The Classical School - Winter 2020

Saving Western civilization one student at a time.

Winter 2020

Taking With Us What Matters

by David M. Wright

The Forgotten Art of Teaching Latin

by Cheryl Lowe

L etter from the E ditor

What Is Classical Education?

by Martin Cothran

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Martin Cothran is editor of The Classical School, and is a writer, speaker, and school consultant. He has taught Latin, logic, and rhetoric at Highlands Latin School, and is the founder and former director of the Memoria Press Online Academy. He is also the author of several textbooks on logic and rhetoric.

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Letter from the Editor

t is not easy to define classical education, which is one reason you seem to get a different answer depending on whom you ask. Classical education is a system of learning that, like all systems of learning, has two aspects to it: The first has to do with content, and the second with skills.

Classical education first has certain ideas it attempts to teach. Every kind of education, classical or otherwise, purports to inculcate a certain body of knowledge.

Traditionally this has been done through the content disciplines of literature, history, philosophy, and the natural sciences. We can group all of these under the rubric of scientific knowledge. The first three are the human or "moral" sciences and the last one is the study of nature in particular.

These studies constitute the what of education—the knowledge we expect students to have acquired. This first aspect of education is (to steal a phrase from the great literary critic Matthew Arnold) the study of the best that has been thought and said.

In addition to the sciences, there are the arts. While the sciences attempt to teach knowledge, the arts attempt to teach skills. If the sciences are the what of education, the arts are the how.

Reading, writing, and arithmetic are the first and most basic of the arts. They are the skills we need to have mastered in order to learn everything else. After that there are all those arts which we remember from our own schooling, such as grammar and composition, as well as the mathematical arts such as algebra, geometry, and calculus. These linguistic and mathematical skills are what we mean when we talk about the "liberal arts."

All systems of education have this distinction between the what and the how, though not all the advocates of these systems are able to articulate it this way. It was what the founders of our nation's schools meant when they engraved "arts and sciences" on the stones of the first buildings they built.

Classical education's goal remains what it always was until the end of the nineteenth century: to pass on our culture to the next generation, and in the process to inculcate wisdom and virtue in our students.

In order to do this we must resist other educational agendas. If our goal becomes to make better workers or more ideologically enlightened citizens, the balance among and within the arts and sciences will be destroyed. History and literature will be demoted in importance and narrow technical concerns will distort the curriculum.

We already see these things happening, and the result has been a decline in academic achievement and a rise in cultural illiteracy.

Classical education is not just one more system of education among many. It is, foundationally, authentic education.

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$5 off any order!

Use coupon code: WINTER20CS5

THE CLASSICAL SCHOOL

Winter 2020 FEATURED ARTICLES

2 4 11 14 20 26

PRIMARY

Letter from the Editor by Martin Cothran The Forgotten Art of Teaching Latin by Cheryl Lowe Book Review: Seven Myths About Education by Daisy Christodoulou SOS: Save Our Speech by Kathy Becker What Is Logic? by Martin Cothran

New American Cursive

Grades 1+

Copybooks

Grades K-6

Phonics, Reading, & Spelling

Grades K+

Jr. Kindergarten & Enrichment

23 Writing & English Grammar 28 Literature 30 Poetry & Greek Tragedies

Classical Education Resources

LATIN, GREEK, & FRENCH

6 7 8 9

Ages 4+

LITERATURE, GRAMMAR, & WRITING

Taking With Us What Matters by David M. Wright

RESOURCES

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17 17 18 19

Grades 1-4

Grammar School Latin

Grades 3-6

Latin Forms Series

Grades 4+

Latin Supplements

Grades 3+ Grades 4+

CLASSICAL STUDIES

24 Classical Literature 25 D'Aulaires' Greek Myths & Famous Men Series 25 Dorothy Mills Histories

Grades 1+ Grades 3+

AMERICAN / MODERN

Introduction to Grammar School Latin

10 Upper School Latin, Greek, & French

Grades 3+

Grades 6+ Grades 3-8

12 American/Modern Studies 13 Geography

Grades 1+ Grades 3+

SCIENCE & MATH

31 Science & Nature 31 Math

Grades 3+ Grades K+

LOGIC

22 Traditional Logic & Supplements

Grades 7+

Grades 6+

2020 Conventions Calendar

The Memoria Press team loves hitting the road and meeting our customers face to face!

Come visit us at the conventions listed below and explore our award-winning curriculum.

March 2-4 June 21-24 Oct. 1-2

National Classical Education Symposium - Phoenix, AZ National Charter Schools Conference - Orlando, FL CSAN Nevada Charter School Conference - Las Vegas, NV

We hope to see you there!

Easy Reader classics These early readers introduce classic stories to young children and provide plenty of practice for students who are working on reading fluency.

Grades 1-2 | $3.95 ea.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle

The Jungle Book

The Wind in the Willows

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

#1: Animal Talk #2: The Circus Crocodile #3: Doctor Dolittle's Great Adventure #4: Doctor Dolittle's Magical Cure #5: Doctor Dolittle and the Pirates #6: Doctor Dolittle Goes Home

#1: Rikki-Tikki-Tavi Moves In #4: Mowgli Knows Best #5: The Boy and His Sled Dog #6: The Brave Little Seal

#1: The Riverbank #2: The Open Road #3: The Wild Wood #4: Home Sweet Home #5: Sneaky Toad #6: Restless Rat

#1: A Song for Aunt Polly #2: The Best Fence Painter

© Copyright 2020 (all rights reserved) Publisher | Memoria Press Editor | Martin Cothran Assistant Editor | Dayna Grant

Managing Editor | Tanya Charlton Copy Editor | Ellen R. Hale Graphic Designers | Aileen Delgado & Jessica Osborne

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L atin

The Forgotten Art of Teaching Latin

by Cheryl Lowe

B

ecause of the education meltdown in the twentieth century, the art of teaching Latin (and nearly everything else) has essentially been lost. As we work to restore the content of the classical curriculum, we must also strive to resurrect the art of teaching it.

Latin, as it was taught in the second half of the twentieth century, was a two-year ordeal—grammar in the ninth grade and Caesar in the tenth. Few students who experienced this grueling regimen signed up to spend a third year with Cicero. Having been required to learn in one year what previous generations had learned in four, most of these students have less than pleasant memories of Latin. But that is our modern way; we are in a hurry to cover "everything" and we are addicted to superficial work. So the student pays the price—he must cover the text, receive a grade, and earn a credit. But has he learned anything? Has he been motivated and inspired to continue his study or has he developed a dislike for the subject? The grade and the credit mean nothing. The answers to the last two questions are what really matter.

As Latin teachers, we need standards to judge ourselves by, and when we look to the past for these it is a sobering lesson indeed to see the achievements of former ages: In the sixteenth century, fluent readers of Latin were regularly admitted to Oxford at the age of sixteen. Even more startling is the meagerness of instructional materials available to teachers at that time—eight-ounce grammars with very little in the way of translation exercises. How did they teach Latin with such skimpy little books?

Cheryl Lowe was the founder of Memoria Press and the author of the Latin Forms Series, Classical Phonics, and many other books. She also founded Highlands Latin School in Louisville, Kentucky, where all Memoria Press materials are developed and tested.

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The Forgotten Art of Teaching Latin

Latin teachers in the past had mastery knowledge and a long tradition of mastery teaching. They knew Latin and they knew how to teach it. They had techniques honed through centuries of experience, refined through trial and error. I believe this forgotten art of teaching Latin must be rediscovered and restored in order for the classical education movement to thrive and grow. Classical education will remain an elusive dream, classical in name only, until we as teachers are able to develop Latin programs that are as successful as those of the past.

In The Teaching of Latin and Greek in the Secondary School, published in 1911 and long out of print, Dr. Charles Bennett outlines the scope, sequence, and methods of Latin instruction. I believe his principles are absolutely sound and have found them to be true by my own teaching experience. Dr. Bennett wrote his book at a time when the traditional methods of Latin instruction were starting to be abandoned for more "progressive" methods. By explaining the failures of the newer textbooks of his own age, he sheds much light on what we need to do in ours.

At the turn of the century when Dr. Bennett wrote his book, students began their Latin study around the age of ten or eleven. In previous centuries students had begun a year or two younger. While the age is not critical, I do think beginning Latin in the third grade is best. Students who are reading well at this age need a new challenge, and the Latin grammar gives them some good meat to chew on; it gives discipline to the student and structure, form, purpose, and goals to the whole elementary curriculum. Beginning Latin at a young age gives students ample time to master grammar in the grammar stage, syntax and translation in the logic stage, and thus come to the rhetoric stage in the ninth and tenth grades fully prepared to enjoy the great Latin classics of Caesar, Cicero, and Vergil.

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The forgotten art of teaching Latin must be rediscovered and restored in order for the classical education movement to thrive and grow.

But what about those who begin later? No problem.

Many of us in the classical education movement did not begin Latin ourselves until later in life, and we have still managed to achieve the rudiments of a classical education. If your student is beginning Latin in high school or even college, rejoice and be glad. He is still way ahead of the game and can still expect to achieve Latin mastery and receive a life-enriching classical education.

But remember, Latin grammar cannot be learned in one year. Give your students plenty of time to master the subject. Better that a student takes four years to learn Latin grammar and finishes with a desire to continue in college, than that he "covers" high school texts in the prescribed two years and starts translation too early, and then wearily vows never to crack open a Latin book again. The goal is lifelong learning, not lifelong avoidance, and the measure of our teaching is whether we are leading them to love what we love or to dread it.

Beginning Latin as early as possible and allowing students plenty of time to absorb and master Latin are important steps in developing Latin programs that will empower us to duplicate those great achievements of past Latin masters. But we must also examine our teaching 502-855-4824

methods and our scope and sequence. We can start by examining the modest little Latin books of yesteryear.

For years I puzzled over how teachers taught Latin with those little books, but after teaching Latin for more than a decade I understood. The answer is that they knew the grammar inside and out; they could teach it because they themselves had mastered it. One of my English-teaching friends used to say that she could teach English literature from a cookbook if she had to. After teaching Latin for many years, I too feel I could teach Latin with nothing but a grammar, or even a cookbook if I had to. It is all in my head. The textbook is just an aid.

Well, that's great for you, you might say, but what about me, the beginning teacher who barely knows a declension from a conjugation? Dr. Bennett's marvelous instructions are here to help us. He knew what to teach when, in what order, and how to achieve mastery in his students. He goes into much more detail in his book, but I will list the main ideas for you here to incorporate into your own teaching routine so that you, too, can become a Latin master.

7 Principles for Teaching Latin: 1. Teach Latin yourself. You can teach your students Latin if you do not already know it, but you must memorize the Latin grammar along with them.

2. Recite orally. Recite the Latin grammar orally, and drill individual grammar forms for immediate recall.

3. Pace yourself. Most people overestimate what they can accomplish in one year and underestimate what they can accomplish in five.

