The Classical School - Winter 2019

Saving Western civilization one student at a time.

Winter 2019

WHAT IS CLASSICAL EDUCATION?

by Martin Cothran

The Central One Idea

by David M. Wright Latin: The Next Step After Phonics

by Cheryl Lowe

L etter from the E ditor

Saving Western Civilization One Student at a Time

by Martin Cothran

W

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

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Letter from the Editor

hen Robinson Crusoe finds himself marooned on a desert island, he is left with few of the necessities of life.

Crusoe returns to the wreck of his ship several times to salvage provisions. He builds a raft and ferries back food, tools, clothes, and fresh water. It is from the ship that he gets cheese, rice, and goat meat, as well as his gun, axe, and saw.

The ship is soon claimed by the sea, and everything else is lost. Crusoe watches it sadly from the shore and returns to the hut he has built.

As classical educators, we are in much the same position as Crusoe. The ship that was the old system of classical education, which was originally devised in ancient Greece, adopted by the Romans, and reborn in the Middle Ages—and which provided the foundation for the philosophy of the American Founding Fathers—encountered bad cultural weather in the late nineteenth century, and foundered on the rocks of educational permissivism early in the twentieth.

The recent history of American education tells the tale of the pounding of the educational waves against the wreck of the liberal arts and the study of the classical languages. The tides of progressivism and pragmatism—the modern educational philosophies that see the purpose of education as alternatively political and utilitarian— have taken their toll.

Latin and Greek were nearly purged from schools, and, eventually, the integrity of the academic disciplines themselves were compromised. Various permissivist movements have continued the misguided project of discarding our Western heritage, throwing it overboard to make room for a host of non-academic and often frivolous pursuits.

The original classical subjects have been displaced in a series of cyclical reforms by a host of education fads and gimmicks, the list of which reads like a litany of failed political and psychological experiments.

But while these forces battered the wreckage of classical education, many of us have returned repeatedly to it to salvage the many things worth taking. We, like Crusoe, have managed to reconstruct a semblance of what was threatened with loss.

The modern classical education movement has burgeoned in the United States by returning to the principles of the old classical education: a disciplined approach to language in the form of Latin, logic, and rhetoric; a study of the classical cultures of Athens and Rome; and a structured, systematic attention to reading, math, and the sciences.

Here at Memoria Press we put our raft to sea daily, salvaging more and more things from the wreck before it is lost forever, so that, with the cooperation and support of hundreds of schools and thousands of classical educators, we will be able to save Western civilization one student at a time.

The only thing we don't have is a parrot. But we're working on it.

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

THE CLASSICAL SCHOOL

Winter 2019 FEATURED ARTICLES

2 4 11 14 20 26

PRIMARY

17 17 18 19

Letter from the Editor by Martin Cothran Latin: The Next Step After Phonics by Cheryl Lowe School Spotlight: Roger Bacon Academy What Is Classical Education? by Martin Cothran The Critical Thinking Skills Hoax by Martin Cothran

Grades 1+ Grades K-6

Phonics, Reading, & Spelling

Grades K-2

Alphabet, Numbers, & Enrichment

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

Classical Education Resources

LATIN, GREEK, & FRENCH

7 7 8 9

Grades 1-4

Grammar School Latin

Grades 3-6

Latin Forms Series

Grades 4+

Latin Supplements

Grades 3+ Grades 4+

CLASSICAL STUDIES

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

Grades 3-12 Grades 1-12 Grades 3-12

AMERICAN / MODERN

Introduction to Grammar School Latin

10 Upper School Latin, Greek, & French

Ages 4+

LITERATURE, GRAMMAR, & WRITING

Four Stages to the Central One Idea by David M. Wright

RESOURCES

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New American Cursive Copybooks

Grades 6+ Grades 3-8

12 American/Modern Studies 13 Geography

Grades 1+ Grades 3+

SCIENCE & MATH

31 Science & Nature 31 Math

Grades 3+ Grades 7+

LOGIC

22 Traditional Logic & Supplements

Grades 7-12

Grades 6+

2019 Conventions Calendar The Memoria Press team loves hitting the road and meeting our customers face to face!

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

Feb. 25-27

National Classical Education Symposium - Phoenix, AZ National Charter Schools Conference - Las Vegas, NV

June 30-July 3

We hope to see you there!

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

Grades 1-2 | $3.95 ea.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle

The Jungle Book

The Wind in the Willows

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

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

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

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

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

© Copyright 2019 (all rights reserved) Publisher | Memoria Press Editor | Martin Cothran Assistant Editor | Dayna Grant

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

MEMORIA PRESS Charter.MemoriaPress.com

L atin

Latin: The Next Step After Phonics

by Cheryl Lowe

L

atin in elementary school, after phonics? This may sound like a new and experimental idea, but it is really an old and traditional one. Have you ever read Goodbye, Mr. Chips or Anne of Green Gables?

If so, you may have noticed that the students seem to spend a lot of time studying Latin grammar, and that it is completed before high school. In fact, this is where the name "grammar school" came from— from the days when the most important subject in elementary schools was Latin grammar. But just because Latin was considered very important a hundred years ago doesn't necessarily mean that it is all that important today. Times change. Why should our students today study Latin, and why begin in the third or fourth grade, or even earlier?

Key to the English Language The most practical reason for Latin study is that it also teaches English. Over half of our English words are derived from Latin words—and it's not just any half—it's the difficult half! The big three- to five-syllable English words usually come from Latin. These are the words students start to see in their reading in science, history, and literature beginning in the grammar school years.

Are we really preparing students for this transition?

Let's say Johnny has worked hard, has learned phonics, and can read and spell the word "father." Is he now prepared to decode the meanings of all of the words he will encounter that come from the Latin word for "father" (pater, patris)? How will he learn the spelling, pronunciation, and meanings of "patriarch," "patriarchy," "paternal," "paternalistic," "patron," "patronize," "paternity," "patrimony," etc.? He will Cheryl Lowe was the founder of Memoria Press and the author of the Latin Forms Series, Classical Phonics, and many other books. She also founded Highlands Latin School in Louisville, Kentucky, where all Memoria Press materials are developed and tested.

