The Classical Teacher - Winter 2012

Saving Western civilization one student at a time ...

Winter 2012

Memoria Press

Home of the Classical Core Curriculum www.MemoriaPress.com

letter from the

Editor

by Martin Cothran

I am often asked, "What is the 'classical approach'

to science?" There are a lot of ways to answer this question, but the most important thing is to simply point out that our approach to science ought to take account of what nature is.

Unfortunately, we live in a time in which the nature of nature has become a topic of dispute, and much of the scientific establishment seems to think that nature can be considered and taught in a way that takes no account of its fundamental, well, nature.

In fact, one of the chief problems in discussing science is the equivocal use of the word nature. To modern thinkers, the word nature is merely a reference to the cosmos as a whole.

It is the sum total or aggregate of all physical objects. But to classical thinkers, the primary meaning of the word nature had to do with the intrinsic order and purpose of things.

The poet Alexander Pope once wrote: Nature and nature's laws lay hid by night; God said, "Let Newton be," and all was light.

Here, the word nature is used very much in its modern sense—meaning all the physical things there are. The classical use of the word, however, can be illustrated from a nursery rhyme: Dogs delight to bark and bite ...

For 'tis their nature to.

Here the word nature is used in the classical sense, to mean the inner essence of a thing.

To modern thinkers, the world is like a machine. We live in the wake of the so-called "scientific revolution," which saw nature as a giant mechanism ultimately reducible to lifeless atoms. In this view, the things of nature have no real essence or purpose, since what they fundamentally are is a collection of dead particles. Natural objects are the particles they can be reduced to, and that is all they are.

To classical thinkers—whether Christian or nonChristian—this was not so. Nature was not a machine; it was an organism. The universe was, in a sense, alive.

In the old view, science was a study of the causes of things, and scientists believed there were four causes: formal, material, efficient, and final. A formal cause was the metaphysical pattern of a thing. A material cause was what it was composed of. An efficient cause was what brought the 2

thing about or kept it in existence. And the final cause was what it was for, its telos.

In the classical Christian view, man was a creature made in the image of God ( formal cause) out of flesh and bone (material cause) who was created by his Maker (efficient cause) in order to enjoy and glorify Him forever ( final cause).

But beginning in the 17th century, formal and final causes were jettisoned: There was no metaphysical pattern upon which things were designed, or any intrinsic purpose for which they existed—no pattern, nor any telos. There was no longer any why or wherefore. Nature was shrunk down to the dimensions of the instruments by which it could be measured. Now there was only the what and the wherewith.

And with the advent of Darwin, the what itself was eliminated. Nothing was what it was, since everything was always in the process of becoming. All that was left was efficient cause.

The object of the old "natural philosophy" was to apprehend nature. Aristotle, for example, practiced science by naming, defining, and classifying. The purpose of what we now call "science" was to behold nature in its fullness. But in the modern view, the whole point of science is to deconstruct nature—to reduce it to its ultimate meaningless components.

It is the classical philosophy which lies behind Memoria Press' elementary emphasis on insects, birds, and trees—as well as on astronomy and geography. It is to allow a student to wonder at the world.

In the classical view, the point of science was to apprehend the mystery of nature; in the modern view, the point of science is to eliminate the mystery of nature.

The purpose of science is wonder, and wonder cannot be had in an approach whose whole purpose is to eliminate it. It can only be accomplished by viewing nature as a mystery we can never resolve, but at which we can only marvel. www.MemoriaPress.com

THE CLASSICAL TEACHER

CONTENTS FEATURED ARTICLES 2 14 21 28 30 34 42

LOGIC & RHETORIC 32

Letter From the Editor by Martin Cothran The Lost Art of Teaching Latin by Cheryl Lowe Simply Classical: A Beautiful Education for Any Child by Cheryl Swope The Nature of Science by Cheryl Lowe Cothran's Fork by Martin Cothran Why Should Christians Read the Pagan Classics?

Reason #3: Science by Cheryl Lowe Sherlock Holmes & the Left Hand of God by Martin

33

36

Cothran

8 10 24

Grammar School Curriculum Packages 3rd - 6th Grades 7th Grade Curriculum Package New! Memoria Press Curriculum Map

Everything you need for one year + daily/weekly lesson plans!

PRIMARY YEARS Alphabet Books & Numbers Books First Start Reading & Classical Phonics Alphabet Wall Charts (Available in cursive & manuscript) New American Cursive 1, 2, & 3 Memoria Press Copybook Series

Prima Latina Latina Christiana First Form Latin Series Henle Latin Series Greek Alphabet Book First Start French I & II

39

Grades 3-12

Book of Astronomy New! Book of Insects New! What's That Bird? New! J. H. Tiner Series New!

Grades 3-8 Grades 3-8

Horatius at the Bridge The Trojan War The Iliad & the Odyssey Dorothy Mills Histories New!

Grades 6+ Grades 6-8 Grades 7+ Grades 6+

The Aeneid New! Grades 8+ The Divine Comedy New! Grades 10+ Timeline Wall Cards, Flashcards, Composition & Sketchbook, Handbook New!

Christian Studies I-IV The City of God New!

45

Grades 3+ Grades 1-7 Grades 3-12

Grades 1-4

The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic 200 Questions About American History States & Capitals Artner Reader's Guide (American History) Geography I: Middle East, North Africa, & Europe New! United States Review New! Geography II: New! Geography I Review New!

Grades 5-12

Grades 3+

Grades 5-8 Grades 3-6 Grades 3-8 Grades 4+ Grades 4+ Grades 5+ Grades 4+

OTHER

Grades 8-12 Grades 5-8

Grades 5-8

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

Grades 3-6

Grades 5+

Grades 3-8 Grades 10-12

AMERICAN / MODERN

Grades 4-12

SCIENCE 35

D’Aulaires’ Greek Myths Famous Men Series

CHRISTIAN STUDIES

LATIN, GREEK, & FRENCH 16 17 18 20 23 46

Grades 9-12

Ancient World, Ancient Greeks, Ancient Romans, & Middle Ages

38

LITERATURE, GRAMMAR, & WRITING

12 13

37

New!

English Grammar (Grammar Stage)New! Introduction to Composition New! Classical Composition New! Literature Study Guides Poetry Anthologies New!

Grades 9-12

Rome, Greece, the Middle Ages, and Modern Times

Primary Curriculum Packages Jr. Kindergarten - 2nd Grade

11

Grades 7-12

CLASSICAL STUDIES

6

5

Traditional Logic I & II Aristotle's Material Logic Classical Rhetoric Logic and Rhetoric Supplements:

Handbook of Christian Apologetics, Socrates Meets Jesus, Aristotle's Rhetoric, Figures of Speech, and How to Read a Book

CLASSICAL CORE CURRICULUM

4

Winter 2012

26 40 41 46

Memoria Press Online Academy Enroll Today!

Spotlight on CLSA: Holy Trinity Classical Christian School (Beaufort, SC) Classical Latin School Association (CLSA) New! Liberal Arts Supplements

Grades 4+ Grades 5+ Grades 5+

Publisher | Cheryl Lowe Editor | Martin Cothran Managing Editor | Tanya Charlton Copy Editor | Jennifer Farrior Senior Graphic Designer | Karah Force

MEMORIA PRESS 4603 Poplar Level road Louisville, KY 40213

www.memoriaPress.com

© Copyright 2012 (all rights reserved)

ONLINE ACADEMY

www.memoriapress.com/onlineacademy

4

Primary Education

www.MemoriaPress.com

Alphabet Books NEW! Recommended for Ages 4-5

$30.00 (2 book set) 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. Activities, created with the younger student in mind, make learning each letter simple and fun. This book also introduces initial and ending sounds, providing a gentle introduction to phonics. The Alphabet Book acts as a great supplement to any primary program or fullyear preschool/kindergarten program.

Coloring Books NEW!

Alphabet & Numbers Recommended for Ages 4-5

$6.00 ea.

Have you been searching high and low for junior kindergarten activities that are fun and instructional?

Look no further! These coloring books have simple line drawings on uncluttered pages! The Alphabet Coloring Book has a 2-page spread for each letter, and the Numbers Coloring Book has two sets of 2-page spreads for numbers 0-12. These books are the perfect supplement to any junior kindergarten program.

Numbers Books NEW!

by Leigh Lowe Recommended for Kindergarten

$30.00 (2 book set) Written by Leigh Lowe (author of Prima Latina), the Numbers Book is the perfect introduction to numbers, counting, and patterns. Lots of tracing practice also makes this book ideal for the slightly older student who has already mastered counting, but still needs extra practice writing numbers. The activities (mazes, coloring, pattern recognition, connect the dots, and more!) are so much fun that your student won't be able to wait for the next lesson!

Alphabet Wall Charts (11''x17'')

Manuscript Charts $14.95 | Cursive Charts $14.95 (New American Cursive font)

Visual aids reinforce each letter of the alphabet while young students learn to read and write or practice their cursive penmanship. With beautiful letters, colors, and hand-drawn illustrations, they also make great educational posters for your home and/or classroom!

First Start Reading: Phonics, Reading, and Printing

by Cheryl Lowe Recommended for Kindergarten

$39.95 set (Books A, B, C, & D + Teacher Guide) Your children 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. Also, while many phonics programs today use the ladder approach (consonant-vowel blending), we prefer the more traditional (vowel-consonant) approach combined with word families. Mastery of short vowels is the sine qua non of phonics programs, but few programs provide adequate practice. *Note: Printing, an important pathway of the learning process, is an integral part of FSR. Some children, however, are reading-ready before their motor skills are developed enough for printing.

If this is the case with your child, you may use FSR without the printing component.

Classical Phonics

A Child's Guide to Word Mastery Grades K-2

$14.95 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. For instance, if your child can pronounce each word in this list correctly – pot, pat, pit, put, pet – he knows his short vowel sounds, and you can move on to long vowels! If not, he needs more practice, and Classical Phonics is the most effective tool we know of to address the repetition that young ones need when learning to read. It can be used as a supplement to any phonics program and covers nearly all English phonograms and sounds taught through second grade. Classical Phonics is your go-to resource for phonics practice and for building confident readers.

Classical Phonics is a teacher and student guide all in one. It provides thorough, concise phonics explanations at the bottom of most pages, giving you the background you need to teach phonics even if you never learned it yourself.

Primary Education

Memoria Press Copybook Series

by Cheryl & Leigh Lowe Grades K-2

$39.95 set (Copybooks I-III) Copybook I $14.95 | Copybook II $14.95 | Copybook III $14.95 | These three-in-one wonders include memory passages, copybook exercises, and drawing pages. We have selected Scripture from the King James Bible and classic children’s poems, such as those by Robert Louis Stevenson, which describe the world in charming detail. Our copybooks introduce basic strokes and margin/spacing guidelines, along with alphabet practice pages with traceable characters and instructions for difficult letters.

Copybook Cursive:

Scripture & Poems (New American Cursive)

$14.95 Now get our original Copybook III in cursive!

Filled with the same Scripture and poetry in our original Copybook III, but formatted in the New American Cursive font, our second graders complete this copybook alongside New American Cursive 2. Also a good choice for older students who need cursive practice.

Composition & Sketchbook $7.95 For primary students who have gained skill and confidence in writing. Allows each student to write and illustrate compositions.

Each writing page has a full-page illustration box on the facing page. In years to come, these books will provide a treasured journal of your child’s progress in writing.

The Book of Crafts NEW!

for Junior Kindergarten Classical Core Curriculum Supplement

by Tara Luse

$16.95 The creative arts are an essential part of the primary school education. By using the activities in this book, you can reinforce number and letter recognition, strengthen fine motor skills, and foster creativity and confidence. This book is for the youngest crafters and is intended to be a supplement to our Junior Kindergarten curriculum. For easy reference, the crafts are separated into three categories: Literature Crafts, Letter Crafts, and Review Day Crafts.

While the crafts in this book have been carefully chosen to promote skill growth and coordination, the most important component is fun. Enjoy each of your creations and the time spent together making them!

5

New American Cursive 1

by Iris Hatfield Grades 1-4

$22.95 Some people think computers have made cursive writing skills obsolete, but good handwriting and computers are not mutually exclusive. Should we stop teaching language arts because a child can now text message?

Before the early 1940s, virtually all children were taught cursive in the first grade. Research shows that when third graders begin writing cursive, they return to a first grade speed level. By learning cursive earlier, students can focus more on other subjects once they reach the upper grades.

Simple, clear, & effective! ✓ 8-page teaching guide ✓ 125 Instruction and exercise lessons ✓ Illustrations/Exercises for letter connections ✓ Journaling pages ✓ Practice includes Bible verses and quotes ✓ Simplified classic letter forms ✓ Focus on accuracy and legibility ✓ Natural right slant (easier for beginners & lefties) ✓ Takes only 15 min./day!

New American Cursive 2 Grades 2-4

$22.95 ea. (available in two versions: Scripture passages

or quotes from great Americans)

Students continue working on cursive fluency with New American Cursive 2. Practice pages include character-building passages from Scripture or great Americans. As students gain confidence in their cursive, exercises in creative writing are added.

New American Cursive 3 Scripture & Lessons on Manners Grades 3-4

$22.95 New American Cursive 3 is designed to enhance the student’s development of cursive writing skills while teaching good manners and correspondence protocol. It combines proven teaching methods with the needs of the contemporary student for a fast, legible script.

Startwrite CD

New American Cursive supplement

$29.95 This New American Cursive supplemental software is available for easy, customizable worksheets to integrate handwriting practice with any subject.

6

Classical Core Curriculum

www.MemoriaPress.com

$140

Jr. Kindergarten

$260

Kindergarten

$140 Complete Set (all books + Lesson Plans) $45 Consumable Books Set (for additional students) $30 Lesson Plans for One Year (only)

$260 Complete Set (all books + Lesson Plans) $80 Consumable Books Set (for additional students) $30 Lesson Plans for One Year (only)

• Jr. Kindergarten Curriculum: Complete Lesson Plans for One Year • Counting With Numbers • Inside and Outside • Prayers for Children • Alphabet Books 1 & 2 • Coloring Books: Alphabet & Numbers • Richard Scarry's Mother Goose • Big Thoughts for Little People (Devotional) • Hailstones and Halibut Bones (Poetry) • Memoria Press Manuscript Wall Charts

Supplemental Read-Aloud Program $340.00 A set of 34 classic picture books chosen for their beauty in prose and illustration. A great addition to any children's library, one book is read aloud and discussed each week in Jr. Kindergarten.