4. Approach Latin as a basic subject. Present Latin as a basic subject—like math—and students will accept that and learn it, year after year.

5. Keep Latin front and center. Make Latin the center of your language arts curriculum, and the basis for your study of English grammar. Overlearn it until it's second nature.

6. Teach the history and culture associated with Latin.

Students will be unmotivated to learn a language if they know nothing of the people who spoke it.

7. Enjoy Latin! If you approach Latin with enthusiasm, your children will pick up that love and enthusiasm too.

What Not to Do: 1. Don't waste time memorizing long lists of vocabulary words. Learn fewer words slowly and permanently.

2. Don't advance too quickly. Postpone translation and syntax until the logic stage (grades 6-8) or until grammar forms are mastered.

3. Don't let inexperience or unfamiliarity intimidate you from learning Latin. Everyone can do it!

The Forgotten Art of Teaching Latin

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latin Latin develops the mind of the young student as no other subject can. It is the next step after phonics, and it is the most efficient means of teaching grammar, making concrete what is abstract in English. What arithmetic provides to the sciences, Latin provides to the humanities: mental discipline, structure, and foundational skills necessary for advanced subjects. The study of Latin is the core of a classical education.

We begin Latin as early as second grade, and continue every year, culminating in the translation of Latin literature in grades 9-12. Introduction to Grammar School Latin, Grammar School Latin, and the Latin Forms Series focus on the memorization of the Latin grammar by the time-tested method of oral recitation and form drills. This is followed by a Latin translation course in which students master the syntax that was gradually introduced throughout the Latin Forms Series. Our Latin sequence then culminates in the reading of the literature of Caesar, Ovid, Vergil, and Cicero in the original Latin in upper school. A student starting in fifth grade or later can begin with the Latin Forms Series.

Introduction to Grammar School Latin

by Leigh Lowe | Grades 1-4

Are you looking for a gentle introduction to Latin and a course that prepares your young student for a more advanced study of the language? Introduction to Grammar School Latin is specifically designed for students and teachers with no Latin background.

This course was developed for students in 1st-4th grades who are still becoming familiar with English grammar and wish to learn Latin at a slower pace and learn English grammar in the process. Its goal is to teach and reinforce an understanding of the basic parts of speech while introducing Latin. It benefits the student by teaching him half of the vocabulary in Grammar School Latin and grounding him in the fundamental concepts of English grammar, the key to Latin study.

LESSON 2 – Consonants and Vowel Teams

LESSON 2 – Consonants and Vowel Teams

Vocabulary

Practical Latin

magister – teacher (male)

magistra – teacher (female)

Practice saying the consonant sounds and vowel teams.

1. glōria

Lesson – Consonants and Vowel Teams Consonant Sounds:

Consonant c g s

Latin Sound k, as in cat g, as in go s, as in sing

glory

2. Caesar

Caesar

3. laudō

I praise

4. clāmō

I shout

5. caelum

sky

The grammar lessons are set forth in a form appropriate for primary grades. The review lessons that follow each unit provide the consistent review needed to master Latin. With clear explanations and easy-to-read lessons in a two-color format, Introduction to Grammar School Latin is perfect for those schools that would like to start their students on an early study of Latin.

Compare the sounds of c, g, and s in Latin & English: • In English, c has more than one sound: cent, cello, cat.

In Latin, c always has one sound: the hard c in cat.

• In English, g has more than one sound: gem, go.

In Latin, g always has one sound: the hard g in go.

• In English, s has more than one sound: his, sugar, sing.

In Latin, s always has one sound: the s in sing.

Vowel Teams:

Each week, learn the bold portion of the Pledge and add it to what you have previously learned.

Iūrō in Vexillum

Cīvitātum Americae Foederātārum, et in Rem Pūblicam quō haec significātur, …

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, …

Derivatives

There are three vowel teams in Latin: Vowel Team ae oe au

The Pledge of Allegiance (Part 1)

Latin Sound eye, as in bite (English long I) oi, as in boil ou, as in cow

glorious glorify czar (tsar) laud proclamation celestial

wonderful (adj.) to exalt, worship, or honor (v.) the monarch of pre-revolutionary Russia (n.) to praise (v.) an official announcement (n.) heavenly (adj.)

Introduction to Grammar School Latin

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*Student $15.00 Teacher $15.00 CD $8.95 Flashcards $14.95

Student Book • 25 lessons + 5 review lessons • 5 vocabulary words per lesson with corresponding English derivatives • Practical Latin phrases and Latin poetry • Grammar skills appropriate for primary grades • Consistent review

Teacher Manual • Student book w/ answers keyed • Tests

Pronunciation CD • Complete verbal pronunciation for each lesson

Flashcards • Vocabulary with derivatives • Latin sayings • Conjugations & declensions

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Introduction to Grammar School Latin is also the perfect preparation for Grammar School Latin.

View samples online: Charter.MemoriaPress.com *denotes consumable book

Classical Education Resources

Climbing Parnassus:

A New Apologia for Greek and Latin

by Tracy Lee Simmons $15.00

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Latin

The Schools We Need: And Why We Don't Have Them

by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. $17.95

Seven Myths About Education

by Daisy Christodoulou $34.95

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Grammar School Latin

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*Student $16.00 Teacher $20.00 CD $8.95 Flashcards $14.95 *Review Worksheets $9.95 Review Worksheets Key $5.00

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Student Book • 25 lessons + 5 review lessons • 10 vocabulary words per lesson w/ corresponding English derivatives • Latin sayings

Teacher Manual

Grammar School Latin: Introduction to First Form Latin

by Cheryl Lowe | Grades 3-6

Grammar School Latin is, quite simply, the best grammar-based Latin course available for beginning students. Cheryl Lowe's clear explanations, easy instructions, and step-by-step approach have led thousands of teachers and students to declare, "I love Latin!" With the help of this course, you are sure to love Latin too!

Each lesson consists of a grammar form, ten vocabulary words, English derivatives to help build vocabulary, and a Latin saying that teaches students about their classical heritage. Five review lessons help ensure that your student has mastered the material.

LESSON I

EXERCISES: Lesson I

A. Phrases and Sayings: Translate.

Latin Saying Salvē.

• Student book w/ answers keyed • Weekly lesson plans • Tests, quizzes, & keys • Comprehensive teaching instructions

Hello. (singular)

1. Salvē, magistra. (p. 72)________________________________________________________________ 2. Salvē. ______________________________________________________________________________

Vocabulary amō

3. laudō __________________________________

I love, like

amateur

labōrō

I work

laboratory

laudō

I praise

laudable

ōrō

I entreat, plead

orator

1. A verb is a word that shows _________________________________ .

vocō

I call

vocal

2. The letter -ō at the end of a Latin verb stands for the pronoun ________________ .

4. ōrō_____________________________________ 5. amō ____________________________________

B. Grammar

3. A/An ______________________________ is included in every Latin verb.

Grammar Forms

Pronunciation CD

C. Derivatives: Complete these sentences with derivatives you have learned in class.

1st Conjugation Person

• Complete verbal pronunciation for each lesson

Singular

1. Scientists perform experiments in a/an ____________________________________ .

Plural

1st

amō

-ō

amāmus

-mus

2nd

amās

-s

amā tis

-tis

3rd

amat

-t

amant

-nt

2. Someone who is a good public speaker is a/an ______________________________ .

3. Something that is worthy to be praised is __________________________________ .

4. He is a/an _______________________________________, not a professional.

Flashcards • Vocabulary with derivatives • Latin sayings • Conjugations & declensions 10

Lesson I

Lesson I

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Exercises reinforce memory work and teach grammar in incremental steps through simple translation. Grammar coverage includes 1st-2nd declension nouns, 1st-2nd conjugation verbs (in three tenses), 1st-2nd declension adjectives, and the irregular verb to be.

The Teacher Manual includes a complete copy of the Student Book with overlaid answers and provides detailed weekly lesson plans, comprehensive teaching instructions, tests, weekly quizzes, and keys. The thirty lessons can be completed over two years for younger students or in one year for older students.

Move straight to First Form Latin after Grammar School Latin.

View samples online: Charter.MemoriaPress.com *denotes consumable book

Grades 3-6 *Games & Puzzles $12.00 Games & Puzzles Key $5.00

Games & Puzzles for Grammar School Latin This activity book includes enrichment activities like Latin hangman, Latin crossword puzzles, and a Latin Pictionary competition to help your students learn the vocabulary, grammar, and derivatives in Grammar School Latin.

The Great Tradition:

Classic Readings on What It Means to Be an Educated Human Being edited by Richard M. Gamble $20.00

faq:

Can we get by without teacher guides?

Teacher guides include quizzes and tests, answers to student guides, teaching guidelines, and additional key information for connecting the material to other subjects and to the previous knowledge students have gained. Thus, we strongly encourage the purchase of a teacher guide for each subject.

The Great Books:

A Journey Through 2,500 Years of the West's Classic Literature

by Anthony O'Hear $22.00

502-855-4824

Latin

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First Form Latin Latin Grammar Year One

by Cheryl Lowe Grades 5+ (4+ if completed Grammar School Latin)

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Second Form Latin Latin Grammar Year Two

by Cheryl Lowe Grades 6+

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Text $13.50 *Workbook $15.00 Teacher Manual $12.00 Teacher Key $14.95 *Quizzes & Tests $5.00 CD $8.95 Flashcards $14.95

Text $13.50 *Workbook $15.00 Teacher Manual $12.00 Teacher Key $14.95 *Quizzes & Tests $5.00 CD $8.95 Flashcards $14.95

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5 noun declensions 1st-2nd declension adjectives 1st-2nd conjugations in 6 tenses (active voice) Sum in 6 tenses Syntax: nominative and accusative cases; complementary infinitive; subject-verb agreement; noun-adjective agreement; predicate nouns and adjectives

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2nd declension -er, -ir nouns and adjectives 3rd declension i-stem nouns 3rd declension adjectives of 2 terminations 1st and 2nd person pronouns and possessive pronoun adjectives Prepositions with ablative and accusative Adverbs and questions 3rd, 3rd -io, and 4th conjugations in 6 tenses (active voice) Present system passive of 1st-4th conjugations and -io verbs Syntax: genitive of possession; dative of indirect object; ablative of means and agent

*denotes consumable book

Third Form Latin Latin Grammar Year Three

by Cheryl Lowe Grades 7+

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Fourth Form Latin Latin Grammar Year Four

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by Cheryl Lowe Grades 8+

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Text $13.50 *Workbook $15.00 Teacher Manual $12.00 Teacher Key $14.95 Quizzes & Tests (School License) $20.00 CD $8.95

Text $13.50 *Workbook $15.00 Teacher Manual $12.00 Teacher Key $14.95 Quizzes & Tests (School License) $20.00

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Perfect system passive of 1st-4th conjugations and -io verbs 4th declension neuter nouns 3rd declension adjectives of 1 and 3 terminations Imperative mood, vocative case 9 irregular adjectives Regular and irregular comparison of adjectives and adverbs Pronouns: 3rd person, demonstrative, intensive, reflexive Active and passive subjunctive of 1st-4th conjugations and -io verbs Syntax: apposition; adjectives used as nouns; objective and partitive genitive; subjunctive in purpose clauses; exhortations; deliberative questions

Latin

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Participles, infinitives, gerunds, and gerundives Deponent verbs Irregular verbs eo and possum I ntroduction to verbal prefixes and subsequent vocabulary expansion Plural nouns Locative case Pronouns: relative and interrogative Syntax: double accusative; relative clauses; sequence of tenses and indirect questions; impersonal verbs; indirect statements (accusative with infinitive construction); gerundive of obligation

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

Student Text • 2-page lessons on facing pages • Small, concise, unintimidating text • Systematic presentation of grammar in 5 logical units • Appendices with English grammar, conversational Latin, vocab, index, & more!