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Latin: The Next Step After Phonics

probably have to learn these words mostly on his own, in a hit-or-miss fashion. Most students never really develop a command of the English language because they are not taught it in a systematic way after leaving phonics. Many students do not develop the vocabulary necessary to read well in their own language because they have not been given the tools to attack the incredibly large number of English words. Latin gives them these tools.

The advantage of beginning Latin early is that we give our students the tools to decode these big words just when they begin to encounter them—instead of five years later. I have noticed that young students love to learn big words even if they don't know exactly what they mean. I teach them such words as "ludicrous" (ridiculous, silly), which comes from the Latin word ludus ("game"). Even though this is a word they may not encounter soon, they seem to enjoy saying it. They become comfortable with big words because, after all, most of them come from Latin, and they're not so scary after all. Students begin to see Latin roots in words everywhere, and tell their parents about the new words they encounter and where they come from. Parents are thrilled, and students develop confidence. They are being given a valuable tool: Latin—the key that opens up the door to the English language. Students need this key while they are still young enough to be excited about words, and while they are rapidly developing vocabulary through their new skill of reading.

Another reason to begin Latin in the early grades is that students at this age still find memorizing an enjoyable task, something not usually true of students in high school. Much of the vocabulary and forms of Latin can be learned in grammar school. Latin is good for vocabulary development. So why not just study a hundred Latin and Greek roots, and be done with it? It sure seems a lot more efficient and quicker than Charter.MemoriaPress.com

understanding of grammar will help them write with more clarity and precision. Teachers have an uneasy feeling that the muddled writing of their children is evidence of muddled thinking. Studying a disciplined and organized language like Latin helps students learn to think in a more disciplined, organized way.

The very nature of the language affects the way students think and write.

Simplify Your Curriculum

Most students never really develop a command of the English language because they are not taught it in a systematic way after leaving phonics. studying all that grammar—those awful declensions and conjugations that go on forever.

Grammar, Grammar, Grammar Obviously one hundred root words can't compare to learning thousands of words in Latin, nearly all of which seem to have English derivatives. But there are more reasons to study Latin than a larger vocabulary and a higher SAT score. One reason is indicated by the expression "all that grammar." All that grammar is exactly what students get from Latin that they don't get from French or Spanish.

To really understand the structure of language (and that's what grammar is), students must study a structured language. In Latin, grammar is the organizing principle, rather than a vestige, as it is in most modern languages. Students who learn English grammar by comparison and contrast with Latin grammar develop an understanding of language far superior to anything that can be achieved by the study of modern languages alone.

Why do we even care about grammar anyway?

Most teachers I know are really concerned about the poor writing skills of their students, and feel that an 502-855-4824

There is a lot of interest in unit studies among educators today. I think there are several reasons for this.

One is lack of retention. Have you ever taught what you thought was the greatest lesson ever, only to realize three months later that your students swear they never heard of the subject? How dare they forget what you were sure they would remember forever!

And so a third reason to study Latin is to deal with fragmentation. If we could only make more connections between all of the various fields of knowledge, there would be more meaning in education and less disconnected material to cover for the short term.

I think all three of these reasons may be different ways of expressing the same idea. As my children went through their elementary years, I felt that there was something missing. There was no language subject rigorous and challenging enough to train and discipline their minds, and there was no focus that helped pull everything else together.

I experimented with teaching them Latin and, although I did not have the materials I needed for their age, I found that I had finally discovered the subject that was my heart's desire. My background was in math and science, but I fell in love with Latin. The more I worked with Latin, the more I realized it is the educator's dream.

Latin is the mother tongue of Western civilization.

Because it has been the language that has transmitted our cultural heritage for over two thousand years, it pulls together language arts, history, geography, culture, art, architecture, music, values, religion, government, science, and math. Everything in the modern world seems to be related to Latin and the ancient and medieval cultures that spoke it. By examining the roots of our culture in its mother language, knowledge begins to integrate naturally.

The best way to put it is this: Latin is a unit study where the work is done for you. Latin is the Basic Subject because it is the Basic Language, and the way to really get back to the basics is to study Latin.

This will be a new concept to many people, but those educators struggling to integrate and simplify their curriculum will find in the study of Latin not just a language, but an organizing principle that could revolutionize their schools.

Latin: The Next Step After Phonics

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

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

Introduction to Grammar School Latin

Introduction to Grammar School Latin

by Leigh Lowe | Grades 1-4

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

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

LESSON 2 – Consonants and Vowel Teams

LESSON 2 – Consonants and Vowel Teams

Practical Latin

Vocabulary

magister – teacher (male)

magistra – teacher (female)

Lesson – Consonants and Vowel Teams

1. glōria

glory

Consonant Sounds:

2. Caesar

Caesar

3. laudō

I praise

4. clāmō

I shout

5. caelum

sky

Consonant c g s

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vowel Teams:

Vowel Team ae oe au

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

glorious glorify czar (tsar) laud proclamation celestial

___________________________ __________________________________

3. What does a Latin long E sound like? ____________________________________

___________________________ __________________________________

4. What does a Latin long I sound like? _____________________________________

___________________________ __________________________________

5. What does a Latin long O sound like? ____________________________________

2. Write the three vowel teams in the lesson and the Latin sounds that go with them. ____________________ ____________________ ____________________

___________________________ __________________________________ 2. ___________________________ __________________________________ ___________________________ __________________________________

______________________________

2. glōria

______________________________

3. Caesar

______________________________

4. laudō

______________________________

5. clāmō

______________________________

Teacher Manual

• Complete verbal pronunciation for each lesson

3. ___________________________ __________________________________

1. caelum

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

Pronunciation CD

1. ___________________________ __________________________________

4. List three vowel teams. ________________________________________________

Student Book

• Student book w/ answers keyed • Tests

3. Write each vocabulary word and its meaning twice.

2. What two consonants are missing in the Latin alphabet? ______________________ 3. What do you call two vowels that make one sound? _________________________

Speaking Latin

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

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2. What are the letters A, E, I, O, U called?__________________________________

Translation

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

Derivatives

There are three vowel teams in Latin:

1. Write the three Latin consonants in the lesson and the Latin sounds that go with them.

1. How many letters are in the Latin alphabet? _______________________________

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

Iūrō in Vexillum

EXERCISES for Lesson 2 Write and Learn

1. How many letters are in the English alphabet? _____________________________

Lesson 2 Questions

The Pledge of Allegiance (Part 1)

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

EXERCISES for Lesson 2 Review Questions

Practice saying the consonant sounds and vowel teams.