• Kindergarten Curriculum: Complete Lesson Plans for One Year • Copybook I • Composition & Sketchbook • The Golden Children's Bible • Christian Liberty Nature Reader (Book K) • Animal Alphabet Coloring Book • First Start Reading: A, B, C, D & Teacher Guide • Classical Phonics • SRA Phonics 1 • Primary Phonics Readers (20 books total) • Rod & Staff Beginning Arithmetic 1: Student (Part 1), Teacher, & Blacklines • Numbers Books 1 & 2 • Soft and White, Fun in the Sun, & Scamp and Tramp

Supplemental Read-Aloud Program Set $275 | Set with Poetry $295

Christian Studies

2nd

1st

K

Jr. K

Reading & Phonics Alphabet Books (p. 4) Alphabet Coloring Book (p. 4) Richard Scarry's Mother Goose Hailstones and Halibut Bones

Prayers for Children Big Thoughts for Little People

SRA Phonics 1 First Start Reading (p. 4) Classical Phonics (p. 4) Animal Alphabet Coloring American Language Readers Nature Reader K Primary Phonics Readers

SRA Phonics 2 Classical Phonics (p. 4) StoryTime Treasures (p. 12) More StoryTime Treasures (p. 12)

SRA Phonics 3 Classical Phonics (p. 4) Second Grade Literature Set (p. 12)

The Golden Children's Bible (p. 39)

The Golden Children's Bible (p. 39)

The Golden Children's Bible (p. 39)

Classical Core Curriculum

1-877-862-1097

$300

$370

1st Grade

2nd Grade

$300 Complete Set (all books + Lesson Plans) $105 Consumable Books Set (for additional students) $200 Continuing MP Student Set $30 Lesson Plans for One Year (only)

$370 Complete Set (all books + Lesson Plans) $125 Consumable Books Set (for additional students) $315 Continuing MP Student Set $30 Lesson Plans for One Year (only)

• First Grade Curriculum: Complete Lesson Plans for One Year • Copybook II • Composition & Sketchbook • New American Cursive 1 • The Golden Children's Bible • Classical Phonics • SRA Phonics 2 • Rod & Staff Beginning Arithmetic 1: Student (Part 2), Teacher, & Blacklines • First Grade Literature: Study Guides w/ Novels • A Little House Christmas Treasury • Christmas in the Big Woods • Winter on the Farm

Supplemental Read-Aloud Program

7

• Second Grade Curriculum: Complete Lesson Plans for One Year • Prima Latina complete set • Prima Latina Copybook • Copybook Cursive Scripture and Poems • Composition & Sketchbook • New American Cursive 2 • The Golden Children's Bible • SRA Phonics 3 • Rod & Staff Math 2: Student (Units 1-5), Teacher, & Blacklines • Classical Phonics • Second Grade Literature: Study Guide Sets w/ Novels

Supplemental Read-Aloud Program Set $290 | Set with Poetry $305

Set $290 | Set with Poetry $305

Math

Writing & Penmanship Numbers Coloring Book (p. 4) Counting With Numbers Inside and Outside

Numbers Books (p. 4) Rod & Staff Math 1, Part 1

Rod & Staff Math 1, Part 2

Rod & Staff Math 2

Latin

Alphabet Books (p. 4)

Copybook 1 (p. 5) Composition & Sketchbook (p. 5)

Copybook 2 (p. 5) Composition & Sketchbook (p. 5) New American Cursive 1 (p. 5)

Copybook Cursive (p. 5) Composition & Sketchbook (p. 5) New American Cursive 2 (p. 5) Prima Latina Copybook (p. 16)

Prima Latina (p. 16)

8

Classical Core Curriculum

www.MemoriaPress.com

$400

$400

3rd Grade

4th Grade

$400 Complete Set (all books + Lesson Plans) $150 Consumable Books Set (for additional students) $30 Lesson Plans for One Year (only)

$400 Complete Set (all books + Lesson Plans) $150 Consumable Books Set (for additional students) $30 Lesson Plans for One Year (only)

• Third Grade Curriculum: Complete Lesson Plans for One Year • Latina Christiana I complete set • Third Grade Literature: Study Guide Sets w/ Novels • D'Aulaires' Greek Myths set • Christian Studies I set • New American Cursive 3 • States & Capitals set • Astronomy set • Rod & Staff Math 3 set • Rod & Staff Spelling 4 set • English Grammar for the Grammar Stage, Book I set • Introduction to Composition set • Poetry for the Grammar Stage • The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

• Fourth Grade Curriculum: Complete Lesson Plans for One Year • First Form Latin complete set • Fourth Grade Literature: Study Guide Sets w/ Novels • Famous Men of Rome set • Christian Studies II set • Geography of the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe set • United States Review set • The Book of Insects set • Rod & Staff Math 4 set • Rod & Staff Spelling 5 set • English Grammar for the Grammar Stage, Book 2 set • Classical Composition: The Fable Stage set

Poetry for the Grammar Stage $19.95 Beta!

(supplement for 4th grade; included in 3rd grade package) (p. 13)

Supplemental Read-Aloud Program

Novels (11 books) $150.00 | Picture Books (22 books) $300.00

Summer Reading (before 5th grade): Story of the World, Vol. 2 (p. 46)

Summer Reading (before 4th grade): Story of the World, Vol. 1 (p. 46)

Christian St.

Literature

Latina Christiana I (p. 17)

Greek Myths (p. 36)

Christian Studies I (p. 39)

The Moffats Farmer Boy Charlotte's Web (p. 12)

First Form Latin (p. 18)

Famous Men of Rome (p. 36)

Christian Studies II (p. 39)

Lassie Come-Home Heidi The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (p. 12)

Second Form Latin (p. 18)

Famous Men of the Middle Ages (p. 36)

Christian Studies III (p. 39)

Adam of the Road Robin Hood King Arthur (p. 13)

Third Form Latin (p. 19) Greek Alphabet Book (p. 23)

Famous Men of Greece Trojan War Horatius at the Bridge (pp. 36-37)

Christian Studies IV (p. 39)

The Hobbit Anne of Green Gables The Bronze Bow Treasure Island (p. 13)

6th

5th

3rd

Classical St.

4th

Latin & Greek

Classical Core Curriculum

1-877-862-1097

9

$450

$425

5th Grade

6th Grade

$425 Complete Set (all books + Lesson Plans) $150 Consumable Books Set (for additional students) $30 Lesson Plans for One Year (only)

$450 Complete Set (all books + Lesson Plans) $150 Consumable Books Set (for additional students) $30 Lesson Plans for One Year (only)

• Fifth Grade Curriculum: Complete Lesson Plans for One Year • First or Second Form Latin complete set • Fifth Grade Literature: Study Guide Sets w/ Novels • Famous Men of the Middle Ages set • Christian Studies III set • Geography II set • Rod and Staff Arithmetic 5 set • Rod and Staff Spelling 6 & English 5 sets • What's That Bird? set • Exploring the History of Medicine set • Classical Composition: The Narrative Stage set

Golden Children's Bible $17.95

(supplement for 3rd-5th grades; included in K-2nd grade packages; also sold on p. 39)

• Sixth Grade Curriculum: Complete Lesson Plans for One Year • First, Second, or Third Form Latin complete set • Sixth Grade Literature: Study Guide Sets w/ Novels • Famous Men of Greece set • Horatius at the Bridge • The Trojan War set • Christian Studies IV set • Rod and Staff Arithmetic 6 set • Rod and Staff Spelling 7 & English 6 set • The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and The Great Republic set • Exploring the World of Biology, Tree Book, Peterson First Guide: Trees • Classical Composition: The Chreia/Maxim Stage set • Greek Alphabet Book set

Summer Reading (before 7th grade): Story of the World, Vol. 4 (p. 46)

Summer Reading (before 6th grade): Story of the World, Vol. 3 (p. 46)

English

Spelling

Writing

Modern St.

Math

Science

English Grammar, Book 1

Rod & Staff Spelling 4

Introduction to Composition

States & Capitals (p. 45)

Rod & Staff Math 3

Book of Astronomy (p. 35)

English Grammar, Book 2

Rod & Staff Spelling 5

Classical Composition: The Fable Stage (p. 112) Writing, Year 1

Geography I: The Middle East, North Africa, & Europe (p. 45)

Rod & Staff Math 4

Book of Insects (p. 35)

Rod & Staff English 5

Rod & Staff Spelling 6

Classical Composition: The Narrative Stage (p. 11) Writing, Year 2

Geography II: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Oceania, & the Americas (p. 45)

Rod & Staff Math 5

What's That Bird?

The History of Medicine (p. 35)

Rod & Staff English 6

Rod & Staff Spelling 7

The Thirteen Colonies and the Great Republic (p. 45)

Rod & Staff Math 6

The Tree Book Exploring the World of Biology

Classical Composition: The Chreia/Maxim Stage (p. 11)

10

Classical Core Curriculum

www.MemoriaPress.com

W h y M emor i a Press? ✓ Lesson Plans ✓ Latin ✓ Classical Studies ✓ Christian Studies ✓ English Grammar ✓ Math ✓ Science

✓ Literature ✓ DVDs ✓ Flashcards ✓ CDs ✓ Reading ✓ Phonics ✓ Writing ✓ Penmanship ✓ Poetry

You can now offer your child a complete and comprehensive classical Christian education.

Although the program itself is new, the ideas and the practices have been in use at Highlands Latin School for over a decade.

The content your child will study is the curriculum all children in good schools once studied, only made easier to teach. It is a curriculum in which your student will learn the knowledge that once characterized a cultured person, and the core ideas and concepts of what was once called the “Christian West.”

It is a study of our cultural heritage based on a careful selection of texts and focused on the classical model of structure and repetition that ensures mastery in all subject areas from language to mathematics.

NEW

Introducing

Classical Core Curriculum for 7th Grade!

The Classical Core Curriculum has now graduated to the upper school. In the important step from the 6th grade to the 7th, students need to take the basic skills and knowledge they have mastered in the lower elementary grades and begin converting them into a more advanced command of skills subjects like Latin and math, and into a deeper understanding of history and literature.

Memoria Press’ new 7th Grade Core Curriculum package does just this. Students begin advanced study in Latin grammar, and, having completed arithmetic, begin their study of prealgebra. Having studied the basic characters and events in ancient history, they begin their study of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. In literature, they begin their study of Shakespeare.

And if your student missed some or all of the Classical Core Curriculum before this? No worries. They can begin or continue Latin where they are and still pick up the basic outlines in ancient history and literature in preparation for Homer. In addition, the Shakespeare plays begin in the 2nd semester, allowing the student time to get ready.

Don’t let your student miss out on the only complete and fully developed classical curriculum available.

7th Grade $475 Complete Set (all books + Lesson Plans) $150 Consumable Books Set (for additional students) $30 Lesson Plans for One Year (only)

• Seventh Grade Curriculum: Complete Lesson Plans for One Year • First, Second, Third, or Fourth Form Latin complete set • Seventh Grade Literature: Study Guide Sets w/ Novels • Book of the Ancient Greeks set • Book of the Ancient World set • Iliad & Odyssey set w/ Novels • Poetry for the Seventh Grade • College of the Redwoods Pre-Algebra • Rod and Staff English 7 set & Memoria Press English Grammar Manual • Geography: Exploring & Mapping the World set • Exploring Planet Earth set • Classical Composition: Confirmation/Refutation Stage set

1-877-862-1097

English Grammar & Composition

English Grammar NEW! for the Grammar Stage: Book I

by Cheryl Lowe & Ashley Gratto Grades 3+

Student $11.95 | Teacher $12.95

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 for the Grammar Stage: Book I is tied specifically to the grammar taught in Latina Christiana I, but it can be used successfully alongside any Latin program. Students will master (and be able to recite fluently) 31 grammar rules, 10 capitalization rules, and 15 punctuation rules.

English Grammar NEW! for the Grammar Stage: Book II

by Cheryl Lowe Grades 4+

Student $11.95 | Teacher $12.95

English Grammar for the Grammar Stage: Book II is tied specifically to the grammar taught in First Form Latin and covers 36 additional grammar rules, as well as expanding on capitalization and punctuation rules taught in Book I.

English Grammar Manual NEW! Grades 7+

$9.95 Memoria Press’ English Grammar Manual is unique because it is consistent with the trivium stages of learning. It emphasizes memorization of facts first as the necessary preparation for the logic-level skills of diagramming and analysis. It covers common capitalization and punctuation rules and approximately 150 grammar facts in a logical and systematic sequence. Organized much like a catechism, it teaches about 30 grammar facts per year through the method of oral recitation of questions and answers.

Classical Composition NEW!

by James A. Selby Grades 4+

$98.00 set (Fable, Narrative, & Chreia/Maxim + teacher guides)

The Fable Stage Student Guide $19.95 | Teacher Guide $29.95 Narrative Stage Student Guide $19.95 | Teacher Guide $29.95 Chreia/Maxim Stage Student Guide $19.95 | Teacher Guide $29.95 What if you could teach your child using the same writing program that produced such masters of the language as John Milton, William Shakespeare, and Benjamin Franklin? What if you could have the same composition curriculum used by Quintilian, the greatest teacher of ancient rhetoric, and Cicero, the greatest persuasive speaker of all time?

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 easyto-teach format that will revolutionize your home or private school curriculum. Presented clearly and systematically in a structured curriculum, Classical Composition will give you a clear road map to writing excellence.

Ancient writers invented a way of teaching writing known as the progymnasmata, 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 heads of their audience. The progymnasmata gave them the stylistic tools to appeal to their hearts as well.

The greatest communicators of ancient times, Quintilian and Cicero among them, employed the progymnasmata to teach their students the art of communication. The 14 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."

The Ant and the Chrysalis Read the Fable aloud.

An Ant nimbly running about in the sunshine in search of food came across a Chrysalis that was very near its time of change. The Chrysalis moved its tail, and thus attracted the attention of the Ant, who then saw for the first time that it was alive.

“Poor, pitiable animal!” cried the Ant disdainfully. “What a sad fate is yours! While I can run hither and thither, at my pleasure, and, if I wish, ascend the tallest tree, you lie imprisoned here in your shell, with power only to move a joint or two of your scaly tail.”

The Chrysalis heard all this, but did not try to make any reply. A few days after, when the Ant passed that way again, nothing but the shell remained. Wondering what had become of its contents, he felt himself suddenly shaded and fanned by the gorgeous wings of a beautiful Butterfly.

“Behold in me,” said the Butterfly, “your much-pitied friend! Boast now of your powers to run and climb as long as you can get me to listen.”

So saying, the Butterfly rose in the air, and, borne along and aloft on the summer breeze, was soon lost to the sight of the Ant forever.

“Appearances are deceptive.”

Three Plot Components

Give examples of Recognition, Reversal, and Suffering (if applicable).

1. Recognition: ____________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

2. Reversal: _______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

3. Suffering: _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________

Variations: Part 1

Give at least two synonyms for the selected words in each sentence.

Then vary the sentence in three ways.

1. “I can ascend the tallest tree.”

I: _________________________________________________________________________________ can: ______________________________________________________________________________ ascend: ___________________________________________________________________________ tallest:_____________________________________________________________________________ tree: ______________________________________________________________________________ 1. _________________________________________________________________________________ 2. _________________________________________________________________________________ 3. _________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction NEW! to Composition Grades 3+

Student $10.00 | Key $10.00 Our Introduction to Composition course focuses on the concepts of narration, dictation, and copywork. Reading passages are taken from Farmer Boy, Charlotte’s Web, and The Moffats. The goal of this first writing course is to help students become more proficient in listening and writing skills, a great preparation for the Memoria Press writing program, Classical Composition. Introduction to Composition is composed of 30 lessons, a year-long writing course that goes along perfectly with our Third Grade Literature Guides, but can be used independently as well.

10

View samples online: www.MemoriaPress.com

Lesson 1

Classical Composition NEW! Accelerated Course, Book I James A. Selby Student $30.00 | Teacher $45.00

Accelerated Course, Book I is for older beginning students of Classical Composition. It is composed of lessons from the Fable, Narrative, Chreia/Maxim, Refutation/ Confirmation, and Common Topic Stages. This book allows students to complete these Stages at an accelerated pace in the course of a year, helping them to develop their writing skills quickly in high school.

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Literature

www.MemoriaPress.com

dev elopi ng su pe r ior r e ade r s 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 child's reading skills. The study guides focus on vocabulary, spelling, comprehension, and composition skills, which train students to become active readers.

Each lesson includes a word study to help students build vocabulary. The comprehension questions challenge students to consider what they have read,

identify the important content of each story, and compose clear, concise answers (a difficult skill at any age). Writing is thinking, and good questioning stimulates the child to think and write. Each lesson also includes fun enrichment activities such as composition, map work, research, drawing, and much more!

"I tend to want to trust Memoria Press most in all of this simply because I think they have excellent materials and because they provide very cogent articles in support of their position ..." - Brian G.