Teacher Manuals

Latin Forms Series

Word Study  Grammar  Syntax

LESSON I In chorō recitēmus.

Grades 4+

Let us recite together.

First Conjugation - Present Tense present stem Person

• Key to workbook & quizzes/tests • Copy of student text inset with comprehensive teaching instructions • Recitation schedule • Chalk Talk scripted lessons • FYI notes for teachers with limited background

amā-

Singular

Plural

1st

am-ō

I love

amā-mus

we love

2nd

amā-s

you (sing.) love

amā-tis

you (pl.) love

3rd

ama-t

he, she, it loves

ama-nt

they love

There are three persons in grammar. Below are the English pronouns and the corresponding Latin personal endings. Notice that English has only one word for the singular and plural you.

First Person (person speaking) Second Person (person spoken to) Third Person (person spoken about)

SINGULAR I you (sing.) he, she, it

ō/m s t

PLURAL we you (pl.) they

Workbook

mus tis nt

First Form Latin and its sister products have been used by more than 100,000 students across the world to learn Latin! First Form is an ideal text for beginners in grades 5 and up, or as a perfect follow-up to Grammar School Latin. The Latin Forms Series' grammar-first approach focuses on grammar forms and vocabulary because these skills are suitable for the grammar stage student—and every student is in the grammar stage when he begins a subject.

The Latin present tense corresponds to the English simple present, progressive present, and emphatic present. In English amō can mean: I love I am loving I do love

Amō is our model to study 1st Conjugation verbs.

In the conjugation chart above, the Latin personal endings, ō, s, t, mus, tis, nt, are in bolded blue. The Latin personal endings correspond to the English personal pronouns.

• 4-6 pages of exercises for each lesson • Exercises for practice and mastery • Grammar recitation for daily rapid-fire review

simple present progressive present emphatic present

The present tense is formed by adding the personal endings to the present stem, amā.

To find the present stem of each vocabulary word, drop the ō and add ā, the stem vowel of the first conjugation.1

Oral Drill

1. amant

1. he is swimming

Latin

English

Derivatives

2. portat

2. they plead

amō

I love, like

amorous, amateur

3. servō

3. she washes

dō

I give

donate

4. natāmus

4. you are guarding

lavō

I wash

lavatory

5. lavās

5. he does give

natō

I swim

natatorium

6. ōrātis

6. we carry

ōrō

I entreat, plead

orator

7. dat

7. you (pl.) like

parō

I prepare

preparation

8. stant

8. we are calling

portō

I carry

portable

9. parāmus

9. you stand

servō

I guard, keep

conservation

10. vocās

10. they prepare

stō

I stand

status

vocō

I call

vocation, vocal

Vocabulary

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The uniqueness of the Latin Forms Series lies in two features: 1) Commitment to the trivium model of teaching grammar systematically in order to facilitate retention and understanding, rather than topically, to facilitate translation; and 2) Extensive workbook exercises to ensure skill mastery and rapid recognition of inflected forms.

Based on twenty years of teaching experience, the Latin Forms Series, beginning with First Form, helps the student make sense of what many consider a difficult subject.

Quizzes & Tests • Reproducible weekly quizzes & unit tests

Flashcards 11

• Vocabulary with derivatives • Latin sayings • Conjugations • Declensions

Pronunciation CD • Includes the pronunciation of all vocabulary, sayings, and grammar forms for each lesson

View samples online: Charter.MemoriaPress.com

Latin Supplements Grades 4+

Grades 4+ 8.5" x 11"

33" x 17"

First Form and Second Form $12.95

First Form Latin $20.00 Second Form Latin $20.00

Third Form and Fourth Form $15.95

Grammar Wall Charts for the Latin Forms Series

Grammar Desk Charts for the Latin Forms Series

Grammar forms organized on wall charts are a great visual aid for Latin grammar students and for teachers during Latin recitations.

These desk-sized grammar charts are in a clean and easy-to-read format that helps students see the organization of the Latin grammar at a quick glance.

*Most macrons are omitted in order to reduce visual clutter on the charts.

*Most macrons are omitted in order to reduce visual clutter on the charts.

Latin Recitation CD/DVD This CD/DVD combination includes a recitation of the entire Latin grammar.

The DVD has visual charts with the grammar as Cheryl Lowe pronounces it.

Grades 3+ CD & DVD $14.95

*Most macrons are omitted from DVD charts in order to reduce visual clutter.

502-855-4824

Latin

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AP Latin Resources Grades 9+ Text $43.00 Teacher $24.00 Lesson Plans $14.95

Mueller's Caesar: Selections from De Bello Gallico

by Hans-Friedrich Mueller

Mueller's text and accompanying Teacher's Guide will lead students through Caesar's account of his wars in Gaul. A perfect first text for Latin students who are ready to translate, this program includes vocabulary, footnotes, historical background, and other resources, preparing interested students for the Caesar portion of the AP Latin Exam. Memoria Press' Lesson Plans (strongly recommended) schedule the work and teach, step by step, how to approach Latin translation.

Vergil's Aeneid: Selected Readings from Books 1, 2, 4, and 6

Excelability in Advanced Latin

by Barbara Weiden Boyd

This course contains over 75 passages drawn from a variety of Latin authors, translation exercises, multiple choice tests, practice sightreading Latin, and a comprehensive review of Latin grammar.

Student $43.00 | Teacher $24.00

This course covers all lines of Vergil on the AP Latin exam. Each page contains the Latin text, key vocabulary, and English summaries. The Teacher's Guide includes translations and discussion questions.

Student $29.00 Teacher $29.00

Caesar and Vergil AP Vocabulary Flashcards This flashcard set contains all vocabulary appearing five or more times on the Vergil and Caesar sections of the AP Latin exam, and comes with pre-punched holes and a metal ring for easy storage.

$19.00

Greek

French Grades 4+ *Student $15.00 Key $15.00

Wall Charts (22" x 34")

Grades 5-8

(2 charts) $12.95

*Student $17.50 Teacher $17.50

Desk Charts (8.5" x 11") (2 charts) $8.95

The Greek Alphabet by Cheryl Lowe

Greek Alphabet Charts

First Start French I

The Greek alphabet is different enough from our own to be a major impediment to the study of Greek. The Greek Alphabet is a tour of the Greek letters, their formation, and their sounds.

A page is devoted to each letter and includes a letter diagram with arrows showing proper formation, letters to trace and copy, interesting facts and hints, and questions.

This set of two charts makes a great visual aid for students and teachers in the classroom. One chart has the upper- and lowercase letters of the Greek alphabet with their names in English and Greek. The second chart lists diphthongs, accent marks, pronunciation helps, and syllable names.

This is a perfect introduction to French for students who would like to add a modern language to their Latin studies. This program will teach students the basics of French grammar, help them develop a large vocabulary, assist them in beginning to speak French, and introduce them to French culture.

Introduction to the French Language

by Danielle Schultz

WE’LL PAY THE

SHIPPING! All school orders receive free expedited shipping.

Contact us to place your order: schools@memoriapress.com or (502) 855-4824

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Latin, Greek, & French

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

B ook R eview

by Martin Cothran

Seven Myths About Education

by Daisy Christodoulou

O

ne of the most significant things about Seven Myths About Education by Daisy Christodoulou is the fact that the foreword was written by E. D. Hirsch, Jr., the author of Cultural Literacy and numerous other books about the importance of teaching content knowledge to students in a traditional way.

Christodoulou has done a great service in bringing more attention to two educational thinkers every classical educator needs to know. The first is Hirsch, who, for the past forty years, has been doing the heavy lifting in terms of diagnosing the problems of modern educational theory and practice. In fact, Christodoulou's book can be considered a sort of interpretation of two of Hirsch's books, Why Knowledge Matters and The Schools We Need, each of which provide her with one of the two basic themes of her book: the importance of knowledge acquisition and the importance of traditional modes of its transmission.

She has also tapped Da n iel Willingham to lend some quantifiable support to her analysis. Willingham is probably the most significant figure in the movement to bring real intellectual rigor to education research—research that has established a new empirical foundation for traditional pedagogy. If you have noticed the surprising and unprecedented willingness of the educational establishment to acknowledge the effectiveness of phonetic instruction in reading recently, you can attribute much of that to Willingham's research.

Although Christodoulou covers seven myths, they are all ultimately reducible to the two issues that characterize much of Hirsch's emphasis.

Myth #1 is "Facts Prevent Understanding." It sounds absurd—even preposterous—but this is what many modern educators believe: The learning of facts is not only ineffective, but, in a sense, immoral. This belief stems from philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey's stress on learning by doing, popularized during the first half of the twentieth century. It also 502-855-4824

gets a helping hand from French Romantic Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who maintained that the learning of mere facts took the joy out of education.

All learning, these thinkers believed, must be active rather than passive. One of many false dichotomies propagated by modern educational theorists is that learning is either fact-centered and subject-based or experience-based and child-centered. As any good teacher knows, good education involves techniques that may involve activity, but the ultimate goal is the development and furnishing of a child's mind, something that cannot be done without the passing on of actual knowledge.

But the myth about what children should be learning corresponds to an equally mistaken belief about how children should be taught, which leads us to Myth #2: "Teacher-Led Instruction Is Passive." Dewey's childcentered emphasis and Rousseau's Romanticism have resulted in the idea that the teacher needs to take a back seat in the education process. We've all heard the slogan "Don't be the sage on the stage, but the guide on the side."

This has become a matter of dogma to many modern educators, who have cleared their rooms of those evil desks and replaced them with learning centers and "pods" in order to facilitate the sidelining of the teacher.

These two primary myths, one about content and the other about technique, inform the other five myths, which, although redundant in a basic sense, are still worthwhile to study in order to see the full scope of the mistakes that plague educational thought.

Christodoulou does an excellent job of cutting to the chase and supporting her points with creditable sources.