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*Student $15.00 Teacher $15.00 CD $8.95

___________________________ __________________________________ 4. ___________________________ __________________________________ ___________________________ __________________________________ 5. ___________________________ __________________________________ ___________________________ __________________________________

Fun Practice

Listen to the Lesson 2 track on your IGSL CD.

Think of a poem or song to help you remember the long vowel sounds.

Think of an English word that uses the following Latin consonant sounds: g, as in glōria _________________________________________ c, as in caelum _________________________________________ s, as in servus _________________________________________ Say each vocabulary word and its meaning five times.

Address your teacher as "Magister" or "Magistra" from now on.

Practice saying the first part of the Pledge of Allegiance in Latin five times.

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The grammar lessons are set forth in a form appropriate for primary grades. The review lessons that follow each unit provide the consistent review needed to master Latin.

With clear explanations and easy-to-read lessons in a two-color format, Introduction to Grammar School Latin is perfect for those schools that would like to start their students on an early study of Latin.

*denotes consumable book

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

View samples online: Charter.MemoriaPress.com

Classical Education Resources

Climbing Parnassus:

A New Apologia for Greek and Latin

by Tracy Lee Simmons $15.00

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

by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. $17.95

Seven Myths About Education

by Daisy Christodoulou $34.95

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Grammar School Latin

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

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

Teacher Manual

Grammar School Latin: Introduction to First Form Latin

by Cheryl Lowe | Grades 3-6

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

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

LESSON I

EXERCISES: Lesson I A. Phrases and Sayings: Translate.

Latin Saying Salvē.

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

Hello. (singular)

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

Vocabulary amō

3. laudō __________________________________

I love, like

amateur

labōrō

I work

laboratory

laudō

I praise

laudable

ōrō

I entreat, plead

orator

1. A verb is a word that shows _________________________________ .

vocō

I call

vocal

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

4. ōrō_____________________________________ 5. amō ____________________________________

B. Grammar

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

Grammar Forms

Pronunciation CD

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

1st Conjugation Person

• Complete verbal pronunciation for each lesson

Singular

1. Scientists perform experiments in a/an ____________________________________ .

Plural

1st

am ō

-ō

amāmus

-mus

2nd

amās

-s

amā tis

-tis

3rd

ama t

-t

ama nt

-nt

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

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

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

Exercises reinforce memory work and teach grammar in incremental steps through simple translation.

Grammar coverage includes 1st2nd declension nouns, 1st-2nd conjugation verbs (in three tenses), 1st-2nd declension adjectives, and the irregular verb to be.

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

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Lesson I

Lesson I

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Move straight to First Form Latin after Grammar School Latin.

View samples online: Charter.MemoriaPress.com

*denotes consumable book

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

Games & Puzzles

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

The Great Tradition:

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

faq:

Can we get by without teacher guides?

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

The Great Books:

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

by Anthony O'Hear $22.00

502-855-4824

Latin

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First Form Latin Latin Grammar Year One

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

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Second Form Latin Latin Grammar Year Two

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by Cheryl Lowe Grades 6+

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

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

• • • • •

• • • • • • • • •

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

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

*denotes consumable book

Third Form Latin Latin Grammar Year Three

by Cheryl Lowe Grades 7+

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Latin Grammar Year Four

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

• • • • • • • • •

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

Latin

Fourth Form Latin

by Cheryl Lowe Grades 8+

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

• • • • • • • •

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

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

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

Teacher Manual

Latin Forms Series

Word Study  Grammar  Syntax

LESSON I In chorō recitēmus.

Grades 4+

Let us recite together.

First Conjugation - Present Tense present stem Person

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

amā-

Singular

Plural

1st

am-ō

I love

amā-mus

we love

2nd

amā-s

you (sing.) love

amā-tis

you (pl.) love

3rd

ama-t

he, she, it loves

ama-nt

they love

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

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

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

ō/m s t

PLURAL we you (pl.) they

Workbook

mus tis nt

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

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

Amō is our model to study 1st Conjugation verbs.

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

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

simple present progressive present emphatic present

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

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

Oral Drill

1. amant

1. he is swimming

Latin

English

Derivatives

2. portat

2. they plead

amō

I love, like

amorous, amateur

3. servō

3. she washes

dō

I give

donate

4. natāmus

4. you are guarding

lavō

I wash

lavatory

5. lavās

5. he does give

natō

I swim

natatorium

6. ōrātis

6. we carry

ōrō

I entreat, plead

orator

7. dat

7. you (pl.) like

parō

I prepare

preparation

8. stant

8. we are calling

portō

I carry

portable

9. parāmus

9. you stand

servō

I guard, keep

conservation

10. vocās

10. they prepare

stō

I stand

status

vocō

I call

vocation, vocal

Vocabulary

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

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

Quizzes & Tests • Reproducible weekly quizzes & unit tests

Flashcards 11

• Vocabulary with derivatives • Latin sayings • Conjugations • Declensions

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

View samples online: Charter.MemoriaPress.com

Latin Supplements Grades 4+

Grades 4+

First Form Latin $20.00

First Form and Second Form $12.95

Second Form Latin $20.00

Third Form and Fourth Form $15.95

Latin Wall Charts for the Latin Forms Series

Latin Desk Charts for the Latin Forms Series

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grades 3+ CD & DVD $14.95

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

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Latin

9

Upper School Latin

French Grades 9+

Grades 5-8

Text $43.00 Teacher $24.00 Lesson Plans $14.95

*Student $17.50 Teacher $17.50

Mueller's Caesar: Selections from De Bello Gallico

by Hans-Friedrich Mueller

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

First Start French I

Introduction to the French Language by Danielle Schultz First Start French is the perfect introduction to French for students in grades 5-8 who would like to add a modern language to their Latin studies. This program will teach students the basics of French grammar, help them develop a large vocabulary, assist them in beginning to speak French, and introduce them to French culture.