First Grade Literature $14.95

StoryTime Treasures Student Guide

$14.95

More StoryTime Treasures Student Guide

$10.00 Teacher Key

StoryTime Treasures Set

$40.00

More StoryTime Treasures Set

Student Guide $14.95 Blueberries for Sal $7.99 Little Bear $3.95 Make Way For Ducklings $7.99 Little Bear's Visit $3.95 Caps for Sale $6.99

Student Guide $14.95 Miss Rumphius $7.99 Billy and Blaze $5.99 The Little House $6.95

$52.00

The Story About Ping $3.99 Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie $6.95 Stone Soup $6.99 Blaze and the Forest Fire $5.99

Second Grade Literature $55.00

Literature Guide Set

$99.00

Literature Guide Set w/ Novels

Student Guides: The Courage of Sarah Noble, Little House in the Big Woods, Tales From Beatrix Potter, Mr. Popper's Penguins, and Teacher Key

Student Guides, Teacher Key, & Novels

The Courage of Sarah Noble

Little House in the Big Woods

Tales from Beatrix Potter

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Student Gd. $11.95 Novel $4.99

Student Gd. $11.95 Novel $6.99

Student Gd. $11.95 Stories (ea.) $6.99

Student Gd. $11.95 Novel $6.99

2nd Grade Lit. Teacher Key $12.95

Third Grade Literature $69.00

Literature Guide Set

$93.00

Literature Guide Set w/ Novels

Student & Teacher Guides: Farmer Boy, Charlotte's Web, The Moffats

Student Guides, Teacher Guides, & Novels

Farmer Boy

(Third Grade sets above do not include Homer Price)

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

Charlotte's Web $11.95 $12.95 $8.99

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

The Moffats $11.95 $12.95 $8.99

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

$11.95 $12.95 $6.95

Fourth Grade Literature $69.00

Literature Guide Set

$94.00

Literature Guide Set w/ Novels

Homer Price Beta Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

Student & Teacher Guides: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Heidi; Lassie Come-Home

Student Guides, Teacher Guides, & Novels

The Lion, the Witch ...

Heidi

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

$11.95 $12.95 $8.99

Lassie Come-Home $11.95 $12.95 $4.99

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

$11.95 $12.95 $6.99

$11.95 $12.95 $5.99

Literature

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Fifth Grade Literature $69.00

Literature Guide Set

$85.00

Literature Guide Set w/ Novels

Student & Teacher Guides: King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, Robin Hood, Adam of the Road

Student Guides, Teacher Guides, & Novels

King Arthur Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

Robin Hood $11.95 $12.95 $4.99

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

Adam of the Road $11.95 $12.95 $4.99

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

$11.95 $12.95 $6.99

Sixth Grade Literature $95.00

Literature Guide Set

Student & Teacher Guides: Anne of Green Gables, Treasure Island, The Bronze Bow, The Hobbit

$129.00 Literature Guide Set w/ Novels Student Guides, Teacher Guides, & Novels

Seventh Grade Literature $69.00

Literature Guide Set

$97.00

Literature Guide Set w/ Novels

Anne of Green Gables

Treasure Island

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

$11.95 $12.95 $9.95

The Bronze Bow $11.95 $12.95 $9.95

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

The Hobbit $11.95 $12.95 $6.95

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

$11.95 $12.95 $10.99

Beta!

Student & Teacher Guides: The Wind in the Willows, Robinson Crusoe, As You Like It

Student Guides, Teacher Guides, & Novels

The Wind in the Willows

Robinson Crusoe

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

$11.95 $12.95 $9.95

As You Like It NEW! $11.95 $12.95 $7.95

Student Gd. Teacher Key Novel

$11.95 $12.95 $9.95

Poetry Poetry for the Seventh Grade $19.95

Poetry for the Beta!

Grammar Stage

Poems & Short Stories

Poetry: Book 2 $19.95

Grades 3-6

Elizabethan Age to Neo-Classicism

Poetry: Book 3 $19.95

$19.95

(Student Book & Key)

This poetry book is intended for use in the grammar school years as a supplemental study of the poetry students memorize in our literature study guides. Poetry study includes questions to help students analyze the meanings of the poems, including vocabulary work. Poems increase in difficulty as students move through the book over a four-year period.

Romantic to Victorian Age

Poetry Anthologies

NEW!

Grades 7+

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 these three new anthologies, including two volumes of British poetry and one volume of American poetry and short stories from the 19th-20th Centuries (which we use in the 7th grade). These anthologies will be a great supplement to your student's literature studies in these time periods.

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Practical Latin

www.MemoriaPress.com

B

ecause of the education meltdown in the 20th 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 has been taught in the second half of the grammars with very little in the way of translation 20th century, was a two-year ordeal—grammar in the exercises. How did they teach Latin with such skimpy 9th grade and Caesar in the 10th. Few students who little books? Latin teachers in the past had mastery experienced this grueling regimen signed up to spend knowledge, and they also had a long tradition of a third year with Cicero. Having been required to learn mastery teaching. Not only did they know Latin—they in one year what previous generations had learned in knew how to teach it; they had techniques honed four, most students have less through centuries of experience, than pleasant memories of Latin. refined through trial and What to do: But that is our way in the 20th error. I believe this forgotten century; we are in a hurry to art of teaching Latin must be 1. Memorize the whole Latin Grammar. cover “everything” and we are rediscovered and restored in 2. Recite the Latin Grammar orally. addicted to superficial work. So order for the classical education 3. Drill individual Grammar Forms for the student pays the price; he movement to thrive and grow. immediate recall. must cover the text, receive a Classical education will remain 4. Overlearn ... until it is second nature. grade, and earn a credit. an elusive dream, classical But, has he learned anything? in name only, until we as Has he been motivated and inspired to continue his teachers are able to develop Latin programs that are as study or has he developed a dislike for the subject? The successful as those of the past. grade and the credit mean nothing. It is the answers to In The Teaching of Latin and Greek, published in 1911 these two questions that really matter. and long out of print, Charles Bennett outlines the As Latin teachers, we need standards to judge scope, sequence, and methods of Latin instruction. I ourselves by, and when we look to the past, it is a believe his principles are absolutely sound and have sobering lesson indeed to see the achievements of found them to be true by my own teaching experience. former ages: in the 1800s fluent readers of Latin were And further confirmation is that they are completely regularly admitted to Oxford at the age of sixteen. consistent with the trivium stages of learning. Dr. Even more startling are the meager instructional Bennett wrote his book at a time when the traditional materials available to teachers at that time—eight ounce methods of Latin instruction were being abandoned for

1-877-862-1097

Practical Latin

For years, I puzzled over how teachers could teach more progressive methods. By explaining the failures Latin with these little books, but after teaching Latin of the newer textbooks of his own age, he sheds much for more than a decade, I now understand. The answer light on what we need to do in ours. is that they knew the grammar inside and out and Around the turn of the century, when Dr. Bennett they could make it come alive. As one of my English wrote his book, students began their Latin study teaching friends used to say, she could teach English around the age of 10 or 11. In previous centuries, literature from a cookbook if she had to. After teaching students began a year or two younger. While the age is Latin for many years, I too feel I can teach Latin with not critical, I do think beginning Latin around the 3rd nothing but a grammar—or even a cookbook—if I grade is best. Students who are reading well at this age had to. It is all in my head. The textbook is just an need a new challenge, and the Latin grammar gives aid. "Well, that’s great for you," you might say, "but them some good meat to chew on; it gives discipline what about me, the beginning to the student and structure, teacher or homeschooling mom form, purpose, and goals to the What not to do: who barely knows a declension whole elementary curriculum. from a conjugation?"

Beginning Latin at a young 5. Don’t waste time memorizing long Dr. Bennett’s marvelous age gives students ample lists of vocabulary words.

Learn instructions are here to help time to master grammar in words slowly, permanently, and in the us. He knew what to teach, the grammar stage, syntax context of something meaningful. when, in what order, and and translation in the logic 6. Don’t advance too quickly. Postpone how to achieve mastery in his stage, and thus come to the translation and syntax until the logic students. In the inset boxes rhetoric stage in the 9th and stage (grades 6-8) or until grammar in this article (What to Do 10th grades fully prepared to forms are mastered. and What Not to Do), I have enjoy the great Latin classics of 7. Don’t let inexperience or listed the main ideas for you Caesar, Cicero, and Virgil. unfamiliarity intimidate you from to incorporate into your own But what about those who learning Latin. Everyone can do it! teaching routine so you too begin later? No problem. Many can become a Latin master. of us in the classical education And our Latin programs at movement did not begin Memoria Press, along with our summer online classes Latin until we began homeschooling, and we have for teachers, give you the help you need so that you can still managed to achieve the rudiments of a classical teach Latin with confidence! education. If your child is beginning Latin in high school, or even college, rejoice and be glad. He is still way ahead of the game.

An Ideal Latin Sequence Young people can still expect to achieve Latin Trivium Stage Grade Latin Program mastery and a life-enriching classical education. But Primary remember, Latin grammar cannot be learned in one 2nd *Prima Latina (Beginning program for grades 1-4) Grammar year. If you are a novice teacher, give your students Prep *Latina Christiana I (Beginning program for 3rd plenty of time to master the subject. Better to take four grades 3-6) years to learn Latin grammar and finish with a desire Grammar *First Form Latin 4th (Beginning program for grades 5-12) Stage to continue in college, than to “cover” a high school text Memorize the in the prescribed two years, vowing never to crack a 5th Second Form Latin Latin grammar Latin book again. The goal is life-long learning, not life6th Third Form Latin long avoidance, and the measure of our teaching is just Logic Stage Fourth Form Latin that. The question we must ask is: Are we leading them How to use the 7th Lingua Angelica to love what we love or to dread it? grammar - syntax Gospel of Mark & translation skills Beginning Latin as early as possible and allowing *Henle Latin I and II (syntax and Caesar prep.)

8th students plenty of time to absorb and master Latin are Henle Latin I is a beginning program for grades 8+. two important steps to developing Latin programs that Rhetoric 9th Henle II (Caesar) will empower us to duplicate those great achievements Stage 10th Henle III (Cicero) Read Latin of past Latin masters. But we must also examine our literature 11th Ovid teaching methods and scope and sequence. The first clue is to examine the modest little Latin books of yesteryear.

12th AP Virgil

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Latin

www.MemoriaPress.com Prima Latina

An Introduction to Christian Latin

by Leigh Lowe Grades 1-4 “We have found that students who start with Prima Latina are much more likely not only to continue Latin, but to love it!”

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? Prima Latina is specifically designed for students and teachers with no Latin background.

Prima Latina $90.90 complete set

$32.95 basic set

(student, teacher, CD, DVDs, flashcards)

(student, teacher, CD)

Student $14.00 | Teacher $14.00 | CD $4.95 | DVDs $45.00 | Flashcards $14.95

Student Book

• 25 lessons + 5 review lessons • Latin vocabulary words with corresponding English derivatives • Latin prayers • Grammar skills appropriate for primary grades • Consistent review

Teacher Manual

• Student book w/ answers keyed • Tests

Pronunciation CD

• Complete verbal pronunciation • Four Lingua Angelica songs

DVDs

• 3 discs, 9 hours (15-20 min./ lesson) • Comprehensive teaching by Leigh Lowe • Recitation & review, vocabulary practice, and explanation of derivatives • On-screen notes, diagrams, & examples • Self-instructive format

Flashcards

• Vocabulary with derivatives • Latin sayings • Conjugations & Declensions

This course was developed for children in 1st-4th grades who are still becoming familiar with English grammar and wish to learn Latin at a slower pace. 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 Latina Christiana I and grounding him in the fundamental concepts of English grammar, the key to Latin study.

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, Prima Latina is perfect for those teachers and parents who would like to start their students on an early study of Christian Latin.

Which Latin program is right for your student?

See guide on page 15.

“Order Leigh Lowe’s Prima Latina, along with the accompanying teacher’s guide and supplementary CD.” - Susan Wise Bauer & Jessie Wise “If you are beginning Latin and have no Latin background, this is the curriculum for you.”

- Julie A., www.homeschoolreviews.com “We absolutely LOVE this program!!!”

- Linda, www.homeschoolreviews.com

view samples online: www.MemoriaPress.com

Latin Supplements Prima Latina Copybook NEW! New American Cursive Grades 1-4

$14.95 Help your children practice their Latin while developing their penmanship skills. Includes a cursive vocabulary practice page from each Prima Latina lesson and a cursive Latin prayer practice page for each Prima review lesson.

Lingua Angelica: Latin Songs & Prayers

Song Book* $9.95 | Music CD* $11.95 *Song Book and music CD are used for Lingua Angelica I and II.

Lingua Angelica covers 28 beautiful hymns sung by a six-voice Gregorian chant choir. This song book and cd make a perfect addition to Prima Latina and Latina Christiana. Students will want to add the workbooks to their Latin study when they begin the First Form series, but when they are younger, listening to and learning the songs is a rich experience in itself.

(Full program shown on page 20.)

Latin

1-877-862-1097 Latina Christiana I

Introduction to Christian Latin

by Cheryl Lowe Grades 3-6 Latina Christiana I is, quite simply, the best Latin grammar 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!”

Latina Christiana I $97.90 complete set

$39.95 basic set

(student, teacher, CD, DVDs, flashcards)

(student, teacher, CD)

Student $15.00 | Teacher $20.00 | CD $4.95 | DVDs $55.00 | Flashcards $14.95

Student Book

• 25 lessons + 5 review lessons • 10 vocabulary words per lesson w/ corresponding English derivatives • Latin sayings, songs, and prayers

Teacher Manual

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

Pronunciation CD

DVDs

• 5 discs, 18 hrs. (35-40 min./ lesson) • Comprehensive teaching by Leigh Lowe • Recitation & review, vocabulary practice, and explanation of derivatives • On-screen notes, diagrams, & examples • Self-instructive format

Flashcards

• Vocabulary with derivatives • Latin sayings • Conjugations & Declensions

• Complete verbal pronunciation • Latin Prayers & songs

Latina Christiana II $97.90 complete set

(student, teacher, CD, DVDs, flashcards)

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

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

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 in a year for young students or in less time for older students.

Move straight to First Form Latin after LC I (see p. 18).

“I have taught my own children using your LC books and Henle, and yours is the best curriculum available.”

- V.B., Latin teacher "The content, excellent quality, and organized layout make this an impressive beginning course ..."

- Catholic Heritage Curricula "You make it so easy and understandable. I cannot commend you enough! Thanks for all you've done to make Latin accessible ..."

- L.F., homeschooling parent

$39.95 basic set (student, teacher, CD)

view samples online: www.MemoriaPress.com

Student $15.00 | Teacher $20.00 | CD $4.95 | DVDs $45.00 | Flashcards $14.95

Latina Christiana I: NEW! Review Worksheets

by Brenda Janke Grades 3-6 Worksheets $9.95 | Answer Key $5.00 These supplemental review worksheets will help your students master the grammar and vocabulary they are learning in Latina Christiana I. Contains 1-2 pages of cumulative review for each LCI lesson.

LC Grammar Charts

$20.00 33’’ x 17” (6 charts total)

Grammar forms organized on wall charts is a great visual aid for Latin students. Our charts are in a large easy-to-read format that helps students see the organization of the Latin grammar at a quick glance.

Ludere Latine: Latin Word Games for Latina Christiana I & II

by Paul O’Brien Grades 3+

$19.95 ea. (Ludere Latine I or II) Additional Copies $7.00 These word game supplements are stuffed with enrichment activities to help your students learn the vocabulary, grammar, and derivatives presented in Latina Christiana.

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Latin

www.MemoriaPress.com

First Form Latin $115 complete set

(all 5 books, CD, DVDs, flashcards)

$55 basic set

Second Form Latin $115 complete set

(all 5 books + CD)

(all 5 books, CD, DVDs, flashcards)

$55 basic set (all 5 books + CD)

Text $12.50 | Workbook $15.00 | Teacher Manuals (2) $24.95 | Quizzes & Tests $5.00 | CD $4.95 | DVDs $55.00 | Flashcards $14.95

Text $12.50 | Workbook $15.00 | Teacher Manuals (2) $24.95 | Quizzes & Tests $5.00 | CD $4.95 | DVDs $55.00 | Flashcards $14.95

Online Class (p. 26)

Online Class (p. 26)

Latin Grammar Year One

Latin Grammar Year Two

by Cheryl Lowe Grades 5+ (or any age if completed Latina Christiana I) • 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

"... I was quite reluctant to change programs, but I'm glad I did!

It is well laid out, presents the information in bite-sized pieces, has a good amount of review and worksheets for each lesson, and explains the grammar and information very well." - Linda

by Cheryl Lowe Grades 6+

• 2nd declension -er -ir nouns and adjectives • 3rd declension i-stem nouns • 3rd declension adjectives of one termination • 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

Based on 20 years of teaching experience, First Form’s grammar-first approach focuses on grammar forms and vocabulary because those are the grammar stage skills suitable for the grammar stage student. However, the First Form series is for students of all ages because all beginners, regardless of age, are in the grammar stage of learning.