Educators reading this book who have access to JSTOR will find it profitable (as I have) to look further into her sources, which constitute a treasure trove of educational research supporting traditional education.

Christodoulou is a British educator, so many of her references will be unfamiliar to Americans. But this won't pose a problem for American readers whose schools suffer every bit as much from bad ideas as the British.

Book Review

11

american

& modern studies

In American & Modern Studies, students focus on history since the Renaissance, geography, literature, and world cultures. Each program builds every year on the work of previous years, promoting mastery.

Students study and draw maps, and by the end of their study are able to label political and physical maps of both hemispheres from memory. Students also read a variety of books from our American Studies Supplemental Sets to supplement their knowledge of the U.S. and the world. All of this work prepares students for comprehensive studies of American and European history in high school.

American/Modern Studies Grades 5-8

Grades 5-8

Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

*Student $9.95 Teacher $5.00 Flashcards $12.95 Story of the World Vol. 4 $17.95

The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic

200 Questions About American History

We have combined Guerber's The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and The Story of the Great Republic into one edited volume that makes a perfect one-year survey of American history for the middle school years. The study guide includes important facts, vocabulary, and comprehension questions for each chapter, as well as enrichment activities such as mapwork, drawings, research, writing assignments, and more!

Flashcards: These cards are based on our 200 Questions About American History study guide, but can be used with any good American history course.

Supplemental Reading What a great way to study American history as a young student—by reading good books and immersing oneself in the lives and culture of those who have made history!

Third Grade $138 classroom set Fourth Grade $78 classroom set Fifth Grade $70 classroom set Sixth Grade $56 classroom set

These 200 questions everyone should know about American history are compiled from The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic and The Story of the World, Vol. 4.

A Concise History of the American Republic

Grades 9+

This one-volume history text can be used as a two-year American history course for high school that addresses the social, economic, and political issues that shaped our country.

Text $174.95

Year II: End of Reconstruction (1877) to the Reagan years (1980s). This includes industrialization, the Gilded Age, westward expansion, WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the beginning of conflicts in the Middle East.

Year One: Volume I (to 1815) Year Two: Volume II (since 1815)

Third Grade $12.95 | Fourth Grade $12.95 | Fifth Grade $12.95

These teacher books facilitate oral discussion of the books in our 3rd-5th grade American Studies Sets.

and Year II)

Year I: Pre-1615 life in North America through the Reconstruction years (1877). This includes early European explorations, the colonial period, the Revolutionary War, the development of U.S. government, the Mexican War, and the Civil War.

A History of Europe in the Modern World

Discussion Questions for American Studies Supplemental Sets

(use for Year I

Grades 10+ Vol. I $150.00 Vol. II $150.00

This course covers the political, societal, and religious upheavals, particularly in Western Europe, that have shaped and reshaped the continent in the last seven hundred years. The texts include helpful maps, timelines, and illustrations. Our new, expanded study guide covers volumes 1 and 2, and can be completed as a one-year or two-year course. Volume I covers the Middle Ages and the Renaissance through the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Empire. Volume II covers industrialization and imperialism through the world wars, the Cold War, and the twenty-first century.

Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans by Edward Eggleston Grades 1-3 $12.95

Eggleston says in his preface that "the primary aim of this book is to furnish the little learner reading matter that will excite his attention and give him pleasure" and "to make the mind of the pupil familiar with some of the leading figures in the history of our country by means of personal anecdote." We have included Eggleston's original illustrations in addition to our own. *denotes consumable book

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American/Modern Studies

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

Geography Grades 4+

Grades 3-6

Geography I Text $14.95 *Geography I Student $12.95 Geography I Teacher $14.95 *U.S. Review Workbook $5.00 U.S. Review Teacher $7.95 Geography Flashcards $19.95

Text $7.99 *Student $12.95 Teacher $12.95 Flashcards $3.95

States and Capitals

Geography I: The Middle East, North Africa, & Europe

In this study guide, each state is given a two-page spread that includes a map with room to write the state capital, nickname, abbreviation, and fun facts about the state. By the end of this course, students will be able to map all 50 states and capitals. We recommend that this guide be used with Don’t Know Much About the 50 States.

A unique geography program designed for students pursuing a classical education, Geography of the Middle East, North Africa, & Europe covers the area that constituted the ancient Roman Empire. Each region is explored in its historical context in "History's Headlines" as well as in the present in "Tour of Today."

Flashcards: This set includes 50 cards, with the name of each state and a map of the state's location within the United States on one side of the card, and the capital and detailed shape of the state on the other. Also included are 34 country cards that introduce key world countries and their capitals. Helpful teaching hints and suggested activities are also included.

The United States Review: Help students retain the knowledge they gained in their study of States & Capitals. This review takes very little time and makes a great companion to Geography I. Geography I-III Flashcards: We have a big fan club for our geography books.

Our customers like the basic maps that give just the essentials of world geography in a straightforward manner. Now we have the flashcards to go with them.

Covering the material from Geography I, II, and III, these flashcards will help your students master the geography of the world.

Grades 5+

Grades 7+

Geography II Text $14.95 *Geography II Student $12.95 Geography II Teacher $14.95

Geography III Text $16.95 *Geography III Student $17.95 Geography III Teacher $17.95 Classroom Atlas $12.00 + Geography Flashcards $19.95

*Geography I Review Workbook $5.00 Geography I Review Teacher $7.95

Geography II:

Geography III: Exploring and Mapping the World

After studying Geography I, students are ready to cover areas of the world outside the ancient Roman Empire.

Students will, in fact, map the rest of the world. Each lesson includes physical features, history, and culture. Students will continue to deepen their understanding of past and present as they learn about ancient and modern countries.

Students learn to map the world in our Geography I and Geography II programs.

Geography III solidifies these mapping skills and requires students to label major landforms and topography. Students will study the climate, recent and current history, cultures, and religions of every continent. This text has many illustrations of famous landmarks, architecture, and people from around the world, and the workbook has weekly mapwork exercises. This is a thorough world geography course that is perfect for middle school students before their advanced European and American history courses in high school.

Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Oceania, & the Americas

Geography I Review: This study guide will help students retain the knowledge they gained in their study of Geography I. The review takes very little time and makes a great companion to Geography II.

Large Wall Maps (22'' x 34'') $35.00 Small Wall Maps (11'' x 17'') $19.95

Ancient Civilization Wall Maps Make the ancient civilization stories come alive on your classroom walls. These wall maps are perfect for any classical classroom. Each set includes individual maps of Greece, Italy, the City of Rome, and the Roman Empire, and other common locations in the classical world.

502-855-4824

Classroom Atlas: This atlas contains detailed political, economic, environmental, and topographical maps of global regions. It is a recommended supplement for Geography III. same as flashcards used in Geography I

+

faq:

What do we need for initial classroom setup?

For classroom setup you will need: teacher guides for each subject, texts for each student plus one for the teacher, and student guides for each student.

If there are wall charts and flashcards available, one set per classroom is recommended. Likewise, only one Read-Aloud set per classroom is needed.

Geography

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14

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

T

ruth, beauty, goodness—there is something in each of us that responds when we speak of these things. Our hearts are drawn to deep learning and beautiful language as much as our heads. Our search leads us to the Great Books, to the great conversation, and to Latin. That stalwart language stands unabashed, undeterred by the foolishness of our present educational system, ready and waiting for us to return to it.

Those of us involved in classical education agree that our current educational systems are in great need of repair. That is why we are doing what we are doing—we are rescuing education.

We have started schools or are leading schools or are teaching in schools because we see a lack.

Incorporating a full Latin program in your school is one of the best ways to provide students with a complete education, and to resurrect a reverence and care for language that has been lost—to save our speech.

In the first grades of school, we focus on phonics, learning the letters and sounds of English and the basic words used in early reading and writing. But once phonics has been conquered, formal language study often stops. In the last fifty years there has been a steep decline in the study of grammar. The best way to walk students into an understanding of English grammar is through the study of Latin, an inflected language that, unlike English, has determined rules and a visible structure. Simply looking at the ending of a Latin noun will indicate its number and its case (which visually shows the function of the word in the sentence), and oftentimes its gender. Conjugating a verb requires one to know and think through person, number, tense, voice, and mood. We study Latin because it helps us to understand our own language and use it more fully. Students who study Latin will be equipped with the English grammar skills that are lacking in the schools of today.

THE DEAD LANGUAGE DEBATE

Not only will students attain a better grasp of English grammar through Latin, but conjugating verbs and declining nouns is great exercise for the mind. Students' minds will be shaped by the order and structure of the language itself, creating well-trained minds. The latest fad in progressive education is an emphasis on "critical thinking skills," but asked to actually define this phrase, few can—beyond insisting that thinking is a skill and a critical one. Instead, might I recommend Latin? A study of Latin in the grammar school years helps form a clear mind that is able to reason and deduce.

In fact, employers are noticing the effects of applicants not knowing grammar when they hire. Kyle Wiens, owner of two tech companies, published an article in the Harvard Business Review a couple years ago titled "I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here's Why." He says,

There are those, of course (we have all heard them), who say that Latin is a dead language, so why study it? There is really no support for the assertion that because we don't as a society speak Latin, it is therefore of no value. For one thing, to speak English is to use Latin. It is estimated that fifty percent of the English language comes from Latin. This means we have many, many words that are derived from Latin; we are using them all the time. When we opt (optare, to choose) to make a donation (donare, to give) or accidentally make an error (errare, to err); when we inhabit a house (habitare, to live in) or look adoringly at our children (adorare, to adore); every time we narrate a story (narrare, to tell) or move (movere, to move) or judge (judicare, to judge)—we use Latin.

THE GRAMMAR DROUGHT When we incorporate Latin into the curriculum, we must use the grammar-first approach. There are those who think knowing a few Latin phrases—e pluribus unum, semper fidelis—or singing ditties and little songs will suffice for the study of Latin, but this will never produce the cognitive and linguistic results that a grammar approach does. Students must be involved in a systematic study; they must begin at the beginning and proceed in an organized manner.

After enjoying thirty years of administering home education to six children, Kathy then administered a classical school before joining Memoria Press as the school representative in the West.

502-855-4824

LATIN TRAINS THE MIND

If you think an apostrophe was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, you will never work for me. If you think a semicolon is a regular colon with an identity crisis, I will not hire you. If you scatter commas into a sentence with all the discrimination of a shotgun, you might make it to the foyer before we politely escort you from the building. … Everyone who applies for a position at either of my companies takes a mandatory grammar test. If job hopefuls can't distinguish between "to" and "too," their applications go into the bin.

Grammar is relevant for all companies. Yes, language is constantly changing, but that doesn't make grammar unimportant. Good grammar is credibility…. [Y]our words are all you have. They are a projection of you in your physical absence.