Greek Grades 4+

Wall Charts (22" x 34") (2 charts) $12.95

*Student $15.00 Key $10.00

The Greek Alphabet

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

by Cheryl Lowe

Greek Alphabet Charts

The Greek alphabet is different enough from our own to be a major impediment to the study of Greek. The Greek Alphabet is a tour of the Greek letters, their formation, and their sounds. A page is devoted to each letter and includes a letter diagram with arrows showing proper formation, printing lines showing placement of letters above and below the lines, letters to trace and copy, interesting facts and hints, and questions.

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

WE’LL PAY THE

SHIPPING! All school orders receive free expedited shipping.

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

10

Latin, Greek, & French

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

ROGER BACON ACADEMY COMBINES CLASSICAL CONTENT WITH TRADITIONAL PEDAGOGY When visitors enter a classroom at Roger Bacon Academy in Wilmington, North Carolina, they notice two things: orderly, well-run classrooms and a content-rich classical curriculum.

Roger Bacon Academy is the name of the umbrella organization that manages four different schools: Charter Day School, Columbus Charter School, Douglass Academy, and South Brunswick Charter School. The schools are chartered by the state as Direct Instruction classical schools under the control of Charter Day School, Inc. Direct Instruction is a structured, sequenced, and teacher-directed classroom approach that involves mastery learning through well-planned, content-based lessons. There are several schools of thought that champion this approach, but Roger Bacon follows the approach of Thaddeus Lott.

Baker Mitchell, a retired tech entrepreneur, visited Lott's school, Wesley Elementary School, in the early 1990s. Wesley, a Title I school on the outskirts of Houston, Texas, had a ninety-nine percent minority population.

"Each student was well behaved and advanced educationally," Mitchell said. "In the fourth grade, they were reading and studying Shakespeare. Kids weren't allowed to use calculators. They had to learn phonics and memorize their multiplication and division tables."

When Lott had arrived at Wesley in 1975, only eighteen percent of its third graders scored at or above grade level in reading comprehension. By 1980, only five years later, that figure had zoomed to eightyfive percent, and in 1996, one hundred percent of 502-855-4824

the students were passing the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS).

Mitchell was inspired by Lott's example when he founded Roger Bacon. All four of Roger Bacon's schools are Title I schools and two have free lunch programs. In all of them, Lott's approach is on clear display: Order is the rule and students are challenged every moment. The Direct Instruction method begins with the action of the teacher and culminates in the action of the student.

"When we explain this to people," says Jessica Lopez, dean of English, Latin, and History, "we describe it as an 'I do, we do, you do' model. It is a lot of call and response, choral responses, and individual responses. We do a lot of scripted programs, especially in the younger grades. Even in the upper grades where we are teaching novels and it is not really a scripted program, we still expect the teachers to use directed instruction methods."

"And we don't teach Common Core," she adds.

But the real uniqueness of Roger Bacon is in the pairing of Direct Instruction with a classical curriculum. The basic skills emphasis in the primary grades is followed by a grammar-based Latin program (Memoria Press' Latin Forms Series), a study of Greek mythology in preparation for the later reading of Greek and Latin literature, and, in addition to American history, the study of classical and medieval history.

The innovative approach seems to be working.

Each of the four Roger Bacon schools is consistently the top-scoring school in its area.

School Spotlight: Roger Bacon Academy

11

american

& modern studies

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

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

American/Modern Studies Grades 5-8

Grades 5-8

Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

*Guide $9.95 Key $5.00 Flashcards $12.95 Story of the World Vol. 4 $17.95

The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & the Great Republic

200 Questions About American History

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

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

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

A Concise History of the American Republic

Grades 9+

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

Text $148.95 (use for Year I and Year II)

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

Third Grade $120.00 classroom set Fourth Grade $80.00 classroom set Fifth Grade $55.00 classroom set Sixth Grade $50.00 classroom set

American Studies Supplemental Sets We realize that the grammar school years are a great time to introduce American history too. So we offer four sets of American biographies and novels as an American history supplement for 3rd-6th grades. What a great way to study American history as a young student—by reading good books and immersing oneself in the lives and culture of those who have made history!

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

A History of Europe in the Modern World Year One: Volume I (to 1815) Year Two: Volume II (since 1815)

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

A historical study of the greatest minds and cultures of preceding generations is an essential pillar of classical education. The three components of this course include the history of ideas, biography, and key cultural developments, particularly in Western European and American societies. The texts include helpful maps, timelines, and illustrations. Volume I covers the Middle Ages and the Renaissance through the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Empire. Volume II covers industrialization and imperialism through the world wars, the Cold War, and the twenty-first century.

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

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

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American/Modern Studies

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

Geography Grades 4+

Grades 3-6

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

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

States & Capitals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grades 5+

Grades 7+

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

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

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

Geography II:

Geography III: Exploring and Mapping the World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

+

faq:

What do we need for initial classroom setup?

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

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

Geography

13

WHAT IS CLASSICAL EDUCATION?

by Martin Cothran

T

he decline in our country and our culture is much more fundamental than most people think. And this decline has a lot to do with changes in education over the last century. If we were to visit a good American or English school about a hundred years ago, we would find it focused exclusively on one thing: reading classic literature in the original languages. This is what we now call the old "classical education." It taught students how to think and what to do. It was an education in wisdom and virtue. Students learned Latin and Greek—and through this they learned a set of vocabulary that undergirds all academic language, and they learned the inherent structure of the grammar common to all languages, including their own.

They also learned the mental skills required to make the fine grammatical distinctions characteristic of these two inflected languages. Having mastered Greek and Martin Cothran is editor of The Classical School, and is a writer, speaker, and school consultant. He is a former Latin, logic, and rhetoric instructor at Highlands Latin School, and founder and former director of the Memoria Press Online Academy. He is also the author of several textbooks on logic and rhetoric.