Syntax (how to use the grammar) and translation are logic and rhetoric stage skills, respectively, and quickly overwhelm the student unless they are introduced at a slow, gentle pace and taught for mastery. First Form is the ideal text for all beginners, grades 5 and up, or is a great follow-up to Latina Christiana I. "This is the best-structured course on any subject I have ever seen."

- Andrew Pudewa, Institute for Excellence in Writing Student Text

• 34 two-page lessons on facing pages • Small, concise, unintimidating text in an attractive two-color format • Systematic presentation of grammar in five logical units • Appendices with English grammar, prayers, conversational Latin, vocab. index, & more!

Student Workbook

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

Teacher Manuals

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

Quizzes & Tests

• Reproducible weekly quizzes & unit tests

Pronunciation CD

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

view samples online: www.MemoriaPress.com

DVDs

• 3 discs, 9 hours (15-20 min./lesson) • Superb explanations • On-screen notes, illustrations, & diagrams • Recitations, Latin parties, & more!

Flashcards

• Vocabulary with derivatives • Latin sayings • Conjugations • Declensions

Latin

1-877-862-1097

Third Form Latin $115 complete set

(all 5 books, CD, DVDs, flashcards)

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Fourth Form Latin

$55 basic set

$140 complete set

(all 5 books + CD)

(all 5 books, CD, DVDs, flashcards + Henle I text, key, & grammar)

Text $12.50 | Workbook $15.00 | Teacher Manuals (2) $24.95 | Quizzes & Tests $5.00 | CD $4.95 | DVDs $55.00 | Flashcards $14.95

$80 basic set

(all 5 books, CD + Henle I text, key, & grammar)

Text $12.50 | Workbook $15.00 | Teacher Manuals (2) $24.95 | Quizzes & Tests $5.00 | CD $4.95 | DVDs $55.00 | Flashcards $14.95

Online Class (p. 26)

Online Class (p. 26)

Latin Grammar Year Three

Latin Grammar Year Four NEW!

by Cheryl Lowe Grades 7+

by Michael Simpson & Cheryl Lowe Grades 8+

• Perfect system passive of 1st - 4th conjugations and -io verbs • 4th declension neuter nouns • 3rd declension adjectives of one and three terminations • Imperative mood, vocative case • Nine 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

• Participles, infinitives, gerunds, and gerundives • Deponent verbs • Irregular verbs, including eo, fero, and volo • 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

Fourth Form sets without Henle I: $115 complete set $55 basic set (all 5 books, CD, DVDs, flashcards)

(all 5 books + CD)

*Henle Latin is required for Fourth Form.

Latin Supplements Lingua Angelica I: Latin Songs & Prayers

(Translation Course)

by Cheryl Lowe

Latin Grammar Wall Charts First Form $20.00 (4 charts) 33’’ x 17” Second Form $20.00 (3 charts) 33’’ x 17”

$39.95 set (student & teacher, Song Book, & CD) Student $11.95 | Teacher $16.95 | Song Book* $9.95 | Music CD* $11.95 Lingua Angelica covers 28 beautiful hymns sung by a six-voice Gregorian chant choir. Because hymns have shorter, simpler sentences and clearer word structure than most Latin literature, the Christian Latin in this course is ideal when beginning Latin translation. In both LA I and II, the student book provides vocabulary work, space for interlinear translation, and grammar word study exercises. The teacher manual has a complete copy of the student book (w/answers) as well as instructions on how to use the course, making the teaching easier.

Lingua Angelica II Student $11.95 | Teacher $16.95

*Song Book and music CD are used for both LA I and II. (see above)

Seeing grammar forms organized on wall charts is a great visual aid for Latin grammar students. They are also a great aid for teachers during Latin recitations.

Our grammar charts are in a large easyto-read format that help students see the organization of the Latin grammar at a quick glance.

First & Second Form Desk Charts $12.95

(First & Second Form together in one package) 8.5’’ x 11”

We have down-sized our First and Second Form Wall Charts into handy desk charts for individual student use. These are especially handy for homeschoolers who don't have wall space for poster-sized charts.

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Latin

www.MemoriaPress.com

henle Latin I

Advanced Christian Latin

by Robert Henle Grades 8+

$28.45 Set (Text, Grammar, & Key)

Text $16.95 | Key $5.00 | Henle Grammar (used all 4 years) $9.50

In the First Year text, a limited vocabulary of 500 words allows students to master grammar without being overwhelmed with large vocabulary lists. Repetitious Latin phrases and copious exercises produce mastery rather than frustration, and the mixture of Christian and classical content is appealing to students.

Note: Though Henle is considered a Catholic text, its superiority as a teaching resource and the outstanding benefits of its Christian perspective also make it appropriate for Protestants.

Supplements: The Book of Roots, Roots of English, Lingua Angelica, and Lingua Biblica

Ηenle Latin I: Study Guides Units 1-2 Units 3-5 Units 6-14

NEW!

Study Guide $14.95 | Test/Quiz Package $9.95 Study Guide $14.95 | Test/Quiz Package $9.95 Study Guide $14.95 | Test/Quiz Package $9.95

Need a little more guidance on how to use Henle? Our student guides will tell the student what to do at every step of the way. Each is broken down into 30 weekly lessons with daily student activities. Detailed, thorough, and well-organized, with check-off boxes for completed work, these guides will ease your transition into Henle.

Latin Supplements henle Latin II-IV

Latin Copybook Cursive: hymns & Prayers $14.95

Advanced Christian Latin

by Robert Henle Grades 9+ Henle Latin II Henle Latin III Henle Latin IV

Grades 4+

Text $15.95 | Key $5.00 Text $15.95 | Key $5.00 Text $15.95 | Key $5.00

Roots of English: Latin and Greek Roots for Beginners

by Paul O’Brien Grades 6-8

$19.95

This copybook has simple, clean pages to provide handwriting practice. It starts with an introduction to forming letters and numbers. Then students move to classroom Latin followed by sayings and hymns from Latina Christiana and the First Form Latin series. While improving their handwriting, students will memorize timeless Latin sayings and beautiful hymns.

Latin Grammar for the Grammar Stage

by Cheryl Lowe (All Ages)

$14.95

In order to learn words with Latin and Greek roots and use them appropriately, a young student needs to understand the meanings of their roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Roots of English presents careful analysis of these word elements so that the student learns not only the modern meanings of the words, but also their underlying, ancient meanings. Most of the Latin roots covered in this book correspond to the Latina Christiana I Latin vocabulary set.

A Latin grammar is a compendium of grammar forms and syntax in a systematic, concise, and easily accessible reference book. Designed specifically for students, Latin Grammar for the Grammar Stage includes all conjugations and declensions, plus a very basic introduction to Latin syntax (how to use the grammar). An essential resource for mastery and review, it can be used with the First Form series or any other Latin program.

The Book of Roots: Advanced Vocabulary Building From

Lingua Biblica: old Testament Stories in Latin

Latin Roots by Paul O’Brien Grades 8+ Student $24.95 | Key $1.95

More advanced than Roots of English, The Book of Roots offers a comprehensive listing of derivatives for Latina Christiana I, along with Latin definitions, English derivatives, and etymology. There is also a section of weekly exercises that provides reinforcement. Ideal as a vocabulary roots course, this book also has significant practical appeal: it is an ideal standardized test prep book, training students to uncover the meanings of words by deciphering parts. A great resource for students who love words!

(Translation Course) by Martin Cothran Grades 9+ Student $19.95 | Teacher $19.95

This is an exciting supplementary translation program based on the Vulgate Bible. It provides a sampling of Bible story translations and exercises that will fortify the student’s knowledge of Latin vocabulary and grammar. A great companion to the Henle series, each lesson includes three levels of study. Level I has the easiest sentence translations. Level II includes more advanced sentence translations. Finally, Level III includes the entire translation with advanced exercises.

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Classical Education for the Special Needs Child

S

Cheryl Swope Cheryl L. Swope, M.Ed., has homeschooled her 17-year-old adopted special-needs twins from their infancy with classical education.

She holds a lifetime K-12 state teaching certificate in the areas of Behavior Disorders and Learning Disabilities. For over thirty years, she has worked in various settings with specialneeds children. The love of history, music, literature, and Latin that has been instilled in her own children through a classical education has created a desire in Cheryl to share the message that classical education offers benefits to any child.

ome parents and educators have the misconception that classical education is only for “smart kids.” It is not difficult to understand why someone might think this way. Latin at age 8? Herodotus by 14? With such standards, one might reason, surely classical education is only for born geniuses—the brightest and best of our children. Certainly for advanced performance at the highest levels of classical study, this theory has some merit. But what about those children who are not born geniuses?

What about those who, far from being intellectually gifted, are living with cognitive challenges, language disorders, or physical disabilities? Does classical education have anything to offer them?

Can classical education benefit any child?

No doubt Helen Keller's concerned parents asked the same question back in 1887.

Their young daughter was deaf, blind, and severely “behaviorally disordered.”

Distraught and fearful for the little girl’s future, as most parents would be, the Kellers hoped that Helen might somehow receive an education. In the late 1800s, this meant a classical education. Helen Keller began her adapted classical education at the age of six with her private teacher, Annie Sullivan. Although no one could predict the eventual outcome, the Keller family embarked on this ambitious, beautiful journey nonetheless. And the world received captivating evidence that classical education truly can benefit any child.

In her later adult years, Helen Keller departed in some ways from the philosophies of classical Western civilization, but her story remains an important one as we explore the benefits of classical education for any child. After all, Helen Keller's education more than a century ago mirrors the classical education of today.

As soon as language unlocked Helen's young mind, Annie Sullivan taught Helen the same academic content other classically educated children still learn, but through

21

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Classical Education for the Special Needs Child www.MemoriaPress.com patient finger-spelling into Helen's hand. From ages 8-10, Helen studied geography and history. She read of Greek heroes and the classical ancient civilizations. She enjoyed beautiful language through good literature.

She read poetic selections from the Old and New Testaments, Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare, Dickens’ A Child’s History of England, Little Women, Heidi, The Swiss Family Robinson, and countless other books which could still be found on the library shelves of any classical school today. Helen treasured her books: “I accepted them as we accept the sunshine and the love of our friends.”1 From the ages of 11-13, Helen learned Latin in raised print from a Latin scholar, and French. She studied more advanced histories of Greece, Rome, and the United States, as Annie continued to spell lessons into Helen’s hand. By age 16, Helen read works in the original Latin and German, and at age 20 she enrolled at Radcliffe, where she read literature in French, studied world history, read poetry critically, and learned advanced English composition.

Helen's only real academic failure came when she was 17. One of her teachers made some common errors with this special-needs child, mistakes which continue to be made in many educational settings today. First, the teacher determined that Helen must devote herself only to those areas in which she was weakest, namely physics, algebra, and geometry. Moreover, he taught these subjects in a large classroom without necessary modifications. (For example, he wrote visual geometry proofs on the board with no means for Helen to follow along.) As a result, Helen required additional instruction with a tutor before she could enter Radcliffe as previously planned.3 Looking back over her education, Helen later wrote, “From the storybook Greek Heroes to the Iliad [read in Greek] was no day’s journey, nor was it altogether pleasant. One could have traveled round the world many times while I trudged my weary way through the labyrinthine mazes of grammars and dictionaries ...”2 Helen received a remarkable classical education, because her parents and her teachers bonded together to help her, and she persevered.

Although her disabilities remained with her all her life, so did her love for literature: “When I read the finest passages of the Iliad, I am conscious of a soul-sense that lifts me above the narrow, cramping circumstances of my life. My physical limitations are forgotten—my world lies upward, the length and the breadth and the sweep of the heavens are mine!”4

If classical education could give Helen Keller the tools to overcome great obstacles and embrace the “sweeps of the heavens” so many years ago, why do even less-severely handicapped special-needs children fail to receive such a bountiful classical education today?

Largely, the answer is historical timing. At the turn of the century, as special education grew in acceptance, classical education began to wane. In the 1930s, “the height of classical study in the United States in sheer numbers,” nearly one million students studied Latin annually.5 By the 1970s, so-called progressive6 and experimental education dominated. About this same time, just as classical education had all but disappeared, the landmark special education legislation Public Law 94-142 passed in the United States.

This law mandated public education for all handicapped children. Public, yes, but often much less effective and far less beautiful.

Today, much of “regular education” has strayed so far from the pursuit of that which is significantly true, good, and beautiful that many special-needs or struggling children who have been placed in remedial or even age-based classrooms receive little that is inspiring, excellent, or formative. In the past, even “basic” education meant purposeful instruction in the three arts of language: Grammar—including reading, Latin, spelling, penmanship, and composition; Logic—analysis, reasoning, and discernment; and Rhetoric—persuasive eloquence in both speaking and writing. A good liberal arts education also included the four arts of mathematics: Arithmetic (number), Geometry (number in space), Music (number in time), and Astronomy (number in space and time). These seven liberal arts developed the mind and provided the student with essential tools for learning. Intrinsic to his learning, the student also studied history, good literature, and art, all for the formation of a strong mind and noble character. Throughout the centuries, Christian catechesis—teaching the faith—has also been urged alongside the liberal arts, for matters of the soul.

Instead, today the ideal in special education is “individualized instruction, in which the child’s characteristics, rather than prescribed academic content, provide the basis for teaching techniques.”7 Worse, in some special education teacher-training programs, not only progressivism and pragmatism, but also fatalistic, dehumanizing behaviorism dominates.

The child’s mind and soul are forgotten.

The special-needs child’s humanity—any child's humanity—must determine the education he receives.

1-877-862-1097

Classical Education for the Special Needs Child

Some suggest that as many as 1 in 5 children have special educational needs. Each of these children is a human being, created in the image of God. Shall we assign all of these students to a menial, servile education and deny them the riches of a beautiful, humane, liberating education? And, worse, shall we base our deterministic placements on early testing, with no regard to what the child might be able to overcome with the aid of an excellent teacher?

Quintilian wrote, There is no foundation for the complaint that only a small minority of human beings have been given the power to understand what is taught them, the majority being so slow-witted that they waste time and labor. On the contrary, you will find the greater number quick to reason and prompt to learn. This is natural to man ... Dull and unteachable persons … have been very few. The proof of this is that the promise of many accomplishments appears in children, and when it fades with age, this is plainly due to the failure not of nature but of care. 'But some have more talent than others.' I agree: then some will achieve more and some less, but we never find one who has not achieved something by his efforts.8

Regardless of his challenges, any child is called to do more than receive services: He is called to love and serve his neighbor. Even if he is never able to hold a full-time paying “job,” classical education can help instill in the special-needs child a desire to bring assistance, love, or comfort to others. He is a student with lessons to learn, teachers to respect, and parents to honor. He is a young man who holds the door for aging members of his congregation. She is the person who thoughtfully replenishes a dog’s fresh water bowl while her neighbor is away at work. She is a sister, granddaughter, or niece, with the high calling of gracious and tender service, as God works through her for His loving purposes.

We see uniquely converging opportunities at this time in history. Information abounds on special-needs

23

and struggling learners. Classical education enjoys a re-emergence in numerous and growing pockets, for the youngest children through university students.

Abundant resources are now available for instruction in Latin, the history of ancient civilizations, the mathematical arts, and more, at every level and with any amount of repetition and practice the child needs.

Teachers, homeschooling parents, tutors­—anyone who seeks to teach any child—can find helpful curricula for adapting reading, composition, Greek, music theory, literature, logic, and rhetoric. Perhaps the child will eventually prove incapable of progressing to advanced levels in one area or in every area; however, if taught slowly, patiently, and systematically, even those children who are identified with or suspected of having “special learning needs” can receive a substantial, elevating, and beautiful education.

Classical education can address a child's challenges and cultivate in him a lifelong appreciation for lasting Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. Modifications can help with behavioral and neurological difficulties, language and sensory challenges, specific learning disabilities, and even severe mental illnesses. Be encouraged. Any child can receive benefits of classical education: greater self-knowledge, timeless tools for learning, a more disciplined mind, a love of study, and a dedicated life of service. Classical education is a beautiful gift to your child, and he can say with Helen Keller, “My world lies upward, the length and the breadth and the sweep of the heavens are mine!”