Good grammar makes good business sense—and not just when it comes to hiring writers. Writing isn't in the official job description of most people in our office. Still, we give

SOS: Save Our Speech

15

our grammar test to everybody, including our salespeople, our operations staff, and our programmers. … If it takes someone more than 20 years to notice how to properly use "it's," then that's not a learning curve I'm comfortable with.

So, even in this hyper-competitive market, I will pass on a great programmer who cannot write.

Grammar signifies more than just a person's ability to remember high school English. I've found that people who make fewer mistakes on a grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely unrelated to writing—like stocking shelves or labeling parts. … Grammar is my litmus test. All applicants say they're detail-oriented; I just make my employees prove it.

DEVELOPING INTENTIONAL READERS Our students will never be as successful as they could be in their endeavors until they realize the importance of language. Words are powerful, and those who know how to wield them will naturally be the leaders of our society. By words our world is framed. Words can defeat and words can uplift. With words wars begin and peace is made. One of the best ways to get to know words is by studying Latin.

Do you want intentional readers in your school? Readers who notice words and know them intimately? Readers who rise above the status quo?

One spring I visited a school in Utah that had implemented Memoria Press' Latin program the preceding fall. The school is well-ordered, with structured and organized classes, and the students in each one were eager to share what they had learned during the year. In the fifth grade classroom I asked the students if they had noticed a difference in their reading since they had taken Latin.

"Yes!" they responded enthusiastically. "We can't read without noticing Latin vocabulary everywhere. We are making a list and we have three hundred words so far."

I told them, "Now you are forever changed. You cannot go back. From here on you will notice words and be aware of where they came from. The English language will be revealed to you.

How many of you, as teachers, wish your students would notice the words they're reading? How many of you would love to bring about a transformation in your students like those at this school? You can do this by incorporating Latin in your classes. Learning Latin makes writing and reading English a more thoughtful process. Latin makes our language full and deep.

LOST IN TRANSLATION And then there is the reading of the Great Books that shaped Western civilization—the works of Vergil, Cicero, Caesar—in their original languages. Do we dare look to this as an end goal? We must. If you have ever read a translation, you know that that same book, translated by another author, will present a slightly different story. Every translation is an interpretation, filtered not only through the translator, but distilled through another language as well. Translation is a bit like the children's game of telephone: Each time the story is passed on it gets a little farther from the truth.

It is like looking through a veil and seeing the shadow of the story, but not the real thing.

What a clearer view we would have of the Aeneid if we could read it in its original language. The only avenue to truly understand these works is to enter through the door of Latin. Is it possible? Yes. And would we not want our students to be able to avail themselves of this? In our rushing culture, running here and there, it is still possible to hear the voices of the ancients. Latin is our key to understanding the past.

As educators we have been given a gift; we have the unique opportunity to equip young minds with the tools for deciphering the past.

We can begin at a young age, as we introduce students to the world of Latin grammar, helping them to tear our own language apart and fully understand the inside of it. As students progress they will step into a deeper study of Latin and develop a deep love for the writings of old.

It goes against the flow to suggest that every student will be helped by a study of Latin, but I assure you that by studying Latin students will be changed. They will begin to see and use words differently. Their world will expand as they note phrases they read or hear every day and recognize the Latin roots. They will not be able to pick up a book without noting the structure of words, and will be more aware of the words they are using. Speech will become more intentional.

If we are to train the next leaders of society, we must teach Latin. Students will always benefit from knowing words and loving words and reading books and understanding history. So teach Latin. Save our speech.

We study Latin because it is good for the mind; we study Latin because it helps us to understand our own language and use it more fully.

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SOS: Save Our Speech

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

penmanship Penmanship, both manuscript and cursive, is an important part of education. Neat, legible penmanship is a crucial factor in the development of accuracy in spelling and arithmetic. The physical act of writing requires focus, discipline, and patience of students—values which cross over to all of their other academic subjects. Our manuscript copybooks teach penmanship, basic grammar, spelling, literature, accuracy, attention to detail, and memory—all through the simple skill of copying.

Starting cursive in first grade means that students are learning this new skill after they have a solid grasp of manuscript writing but before they encounter the heavier demands of written work in the grammar school years, when cursive will allow students to write more efficiently and with greater accuracy. Writing at a high level begins with the humble skills of speed, accuracy, and beauty in writing letters and words.

copybooks Grades K-6

Grades K-2

Grades 1-2

*$8.50 ea.

*$14.95 ea.

*$14.95

Manuscript Copybooks I & II Composition & Sketchbooks

Our Composition & Sketchbooks allow each student to write and illustrate compositions.

These books are a great resource for all subjects and become a journal of the student's work for each year.

Copybook Cursive I

by Michelle Tefertiller

by Michelle Tefertiller

Our primary copybooks teach penmanship, basic grammar, spelling, literature, accuracy, attention to detail, and memory—all through the simple skill of copying. We have carefully selected quotes from famous people so you can teach history and culture while working on penmanship.

Perfect as a companion to New American Cursive 2 or for an older student needing more practice.

Cursive Grades 1-4

Grades 2-4

New American Cursive 1

New American Cursive 2

by Iris Hatfield

by Iris Hatfield

*$22.95

*$22.95

NAC 1 is for the first grader or older beginning cursive student. The character Mr. Meerkat is the book's guide; he makes learning cursive a pleasure as he shows how to form each letter step by step with clear starting dots and directional arrows. Emphasis on correct pencil grip, paper position, and posture are illustrated throughout this delightful workbook.

A three-page teaching guide is included, as well as 105 instructional lessons and fun artwork exercises to help build fine-motor skills. Fifteen minutes of workbook practice a day is all it takes!

In NAC 2, Mr. Meerkat continues the process of teaching correct letter forms and how to easily connect each letter. Proper size, spacing, and slant are emphasized in this enjoyable workbook.

A seven-page teaching guide is included, along with 125 instructional exercises, lessons to develop creative writing skills, and reproducible practice pages.

Grades 3-5

New American Cursive 3

by Iris Hatfield *$22.95

In NAC 3, students build on the skills they developed with workbooks 1 and 2. To further enhance cursive skills, they practice writing in their best cursive while learning about manners and correspondence protocol. NAC 3 combines proven teaching methods with the needs of the contemporary student for a fast, legible script. Includes a seven-page teaching guide, 100 instructional lessons, journaling pages, and progress evaluations.

*denotes consumable book

502-855-4824

Penmanship

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phonics , reading ,

& spelling

The primary goal of the kindergarten year is to teach students to read. Our program for phonics instruction is First Start Reading. Phonics is most effective when taught methodically, thoroughly, intensively, and logically. We begin with one sound for each letter and start blending consonants with short vowels immediately to form the three-letter phonetic words that children learn first. Additional sounds for letters are taught in the context of word families. Common sight words that break phonetic rules are taught and reviewed throughout the year. Formal phonics instruction continues after kindergarten within the Traditional Spelling program and literature guides.

Reading & Phonics

•

First Start Reading:

Grade 1

Phonics, Reading, and Printing

by Cheryl Lowe Grade K

*Student Book E $7.00 Teacher Guide for Book E $9.95

*Student Books (A-D) $7.00 ea.

Teacher Guide for Books A-D $14.95

First Start Reading, Book E Your students can begin reading instantly as they progress through 4 simple student books and 34 phonetic stories. The Teacher Guide includes helpful assessments, tips, and more!

• consonants • short & long vowels

• 57 common words • manuscript printing

• artist-drawn coloring pictures • drawing pages for every letter

FSR is a balanced, age-appropriate approach to phonics and reading, with a serious focus on correct pencil grip and letter formation. The FSR kindergarten program includes student books with artist-­drawn pictures to color, drawing pages for each letter or phonogram, and phonetic stories to read. The Teacher Guide leads you through the program and provides helpful assessments and teaching tips.

Classical Phonics

Grades K-2

A Child's Guide to Word Mastery $16.95

by Cheryl Lowe Classical Phonics consists of phonetically arranged word lists for students to practice their growing word recognition skills. In a word list there are no context clues, so the learner must rely on his mastery of letter sounds. Classical Phonics can be used as a supplement to any phonics program, and covers nearly all English phonograms and sounds taught through second grade.

by Michelle Tefertiller We complete our phonics for reading program at the beginning of first grade with First Start Reading Book E. After students have completed Books A-D in kindergarten, they are ready for the long vowel teams, sounds of soft c and g, and the three sounds of y in Book E.

Phonics From A to Z $27.99 Teaching Phonics & Word Study $33.99 These books are excellent resources for teachers looking for additional help with phonics concepts, tips on how children best learn to read, and additional lists of resources.

I Can Read It! (Books 1-3) Phonics Flashcards (5.5" x 4.25")

Grades K-2 $24.95

There are nearly 200 phonograms used to spell the 44 sounds used in the English language.

In our Phonics Flashcards we have organized these phonograms into nine categories to give some rational order to the irregularities of English spelling.

$10.49 ea.

These controlled-vocabulary early readers can be used in conjunction with First Start Reading or as additional reading practice for beginning readers.

Each story has plot, action, and humor that will be sure to engage the student's interest.

Spelling Traditional Spelling I & II

by Cheryl Lowe Grades 1-2

*Student $14.95 ea. | Teacher $16.95 ea. | *Practice Sheets $5.00 ea. *Supplemental Wkbk. $7.95 ea. | Supplemental Wkbk. Key $7.95 ea.

Traditional Spelling is a comprehensive, phonetic approach to spelling, and is the culmination of our primary phonics program. It incorporates reading, writing, and dictation of spelling words. Each lesson features a short story that utilizes the week's spelling words so students can practice words in context.

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Phonics, Reading, & Spelling

Spelling Workout D-H Grades 3-7

*Student $12.97 ea. | Teacher $14.97 ea.

Spelling Workout teaches spelling skills based on phonics, which makes it a good follow-up to Memoria Press' Traditional Spelling program. Each lesson has a spelling rule that is tied to the spelling words for the week, a reading passage, and interactive activities.

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

Our approach to reading includes systematic phonics and daily exposure to good literature in the form of read-aloud books. These are scheduled in our Enrichment Guides and lesson plans. Good books captivate the imagination of children and motivate them to want to be readers. Good books teach vocabulary and a fascination with words. Good books teach geography, history, science, and, most importantly, the condition of human life. Good books open the mind of the child to the whole world. *denotes consumable book

Jr. Kindergarten Recommended for Ages 4-5 $30.00 (*2-book set)

Alphabet Books (Part I & Part II)

by Leigh Lowe

Learning the alphabet is the critical first step in learning how to read. The Alphabet Book teaches letter recognition, letter formation, and pencil grip through repetition and tracing. This book also introduces initial and ending sounds, providing a gentle introduction to phonics.

Alphabet Flashcards

Numbers & Colors

This book is ideal for a student who is just beginning to work with numbers. Along with introducing each number through 15, color words are taught. Plenty of Recommended practice is given with for Ages 4-5 both numbers and color *$15.00 words through activities such as counting, connect the dots, coloring, number tracing, pattern recognition, and more! Additional skills of left and right, above and below, and grouping are also introduced.