14

What Is Classical Education?

Latin, they then read, analyzed, and discussed the actions of great men. As always, the chief questions asked about the actions of every great man or woman— the questions every child asks when first reading about a character—were "Was he good or bad? Why did he act as he did? Who was affected by his actions? What were the circumstances? What should he have done differently? What would you have done differently?"

This was an education in wisdom and virtue.

In one of the books studied in these schools, Homer's Iliad, Achilles' teacher, Phoenix, reminds him of what the hero's father had commanded. He had charged Phoenix to teach Achilles "to be a speaker of words and a doer of deeds."

Speaking and thinking, of course, are just the opposite sides of the same coin. So we could say that the education Homer articulates here consisted of two basic things: how to think and what to do.

This ideal—the man who would think truly and act rightly—was the goal of Greek education. This was the education of the Romans and the Greeks and everyone who lived in the Hellenic world. It was the education of the Middle Ages and of the American Founding Charter.MemoriaPress.com

change culture, and its practical goal is to change students to fit the culture.

The goal of classical education was very different. Changing culture or making people better employees were considered secondary goals in relation to the primary goals of helping students to become wise and virtuous, and of passing on culture—and one culture in particular: the culture of the West.

HOW CLASSICAL EDUCATION WORKS

Fathers. It was the prevailing education well into the early twentieth century before it was gradually thrown out over the succeeding decades.

TODAY’S EDUCATION Today, a new philosophy controls ou r s c ho ol s. It s p u r p o s e i s muc h different from the purpose of classical education. Today's schools are about two things: progressivism and pragmatism.

Progressivism is a political program that can be seen in an emphasis on political cor rec t ness a nd mu lt ic u lt u ra l i sm.

Pragmatism is a vocational program that can be seen in an emphasis on job training and employment skills.

Today's education is almost a direct inversion of the old classical emphasis on how to think and what to do; the political and vocational emphases of today's education teach students not how to think (wisdom) and what to do (virtue), but what to think (political indoctrination) and how to do (utilitarian vocationalism). Its political goal is to use schools to

The emphasis in classical education is on the liberal arts and the great books.

Students focus their attention first on what the Victorian scholar Matthew Arnold called "the best which has been thought and said." In Western civilization, our focus should be on Athens and Rome.

Why study these particular cultures? We should study the Greeks because they were the archetype of philosophical and literary man. They were the original philosophers and poets. Every great idea (and every bad one) came from some Greek somewhere. All you've got to do is trace it back.

We study the Romans because they were the archetype of practical, political man. They were the road builders and the republicans of ancient times. These are the people who ran the world for a thousand years.

They ran the most enduring government history has ever known. In fact, the Founding Fathers used the old Roman republic as their model in constructing the American republic.

In studying these cultures, classical education does not ignore American history and culture. In fact, in order to fully understand American civilization, a knowledge of these cultures is crucial since, as

We study the Greeks because they were the archetype of philosophical and literary man.

We study the Romans because they were the archetype of practical, political man.

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political philosopher Russell Kirk has pointed out, they were essential in the forming of our thought, our political institutions, and our moral principles.

We study these cultures and the great works they produced because they constitute our heritage as Western people. A study of these cultures tells us where we have been in the past so that we will know better where to go in the future.

What Is Classical Education?

15

Lynne Cheney, former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities under Ronald Reagan, once said that if you graduate from school not knowing what Western civilization is, then you are not really an educated person. She was right.

In addition to studying the great books and the stories of great men, classical education also studies the liberal arts. How many times have you heard someone talk about the importance of teaching students "critical thinking skills"? The problem with all of the rhetoric about critical thinking skills is that the people who talk about them most are the ones least able to define them. In fact, the chief reason modern educators talk so much about critical thinking skills is because they have abandoned the only system of critical thinking skills worthy of the name: the liberal arts.

The liberal arts (the term "arts" means skills) include grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry,

Rhetoric is the study of the rules of persuasion, as it was organized and taught by writers such as Aristotle, the great theoretician of rhetoric, Quintilian, the great teacher of rhetoric, and Cicero, the great practitioner of rhetoric. It involves studying the three kinds of persuasive appeals (ethos, logos, and pathos), the different branches of oratory (deliberative, forensic, and ceremonial), and the five canons of rhetoric (invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery).

The Quadrivium (the last four of the seven liberal arts) consists of arithmetic (the study of discrete number), geometry (the study of continuous number), music (the application of discrete number), and astronomy (the application of continuous number).

The Trivium consists of the arts of language, and the Quadrivium the arts of mathematics.

The first is qualitative, and the second quantitative. Together they equip a student to approach any other subject.

The classical education movement emphasizes the language skills of the Trivium because math and the sciences have taken precedence over language in the modern curriculum. Classical educators believe that this is a mistake, and that language is even more important than math and the sciences in the leading of a productive and happy life.

The most important employment skills—and the skills that many employers say are the hardest to find today—are basic thinking skills. These are not just math and science skills (STEM skills as they are now called), but the even more practical language and communications skills. The liberal arts teach both kinds of skills.

Classical education, then, is the study of the classics (and the classical languages that produced them) and the liberal arts: the best that has been thought and said, and the intellectual skills that equip a student to think. It is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue through the study of the great books and the development of basic thinking skills in order to pass on and preserve Western civilization.

Classical education is making a comeback. More and more educators have realized that children are being shortchanged in our public and private schools. And more of them are realizing that it was not always this way, and that our children deserve something more.

Classical education is the study of the classics and the liberal arts: the best that has been thought and said, and the intellectual skills that equip a student to think critically. astronomy, and music. These are the generalizable intellectual skills that you use no matter what subject you are studying or what you do. The liberal arts teach the two kinds of mental skills: the linguistic skills (the first three liberal arts, the Trivium) and the mathematical skills (the Quadrivium).