Footnotes available online: www.MemoriaPress.com/articles/simply-classical

This article is an excerpt from Cheryl Swope's new book, coming soon from Memoria Press:

Simply Classical: NEW!

A Beautiful Education for Any Child

by Cheryl Swope COMING SPRING 2013!

Greek Greek Alphabet Book Grades 5+

by Cheryl Lowe

Student $15.00 | Key $10.00 Though the Greek alphabet is similar to our English alphabet, it is also different enough to be a major impediment to the study of Greek. Delving into the Greek grammar and learning the alphabet at the same time

is overwhelming for almost everyone. Give yourself the time to master the Greek letters and become comfortable with them before you plunge into Greek. Memoria Press’ Greek Alphabet program is a tour of the Greek letters, their formation, and sounds. A page is devoted to each letter and includes a letter diagram with arrows showing proper formation, printing lines showing placement of letters above and below the lines, letters to trace and copy, interesting facts and hints to help remember the letter’s sound, and questions. Each lesson consists of three letters, a review page, and a quiz.

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1st

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Literature Guides for Grades 1-7 (pp. 12-13)

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D'Aulaires' Greek Myths (p. 36)

Famous Men of Rome (p. 36)

Grades 5-8

Famous Men of the Middle Ages (p. 36)

Writing & Grammar

Classical Core Curriculum Packages for Jr. K through 7th Grade Everything you need for one year! (pp. 6-10)

Grades 5-8 Famous Men of Greece (p. 36)

Grades 3-6

English Grammar for the Grammar Stage I & II (p. 11)

Grades 6-8 Famous Men of Modern Times (p. 36)

Grades 6-8 The Trojan War (p. 37)

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Introduction to Composition (p. 1

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Horatius at the Bridge (p. 36)

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packages

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Grades 7+

Traditional Logic I & II (p. 32)

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Material Logic (p. 32)

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First Form Latin (p. 18)

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Classical Rhetoric (p. 33)

Grades 6+

Second Form Latin (p. 18)

Christian

Logic

Grades 3-6

Latina Christiana (p. 17)

Rhetoric

Grades 1-4

Prima Latina (p. 16)

Grades 7+

Third Form Latin (p. 19)

Grades 3-8

Christian Studies I-IV (p. 39)

Fou

Grade

The Boo Ancient W

Classical Christian Education for all Ages ...

Grades 4-12

Introduction to Composition (p. 11)

Grades 6+ Horatius at the Bridge (p. 36)

Grades 7+

Classical Composition (p. 11)

Grades 6-9

The Book of the Ancient Greeks (p. 37)

Grades 8+

Fourth Form Latin (p. 19)

Grades 6-9

The Book of the Ancient World (p. 37)

Grades K-1

Grades 10+ The City of God (p. 39)

Grades 1-4

First Start Reading (p. 4)

New American Cursive (p. 5)

Iliad & Odyssey (p. 37)

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Grades 5+ Greek Alphabet (p. 23)

Grades 6-9

The Book of the Ancient Romans (p. 37)

Grades 6-9 The Middle Ages (p. 37)

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Grades 3-6 States & Capitals (p. 45)

Classical education made easier ...

p. 26

Grades 8+

The Aeneid (p. 37)

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Divine Comedy (p. 37)

Grades 5+

Henle Latin w/ Memoria Press Guides (p. 20)

200 Questions About American History (p. 45)

Copybooks (p. 5)

Academy

English Grammar Manual (p. 11)

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Online

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Numbers Books (p. 4)

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✓Complete curriculum packages ✓Customize your own package ✓Purchase books separately

Memoria Press Science (p. 35)

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Story of the Thirteen Colonies (p. 45)

Register soon! classes begin January 21

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Getting Started ...

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Obtain a username & password:

Go to the Online Academy website and click on "Login." Next, click "Create new account" to create a username and password. After you've registered, follow the simple instructions in your confirmation email. That's it!

No two students can register under the same email address. Each student will need to have his/her own username, password, and email account.

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Choose a course & explore:

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A cademy O nline C lassical lineschool/ www.memoriapress.com/on

You are ready to explore. Navigate to the home page to find links for information on classes, faculty, enrollment, and more! Once you have chosen a course, you may enroll by clicking "Enroll in ... (Class Title)."

After completing the payment process, you are given access to the course page for your class. It will contain everything you need, including access to the instructor, the virtual classroom, the syllabus, quizzes, final exams, and other class-related documents. There will also be resources for parents to help with common questions like, "What is logic?" or "Why should my child take Latin?"

You do not need a PayPal account to check-out. However, once you click to enroll in your course, you will be directed to use PayPal for a one-time-only transaction with your credit card.

Reviews: "My son has really enjoyed your classes ... he is having a blast in the summer logic camp.

Thanks for everything!"

"I had such a fun time this last year, and I can't wait for HS Latin II to start. The online environment is great, and I learned so much."

"It's amazing how much he learned and how much he enjoyed class!"

"I want to thank you for teaching Latin this year. This class has certainly raised my opinion of what can be accomplished in an online class."

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Virtual classes:

We offer state-of-the-art, live audio/video instruction with high interaction between students and the instructor. Formats naturally vary depending on the course. Some of the activities may include lessons, drills, review, vocal recitation, and in-class discussions about the material. The Online Classical Academy emphasizes thought-provoking dialogue to stimulate thinking and class participation. Both motivate students to be prepared and foster a high-quality learning environment.

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Class times:

Only one class time per week is required. Students have access to the instructor, quizzes, grades, and a virtual community of peers. Additionally, our instructors record and post all classes, so each past lesson can be revisited anytime!

Multiple class times are usually available for our courses. Each student must attend at least one of the scheduled class times. Students only attend one class time, but may attend an additional one with instructor approval. We are here to help students thoroughly and confidently grasp the material.

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Customer service is a priority. You will never have to navigate through automated menus. During business hours, our team of committed staff members is prepared to take your call directly and answer all your questions.

For help, contact us at: help@memoriapress.com or 1-877-862-1097.

Prices range from $199.95 to $500

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6+ Middle School Latin I-II 8+ High School Latin I-IV 9+ High School Latin V: Virgil 9+ First Form Greek 6+ Lingua Angelica --- ---

NLE Preparatory Course (Intro) NLE Preparatory Course (Level I)

Logic & Rhetoric

7+ Traditional Logic I & II 9+ Material Logic

Grade

Spring

Fall

8-10 Classical Studies III: The Romans 3+ D'Aulaires' Greek Myths 3+ Famous Men of Rome 5+ Famous Men of Greece 5+ Famous Men of the Middle Ages 9+ Christian Studies II: Early Church

History ✓ 10+ Christian Studies III: City of God ✓ 11+ Christian Studies IV: Fundamentals of the Faith

English

Students will learn how to read, analyze, and discuss literature by gaining a basic understanding of plot, character, and setting. Implementing the method of writing instruction used for 1,500 years, students will also learn to express themselves with clarity, precision, and style.

College Prep.

Mr. Nygaard

Instructor

8-10 Classical Studies II: The Greeks

✓ ✓ 4+ ✓ ✓ 6+ ✓ ✓ 7+ ✓ ✓ 8+ ✓ ✓ 9+ ✓ ✓ 10+ ✓ ✓ 11+ ✓ ✓ 10+ ✓ ✓ 7-8 ✓ ✓ 7-8 ✓ ✓ 9+ ✓ ✓ 9+ ✓ ✓ 10+ ✓ 10+ ✓ 10+ ✓ ✓ 10+

✓ 10+ Introduction to Classical Economics ✓ 10+ Introduction to Classical Political Philosophy

Mr. Vaden

6-8 Classical Studies I: Introduction

9+ Informal Logical Fallacies

These courses teach the basic ideas of political philosophy and economics (the basic structure of and influences on American government), with an emphasis on the differences between classical and modern political and economic philosophy.

Instructor

Ms. Parry Instructor

Math & Science

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We offer a complete sequence covering a broad range of topics and use a logical, systematic, mastery approach to teach fundamental procedures and abstract mathematical concepts.

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Fall

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Our sequence follows the traditional Aristotelian approach, teaching students to master the science and art of demonstration, as well as the fundamentals of definition, classification, and division.

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7-9 Pre-Algebra 9+ Algebra I & II 9+ Geometry 9+ Pre-Calculus 9+ Biology 9+ Anatomy & Physiology 9+ Chemistry 9+ Physics

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Students will have the opportunity to interact with the greatest minds from the greatest cultures of preceding civilizations through the study of the best primary and secondary sources.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Grade

Fall

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5+ Fourth Form Latin

Mr. King

Fall

3+ Latina Christiana I

5+ Third Form Latin

Instructor

A careful selection of primary and secondary sources as we take students through the history, thought, and geography of the cultures of Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem.

5+ First Form Latin 5+ Second Form Latin

Mr. Brooks

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Memoria Press' grammar-based Latin & Greek programs teach the mother tongues of Western civilization in a clear, incremental, and systematic way.

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Mr. Lange

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Mr. Piland

Spring

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7+ Famous Men of Modern Times 9+ AP American History 9+ AP Modern European History 8+ U.S. History

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Mr. Cothran

Classical Composition: Fable Stage Middle School Composition I Middle School Composition II Middle School Composition III High School Composition I High School Composition II High School Composition III Composition: Senior Thesis Middle School English Literature I Middle School English Literature II English I/II: The Short Story English I/II: The Novel English III: The Divine Comedy English IV: Writings of Jane Austen English IV: Writings of Shakespeare English V: Senior Seminar: Literary Thought of Lewis & Tolkien

For detailed descriptions of individual classes, including course materials, please visit us online: www.MemoriaPress.com/OnlineSchool *Classes highlighted in red are available for Spring 2013 enrollment.

*If your student is studying Latin independently and finds that he/she needs the help of an instructor, it may be possible to enroll in a Latin class mid-year. Call 877-862-1097 or e-mail help@memoriapress.com for more details.

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28

The Nature of Science

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Before children learn how to manipulate laboratory instruments, they need to know what things are.

M

The

of ature N

y view of how science should be taught was shaped partly by a walk in the woods I took shortly after my husband, Jim, and I were married. As we walked along, Jim casually pointed to a tree, or a plant, or a bird, and readily named it and told me something about it. It struck me that I had graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a master's degree in biology, but I did not know the names of the simplest natural things, while Jim, who had much less college science, knew nature in a way I marvel at even to this day.

What did he have that I didn't? My knowledge was abstract and formal, while Jim's was concrete and particular. I was a city girl, while Jim was a farm boy.

I had learned about animals and plants in an abstract way, but Jim knew them first-hand.

I want to be careful when I say this because I don't want to commit the Romantic Fallacy now so prevalent in education—the idea that an orderly presentation of material in a classroom setting is automatically inferior to the currently fashionable hands-on, discovery learning. But, on the other hand, there was something wrong with the science education I had. An adult with over 60 hours of biology ought to be able to tell a grackle from a starling, an English sparrow from a wren, an oak from a maple.

The problem with my science education was that it was very weak on the observation, naming, and classification stage. It was not classical. Learning to identify and classify plants, animals, and stars is the ideal science curriculum for grades K-6. It is the classical approach to science, and it is ageappropriate and consistent with the trivium.

SCIENCE

by Cheryl Lowe

It is the Aristotelian approach to science. It is what the ancients did first and, in particular, what Aristotle studied and wrote about.

Young children are fascinated by animals, their characteristics, and their names. I am amazed at what my six year old grandson knows about animals, all from picture books and watching nature shows. He really knows details and can distinguish between similar animals that still confuse me. Why? Is he exceptional?

No, he is just learning what interests all children in the grammar stage of learning.

We humans naturally desire to know the names of things and how they are related. These are the studies that adults make hobbies of: bird-watching, insect and butterfly collecting, bee-keeping, gardening, stargazing, etc. We are endlessly fascinated by Creation, and a child’s “science” education should begin here, not with the science of the laboratory and technician. We have our whole lives to exploit and manipulate nature, but first we should learn to love and appreciate it—to see its mystery and wonder. Much of the discussion about science in the homeschool community centers on Creation. We want our children to believe in Creation, but how can they believe in something they never really study or experience?

I am always struck by the universal knowledge of nature that is found in English poetry.

The Nature of Science

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The lark, the nightingale, the mighty oak, and gilly flowers all show up regularly in English literature. The English were a rural people, and they knew nature first-hand in a way that we Americans, who live in our automobiles and in front of our computers, never will.

But can we duplicate the experience of my husband or the English immersion in nature during the formative years? Not really.

And to try to duplicate a “real-life” experience in a classroom is always a mistake, whether it’s learning a foreign language or learning about nature. But though we cannot duplicate the experience, we can choose the same content. We can give our students the basic knowledge that will enable them to learn about nature throughout their lives. And this content should be presented in the systematic and orderly way that works in the classroom. I have taught trees and plants to sixth graders for several years, and though we do take several nature walks around our campus to give students some “handson” experience in leaf and bark identification, the bulk of the course is still a systematic presentation of facts with worksheets and tests.

When I set out to catch up with my husband’s knowledge of birds and trees, I didn’t try to duplicate his years growing up on a farm, learning naturally and randomly from everyday experiences like he did.

I did it in a systematic and orderly way, the same way I taught sixth grade science. I bought books and field guides and studied them for hours, so when I did go on nature walks, I had some knowledge to work with.

My greatest accomplishment is when I identified a tree that my husband had misidentified all of his life, the hackberry. He thought the elm and hackberry were the same tree. I learned it from my books. I also learned that the primary use of the hackberry, in Kentucky, was for making tobacco sticks.

So I would suggest that the first principle of a classical approach to science is to focus on nature studies in K-6. This may sound like the Charlotte Mason approach to some, as well it may be, but it is also the classical, and I would say the common sense, approach to science. Students in the grammar stage need concrete things to learn and memorize, not the abstract concepts of modern science. Wordsworth

lamented modern science when he said, “our meddling intellect mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things, we murder to dissect.” Let’s leave the dissection for the upper grades, and let our young people first see the whole of nature brimming with life and beauty.

I want to be very clear here. The content should be classical, nature studies, but the method should be traditional, systematic presentation of concrete knowledge. If you are a homeschooler, you can incorporate much more real-life experience in your science education than the classroom teacher. In fact, you really can give your children both systematic knowledge and the immersion experience in nature.

But the institutional school does not have that luxury.

Field trips and hands-on experiences are generally ineffective with a group of children. Why? Students in a structured classroom are so excited to be out of their desks, socializing with their classmates, that they have great difficulty focusing on the content of the “real-life” activity or field trip. The most effective field trip is one the parent takes with his own child.

The Memoria Press science curriculum teaches the constellations, planets, and the classification system for insects, birds, and trees. The K-6 lessons are meant to be covered in approximately one hour each week. We also use the wonderful John Tiner books on the history of science. We encourage our students to read widely in science and not depend on the school to learn what can easily be learned at home through good TV programming and an endless supply of books on nature and science.

Grade

MP Science Recommendations

K-2nd

Nature study using read-aloud picture books, nature walks, etc.

3rd

Astronomy

4th

Insects

5th

Birds

6th

Trees

7th

Planet Earth & World Geography

8th

Pre-Chemistry

9th

Biology

10th

Chemistry

11th

Physics

12th

AP Science

29

30

Practical Logic

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I

f book sales and public attention are any measure, atheism is enjoying a noticeable renaissance in recent years. Best-selling books by famous atheists like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris now frequently appear on the best-seller lists, and atheist voices are louder and more emboldened than they have ever been.

One of the arguments leveled against Christianity by modern atheists is the argument against the miraculous. If you believe science to be true, you cannot also believe in the miraculous, and if you believe in the miraculous, you automatically put yourself at odds with science.

Atheists are right about one thing: Christianity stands or falls on miracles, and so a refutation of the miraculous is, for them, imperative.

If Jesus was really crucified and came back from the dead after three days, then it would be difficult, if not impossible, to ignore His teachings and the teachings of those He taught—or to ignore His claim to be God. And, conversely, if this miracle didn’t (or couldn’t) happen, then, as St. Paul said, our “faith is vain.”