Recommended for Ages 4-5 *Numbers $6.00 *Alphabet $6.00

Coloring Books These coloring books have simple line drawings on uncluttered pages. This is the perfect supplement to any Jr. K program.

Wall Charts

(11" x 17") | $14.95 ea.

Visual aids reinforce each letter of the alphabet while young students learn to read and write.

$10.00 (4Ÿ'' x 5½")

These flashcards are modeled after our manuscript Alphabet Wall Charts. Letters are on one side of the card and a corresponding image is on the flip side. These are perfect for reinforcing students' letter recognition and beginning sounds.

Two letters of the alphabet per card.

Available in manuscript or cursive.

Primary Enrichment Enrichment Guides

The Book of Crafts $16.95 ea.

(Jr. K - 2nd Grade)

These activities reinforce number and letter recognition, strengthen fine-motor skills, and foster creativity and confidence. There is a craft for each read-aloud book and additional crafts that focus on art concepts.

$19.95 ea.

(Kindergarten, 1st Grade, or 2nd Grade)

These supplemental guides are organized by week, and coordinate with our kindergarten, first, and second grade programs. Each guide includes an overview of each readaloud book, author and illustrator biographies, oral reading questions, and a simple language lesson. These activities will help bring each read-aloud book alive for the student. Also included are resources for the development of history, culture, art, and science lessons.

Scissors Books My Very First Scissors Book and My Very Own Scissors Book help prepare students for the crafts in Memoria Press' craft books, and for skills they will need in kindergarten and beyond.

*My Very First Scissors Book $6.00 *My Very Own Scissors Book $6.00

Alphabet Wall Poster

$7.00

(22" x 34")

If you don't have the space for wall charts, this poster is perfect. The alphabet is shown in both manuscript and cursive.

Music Enrichment Read-Aloud Sets available for classrooms!

View book lists at Charter.MemoriaPress.com

502-855-4824

$12.95 (Used in Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd Grades)

Music Enrichment goes into more detail on each song presented in our Enrichment Guides, including information about the songs and a biography of each composer, as well as a few interesting facts and discussion questions about the song being studied.

Primary

19

L ogic

What Is Logic?

by Martin Cothran

T

here has been a huge classical education revival among educators in recent years, but there are aspects of it that many teachers in classical schools still do not know much about.

Logic is the second leg of the classical trivium, which also includes grammar and rhetoric, but the word "logic" is as widely misunderstood as it is widely used.

What does the word "logic" mean in the context of the classical trivium, and how is that use of the word different from the way many people use it today?

There are two common schools of thought on what logic is and how it should be taught. The first is the classical approach, which involves teaching traditional logic. The second is the newer method of modern symbolic logic. Traditional logic was articulated 2,500 years ago by Aristotle and is language oriented; modern logic was developed by modern philosophers and is more mathematical.

The Traditional Definition of Logic The philosopher Jacques Maritain said that logic "studies reason itself as the instrument of knowledge, or as a means of acquiring and possessing the true." Traditional logic focuses its study on three things: words, statements, and arguments—the different kinds of arguments and how they are structured. It involves, prima­r ily, the study of the classical syllogism. Syllogism is just a fancy word for argument. Here is an example of a syllo­g ism seen in many introductory logic books:

Martin Cothran is the editor of The Classical School and author of several books, including Traditional Logic Books I & II.

20

What Is Logic?

All men are mortal Socrates is a man Therefore, Socrates is mortal

This syllogism is composed of two premises (the first two statements) and a conclusion (the last statement). In an argu­ment, we say that the premises are statements that support the conclusion logically. If the argument is valid, that means that the conclusion logically follows from the two premises; in other words, if the premises are true, then the conclusion must also be true.

This is just one of the sixty-four different ways you can construct a syllogism, but only nineteen of them are valid. The one above is one of the nineteen valid syllogism forms. The particular discipline concerned primarily with the classical syllogism is most often referred to as tradi­t ional logic, although the terms "Aristotelian logic" and "categorical reasoning" are also used. In addition, we should mention that, while traditional logic focuses primarily on syllogisms, it also includes the study of hypothetical reasoning ("if … then"; "either … or"; and "both … and" arguments).

How Traditional Logic Differs from Other Kinds of Logic It is quite common today to use the word "logic" to refer to systems or procedures entirely different from traditional logic. The main one is the system of modern symbolic or mathemati­cal logic. While this system is commonly taught alongside the traditional system in many schools, the two systems are quite different from one another. For one thing, the modern system of logic employs assumptions from modern philosophy, and these assumptions fundamentally affect its structure and purpose.

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Traditional logic allows a student to see the different aspects of human reason and how they relate to one another in the pursuit of truth.

The most obvious difference between the modern system and the system of traditional logic is the extensive use of math­ematical symbols in the modern system. While the traditional system assumes that logic exists in order to help us to think and to apprehend the true nature of things—and hence uses symbols only sparingly—modern logic attempts to replace human thinking and rational speech with a system of mathematical symbols. Traditional logicians and modern logicians have had very heated disagree­ments about this. The traditionalists say that human speech cannot be reduced to mathematical symbols in this way, and to try to do so is to assume that the activity of human reason is virtually the same as what a computer does. Humans, says the traditionalist, are not merely machines, but reflect a kind of ratio­nality that goes far deeper than what is used in machines made by men.

There are also the various practices and procedures which, when not labeled logic, are often referred to corpo­rately as critical thinking skills.

Most of these cannot be considered a part of formal 502-855-4824

logic, but they include various language games, mathematical games, and puzzles.

There is nothing wrong with using the word "logic" for these other fields of study, but it should be pointed out that it is traditional logic that has historically been consid­ered the second part of the classical trivium.

Modern mathematical logic, of course, is a relatively recent invention (which is why it is called modern logic). It was not even known when the classi­cal trivium was in widespread use.

The same is true of most of the things referred to as critical thinking skills. Many of these are of fairly recent vintage. In other words, historically speaking, these other kinds of logic were never considered a part of the trivium. And why, you may ask, should those of us involved in classical education feel bound by this tradi­tional definition?

The first reason is this: The trivium is about language. The classical liberal arts were divided into the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric), which focused on language, and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music), which focused on mathematics. Traditional logic, which plants its feet firmly in human language rather than mathematics, is much better suited to the trivium than such disciplines as modern logic, which descend rapidly into math­ematical signs and symbols.

The second reason is this: Trivium study is systematic. One of the greatest benefits children derive from the classical trivium is academic discipline.

This is probably more obvious when it comes to grammar, where the study of Latin gives students the opportunity to study a highly structured language in a sys­tematic way. This gives them generalizable study skills that extend into other subjects. Traditional logic does the same thing—at an even higher level.

Traditional logic is a highly systematic discipline that takes the study skills learned in Latin and applies them to thinking itself. Unlike the kind of logic studied in critical thinking skills, which is highly unsystematic, traditional logic gives a student a systematic introduction to thinking that allows him to see the different aspects of human reason and how they relate to one another in the pursuit of truth. It is the understanding of truth, after all, which is the chief objective of traditional logic.

Does all of this mean that the study of these other disciplines that go by the name of logic are not beneficial? Not necessarily—but maybe it is not the best use of time. What it does mean is that when it comes to the study of logic in the context of the classical trivium, it is the study of tradi­t ional logic that should be first and foremost.

What Is Logic?

21

logic Logic is the original thinking skill. Memoria Press' logic program has brought back many of the lost tools of this essential subject. The Traditional Logic program is an in-depth study of the classical syllogism. The textbooks provide brief but comprehensive explanations of the complex subject matter in clear, concise language, and well-structured daily exercises in the workbooks ensure student mastery.

In Traditional Logic I students will gain a basic understanding of terms, statements, and simple categorical arguments. Traditional Logic II covers the figures of the traditional syllogism, forms of rhetorical arguments, kinds of hypothetical syllogisms, and kinds of complex syllogisms, as well as relational arguments. Book II also includes a wealth of examples of famous arguments throughout history. Traditional Logic I can be used as early as seventh grade as a year-long course, or older students can complete Traditional Logic I and II as semester courses.

Traditional Logic differs from modern logic programs in that it focuses on the language-centered logic developed by the ancient Greeks, which was actually used in the classical trivium. If your goal is to teach students how human beings think and how we actually argue in real life, traditional logic—which is a language art and not a mathematical art—is the place to start.

Traditional Logic I

Traditional Logic II Advanced Formal Logic by Martin Cothran

Introduction to Formal Logic by Martin Cothran Grades 7+

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Grades 8+

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Text $14.00 *Workbook $15.95 Key $9.95 *Quizzes $5.00

Text $14.00 *Workbook $15.95 Key $9.95 Quizzes & Tests (School License) $20.00

Advanced Concepts & Argument Forms

Basic Logical Terms, Concepts, & Procedures

• Figure & mood in syllogisms • Syllogism reduction • Hypothetical reasoning • Chain arguments • The dilemma • The oblique syllogism

• Truth, validity, soundness • 4 ways statements can be opposite • 3 ways statements can be equivalent • Distribution of terms • The 7 rules for validity

*denotes consumable book

Logic Supplements How to Read a Book:

The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren

Figures of Speech:

Aristotle's Rhetoric

60 Ways to Turn a Phrase

by Arthur Quinn

edited by Edward Corbett

$31.95

(optional supplement)

(optional supplement)

$5.00

$16.99 (optional supplement)

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Logic

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writing

& english gr ammar

The teaching of English grammar is most efficiently accomplished through Latin instruction. The English Grammar Recitation program solidifies the grammar students have learned in Latin by having them memorize and recite the grammatical and usage rules in English, while also supplementing with English-specific rules for capitalization and punctuation.

Once students have mastered the basic rules of how language works, they are ready to learn how to use that language persuasively. In the Classical Composition program, students learn one of the most important liberal arts, rhetoric—the ability to communicate clearly, concisely, and persuasively. Training in rhetoric begins in the earliest grades, when young students are asked to answer reading comprehension questions in simple sentences and paragraphs in their literature and history guides, and continues with formal training in rhetorical skills in the Classical Composition program, culminating in the study of the advanced theory of persuasive communication in Aristotle's Rhetoric. *denotes consumable book

Classical Composition Classical Composition (Stages I-V available)

by James A. Selby

Grades 4+ *Student Book $19.95 ea. | Teacher Guide $29.95 ea.

Ancient writers invented a way of teaching writing known as the progymnasmata (or "before exercises"), which provided a method of teaching composition that not only taught budding writers a disciplined way to approach communication, but also helped them appeal to the hearts and minds of their audience.

The fourteen exercises, organized from the simplest and most basic to the most complex and sophisticated, were the core education of a classical speaker, designed to produce what Quintilian once called "the good man, speaking well."