The Trivium consists, first, of grammar, which is the study of the structure of language, and this was studied by learning a foreign language, preferably an inflected foreign language—in other words, one which, in addition to having an organized verb system (like most modern languages), has an organized noun and adjective system. Latin was always the preferred language for this purpose because not only was it an inflected foreign language, but its grammar was the most organized, systematic, and regular of any language. It also is the basis for sixty percent of academic English vocabulary.

Logic is the study of the structure and rules of rational thought, and this is taught by studying the Aristotelian system of traditional logic. Through logic a student learns the proper use of words and statements in constructing an argument. He learns the rules of validity, the different kinds of arguments, and what each is for. He also learns how to identify bad reasoning, called "logical fallacies."

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What Is Classical Education?

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

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

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

copybooks Grades K-6

Grades K-2

Grades 1-2

*$8.50 ea.

*$14.95 ea.

*$14.95

Manuscript Copybooks I & II Composition & Sketchbooks

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

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

Copybook Cursive I

by Michelle Tefertiller

by Michelle Tefertiller

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

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

Cursive Grades 1-4

Grades 2-4

New American Cursive 1

New American Cursive 2

*$22.95

*$22.95

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

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

In NAC 2, Mr. Meerkat continues the process of teaching correct letter forms and how to easily connect each letter.

Proper size, spacing, and slant are emphasized in this enjoyable workbook. A seven-page teaching guide is included, along with 125 instructional exercises, lessons to develop creative writing skills, and reproducible practice pages.

by Iris Hatfield

by Iris Hatfield

Grades 3-5

New American Cursive 3

by Iris Hatfield *$22.95

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

*denotes consumable book

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Penmanship

17

phonics , reading ,

& spelling

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

Reading & Phonics

•

First Start Reading:

Grade 1

Phonics, Reading, and Printing

by Cheryl Lowe Grade K

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

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

Teacher Guide for Books A-D $14.95

First Start Reading, Book E

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

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

• consonants • short & long vowels

• 57 common words • manuscript printing

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

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

Classical Phonics

Grades K-2

A Child's Guide to Word Mastery $16.95

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

Phonics From A to Z

Phonics Flashcards

Grades K-2

(5.5" x 4.25")

$24.95

There are nearly 200 phonograms used to spell the 44 sounds used in the English language. In our Phonics Flashcards we have organized these phonograms into nine categories to give some rational order to the irregularities of English spelling. The cards can be combined to help students see the multiple ways a sound can be spelled, and the multiple sounds for a particular phonogram.

$25.99

Teaching Phonics & Word Study

A manual for teachers who want to go deeper into the subject of phonics and reading. It includes information on how children best learn to read as well as reliable, accurate, and common-sense advice, and extensive lists of resources.

$33.99

This book is an excellent resource for grammar school teachers who want additional help with phonics concepts to become better spelling teachers.

Spelling Traditional Spelling I & II by Cheryl Lowe Grades 1-2

*Student $14.95 ea. | Teacher $16.95 ea. | *Practice Sheets $5.00 ea.

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

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Phonics, Reading, & Spelling

Spelling Workout D-H Grades 3-7

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

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

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

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

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

Alphabet Books (Part I & Part II)

by Leigh Lowe

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

Alphabet Flashcards

Numbers & Colors

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

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

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

Wall Charts

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

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

$10.00 (4Ÿ'' x 5½")

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

Two letters of the alphabet per card.

Available in manuscript or cursive.

Primary Enrichment Enrichment Guides

The Book of Crafts $16.95 ea.

(Jr. Kindergarten or Kindergarten)

These activities reinforce number and letter recognition, strengthen finemotor skills, and foster creativity and confidence.

There is a craft for each read-aloud book and additional crafts that focus on art concepts.

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

Recommended for Kindergarten

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

$30.00 (*2-book set)

Numbers Books

(Part I & Part II)

by Leigh Lowe

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

Classroom sets available for Read-Aloud Sets!

View book lists at Charter.MemoriaPress.com

502-855-4824

$19.95 ea.

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

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

Alphabet Wall Poster

$7.00

(22" x 34")

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

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

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

Primary

19

L ogic

The Critical Thinking Skills Hoax

by Martin Cothran

E

very educator has heard about "critical thinking skills," but how many of us even know what it means? The next time you hear someone use the expression "critical thinking skills," ask him or her for a definition of the term and see what happens. More likely than not, you will get a blank stare, the same kind of blank stare you would get if you were to politely interrupt a cheerleader in the middle of her routine and ask, "When you say 'rahrah, sis-boom-bah,' exactly what do you mean?"

The words have no substance; they are meant merely to elicit positive emotions. The expression "critical thinking skills" is the educational equivalent of shaking pom-poms.

A couple of years ago, I participated in a televised debate about national science standards being implemented in my home state of Kentucky. I pointed out that the standards did nothing to encourage the acquisition of a knowledge of nature. There is a pronounced tendency in progressive education to downplay basic factual knowledge—particularly if such knowledge is gained through that process which is anathema to progressive educators: memorization. In the science standards, students are never asked to name, identify, classify, or describe any natural object. In fact, the words "mammal," "fish," "reptile," and "amphibian" are never mentioned in the standards—nor are such basic scientific terms as "hormone," "kinesis," "lymphatic," "neuron," "nucleotide," "osmosis," "Celsius," "Fahrenheit," "plasma," "vaccine," "protozoa," or "enzyme."

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

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The Critical Thinking Skills Hoax

When I pointed this out during the debate, my two opponents, one a college biology professor and the other the chairman of the State House Education Committee, argued that the reason for excluding these things was that they were trying to teach students "critical thinking skills." It is a little frightening when educational policymakers think that, in order to teach thinking skills, they need first to downplay knowledge. I said that I doubted whether they even knew what "critical thinking skills" were. And as it turned out, they couldn't give a definition. When the moderator of the debate asked me what my definition of critical thinking skills was, I answered, "Logic."

It is an interesting fact that the people who say they want to improve our schools spend so much time talking about "critical thinking skills" and so little about logic. One of the reasons is undoubtedly that the word "logic" is much more concrete. It implies learning and being able to use a specific system of rational rules that can be taught—what the ancients called an "art." Logic has an actual history of having been taught, and taught in a certain way. It is not nearly so amorphous as the term "critical thinking skills."

