Homeschool Review Crew - A High School Rhetoric and Speech Class Roman Roads Fitting Words

There is a scripture that reads something to the effect of: "A Word Aptly Spoken Is Like Apples of Gold!" (Some translations say "A word Fitly Spoken, or - A FITTING WORD" ... Words are very important to my high school Junior, which is perfect since she is in the Rhetoric phase of learning, so I was thrilled to get a chance to review Fitting Words Classical Rhetoric (complete program)  from Roman Roads Media.

Other members of the Homeschool Review Crew had the chance to review:

a 14 Month Subscription to:

Picta Dicta Natural World

or

Picta Dicta Vocabulary Builder

So, be sure to click on the link at the end of this review to see what they had to say about these other products from Roman Roads Media.

What is Fitting Words Classical Rhetoric (Complete Program)?

First, let's start with a definition:

What is Rhetoric? It is part of the trivium in classical education, and it is the art of effective verbal communication! This course approaches rhetoric from a Christian perspective.

The course is a comprehensive, practical rhetoric curriculum which helps to train students in 5 very important oratory skills:

Invention

Arrangement

Style

Memory

Delivery

While you are learning a solid foundation of rhetoric, you will also learn the art of speeches, including delivery of speeches, which makes this course extremely well rounded to get a complete rhetoric teaching experience. It brings together the teachings of Aristotle, Cicero, Plato, Quintilian, Augustine, and others while also presenting great speeches from:

Susan B. Anthony's "On Women's Right to Vote"

Napoleon Bonaparte's "Proclamation to the Soldiers on Entering Milan"

George W. Bush's "United Flight 93"

Winston Churchill's "Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat"

Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream"

John F. Kennedy's "Cuban Missile Crisis"

Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address"

and so many more.... (Including the speeches found in the Bible) - YAY!

Recommended for Grades 10, 11 or 12!
The set included several pieces that together form an amazing full curriculum course:

• Hardcover 394-page Text
• A consumable workbook
• A DVD 
• An Exam Packet
• An Answer Key

• The student will also create a Common Place notebook of their own where they are to record meaningful quotes, excerpts, or sayings gleaned from what they read, hear, or see. The topics are suggested in the video lessons.

   



First, the text contains a preface and an introduction that explains everything.

The hardcover 394-page text contains 30 detailed lessons and divided into 7 units. The workbook has exercises for each lesson, and the Answer Key contains answers to all of the exercises and the tests. The Test packet contains nine tests, review sheets, and speech judging sheets.

The DVD is a visual presentation by the author who includes the first lesson which is a Christian view of rhetoric followed by all of the video lectures in two or three video sessions where he lectures through the lesson in the text. He suggests you first watch the video and then work through the text.

The second DVD session for each lesson contains an application section where he previews a rhetorical figure, figure of speech or thought, there are suggestions for thinking deeper and for completing exercises. He will also introduce the topic for the Common Place books. Some lessons are followed by a student delivering a speech. For these he includes a speech judging sheet.

students deliver 5 speeches:

Designed to produce a particular emotion in their hearers
Forensic speech of accusation or defense
Political speech urging hearers to do or not do a course of action
A speech of praise
A final speech on a topic approved by the instructor

Some lessons are followed by an exam, and these 9 include a separate video that reviews the lessons covered on the test. In Unit 5, there are three separate examples.

He starts each lesson with a review.

How Did We Use It?

 

I was asked to use it with one student doing one lesson per week. If you work at this pace, you will complete the program in 30 weeks. I was so excited to have the opportunity to present this to my daughter, who is a Junior in High School and absolutely loves words, Language Arts, and deep thinking. I first opened up the package and looked through it all to become familiar with it myself and then inserted the DVD where the author explains everything and first directed me to read the Preface and the Introduction found in the text before proceeding, so I headed to these pages to begin the suggested reading. There is so much to this course, that I was actually surprised it only took about an hour or two for me to get a good grasp on how everything would be presented.

I was happy to see the suggested schedules of use for the book:

What Did We Think?

OK, I will admit it - It may sound shallow, but first impressions are sometimes very important! And, in the case of how Roman Roads Media left a first impression on me was amazing! When the curriculum arrived, they arrived all packaged up in this nice tote. I was impressed from the start and couldn't wait to dig in!

As soon as I opened the book and turned on the DVD, it was clear that the course was being presented from an unashamed Christian viewpoint, and by this point, I was completely sold and utterly impressed!

I really appreciated how the course was rich with relating back to the Bible as a reference and even memorizing passages. I think this course is packed with amazing information. The textbook itself is so well laid out and thick with learning. But, then Fitting Words goes above and beyond by also including a 30-lesson DVD pack that also includes all of the application aspects of the lessons. I'm so happy it included an Answer Key to it all, and the exams are nice to use for grading purposes. The course has so many aspects to it that it felt like a college course, with absolutely nothing left out. I think my own brain grew as I heard the DVD lessons play. It also gives such a good foundation for practicing speech writing and delivery.

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