If you listen to their rhetoric, you would think that the atheist position was unassailable, and indeed, at first blush, it seems reasonable to think that miracles are in some sense unscientific. But miracles are not unscientific: they are non-scientific. Science itself not only cannot disprove the miraculous; it can't, as science, say anything one way or another about it. To ask a scientist whether a miracle was true or false would be like asking your doctor what is wrong with your car.

I have argued this issue with atheists many times, and I find one argument particularly devastating—

and, so far at least, unanswerable. I have dubbed it “Cothran’s Fork,” in honor of its intrepid author (me).

A fork is a move in chess which places two valuable pieces in danger, presenting the opponent with two unacceptable alternatives. Cothran’s Fork employs a classic argument form in logic known as a “dilemma,” an argument form I cover in the 13th chapter of my Traditional Logic, Book II. The dilemma is one of the most useful—and devastating—argument forms in logic. It is a sort of double-barreled demolition of your opponent’s case.

This is how my argument goes: If the argument against miracles is that they can’t happen, then the argument is philosophical, and not scientific; and if the argument against miracles is that they haven’t happened, then the argument is historical, and therefore, again, not scientific.

The argument against miracles claims that either they can’t happen or that they haven’t happened.

Therefore, miracle claims are either philosophical or historical, but in neither case are they scientific.

If you listen to the so-called scientific arguments against miracles, you will notice that they all argue on the basis either of a lack of historical evidence or some version of the philosophical argument that miracles are impossible.

Practical Logic

1-877-862-1097 P. Z. Myers, an atheist biologist at the University of Minnesota, argues that God (and therefore supernatural miracles) cannot exist by definition. Jerry Coyne, a prominent atheist at the University of Chicago, disagrees with Myers and says that since Christianity makes historical claims (like miracles), it is not false by definition; miracles just, as a matter of historical fact, didn't happen. Christianity is not unfalsifiable as Myers insists, says Coyne, but simply false.

But most atheists don't even understand this basic distinction, and so they use both arguments—that Christianity is false (and therefore unhistorical) and unfalsifiable (and therefore unscientific) at the same time. G. K. Chesterton noted this tendency and showed how atheists jump from one of these objections to the other—and back again: The whole trick is done by means of leaning alternately on the philosophical and historical objection. If we say miracles are theoretically possible, they say, “Yes, but there is no evidence for them.” When we take all the records of the human race and say, “Here is your evidence,” they say, “But these people were superstitious; they believed in impossible things.”

If one of your arguments fails, you use the other one. If that one fails too, then you use the first one again, hoping your opponent won't notice that it didn't work the first time. “You reject the peasant's story about the ghost,” Chesterton said, “either because the man is a peasant or because the story is a ghost story.”

The historical argument against miracles is easily dealt with since the documentation and historical evidence for, say, the Resurrection, when weighed according to the criteria you would apply to any other historical event, holds up quite well. The great 19th century expert on legal evidence, Simon Greenleaf, once noted that, considered as witnesses, the apostles were impeccable.

It is the latter argument—that miracles are impossible—that has the sound of a scientific argument but is really a philosophical one in disguise.

Atheists argue that there is a thing called a “natural law” that somehow excludes the possibility of a miracle. However, no scientific experiment can ever prove that a natural law always applies simply because, as a strictly scientific and empirical matter, a natural law is only a description of our past experience. We have no experience of the future. We have no proof that the future will always be like the past and that nature will always operate the way it always has.

It is a natural law that copper conducts electricity.

But in pure scientific terms, that statement is indistinguishable from saying that, in the past, copper

has always conducted electricity. Science, as science, cannot say anything about the future. From a purely empirical perspective, copper could, at some point in the future, not conduct electricity. Any belief beyond this would involve engaging in philosophy, the science of perennial—that is, timeless—wisdom.

This is why, when atheists arguing against the possibility of miracles make this argument, they never quote a scientist making a scientific statement: They only quote philosophers. They never quote Kepler or Galileo or Newton (partly because they were all Christians and would have disagreed with so simplistic a view in the first place). Nor do they quote Einstein or Fermi or Bohr. Instead they quote David Hume, a philosopher whose attempted refutation of miracles is still used by atheists today, even though it is a philosophical, and not a scientific, argument.

As it happens, Hume’s argument, even in philosophical terms, is not a very good one. I remember when I was a philosophy student and walked into my professor’s office to discuss a paper I was writing on Hume’s argument against miracles. It was Noel Fleming, who edited one of the great collections of critical essays on Hume. He advised me to choose another topic because, as he said, “Frankly it wasn’t a very good argument.”

All this does not mean a scientist cannot have an objection to miracles—only that, if he does, his objection to them must be either as a philosopher or as a historian, and his arguments must observe the principles and procedures of those disciplines rather than the discipline of science.

Considered as a scientist, he can have nothing to say about them at all, good or bad. So the next time you find yourself in a religious argument with your atheist friends and they invoke science, just point out that science can have nothing to say about miracles.

Suggested Logic Timeline 3rd-6th 7th

Solid grounding in mathematics & Latin: Great preparatory skills for logical thought.

Traditional Logic I: A study of the basic elements of simple arguments.

8th

Traditional Logic II: An advanced course that completes the study of the simple categorical syllogism, covers hypothetical syllogisms, and studies all complex argument forms.

9th

Material Logic: A study of the 10 ways something can exist, the 5 ways of saying something about something else, definition, and classification.

10th 11th-12th

Informal Fallacies: A study of the ways in which argumentation can go wrong so the student can avoid it himself and point it out in the reasoning of others. *Text not yet published, but online course available.

Classical Rhetoric: A study which incorporates logic into the broader context of persuasive communication.

*Students in 9th grade can complete both Traditional Logic books in one year.

Material Logic and informal fallacies can be covered in one year in 10th grade.

31

32

Logic

www.MemoriaPress.com

Traditional Logic I $68.95 complete set (student, key, DVDs)

$31.90 basic set (student, key)

Material Logic $68.95 complete set (student, key, DVDs)

$31.90 basic set (student, key)

Student $29.95 | Key $1.95 | DVDs $45.00 | Quizzes $9.95

Student $29.95 | Key $1.95 | DVDs $45.00

Online Class (p. 26)

Online Class (p. 26)

Traditional Logic I: Introduction to Formal Logic

Material Logic: A Course in How to Think

by Martin Cothran Grades 7+

by Martin Cothran Grades 9+

The Traditional Logic program is an in-depth study of the classical syllogism. In Book I, students will gain a basic understanding of terms, statements, and simple categorical arguments. (Each book can be used as either a one-semester or one-year course.)

The principles of material logic, an important part of trivium language study, are now almost completely forgotten—a casualty of the almost exclusive modern secular emphasis on the quantitative sciences. This has resulted in the rise of systems of modern logic that are more math than logic. Formal logic was once termed minor (or lesser) logic, while material logic usually went by the name of major (or greater) logic—possibly a measure of how important classical thinkers considered it.

Basic Logical Terms, Concepts, & Procedures • Truth, validity, soundness • 4 ways statements can be opposite • 3 ways statements can be equivalent • Distribution of terms • The 7 rules for validity Clear & Systematic Presentation • Daily exercises to ensure mastery • Historic argument case studies • Emphasis on language, not math A Variety of Learning Strategies • Clear and concise text explanations • Practical application • Creative invention

There is a huge gap between formal logic courses and so-called “thinking skills” courses. Formal logic focuses exclusively on the systematic study of the structure of reasoning. “Thinking skills” courses, on the other hand, tend to suffer from a highly nonsystematic, topic-hopping approach, where the student is unable to see how one principle connects with another. Whether you want a follow-on course to Memoria Press’ popular Traditional Logic program, or simply an introduction to logic for high school students at a little more advanced level, this program is a valuable tool in teaching your student how to think.

“This is the best exposition of Aristotelian logic I have yet seen aimed at homeschoolers ...” - Mary Pride

Traditional Logic II $68.95 complete set (student, key, DVDs)

$31.90 basic set (student, key)

Student $29.95 | Key $1.95 | DVDs $45.00 | Quizzes $9.95 Online Class (p. 26)

Advanced Formal Logic by Martin Cothran Grades 8+ Book II completes the study of the simple categorical syllogism, advances to hypothetical syllogisms, and continues the study of logic by covering complex argument forms, great arguments from history, and case studies of great arguments.

Rhetoric

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33

Handbook of Christian Apologetics:

Hundreds of Answers to Crucial Questions

by Peter Kreeft & Ronald Tacelli

$17.99 *Optional Logic supplement This book is the perfect supplement for Traditional Logic.

Modern skeptical arguments are here in abundance—all logically answered. Students love to see something they have learned incorporated into real books. This book will help your students see how important and useful traditional logic is, and at the same time fortify them in their faith.

Classical Rhetoric $140.00 complete set

(basic set + How to Read a Book & Figures of Speech)

$94.95 basic set

(student, key, DVDs, Aristotle's Rhetoric)

Student $39.95 | Key $4.95 | DVDs $55.00 | Aristotle's Rhetoric $3.50 | How to Read a Book $16.99 | Figures of Speech $29.95 Online Class (p. 26)

Classical Rhetoric

by Martin Cothran Grades 9+

Classical Rhetoric with Aristotle is a guided tour through the first part of the greatest single book on communication ever written: Aristotle’s Rhetoric. With questions that will help the student unlock every important aspect of the book, along with fill-in-the-blank charts and analyses of great speeches, this companion text to Aristotle’s great work will send the student on a voyage of discovery from which he will return with a competent knowledge of the basic classical principles of speech and writing.

This is more than just a course in English or public speaking. It involves a study of the fundamental principles of political philosophy, ethics, and traditional psychology.

A student learns not only the elements of a political speech, but also the elements of good character; not only how to give a legal speech, but also the seven reasons people act; not only how to give a ceremonial speech, but what elicits specific emotions under particular circumstances and why.

• Sample weekly plan • Clear explanation of lesson components • Easy-to-read layout • Reading questions • Figures of speech • Evaluative & analysis questions • How to Read a Book questions • Case studies from Homer, Plato, Shakespeare, Lincoln, Marc Antony, and much more!

"Our study of logic led us to use Martin Cothran’s book on rhetoric ... Our oldest finished it last month and ate it up; he wants to study constitutional law and we are very happy with the foundation he has received because of Cothran’s materials."

- Kendra F.

Socrates Meets Jesus: History’s Greatest Questioner Confronts the Claims of Christ

by Peter Kreeft

$11.99 *Optional Logic supplement In this clever book, Socrates makes mincemeat of the arguments of skeptics who want to abandon reason when it comes to Christianity. Because of the copious use of logical syllogisms, this book makes a great supplement to Traditional Logic.

Aristotle's Rhetoric edited by Edward Corbett

$3.50

*REQUIRED for Classical Rhetoric

This book contains the same Rhys Roberts translation used in Classical Rhetoric. Selected because of its clarity and simplicity, its carefully chosen terminology distinguishes this translation from all others currently available.

How to Read A Book:

A Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

by Mortimer Adler & Charles Van Doren

$16.99

* Optional Rhetoric supplement How to Read a Book contains clear and useful instructions on how to determine what kind of book you are reading, the four levels of reading, and how to read different kinds of books. The principles in this book are applied directly to Aristotle's Rhetoric in Memoria Press' Classical Rhetoric.

Figures of Speech:

60 Ways to Turn a Phrase

by Arthur Quinn

$29.95

* Optional Rhetoric supplement This book presents 60 of the most common classical figures of speech and gives examples from classic literature of each. Memoria's Classical Rhetoric contains Figures of Speech exercises at the beginning of each chapter.

34

Science

www.MemoriaPress.com

by Cheryl Lowe

Reason #3: Science

In the last two issues of the Classical Teacher, I gave two reasons why Christians should read the pagans: 1) their discovery of the principles of architecture and 2) their analysis of the human soul and the four cardinal virtues. Our third reason, their view of science, will surprise many.

In time, the two great Greek philosophers, Plato and Because we live in the aftermath of the "scientific Aristotle, considered all of these questions and began revolution," we modern people consider ourselves to clean things up by establishing first principles by quite superior to the ancients in regard to the study which we could better think about science. While it is of the natural world. We are polished practitioners true that science has advanced far beyond the initial of what C. S. Lewis called "chronological snobbery." beginnings of the ancient Greeks, these thinkers laid We think ancient people were ignorant of the natural the foundation for that progress. world and that we, with all our advanced scientific "But," you may be thinking, "since modern science knowledge, have little to learn from them. has made these humble but important beginnings But one of the problems with having your nose so obsolete and outdated, surely there are no high in the air is that you can miss the thing classics in science from the ancient world right in front of you. that we need to read." Sorry, but there Reading Science, as we use the term are. In fact, the modern war between Assignment: today, is the study of matter. But religion and science can be largely the abstract investigation of Martin Cothran’s Material Logic. solved by returning to Aristotle’s I will get you to the original classics. I the natural world began with am just giving you a break for now. first principles. Here is Aristotle’s philosophy, for the ancients had Aristotle is not that easy to read. first principle about first principles: to get first principles—the most “The first principles proper to a basic assumptions about reality­— science cannot be demonstrated within settled before science could really that science. If they could, they would not get off the ground. The Greeks were always be genuine first principles. They can, however, be looking for first principles. What is the unity behind defended by dialectic.” (Dialectic is the question-andthe diversity of life? What is the fundamental reality— answer method used by Socrates to determine the truth change or permanence, the material or immaterial, the of a statement.) In other words, science does not justify one or the many? itself. There are philosophical assumptions it employs Thales, an ancient thinker who is considered the that it cannot prove. Science rests on something more first scientist, thought that everything was made of fundamental than science. water. Pythagoras thought number is what unified Here is an illustration from geometry. Geometry all things. Heraclitus said that all is flux. Parmenides starts with axioms (postulates) which cannot be believed the senses are wrong, that change is an proven. Axios in Greek means "worthy." Axioms are illusion. What is the true source of knowledge—the worthy of belief because all reasonable people accept senses or the intellect? Empedocles said that matter them and they can be defended by dialectic. These was composed of earth, fire, air, and water; and axioms cannot be justified by geometry; they are prior Democritus that matter was composed of small to it. They can only be "proven" by some process of indivisible particles called "atoms."

Science

1-877-862-1097

dialectic outside of geometry itself. Once your first principles—your axioms—are established, you can build your whole edifice of geometry which, because it accurately describes the natural world, confirms that your original axioms were true.

It was Euclid, an ancient Greek, who developed this method, and his geometry is still the model for mathematical and scientific reasoning. And just like the axioms of geometry, the assumptions of science must be defended outside of science itself.

Modern thinkers have abandoned many of the first principles of classical thought, especially Aristotle's Four Causes, which are the four questions that can be asked about anything.

Material Cause What is it made of? wood What is its form?

table

Efficient Cause Who made it?

carpenter

Final Cause

to set things on

What is it for?

Book of Astronomy Grades 3+

Student $14.95 | Teacher $16.95 This astronomy program covers stars, constellations, and the motion of the earth, as well as the sky as seen throughout all the seasons, including the "Summer Triangle" and seasonal zodiacs. This program was developed with third graders in mind, but it is also great for older students!

Book of Insects Grades 4+

$45.00 set

(reader, student, teacher, Peterson Guide)

Student $14.95 | Teacher $14.95 | Reader $14.95 | Peterson Guide $5.95

The Four Causes Formal Cause

35

Modern science has thrown out two of Aristotle’s Four Causes—the formal and the final cause, with earth-shattering results. Many of our debates today­— about political philosophy, ethics, and the nature of reality itself—are determined by whether or not you think things have real essences (formal cause) and whether they have intrinsic purposes (final cause).

Aristotle's Four Causes were never disproven; they simply went out of intellectual fashion.

Is there such a thing as "human nature"? Should we treat animals the same way we treat humans? Are men and women really different? All of these questions depend on one's belief in formal and final causation.