But for propoganda purposes, it is less useful to use exact words. Vague words with indeterminate meanings are much to be preferred. "Thinking skills, thinking skills, rah-rah-rah!" In fact, "thinking skills" is only one of the terms in a constellation of vague promotional phrases used by education reformers.

Others include "problem-solving skills," "inferencing skills," "main idea finding," and "higher-order skills."

And these share with "critical thinking skills" the same problems: Not only are they ill-defined, Charter.MemoriaPress.com

The l iberal ar t s — those universal, general i zable intellectual skills—constituted the classical critical thinking skills program.

but in a sense they really don't exist, at least not as separate areas of study.

What I should have said to the host on the TV show instead of "logic" is "the liberal arts." Logic is included as a languge skill in the liberal arts, along with grammar and rhetoric. They also include, in the traditional accounting, the mathematical arts of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.

We might quibble today with the inclusion of astronomy and music and include, instead, algebra and calculus. But the fact remains that the liberal arts were the set of universal, generalizable intellectual skills—skills that a student would be able to use no matter what he chose to do with his life or what profession he went into. They constituted the classical critical thinking skills program.

With the abandonment of the liberal arts, modern education has put itself in a position of having to recreate a critical thinking skills program, with little success.

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Each of the arts was taught as a subject, each with its own unique content. Under the liberal arts regime, there was no dichotomy seen between content and skills. These two things were never seen as being at odds. Many modern educators have convinced themselves that there is some kind of inconsistency between content knowledge and skills development.

This is the reason for so much animosity against the "mere" teaching of facts—the tendency to assume a false dichotomy between skills and knowledge and to favor skills over knowledge.

Knowledge is unnecessary, goes the thinking of progressive educators, because the only thing necessary is skills. We want children to "learn how to learn," and we think we can do this by focusing exclusively on skills outside of content domains.

Not only does this approach threaten to undermine the attempt to teach students knowledge they need to know, but this approach—of trying to teach skills apart from the acquisition of content knowledge—doesn't work.

This is underscored by what the Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance has to say about the idea that skills can be taught and learned in a content vacuum: Research clearly rejects the classical views* on human cognition in which general abilities such as learning, reasoning, problem solving, and concept formation correspond to capacities and abilities that can be studied independently of the content domains.

In E. D. Hirsch's book, Why Knowledge Matters: Rescuing Our Children from Failed Educational Theories, he makes the case that psychological and educational research is fairly unanimous on this point: Skills are "domain-specific." In other words, in order to gain skills, you have to study them in the context of some specific subject.

And "problem solving"? "There exists," Hirsch says, "no consistent all-purpose problem-solving skill, independent of domain-specific knowledge."

Hirsch cites study after study showing that, on tests of "reading skills," students with less developed skills but who know the subject of a text outperform those who have more developed reading skills but who don't know the subject. The same goes for "inferencing skills" and "main idea-finding."

Not only does knowledge matter, but knowing more enables you to know more, and understand what you know better. Knowledge acquisition, in other words, accomplishes what thinking skills training is supposed to accomplish, only it does it better. *The term "classical views" here means "standard views" of the subject that were prevalent in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The Critical Thinking Skills Hoax

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

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

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

Traditional Logic I

Traditional Logic II Advanced Formal Logic by Martin Cothran

Introduction to Formal Logic by Martin Cothran Grades 7+

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Grades 8+

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

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

Advanced Concepts & Argument Forms

Basic Logical Terms, Concepts, & Procedures

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

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

*denotes consumable book

Logic Supplements How to Read a Book:

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

Figures of Speech:

Aristotle's Rhetoric

60 Ways to Turn a Phrase

by Arthur Quinn

edited by Edward Corbett

$31.95

(optional supplement)

(optional supplement)

$5.00

$16.99 (optional supplement)

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Logic

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

writing

& english gr ammar

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

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

Classical Composition Classical Composition

by James A. Selby

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

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

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

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

Suggested Sequence: Grade

Stage

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 11

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

English Grammar

English Grammar Recitation I-II Grades 3-8 English Grammar Recitation $9.95 | *Student $11.95 ea. | Teacher $12.95 ea.

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. Our English Grammar Recitation is a manual of about 150 grammar questions, answers, and examples designed to be studied and memorized. Students memorize the terminology and definitons of analytical grammar, much like they memorize forms in Latin. It is perfect for the serious Latin student who needs an English grammar program that coordinates with his study of Latin.

Brief exercises, including some diagramming, accompany the grammar questions. However, mastery of the English grammar recitation is the primary goal of this course, not its application. It is hoped that this course can be completed in much less time than the typical English grammar course, leaving more time for composition and Latin.

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

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Writing & English Grammar

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

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

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

Classical Literature

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

The Iliad & The Odyssey Samuel Butler translation

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

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

Grades 8+

The Aeneid Text $15.00 *Student $16.95 Teacher $16.95

Horatius at the Bridge

Grades 7+

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

Grades 6+

Grades 6-8

*Book $14.95 Medal $5.00 Lapel Pin $2.00

$9.95

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

The Aeneid for Boys & Girls

by Alfred J. Church

Alfred Church's retelling of Virgil's Aeneid is a great introduction to the story of Aeneas, who escaped from the burning city of Troy and founded Rome, the New Troy. Students will gain a good grasp of the characters and story of The Aeneid and be ready to tackle the more difficult writing of Virgil.

Questions about placement? Starting late? Speak with a Schools Representative: (502) 855-4824 24

Classical Studies

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

Classical History for Grammar School Grades 3-8

Grades 4-8

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

Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

D'Aulaires' Greek Myths

Famous Men of Rome

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

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

Grades 5-8

Grades 5-8

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

Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

Famous Men of Greece

Famous Men of the Middle Ages

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

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

Classical History for Upper School The Book of the Ancient Greeks

The Book of the Ancient World

Grades 6+ Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

Grades 6+ Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

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

Grades 6+ Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

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

The Book of the Ancient Romans

The Book of the Middle Ages

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

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

Grades 6+ Text $16.95 *Student $17.95 Teacher $17.95

Classical Studies

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L iter ature

Stages to the Central One Idea Using the Trivium to Uncover the Heart of a Work

by David M. Wright

D

iscovering and internalizing the Central One Idea in a great work is vital for proper reading and for cultivating wisdom and virtue. There are four stages of acquisition and expression that can be used to lead the student (and teacher) to this Central One Idea.