Jim Selby has blown the dust off of the writing curriculum that was used in schools for over 1,500 years and put it in an easy-to-teach format that will revolutionize your curriculum. Presented clearly and systematically, Classical Composition will give you a clear road map to writing excellence.

Suggested Sequence: Grade

Stage

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 11

I: Fable II: Narrative III: Chreia & Maxim IV: Refutation & Confirmation V: Common Topic VI: Encomium, Invective, & Comparison (coming soon) VII: Characterization (1 semester) (coming soon) VIII: Description (1 semester) (coming soon) IX: Thesis & Law (coming soon)

English Grammar Grade 2 Student $7.95 Teacher $10.00

English Grammar Practice Designed for the final year of primary school, this program is an oral practice of many basic aspects of language arts from capitalization and punctuation to language and reading skills. This book includes two worksheets per week that can be added to morning work or used as supplements to Latin or literature studies. English Grammar Practice makes an excellent addition to language study at the end of primary school and prepares students for more in-depth work in grammar school.

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English Grammar Recitation

Grades 3-8

We've been saying for years that Latin teaches English grammar better than English teaches English grammar, and now we have written a course that makes the perfect English grammar supplement for your Latin program.

English Grammar Recitation $9.95 Flashcards $12.95 *Student $11.95 ea.

Teacher $12.95 ea.

Our English Grammar Recitation is a manual of about 150 grammar questions, answers, and examples designed to be studied and memorized. Brief exercises in the Student Guide, including some diagramming, accompany the grammar questions. However, mastery of the English grammar recitation is the primary goal of this course, not its application. It is hoped that this course can be completed in much less time than the typical English grammar course, leaving more time for composition and Latin.

Workbooks I-II are available now, with III-V coming soon! Each lesson in the workbooks covers two to three grammar questions along with practice exercises. English Grammar Recitation also covers common capitalization and punctuation rules by means of concise style sheets.

Writing & English Grammar

23

classical studies Classical Studies covers Greek mythology, ancient history, and the Middle Ages. We do not study history chronologically, but rather in accordance with the age-appropriateness of the content for the student. We begin in third grade with Greek myths, fantastical stories that appeal to young students and are suited to their age level.

Next we study Rome and then the Middle Ages, saving the complexity of the Greek civilization for later in the grammar school, though it comes before Rome chronologically. Students are then prepared to read Homer's Iliad and Odyssey in middle school as they review each time period with Dorothy Mills' ancient history series. This cyclical approach to Classical Studies prepares students to read and understand the classics of Greek, Roman, and British history in upper school, and to gain insight into the modern world.

Students starting their classical education in later years will skip the Famous Men series and acquire their ancient history with an overview from the Dorothy Mills books. We would also recommend reading D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths (p. 25) and The Trojan War by Olivia Coolidge (p. 28) as an introduction to the characters and plot of The Iliad and The Odyssey before taking on these difficult works. *denotes consumable book

Classical Literature

Iliad Text $12.00 *Iliad Student $11.95 Iliad Teacher $12.95 Odyssey Text $12.00 *Odyssey Student $11.95 Odyssey Teacher $12.95

Grades 7+

The Iliad & The Odyssey Samuel Butler translation

Western civilization begins with The Iliad and The Odyssey. This is a perfect place to start your study of the Great Books. Our study guides will help bring Homer's great works alive for your student.

Our Teacher Guide has inset student pages with answers, teacher notes for each lesson, quizzes, and tests, giving the teacher all the background information needed to teach these books.

The Aeneid

Grades 8+

David West translation Text $15.00 *Student $16.95 Teacher $16.95

After Homer, The Aeneid is logically your next great book to study. Virgil's epic story of the founding of Rome will come alive when read with the help of our study guide as you continue your quest to master the classics. This is a great preparation for AP Latin also. Our Teacher Guide has inset student pages with teacher notes and background information for each lesson.

Greek Tragedies Grades 9+

Oresteian Trilogy $13.00 Three Theban Plays $15.00 Medea & Other Plays $11.00 *Student $17.95 ea.

Teacher $17.95 ea.

Aeschylus was the first of the three great tragic playwrights. The Oresteian Trilogy is the exciting story of the end of the curse of the House of Atreus. Sophocles, "famous for wisdom," won the playwright competition at the Festival of Dionysus many times. Here, in The Three Theban Plays, is his story of Oedipus.

It is the great myth, influencing all subsequent literature. Euripides further developed the tragedy in Medea & Other Plays, instituting the deus ex machina, a prologue with a background, and greater realism. These plays together provide a comprehensive year-long literature or classical studies course for high school.

Questions about placement? Starting late?

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Classical Studies

The Aeneid for Boys & Girls

Grades 6-8

by Alfred J. Church

$9.95

Alfred Church's retelling of Virgil's Aeneid is a great introduction to the story of Aeneas, who escaped from the burning city of Troy and founded Rome.

Horatius at the Bridge

Grades 6+

*Book $14.95 | Medal $5.00 | Lapel Pin $2.00

This study of Macaulay's 70-stanza ballad includes vocabulary, maps, character and plot synopses, meter, comprehension questions, teaching guidelines, and a test. Send us a recording of your students reciting the poem, and we'll send them a Winston Churchill Award certificate to present with the medal.

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Classical History for Grammar School Grades 3-8

Grades 4-8

Text $19.99 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95 Flashcards $12.95

Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

D'Aulaires' Greek Myths

Famous Men of Rome

Myths are everywhere in Western art and literature and are the essential background for a classical education. Each of the 30 lessons presents facts to know, vocabulary, comprehension questions, and a picture review and activities section.

Famous Men of Rome is ideal for beginners who are fascinated by the action and drama of Rome. Thirty stories cover the great historical characters of ancient Rome, from its founding to its demise. Witness the rise and fall of a great civilization through this biographical approach to history.

Grades 5-8

Grades 5-8

Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95 Flashcards $12.95

Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

Famous Men of Greece

Famous Men of the Middle Ages

If the Romans were history's great men of action, the Greeks were history's great men of thought. Dive into the lives of 32 famous Greeks whose stories detail the rise, Golden Age, and fall of Greece. Learning about the triumphs of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Alexander the Great, and others will show your students why the scope of Greek accomplishment is known as "The Greek Miracle."

The story of the Middle Ages is told through the colorful lives of Attila the Hun, Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, Edward the Black Prince, and Joan of Arc, among others. This course guides students through the turbulent "dark age" of history and illustrates the transition from the end of ancient times to the birth of the modern era.

Classical History for Upper School The Book of the Ancient Greeks

The Book of the Ancient World

Grades 6-9 Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

Grades 6-9 Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

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Dorothy Mills takes the student on an adventure, exploring the geography, culture, architecture, and most prominent people of Egypt, Persia, Anatolia, Israel, and more, teaching the valuable history and lessons of these ancient peoples.

Grades 6-9 Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

The journey continues, starting in Crete and ending in the Hellenistic Age ushered in by Alexander the Great. Students learn about the development of democracy, the primordial defense of democracy in the Persian wars, the heyday of Athens (also known as the Golden Age), and that sad self-destruction known as the Peloponnesian Wars.

The Book of the Ancient Romans

The Book of the Middle Ages

Like any good Roman course, this one begins with the she-wolf who nurses in infancy the legendary founders of Rome: Romulus and Remus. The rise and fall of a monarchy, the embrace of a republic with the simultaneous dislike for kings, and finally the rise of the Roman Empire teach unforgettable principles about human nature and society.

See how Western civilization spread, building a new civilization on the remnants of the Roman Empire. From the foundation of monasteries to the bell towers of universities, from the crowning of Charlemagne to the execution of Joan of Arc, this program will walk your students through the tumult and growth of the Middle Ages.

Grades 6-9 Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

Classical Studies

25

L iter ature

Taking With Us What

Matters

by David M. Wright

Sometimes our study of literature resembles a kind of clinical laboratory lesson. We encircle the text in our white coats, ready to dissect the story like a dead animal.

Or

, if this sounds too invasive or scientific, we analyze the text in order to extract the "Elements of Literature" (the title of a recent big-press high school English textbook)—to know the work by studying its parts. Or perhaps we analyze simply to have a meaningful artistic engagement with the text.

All of these, though, fall short of what our true purpose and intent should be when reading a Great Work. But ironically, this main purpose may be the most overlooked.

What we are missing in our modern study of literature is a conscious effort to uncover the soul of the work, the essence from which it derives its being—a fundamental, ontological reality that I have named the Central One Idea. The process of searching for and determining the Central One Idea profoundly shapes our interaction with the work and the trajectory of our study. There are six reasons why this is so.

First, we honor the work. Just as we notice an innate hierarchy in the natural world, societies, organizations, and families, we insist that a kind of hierarchy exists in the work as well: There is one idea at the heart of the story; one idea burning as the sun in its solar system, with many literary elements in rotation around it. This idea gives the work its ultimate meaning and its greatest expression. In this idea, the other elements find their raison d'être.

Second, I often ask my students, "What's in a title?"—to which they reply, "Everything." Then I ask, "What's in a name?" and they promptly reply, "Everything." I repeatedly ask this, not only because repetition is the mother of learning, but also because I do not want them to miss what is right in front of them: The title of a work often hints at, points toward, or outright expresses the Central One Idea.

I chose the name "Central One Idea" carefully so that its nature and purpose would be inherent: It is David M. Wright is the director and author of the upper school literature curriculum at Memoria Press.

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central; it is one; and it is an idea. In other words, it is at the center of the work; it is singular; and it is a complete idea, that is, a proposition with a subject and a predicate, not just a subject.

Third, when we consider the essay, the dissertation, or any nonfiction work, we insist that it must have a thesis. For the thesis is everything to that particular work—so much so that, ontologically, the work derives its being from its thesis. And the title usually encapsulates the thesis. Take, for example, the academic bestseller some years ago: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Here Jared Diamond argues that the varied developments of human societies on different continents is the result of environmental determinism—geography, population, and agriculture. And more specifically, that Eurasian technological and economic rise a nd do m i n a nc e s t e m m e d from their superior weapons (guns), their diseases which weakened indigenous populations (germs), and their centralized government which fostered powerful military organizations (steel). One can almost read the title, absorb the thesis, and devote five hundred pages to something else, say Hugo's Les Misérables.

Is a novel, poem, or play really any different than a work of nonfiction? Does not fiction express a thesis just as nonfiction? I believe it does. If not explicitly, then implicitly—for it must express something, and that something is the Central One Idea. As well, that essential idea is that which compels the author to put pen to paper, or the artist to put brush to canvas. The novel, poem, or painting is simply (and profoundly) the artistic medium or rendering of the idea.

So what, then, does a Central One Idea look like?