But modern science does have two new first principles to replace Aristotle: 1) matter is all there is, and 2) there is no purpose in the universe. Modern science assumes these first principles but cannot prove them. They cannot be proven by science itself and, were they to be subjected to dialectic, would be shown to result in contradictions and absurdities.

Nevertheless, they reign supreme.

The most obvious result of the abandonment of our classical heritage in science is the false battle between science and religion. If we could learn how to discuss first principles and to consider them through dialectic, we could cut through the modern divide between science and religion. We can, and must, go back to the Greek first principles of science if our civilization— and even science itself—is to survive.

This set includes a classic reader that takes a narrative approach to the life of insects and a workbook that takes your student through the different kinds of insects.

What's That Bird?

Grades 5+

$48.00 set

(student, teacher, reader, Peterson Guide, coloring book)

Student $11.95 | Teacher $12.95 | Reader $14.95 | Peterson Guide $5.95 | Coloring Book $7.95 What's That Bird? teaches students about birds, their anatomy, and how they live. The workbook includes facts to know, comprehension questions, and characteristics of individual birds. Students will learn about 30 common birds, as well as several incredible birds!

Turn this Birds Unit Study into a full-year science course with the addition of J. H. Tiner's Exploring the History of Medicine.

J. H. Tiner Series NEW!

Complete with Memoria Press Quizzes, Reviews, & Tests Text $13.99 ea. | Quizzes, Reviews, & Tests $8.00 ea.

Choose from: Exploring the History of Medicine Exploring Planet Earth Exploring the World of Biology Exploring the World of Chemistry Exploring the World of Physics

Grades 5+ Grades 6+ Grades 6+ Grades 6+ Grades 6+

36

Classical Studies

www.MemoriaPress.com

Famous Men of Greece

D'Aulaires' Greek Myths

Grades 5-8

Grades 3-8

$39.95 set

$45.95 set

(text, student, teacher)

(text, student, teacher)

Text $18.95 | Student $17.95 | Teacher $17.95 | Flashcards $12.95

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

Online Class (p. 26)

Online Class (p. 26)

This is an ideal beginning book for your child’s classical education journey, regardless of age! Superbly written and illustrated, this classic introduces timeless tales that have enchanted people for thousands of years. Because they are everywhere in Western art and literature, Greek myths are the essential background for a classical education. You can hardly read Shakespeare without them!

If the Romans were history’s great men of action, the Greeks were history’s great men of thought. Dive into the lives and minds of thirty-two famous Greeks through stories detailing the rise, Golden Age, and fall of Greece. Learning about the triumphs of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Ulysses, Pericles, Alexander the Great, and many others will enable your students to understand why the scope of Greek accomplishment is still known today as “The Greek Miracle.”

Each of the 30 lessons in the Student Guide presents important facts to know, vocabulary, comprehension questions, and a picture review and activities section. It also points out the many references to Greek mythology in the modern world.

Famous Men of Modern Times Grades 6-8

Famous Men of Rome Grades 4-8

$39.95 set

(text, student, teacher)

Text $16.95 | Student $17.95 | Teacher $17.95 | Flashcards $12.95 Online Class (p. 26) Famous Men of Rome is ideal for beginners of all ages who are fascinated by the action and drama of Rome. Inside are 30 stories, covering all of ancient Rome’s history, from its founding to its demise. Witness the rise and fall of a great civilization through the lives of larger-than-life figures.

Famous Men of the Middle Ages Grades 5-8

$39.95 set

(text, student, teacher)

Text $16.95 | Student $17.95 | Teacher $17.95 | Flashcards $12.95 Online Class (p. 26) The story of the Middle Ages is told through the 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. This book is a perfect precursor to Famous Men of Modern Times.

$39.95 set (text, student, teacher)

Text $16.95 | Student $17.95 | Teacher $17.95 | Flashcards $12.95 Online Class (p. 26) Modern history—history, that is, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453—can sometimes seem like a confusing jumble of unrelated events. As a result, many curricula needlessly avoid this exciting period of history. Memoria Press’ Famous Men of Modern Times will bring the events of the last 500 years to life. These stories provide great insight into the foundations of the modern world.

Horatius at the Bridge $14.95

Grades 6+ This guide contains the complete text of Thomas Babington Macaulay's 70 stanza ballad and a comprehensive study guide, including vocabulary, maps, character and plot synopses, meter, comprehension questions, teaching guidelines, and a test. Students who memorize and recite the entire poem may receive the Winston Churchill Award certificate from Memoria Press.

Introduction to Classical Studies

$24.95

Grades 3-6

Designed for use with D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, Famous Men of Rome, and The Golden Children's Bible, this guide will show you how to teach, learn, and master the stories fundamental to a classical education. The guide contains a three-year reading plan.

Classical Studies

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The Trojan War

by Olivia Coolidge Grades 6-8

Novel $6.95 | Student $11.95 | Teacher $12.95 This retelling of the Trojan War is the best preparation for reading Homer. Each lesson in the study guide has reading notes, vocabulary, comprehension questions, and an enrichment section that includes extra discussion topics, writing projects, art, and map work. After studying The Trojan War with our guide, your student will know Homer's main characters, the gods and goddesses, and the main storyline of the Iliad and Odyssey.

The Iliad & the Odyssey

Samuel Butler translation Grades 7+

Iliad Novel $10.00 | Odyssey Novel $10.00 Student $16.95 | Teacher $16.95 Western civilization begins with the Iliad and Odyssey. This is a perfect place to start your study of the Great Books. Our study guide 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 NEW!

David West translation Grades 8+

Novel $12.00 | Student $16.95 | Teacher $16.95 After you have completed your study of Homer, the Aeneid is your next logical 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. After reading Homer and Virgil, your students will have completed their first big step on the road to being classically educated! This is a great preparation for Latin AP Virgil also.

The Divine Comedy Ciardi translation Grades 10+

Novel $20.00 | Student $16.95 Teacher $16.95 | Quizzes $5.00 The Divine Comedy is one of the crown jewels of both Western and Christian literature. This epic, allegorical poem illustrates Dante’s spiritual journey of redemption that takes him through the pit of Hell (the Inferno) to the Beatific Vision of God (the Paradiso). The Student Guide contains helpful study questions, and reading notes for difficult lines.

The Book of the NEW! Ancient World

Dorothy Mills Histories Series Grades 6+

$39.95 (novel, student, teacher)

Novel $16.95 | Student $17.95 | Teacher $17.95

Dorothy Mills takes the student on an adventure, exploring the geography, culture, architecture, and most prominent people of Egypt, Persia, the Hittites, Israel, and more. Not only does she teach the valuable history and lessons of the ancient peoples, but she gives the students an understanding of the people and neighbors out of which Christianity sprung.

The Book of the NEW! Ancient Greeks

Dorothy Mills Histories Series Grades 6+

$39.95 set (novel, student, teacher)

Novel $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 selfdestruction known as the Peloponnesian wars. But it is not history alone—culture, values, and life lessons are taught.

The Book of the NEW! Ancient Romans

Dorothy Mills Histories Series Grades 6+

$39.95 set (novel, student, teacher)

Novel $16.95 | Student $17.95 | Teacher $17.95

After the Greeks, all roads lead to Rome. And like any good Roman course, this one begins with the she-wolf and 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 ironic rise of the Roman Empire teach unforgettable principles about human nature and society.

The Middle Ages NEW!

Dorothy Mills Histories Series Grades 6+

$16.95 See how Christianity spread out, 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, the travel through Christendom unfolds beautifully.

37

Timeline Set for the Grammar Stage

38

www.MemoriaPress.com

PREHISTORY

Timeline Set for the Grammar Stage NEW!

Events from Ancient to Modern Times Grades 3-6

CREATION & FALL Key Participants:

$39.95 set (Composition & Sketchbook,

_______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________

Handbook, Wall Cards, Flashcards)

Key Location(s): _______________________________________________________________________________________

We haven't been so excited about a new product in a long time! Our new Timeline program will enable students to master a total of 60 events over the course of four years (3rd-6th grades). History is a very unsystematic subject, and time is very abstract. Students need a timeline that they memorize, build on, and recite every year—and Memoria Press is bringing it to you!

_______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ Event Description: _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________

Timeline Composition & Sketchbook $9.95

These books will be completed over the four-year period in which this timeline is completed. Each event has a 2-page spread with a picture frame for illustrating the event on one side and a page of blank lines for writing a summary of the event.

Timeline Handbook $9.95

_______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 4

Prehistory

_______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________

The Timeline Handbook includes teaching guidelines, charts of the dates studied by grade and by time period, and summaries of each event to help students complete their Composition & Sketchbook.

_______________________________________________________________________________________ Creation & Fall

5

Student Flashcards $12.95

Each student should have his/her own set of flashcards for drill and practice.

One side has the date and the reverse side has the event. These cards are colorcoded identically to the Timeline Cards on the wall.

Timeline Wall Cards $12.95

Cards for the wall timeline have the date and event on the same side. Cards are added throughout the year as students study history in Classical/Christian Studies and American Studies. The wall timeline should be in a prominent place in the classroom throughout the year, beginning in grade 3.

If you don't begin your classical education until middle or high school, it is

never too late! We would suggest that you start with Year 5 of our Classical Studies Map and move forward from there. Before beginning your study of the classics, it is always helpful if your student has a basic knowledge of Greek mythology (D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths [p. 36]) and has read a retelling of the Trojan War (Olivia Coolidge's The Trojan War [p. 37]).

Classical Studies Suggested Timeline Year

Program

1

D'Aulaires' Greek Myths (p. 36)

2

Famous Men of Rome (p. 36)

3

Famous Men of the Middle Ages (p. 36)

4

Famous Men of Greece, The Trojan War, and Horatius at the Bridge (pp. 36-37)

5

Iliad and Odyssey (Homer) and The Book of the Ancient Greeks (p. 37)

6

The Aeneid (Virgil) and The Book of the Ancient Romans (p. 37)

7

Greek Plays (Euripides, Sophocles, Aeschylus)

8

The Divine Comedy (Dante) (p. 37)

Ancient Civilization Wall Maps For All Ages!

Large (24'' x 33'') $35.00 Small (11'' x 17'') $19.95 Make the ancient civilization stories come alive on your classroom walls. These color wall maps are perfect for any classical education classroom. Each set includes individual maps of Greece, Italy, the City of Rome, and the Roman Empire. These maps contain all the hot spots in the classical world, including the famous cities, countries, rivers, lakes, mountains, and oceans.

Christian Studies

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Christian Studies IV

A Chronological Overview of the Bible Grades 6-8 Student $17.95 | Teacher $20.95

$119.95 set

(Christian Studies I-III: Student Books & Teacher Manuals + The Golden Children's Bible)

Christian Studies I Student $17.95 | Teacher $20.95 All Major Bible Stories up to the Entry into Canaan Grades 3-6 Student $17.95 | Teacher $20.95 Christian Studies II The Rise and Fall of Israel, the Period of the Prophets Grades 4-6

Christian Studies III All Major New Testament Stories Grades 5-6

Christian Studies IV takes students back through the highlights of the Bible, reviewing drill questions, Scripture memory passages, and more! This study guide can serve as a review course for Christian Studies I-III or stand alone as a survey study of the Bible. We give you the Scripture passages where the answers to the drill questions can be found so that you can read through the Bible by touching on the major stories and characters. This course is a great preparation for studying early church history in the upper school years.

Student $17.95 | Teacher $20.95

City of God NEW!

Vernon J. Bourke edition Grades 10-12

Christian Studies I-III Grades 3-6 This three-year series thoughtfully guides your child through The Golden Children's Bible, teaching him/her the fundamentals of Bible stories, history, and geography, with solid detail at a manageable pace. Students do not merely skim the surface; they embark on a three-year Bible reading course that builds faith by teaching Salvation History as real history. Using these guides, your student will be well prepared for the good work of advanced Christian studies.

Students work through one-third of The Golden Children's Bible in each year. The Student Book offers 30 lessons, each comprised of: • • • • •

Weekly memory verses Map and timeline work Review lessons and tests every 5 lessons Comprehension, drill, and discussion questions References The Golden Children's Bible page numbers as well as actual Scripture references

Novel $13.95 | Student $17.95 | Teacher $20.95 | Quizzes/Tests $5.00 The City of God, arguably Augustine's greatest book, influenced Western society more powerfully than perhaps any other book except the Bible. To study the City of God is to study the source of some of Western society’s greatest and most cherished beliefs. The book serves as the cultural fountainhead of all that followed, and it is unlikely that it will ever be equaled. The study guide aids students in comprehending Augustine's masterpiece. The teacher guide contains helpful chapter summarizations as well as a thorough introduction to teaching this course effectively.

Don't let your students miss the study of this influential book that helped to shape some of the most important intellectual, theological, and political issues of the Western world that are just as relevant today as 1,500 years ago.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS 1. In Chapter 1, Augustine is criticizing the enemies of the City of God. What is the criticism he is leveling against them?

Augustine is criticizing these individuals because they sought safety from the invaders in the __________________________________________________________________________________

The Teacher Manual offers: • Insight and background information for each lesson • Additional discussion, composition, or research prompts • Helpful notes for the teacher

sanctuaries of Christian churches, and now they are attacking Christianity itself. They did not hesitate __________________________________________________________________________________ to claim they were Christian in order to be saved, but once they were saved from the attackers, they __________________________________________________________________________________ failed to show gratitude for their safety. __________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Summarize Augustine’s point about suffering in Chapter 8.

Suffering has a twofold purpose: __________________________________________________________________________________ 1. It serves as a punishment for the unrighteous. __________________________________________________________________________________ 2. It teaches the good to be patient. __________________________________________________________________________________ The difference, Augustine says, is “not in what people suffer but in the way they suffer.” __________________________________________________________________________________

3. In Chapter 9, Augustine criticizes Christians for not reproving the wicked. Why, in Augustine’s opinion, have Christians failed to do this?

Because of the effort required to do so, because of the fear of antagonizing them, waiting for a more __________________________________________________________________________________ opportune moment, or for fear that a rebuke may actually make them worse. __________________________________________________________________________________

4. In Chapter 19, Augustine presents the case of Lucretia, who committed suicide. What reason does

view samples online: www.MemoriaPress.com

Augustine give for her suicide?

She was unable to bear the burden of shame. The shame comes from a fear that people would think she __________________________________________________________________________________ was a willing participant, and the only way she could prove her innocence was to take her own life. __________________________________________________________________________________ 5. According to Chapter 21, does Augustine ever see a justifiable reason for killing another human being.

If so, what is the reason or reasons?

Yes. When God authorizes killing by a general law, when He gives an explicit commission to an __________________________________________________________________________________ individual for a limited time, or when the State punishes criminals. __________________________________________________________________________________

6. In Chapter 27, Augustine says there may be only one justifiable reason for suicide. What is that reason, and does he ultimately agree with it?

To keep one’s self from falling into sin. Augustine does not agree with this reason. __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________

7. In Chapter 33, Augustine gives a strongly worded reason for why Rome suffered the humiliation of defeat. Describe what Augustine has to say.

He says it is because Rome was already declining from within. He cites the examples of spiritual __________________________________________________________________________________ disease, degeneration, and a decline into immorality and indecency. He asks the opponents of the City __________________________________________________________________________________ of God why they take no responsibility for the tragic situation. Instead of learning from their adversity, __________________________________________________________________________________ they remain in sin. __________________________________________________________________________________

8

The Golden Children's Bible $17.95 This book was chosen because of its slightly simplified, but poetically appealing King James text along with its beautiful, accurate, and ageappropriate illustrations. This is important because we believe students should learn to revere the Bible as a sacred book, distinct from stories with cartoon heroes.

