I was thrilled to get a chance to review the Classical Composition II: Narrative Set from Memoria Press.

Other members of the Homeschool Review Crew had the opportunity to review some additional products from Memoria Press, so please be sure to click on the banner at the end of this review to see what they thought of these products as well:

New American Cursive
New American Cursive 1
New American Cursive 2 (Scripture)
New American Cursive 2 (Famous Americans)
New American Cursive 3 (Famous Quotes)

Traditional Logic

Traditional Logic I Complete Set
Traditional Logic II Complete Set


Classical Composition:

Classical Composition I: Fable Set

What is Classical Composition II: Narrative Set?

First, it's important to point out that Memoria Press is based on the Trivium model of learning which takes three basic stages:

Grammar
Logic
Rhetoric

This narrative set is directed toward more of the logic, dialectic, stage which, very oversimplified summed up, is based on a model of Plato and is the stage where logic and analyzing begins to form through asking questions, though it seems to me there is a bit of the Grammar stage still involved as well as introducing some of the rhetoric stage, so in my opinion,  it is a nice course to bridge the three stages together. This Classical Composition II: Narrative Set picks up where the Classical Composition I: Fable Set leaves off, and this is the natural progression to follow.

The idea behind this program is to create ideas for composition, teaching skills one at a time to build upon the other. The goal throughout is to accomplish mastery instead of guessing what the right answer is, teaching through a modeling style as well as repetition with the hope that writing skills will become second nature to the student. It emphasizes that the student is writing to an audience and not just learning useless informational knowledge.

We received a nice packet that contained a DVD filled with the instructional videos, along with two spiral-bound books - a teacher guide and a student book. The set is recommended for Grades 5-12 and is the second part of the Classical Composition two-part set, with the first one being Classical Composition I: Fable Set, with the Fable Set ideally beginning in 4th Grade, and this Narrative one following in 5th Grade. Though, the Fable and Narrative sets together are a great starting point regardless of what grade your student begins.

Progymnasmata is the big long word that is behind this approach of teaching writing that was used by great ancient communicators, Cicero and Quintilian, and it is the foundation that Jim Selby uses to teach the art of communicating in this course. This is usually associated more with the rhetoric stage, but the instructor on the DVDs presents this "progymnasmata" approach in short lessons followed by student book hands-on work.

While the Classical Composition I: Fable Set laid the groundwork for writing in a style that engages the reader, this Classical Composition II: Narrative Set helps the student to learn how to communicate the same idea using different words, sentence structures, and perspectives.

The book contains 20 lessons presented in a fashion that builds from the most basic to the more complex, using well-chosen words, structuring the sentences, and presenting perspectives that build invention skills of originating narratives while engaging the imagination of the reader by creating recognition using well-worded descriptions.

The Teacher Guide also includes grading rubrics and a couple more goodies.

I really loved how when I opened up the Teacher Guide, I saw an entire explanation about the importance of keeping God in learning:

With the instruction DVD, I really didn't find a lot of need for intense lesson planning, but the Teacher Guide is set up in a way that practically does it all for you. All you have to do is follow it step by step, though the DVD is very helpful.

How Did We Use It?

My soon-to-be 7th grader and I sat down to explore this curriculum. It comes with a Teacher's Guide, but honestly, with the instructional DVDs and the student book, at this stage, I found that it required very little teacher prep on my part. Still, the Teacher Guide is nice to have to follow along and make sure your student is on track. It also has grading rubrics which make a nice guide.

What Did We Think?

I'm always excited when I get a chance to review anything from Memoria Press, and this set is no exception. As I have come to expect from the company, this curriculum is solid and presents information in a way that propels students into diving deep into learning.

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Read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below: