Memoria Press has
blown the dust off of the writing curriculum used in the best schools for over
1,500 years and put it in an easy-to-teach format that will revolutionize your homeschool
curriculum. Presented clearly and systematically in a structured curriculum,
the Classical Composition I: Fable Set will give you a clear road map to
writing excellence. This set includes the Student Book, Teacher Guide, and
DVDs.
There are twenty lessons in the Classical Composition I:
Fable Set. Each lesson begins by reading aloud one of Aesop’s Fables. After the
first reading of the fable, the Teacher Guide lists difficult word, ask
students to define these words to help them better understand the fable. After the
second reading of the fable, students are asked to identify three plot
components – recognition, reversal, and suffering. The Teacher Guide provides
examples for each fable. At the end of Section 1, students retell the fable in
their own words while staying faithful to the original in regard to characters,
place, and time.
The variations exercise trains students to paraphrase at two
basic levels: words and sentences. Words are paraphrased by thinking of
synonyms. Each exercise asks the student to vary three or four words from a
given sentence, which comes from the fable. After the words have been varied,
students will move to the level of sentence. Each exercise asks students to
substitute the selected words with their synonyms.
Students will discover the plot structure of the fable by
summarizing it in the form of an outline. This exercise is best completed with
the DVD to help the student understand the format of a fable outline. The DVD
thoroughly teaches each lesson, tells students what to do and when to do it,
and gives sample answers. Then with the aid of their outline, students retell
the fable orally.
In the paraphrase 1 exercises, the whole fable will be
rewritten to be like the original, yet varied with anemographia (a vivid
description of wind), dendrographia (a vivid description of a tree), and
ethopoeia (a description and portrayal of a character). The paraphrase 2
exercise asks the student to paraphrase the fable by inverting its sequence of
events. The student must work from effects to causes, which is a deductive
exercise. Paraphrase 2 was quite a challenge for my sixth grader, she had never
been asked to paraphrase anything by inverting its sequence of events.
The second round of variations provides a break from
paraphrasing. Then students complete their final draft on a separate piece of
paper. The teacher helps the student with correcting – the final tasks in every
good piece of composition. After students have finished marking their first
draft with these corrections, they will write and proofread the final draft
alone.
As students move on, the stages will become more and more
difficult, but that also means they will become a better writer. Remind
students to take their time and follow the example of the tortoise: “Slow but
steady wins the race.”
Visit the Crew Blog
to read what the Homeschool Review Crew has to say about the Classical
Composition I: Fable Set, as well as other products from Memoria Press.
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