In Charles Dickens' Hard Times, the owner of a school instructs his students in "nothing but facts" and finally realizes that his program ruins the humanity of his students. The Central One Idea: Life should be lived with imagination rather than by an overemphasis on logic and cold facts. (Yes, this could be said another way; and yes, another could be argued for, but I'll get to this in point five.)

Fourth, reading for the Central One Idea moves our methodology back toward the classical and medieval, toward what C. S. Lewis called the discarded image. In previous ages, idea and truth had

a kind of unity and primacy that is lost in modernity.

I think here of Plato and his forms, Aristotle and his organized classification of reality, Dante and his fixed and ordered cosmology. The moderns prefer fragmentation, subjectivism, and deconstruction of both the idea and truth. More comfortable with truth shattered into shards, this age insists that reality is broken and disconnected, not whole and unified.

Approaching a work of literature with this broken and distant framework means students are uncomfortable asserting any one truth about a story, too afraid to insist: This is the fundamental idea that drives this novel. They'd rather point out various elements in the work or express how the novel makes them feel. As well, they may focus undue attention on a character they like or dislike based on whether the character behaves in a way acceptable to contemporary (politically correct) standards.

Fifth, determining the Central One Idea engenders logical thought and rhetorical speech. It demands close reading and analysis, supporting evidence and proof; it generates critical discussion and rhetorical writing. The nous (in patristic thought, the eye of the heart) of a work is not always easy to find. Sometimes it is everywhere present but cannot be directly seen.

Sometimes it has to be wrestled for in the midst of competing ideas. Sometimes it seems too obvious and simple. But nonetheless, this methodology requires the student to stake a claim for one central idea, which he or she then must defend with evidence from the text, the study guide, scholarly sources, or his or her own logic. And this stimulates fruitful class discussion and debate, and leads directly to the essay and composition.

Finally, reading for the Central One Idea is the essential way to study literature because it is an act of discovery. Since we desire by nature to know, we experience joy when we discover new things and complete gaps in logical sequences. We seek so that we may find. The joy of learning springs from the Elysian fount of discovery. May our search for and insistence upon the Central One Idea become the logos of our study of the Great Works, and let us find there wisdom and virtue.

The Central One Idea gives the work its ultimate meaning and its greatest expression.

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Taking With Us What Matters

27

literature Literature and poetry are essential to a classical education. Why? Because, along with history, literature and poetry are the chief ways we pass on the ideals and values of traditional Western culture. Not only will your students' affections be trained to love the good (and hate the bad) through characters they encounter in great literature, but they will get a glimpse into the wonder of reality that only good poetry can reveal to us. Memoria Press' literature and poetry programs bring you a choice selection of the best books by the best authors.

Primary School Literature Grade 1 StoryTime Treasures

Grade 1 More StoryTime Treasures

*StoryTime Treasures Student Guide $14.95 StoryTime Treasures Teacher Guide $16.95 Little Bear $3.95 Caps for Sale $7.99 Frog and Toad Are Friends $3.99 Make Way for Ducklings $7.99

*More StoryTime Treasures Student Guide $14.95 More StoryTime Treasures Teacher Guide $16.95 Billy and Blaze $7.99 Blaze and the Forest Fire $7.99 The Story About Ping $3.99 Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie $7.99 Stone Soup $7.99 The Little House $7.99 Miss Rumphius $7.99

*denotes consumable book

Grammar School Literature

28

Grades 3-4 Farmer Boy *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $8.99

Grades 3-4 Charlotte's Web *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $9.99

Grades 3-4 A Bear Called Paddington *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $9.99

Grades 3-4 Mr. Popper's Penguins *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $7.99

Grades 4-5 My Side of the Mountain *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $7.99

Grades 4-6 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $9.99

Grades 4-6 Heidi *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $5.99

Grades 4-6 Lassie Come-Home *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $7.99

Grades 6-8 The Trojan War *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $7.99

Grades 6-8 Anne of Green Gables *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $9.95

Grades 5-7 The Twenty-One Balloons *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $7.99

Grades 6-8 The Hobbit *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $10.99

Literature

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Reading requires an active, discriminating mind that is challenged to think, compare, and contrast. Students who have been challenged by good literature will develop into superior readers and will never be satisfied with poor-quality books. Each novel has been carefully selected to nourish your students' hearts and minds and improve their reading abilities. The study guides focus on vocabulary, comprehension, and composition—skills that train students to become active readers.

Grades 2-3 Animal Folk Tales of America *Student $11.95 Teacher $7.00 Novel $12.95

Grades 2-3 Prairie School *Student $11.95 Teacher $7.00 Novel $4.99

Grades 2-3 The Courage of Sarah Noble *Student $11.95 Teacher $7.00 Novel $5.99

Grades 2-3 Little House in the Big Woods *Student $11.95 Teacher $7.00 Novel $8.99

Grades 2-3 Tales from Beatrix Potter *Student $11.95 Teacher $7.00 Novels $7.99 ea.

Grades 3-4 The Moffats *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $7.99

Grades 3-5 The Cricket in Times Square *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $7.99

Grades 3-5 Homer Price *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $6.99

Grades 3-5 The Blue Fairy Book *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $9.95

Grades 5-7 Adam of the Road *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $7.99

Grades 5-7 The Door in the Wall *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $6.99

Grades 5-7 Robin Hood *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $5.99

Grades 5-7 King Arthur *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $5.99

Grades 6-8 Treasure Island *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $9.95

Grades 6-8 The Wind in the Willows *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $9.95

Grades 6-8 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $9.95

Grades 7-12 As You Like It *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $9.95

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Literature

29

Upper School Literature

Grades 8-9 Little Women *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $14.95

Grades 9+ The Scarlet Letter Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $7.00

Grades 8-9 The Hound of the Baskervilles Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $10.00

Grades 8+ Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $12.00

Grades 9+ A Tale of Two Cities Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $6.95

Grades 9+ To Kill a Mockingbird Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $14.99

Grades 8+ Beowulf Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $10.95

Grades 9+ Pride & Prejudice Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $6.95

Grades 9+ Henry V Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $5.99

Mix and match any 10 or more Memoria Press literature guides and receive 15% off your literature guide purchase!

Use coupon code LITGUIDE at checkout!

Poetry

faq:

Which books can be used as class sets and which are consumable?

All student guides are consumable (except upper school literature guides).

One per student is required.

These books travel to and from home and are used as study guides. For literature, we suggest that all students have their own copy of each novel so they can highlight and underline as needed.

Textbooks for other subjects can generally be purchased as reusable class sets since the student guides will contain all the material needed for study after the text has been read.

30

Literature & Poetry

Grades 3-7

Grades 9+

*Student $14.95 Teacher $16.95

Student $14.95 Teacher $16.95 Anthology $19.95

Poetry for the Grammar Stage This poetry book is intended for use in the grammar school years as a companion study to literature, science, and American studies. Poetry study includes questions to help students analyze meanings of the poems, including vocabulary work. Poems increase in difficulty each year.

Literary and Rhetorical Terms

Grades 9+ $9.95

This handy companion book is a compilation of all the literary and rhetorical terms used in our upper school literature guides.

Poetry & Prose II: The Elizabethan to the Neoclassical Age Did you ever wish you didn't have to sort through all the thousands of poems that have been written over the years to find the best of the best? Cheryl Lowe has done the work for you in this British Poetry Anthology. This anthology and study guide covers the English Renaissance, the Cavalier Poets of the early seventeenth century, the great Puritan writers, the Restoration period, and the Neoclassical Age. The accompanying guides utilize reading notes, comprehension questions, and Socratic discussion questions to lead students to discover the Central One Idea of each work.

Questions?

Speak with a Schools Representative: (502) 855-4824 Charter.MemoriaPress.com

science There are two choices for elementary science: the survey course which raises many questions with little time for answers, and the in-depth study of one topic, in which questions can be explored, curiosity satisfied, and understanding take root. Memoria Press' in-depth science courses for the grammar school focus on observation and classification—the natural starting point of science—rather than experiments.

We introduce students to the world of nature by studying the things it is made up of—birds, insects, trees, mammals, and the heavenly bodies. We give students the gift of knowing the world they live in and an appreciation of that world that will benefit them throughout their lives. *denotes consumable book

Science & Nature Grades 3+

Grades 4+

Grades 3+

*Student $14.95 Teacher $16.95 The World of Mammals $17.99 What Is a Mammal? $7.95 What Is the Animal Kingdom? $7.95

Text $14.95 *Student $14.95 Teacher $16.95 Peterson Guide $7.95

*Student $14.95 Teacher $16.95

Mammals

Young students love to study animals! Our Mammals Student Guide covers rodents, elephants, primates, marsupials, and much more! Students will answer comprehension questions and draw the animals they are studying. The Teacher Guide includes quizzes and tests.

The Book of Trees

The Book of Insects

The Book of Astronomy

With a reader that takes a narrative approach to the life of insects and a workbook that takes your students through the different kinds of insects, this course will enthrall your students by taking creatures many of us revile and making out of them a fascinating study!

Using the system of the Greeks and Romans, your student will learn the story of the sky. This guide covers stars, constellations, the motion of the earth, and the zodiac.

Grades 6+

Grades 5+

Text $14.95 *Student $14.95 Teacher $16.95 Peterson Guide $7.95 The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown Ups $15.95

Text $14.95 *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Peterson Guide $7.95 *Coloring Book $8.95 Flashcards $9.95 (31 cards per set)

Our Book of Trees, along with a student workbook and teacher key, will teach students the different parts and kinds of plants, the processes of photosynthesis and respiration, and about flowers and fruits and other wonders of the natural world.

What's That Bird?

Study the anatomy of birds and how they live. The workbook includes facts to know, comprehension questions, and characteristics of each bird.

Students will learn 31 common birds and several incredible birds!

Math Flashkids Flashcards Addition | Subtraction Multiplication | Division $3.95 ea.

Numbers Books

(Part I & Part II)

by Leigh Lowe

Recommended for Kindergarten $30.00 (*2-book set)

This book set includes practice in counting, patterns, and writing and tracing numbers. It makes a good supplement for kindergarten math.

502-855-4824

College of the Redwoods Prealgebra

Textbook $20.00 Solutions Manual $20.00 *Quizzes & Tests $9.95 Quizzes & Tests Answer Key $5.00

McDougal Littell Geometry

Textbook $109.20 Teacher Edition $183.60 Solution Key $70.75

Science & Math

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PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Memoria Press

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TEACHER TRAINING & SCHOOL CONSULTATION

Martin Cothran

Paul Schaeffer

Ryan Weston

Tanya Charlton

Memoria Press' training team has worked with schools all over the country to assist teachers and staff in understanding the vision of classical education and to better implement a coherent and rigorous classical curriculum.

Our staff is also available to address your parents and your community to answer questions about classical education.

Contact us: schools@memoriapress.com or (502) 855-4824 ISBN 9781547701544

90000 >

Kathy Becker

Jim Duncan

Michelle Tefertiller

Sarah Jo Davis

9 781547 701544