"I love the way it is written, and the pictures keep my 4-year-old's attention." - Kim

Book I

CHRISTIAN STUDIES SUGGESTED TIMELINE Grade

Program

3+

Christian Studies I (Major Bible stories up to the entry into Canaan) p. 39

4+

Christian Studies II (Rise and Fall of Israel & Period of the Prophets) p. 39

5+

Christian Studies III (Major New Testament stories) p. 39

6+

Christian Studies IV (Chronological Overview of the Bible) p. 39

7+ 8-9 +

The Book of the Ancient World (Egyptians, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, Hebrews) p. 37

Early Christian history taught through primary sources

(Luke, Ignatius, Clement, Eusebius, and more)

10 +

City of God (Augustine) p. 39

11 +

Christian Apologetics (Lewis, Chesterton, Kreeft)

39

40

Classical Latin School Association (CLSA)

Holy Trinity

Classical H

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CLSA

partner school

oly Trinity Classical Christian School, located in beautiful Beaufort, SC, opened its doors this fall, offering a classical education for approximately 100 students, preschool through 5th grade. Though Founding Headmaster, Rev. Chad Lawrence, is an ordained Anglican minister, Holy Trinity is a “merely� (to borrow from C. S. Lewis) Christian school ministering across denominational lines. With the newly hired faculty having attended the Summer 2012 Memoria-sponsored conference in Louisville, KY, Holy Trinity is implementing the Classical Core Curriculum across all grade levels. Plans are already underway to expand to 6th grade next year, with hopes of adding a grade a year until Holy Trinity is a Pre-K through 12th grade classical school. Holy Trinity is pleased to have been received as a Partner Member of the Classical Latin School Association and excited to be in the stream of schools seeking to recover a classical education.

www.htccs.org clawrence@htccs.org (843) 522-0660

302 Burroughs Avenue Beaufort, SC 29902

Classical Latin School Association (CLSA)

1-877-862-1097

Passing on the culture of the Christian West ...

List of CLSA Partner Schools available online www.ClassicalLatin.org

classical

Latin School a s s o c i a t i o n www.ClassicalLatin.org The Classical Latin School Association (CLSA) is an association of elementary and secondary schools working to pass on the culture of the Christian West to the next generation through the Classical Core CurriculumTM. The Classical Core Curriculum focuses on history, literature, and the great ideas, with an emphasis on basic skills and the liberal arts and a special focus on the study of Latin.

✓✓ School accreditation ✓✓ Professional development services ✓✓ On- and off-site teacher training ✓✓ Online student/teacher resources ✓✓ Increased online exposure for your school ✓✓ Marketing your school in your community ✓✓ Education resources

Join the CLSA ...

director@ClassicalLatin.org

| www.ClassicalLatin.org | 502-855-4830

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Science & the Supernatural

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I

t is said that for many years the Abbey National Building Society employed a full-time secretary at 221B Baker Street in London to answer mail that was addressed to Sherlock Holmes, the legendary but fictional detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. So real did Holmes seem to Doyle’s millions of readers that some of them thought he really existed.

In the face of the terrible popularity of Holmes among so many people, however, I must count myself in the minority. I confess: I have never been tempted to join the multitudes in singing his praises. But it is only recently that I was able to put my finger on why I did not share in the general enthusiasm.

True, Holmes was endowed with a formidable talent for solving crimes, yet every time I finished one of Doyle’s accounts of the great detective, I always felt some kind of moral emptiness. With Holmes, every mystery is a sort of intellectual autopsy where every organ is examined and accounted for. But, like all autopsies, the final product is a dead thing.

The mystery of existence never survives the rationalism of Holmes. Indeed, the assumption behind all the stories of Conan Doyle (who was an atheist when he wrote them) is that, ultimately, there is no mystery: Everything is a cog hidden in the vast machine of the world, which, through the application

of the relevant scientific technique, can always be fully explained. Once the physical cause of something has been found, Doyle seems to suggest, there is simply nothing more to it.

Many of the Holmes stories begin with a mystery that appears supernatural, but further investigation reveals a purely natural cause which, because it is natural, is deemed to fully explain the facts. If we can find a natural explanation for some event, then we have automatically disproven any supernatural involvement in that event. A natural explanation is always sufficient.

In The Hound of the Baskervilles, for example, Holmes is presented with the mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville. Two centuries before, Sir Charles' ancestor, Hugo Baskerville, had become enamored of a farmer's daughter whom he had kidnapped and locked in a room. She had escaped, Hugo had followed her, and they were both found dead on the moor. A giant spectral hound had been seen guarding his body, and

Science & the Supernatural

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locked room where, she says, she has been knocking all morning and been unable to wake him. When they break down the door, they find Doomdorf dead on his couch with a shotgun wound in his chest.

Abner looks for a weapon and finds, hanging on the wall, a fowling piece that had recently been fired. Just then, the woman, looking down on the dead body of her master, exclaims, “At last I have killed him!”

"Abner," says Randolf, "this is murder! The woman took that gun down from the wall and shot Doomdorf while he slept."

But Abner is not so sure.

They walk back out of the house, where the old circuit-rider, with an axe in his hand, is going to destroy the still. "Bronson," he said, "who killed ontrast the Holmes stories with those of Melville Doomdorf?" "I killed him," replied the old man, and Davisson Post, a popular early 20th-century mystery went on toward the still. writer. In Post’s “Doomdorf Mystery,” we get a very Two confessions, one murder. different view of reality, one that casts a much more They soon find out that the old man thinks he killed comprehensive light on the relationship between the Doomdorf because he had prayed for his death: “Not by natural and the supernatural. the hand of any man did I pray the Lord God to destroy Doomdorf was an early Virginia settler, a huge Doomdorf, but with fire from heaven to destroy him." man with a black beard and broad, thick hands, who The woman too has employed an unorthodox had slaves build him a stone house on the top of a methodology: "I have try to kill him many times—oh, sheer rock above a river valley. But he had built there very many times!” she says, in her pidgin English, also a log still, where he turned the first fruits of the “with witch words which I have remember; but always garden "into a hell-brew." "The idle and the vicious," they fail. Then, at last, I make him in we are told, "came with their stone jugs, and violence and riot flowed out.” Once the physical cause wax, and I put a needle through his heart; and I kill him very quickly."

Doomdorf was a moonshiner. of something has been She has killed him, she thinks, Post writes of his Uncle Abner, through a voodoo curse. a Virginia marshall on what was found, Doyle seems to Upon further investigation, Abner then the frontier, who was sent to suggest, there is simply realizes that no one could have even investigate Doomdorf and the discord nothing more to it. gotten into the room, since it was he was sowing. Abner and his deputy locked from the inside, and the one Randolf ride over the mountains and window was above a sheer cliff no one could have arrive on a hot, early summer day to find much more gotten in. Nor could it have been suicide, since the gun than just illegal moonshine. was still hanging on the wall.

As they ride in on the mountain side of the house, "Here's a mad old preacher who thinks that he they find Bronson, a gaunt old man with white hair, a circuit rider of the hills who "preached the invective of killed Doomdorf with fire from Heaven, like Elijah the Tishbite;” says the perplexed Randolf, “and here is a Isaiah as though he were the mouthpiece of a militant simple child of a woman who thinks she killed him and avenging overlord; as though the government with a piece of magic of the Middle Ages—each as of Virginia were the awful theocracy of the Book of innocent of his death as I am. And, yet, by the eternal, Kings.” The old man had been preaching a crusade the beast is dead!" against Doomdorf in the hills round about.

Who killed Doomdorf?

They ask the old man, sitting on his "horse of stone,” of the whereabouts of Doomdorf. Bronson replies with a cryptic quote from the King James Bible: “Surely he hroughout the course of the investigation, covereth his feet in his summer chamber.” A strange Randolf seeks for a purely naturalistic explanation response, to be sure. for the crime, but when the only two suspects are When they knock at the front door, a little, faded eliminated from consideration, he is left without foreign woman answers and leads them to Doomdorf’s any explanation at all. It is Abner, who has not ruled

his throat had been ripped out. The body of Sir Charles is also found dead on the grounds of the estate. He had lived in fear of the family curse, and there was evidence he had been running from something. Near his body are the tracks of a gigantic hellhound.

Holmes goes to work and begins his deconstruction of these apparently supernatural events. In the end, he determines that Sir Charles has died of a heart attack running from the hound of Stapleton, who, it turns out, is heir to the Baskerville fortune and would benefit from Sir Charles' death. The spectral appearance of the hound had been achieved by covering it with phosphorus. The case—and the mystery—is solved.

C

T

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Science & the Supernatural out anything, who finds both a natural—and a supernatural—explanation.

"The thing is impossible!" protests Randolf. "Men are not killed today in Virginia by black art or a curse of God." "By black art, no;" replies Abner, "but by the curse of God, yes. I think they are ..." When he comes back tomorrow I will show you the assassin who killed Doomdorf."

T

he next day, Abner reloads the rifle and mounts it again on the wall. He places the blood-stained coat, stuffed with a pillow, where Doomdorf’s body had lain, and waited.

"Look you, Randolf ... We will trick the murderer ...

We will catch him in the act." They sit and watch, and soon, a tiny circle of light appears, and then moves across the wall. "He that killeth with the sword,” says Abner, “must be killed with the sword.” “It is the water bottle,” he observes, “full of Doomdorf's liquid, focusing the sun ... And look, Randolf, how Bronson's prayer was answered!"

Slowly, the circle of light approaches the bottle and is magnified through the moonshine. It strikes the plate of the lock and the gun fires, filling the pillow-stuffed shirt with shot.

“It is fire from heaven!” announces Abner—the very words the circuit rider had used.

The astonished Randolf sees what has happened, but he still does not understand: "It is a world," he says, "filled with the mysterious joinder of accident!"

"It is a world," replies Abner, "filled with the mysterious justice of God!" Randolf, restricted by his narrow materialistic assumptions, has cut himself off not only from a supernatural explanation, but, in the case before him, from a natural one. Abner, however, is able to find two explanations: a supernatural and a natural one.

www.MemoriaPress.com How was Doomdorf killed? By the sun coming in through the window, being magnified through the glass, and striking the plate of the gun. Why was Doomdorf killed? Because Bronson prayed for it. It was the “mysterious justice of God.” The idea that we can only have one kind of explanation—either natural or supernatural—is a very modern idea. In the Bible too we see no artificial barrier between these two worlds. In fact, let us return to the words of Bronson, the circuit-rider.

Before he has figured out what has happened, Abner asks him, “A little while ago, when we came, I asked you where Doomdorf was, and you answered me in the language of the third chapter of the Book of Judges.

Why did you answer me like that, Bronson?—‘Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber.’”

“The woman told me that he had not come down from the room where he had gone up to sleep,” replied the old man, “and that the door was locked. And then I knew that he was dead in his summer chamber like Eglon, King of Moab.” He extended his arm toward the south. “I came here from the Great Valley,” he said, “to cut down these groves of Baal and to empty out this abomination; but I did not know that the Lord had heard my prayer and visited His wrath on Doomdorf until I was come up into these mountains to his door. When the woman spoke I knew it.” And he strode toward his horse, leaving the ax among the ruined barrels.

Just as God used Ehud to exact judgment on corrupt Eglon through natural means, so here God has used natural means to bring about His justice. "God has," says Matthew Henry, "a variety of rods wherewith to chastise" the unjust.

And there is one more thing.

Over and over again, the Bible makes reference to the "right hand of God." It is a metaphor of power and authority, a symbol of official act. But although Ehud, who slays Eglon because of his evil, is of the tribe of Benjamin (a name which means "Son of the Right Hand"), the Book of Kings makes a point to tell us that Ehud is himself left-handed.

The knife which fells the Moabite King is not wielded in the hand of power and authority. It is as if the action is an unofficial act of God, accomplished as it is through merely natural means. In the case of Doomdorf, we have a similar situation. It is not that it isn't an act of God; it is simply that God has used an unofficial means of accomplishing His purpose.

God uses His right hand—and His left. It is a secret that Melville Davisson Post knows, and Arthur Conan Doyle does not.

American/Modern Studies

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The Story of the NEW! Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic Grades 5-8

$39.95 set (text, student, teacher)

Novel $16.95 | Student $17.95 | Teacher $17.95

We have combined Guerber's The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and The Story of the Great Republic into one edited volume that makes it 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!

States & Capitals Grades 3-6

$30.00 set (text, student, teacher) Text $7.99 | Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95

In this study guide each state is given a 2-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 year-long 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.

Geography I: NEW!

The Middle East, North Africa, & Europe Grades 4+

Text $14.95 | Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 A unique geography program designed for students pursuing a classical education, Geography of the Middle East, North Africa, and 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.”

The United States NEW!

Review of States & Capitals (shown above) Grades 4+ Workbook $5.00 | Key, Quizzes, Tests $7.95

This study guide will 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.

$48.00 set

(Geography I Text, Workbook, and Teacher Guide + United States Review Workbook & Teacher Key)

200 Questions About NEW! American History Guide $9.95 | Key $5.00

We have compiled a list of 200 questions that everyone should know about American history. The questions come directly from our newly edited The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic (left), Everything You Need to Know About American History Homework, and Story of the World, Vol. 4.

Everything You Need to Know About American History Homework $9.99 This book, filled with charts, maps, timelines, and short summaries of important facts about American history, makes a great companion to Guerber's The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and the Great Republic (top left).

The Artner Reader's Guide to American History Grades 3-8

$14.95 The Artners have read and researched, selected and catalogued, the best of children’s American history books—both in and out of print.

Geography II: NEW!

Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Oceania, & the Americas Grades 5+ Text $14.95 | Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95

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

Geography 1 Review NEW!

The Middle East, North Africa, & Europe Grades 4+ Workbook $5.00 | Key, Quizzes, Tests $7.95

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

$48.00 set

(Geography II Text, Workbook, and Teacher Guide + Geography I Review Workbook & Teacher Key)

45

46

French

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Be

First Start French I

Introduction to the French language

by Danielle Schultz Grades 5-8

$39.95 set (student, teacher, pronunciation CD)

Student $17.50 | Teacher $17.50 | Pronunciation CD $4.95

Modeled after the Latina Christiana format, each of the lessons covers 10-15 vocabulary words, a French saying or proverb, a grammar form, and a short dialogue in French. Your students will practice conversation, reading and translation, and are introduced to French culture. The Teacher Manual helps keep you ahead of your student, while quizzes and answer keys make it easy to check progress.

First Start French II

Volume 1: Ancient Times $16.95 (paperback only) From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor Volume 2: The Middle Ages $16.95 (paperback only) From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance Volume 3: Early Modern Times $16.95 (paperback only) From Elizabeth the First to the Forty-Niners Volume 4: The Modern Age $16.95 (paperback only) From Victoria's Empire to the End of the USSR

The Story of the World

$39.95 set (student, teacher, pronunciation CD)

Student $17.50 | Teacher $17.50 | Pronunciation CD $4.95

by Susan Wise Bauer Grades 1-8

We have always been fans of Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World series, and now we have added it as supplemental summer reading for our Classical Core packages (pp. 8-9). Each volume fits perfectly as an overview to the time period students will be studying in the coming year.

Liberal Arts Supplements

The Story of the World has won numerous awards and continues to stand out as a top pick for homeschoolers.

These books make a great addition to any classroom!

The Great Tradition: Classic Readings in What It Means to Be an Educated Human Being edited by Richard Gamble $17.95

The Latin-Centered Curriculum: A Home Educator's Guide to a Latin-Centered Curriculum

by Andrew A. Campbell

The Great Books: A Journey Through 2,500 Years of the West's Classic Literature

by Anthony O'Hear

Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin

by Tracy Lee Simmons

$17.95

$25.00

$15.00

The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, 3rd Edition

by Susan Wise Bauer & Jessie Wise $27.95

The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had

by Susan Wise Bauer $25.00

The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric

by Sister Miriam Joseph, edited by Marguerite McGlinn $18.95

www.PaulDrybooks.com

A Student's Guide to the Disciplines Grades 9+

$99.95 Complete Set $6.95 Natural Science $6.95 Philosophy $6.95 Psychology $6.95 Literature $6.95 The Study of History

$7.95 Music History $7.95 Classics $7.95 Economics $7.95 Religious Studies $7.95 Political Philosophy $7.95 The Study of Law $7.95 U.S. History $7.95 The Core Curriculum $7.95 Liberal Learning $7.95 American Political Thought

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The Iliad $7.00 The Odyssey $7.00

Story of the Thirteen Colonies and the Great Republic (H.A. Guerber) Dorothy Mills' Histories: Romans, Greeks, Middle Ages, & Ancient World

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Famous Men Series: Rome, Greece, Middle Ages, & Modern Times

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