The four-stage sequence is rooted in the Trivium— grammar, logic, and rhetoric. In the Trivium, grammar is language, logic (dialectic) is thought, and rhetoric is expression. Put another way, in the grammar stage, one accumulates the fundamental elements, features, and facts of a body of knowledge.

In the logic stage, one arranges, connects, organizes, compares, and reasons with the facts learned and draws a conclusion. In the rhetoric stage, one expresses that conclusion or truth to others.

Sister Miriam Joseph defined the Trivium as the three arts of language pertaining to the mind: grammar is the art of inventing and combining symbols (letters and words); logic is the art of thinking; and rhetoric is the art of communication. She also states it in this way: grammar is concerned with the thing-as-it-is-symbolized; logic is concerned with the thing-as-it-is-known; and rhetoric is concerned with the thing-as-it-is-communicated.

The Trivium, she says, is the instrument of all education at all levels because the arts of grammar, logic, and rhetoric govern the means of communication— namely reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

The Trivium is a movement from distinct parts into a synthesized whole. The three stages guide the student to relate the facts learned into a unified, organic whole.

Marguerite McGlinn, introducing Joseph's work, says, "The Trivium teaches us that language evolves from the very nature of being human. ‌ We invent symbols to express the range of practical, theoretical, and poetical experiences that make up our existence."

We can see, then, that the Trivium has much to do with being human, with navigating our lives. It reveals the ontological reality within us through our use of reason and language. The Trivium embodies how we think, how we learn, and how we communicate.

In our particular context of studying a great work, the teacher has firmly in mind the abstract singular truth that he or she wishes the student to learn, which is the Central One Idea of the work. Though popular culture may be fond of saying, "It's not the destination that counts, but the journey," nothing should be further from classical teaching and learning. For both the journey and the destination count, but especially the destination, which is the understanding and expression of the central idea of the work.

David M. Wright is the director and author of the upper school literature curriculum at Memoria Press. This essay is taken from the introduction to our upper school literature guides.

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Heading Goes Here

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

Stage 1: Pre-Grammar | Preparation

because they are deeper, more abstract questions To begin, the Pre-Grammar stage prepares with the intent of leading the student toward the the student for receiving and understanding the Central One Idea. Socratic questions are intended Central One Idea by invoking his prior knowledge, for verbal discussion, and they also provide a good experience, or interests concerning that idea. Just opportunity for the student to develop his noteas Socrates believed that the truth he wanted his taking skills. interlocutor to understand was already within him, At the end of this stage, the student should be in some way or part, the Central One Idea is already ready to make a determination of what he thinks within the student. Thus, it is helpful to cultivate is the Central One Idea. This is not always easy, the soil in preparation for planting the seed. In this but the student should be encouraged to take this preparatory stage, step, a kind of "leap t he st udent is merely of faith"—though asked a few quest ion s not a huge leap over a The Central One Idea is a kind of "leap of about something related dark chasm, but a short faith"—though not a huge leap over a dark to the Central One Idea, or step relying on logic and chasm, but a short step relying on logic simply about the basic plot or evidence from close reading, subject of the work—to set him study guide work, notes in a and evidence from close reading, thinking in a certain direction. literature notebook, and attentive study guide work, notes in a This is the shortest stage and can perception and reflection. take as little as five minutes (though literature notebook, and Stage 4: Rhetoric | Expression fine if longer). attentive perception In the final stage, the student Stage 2: Grammar | Presentation and reflection. expresses what he believes to be the In the Grammar stage, the student is Central One Idea. The student's ability presented with and discovers essential facts, to organize and express his thoughts is an elements, and features of the story (or play, important skill in this stage. poem, etc.). Here the student encounters many In this section, the first question asks the useful facts and learns new vocabulary words. student to briefly summarize the plot, and In addition, the student becomes grounded in the the second to express the Central One Idea in a basic features of the story through comprehension complete sentence. The reason for this is so the questions and learns new literary and rhetorical terms. student will be forced to distinguish between a plot In this stage, the student is presented with the basic summary and the Central One Idea. The two are grammatical units—facts, elements, features, ideas— quite different. The former, of course, concerns the that comprise the work, and becomes familiarized sequence of events in the story. The latter concerns with new subject matter. New types or particulars are a larger abstract truth—the central proposition at the presented and discovered here. heart of the story.

The third question asks the student to list three Stage 3: Logic | Dialectic supporting points for his determination of the In the Logic stage, the student reasons with Central One Idea. The fourth and fifth ask for the the facts, elements, and features of the story or opening lead and the closing amplification. Finally, poem—sorts, arranges, compares, and connects the student also writes down the teacher's version of ideas—and begins to uncover and determine the the Central One Idea—which is helpful for several Central One Idea. He compares the new ideas and reasons, one of which is that it enables the student to facts with similar things already in the mind, which draw a comparison with his own. gives rise to new conclusions. Importantly, the final In the last section of the Rhetoric stage, the conclusion, the Central One Idea, is often an abstract student is presented with the opportunity to write an or general truth, though it may be expressed by essay—to express the Central One Idea as the thesis means of a story's particulars, such as a character's to be argued for and defended in the essay. This action and discovery, etc. The best method for improves the student's writing skills and increases leading the student toward this new abstract truth his rhetorical abilities. is through the Socratic method. Socratic discussion These four stages enable the student to fully questions in this stage are different than the grasp the essence of what he is reading: the Central comprehension questions used in the previous stage One Idea.

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Four Stages to the Central One Idea

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

Primary School Literature Grade 1 StoryTime Treasures

Grade 1 More StoryTime Treasures

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

*More StoryTime Treasures Student Guide $14.95 More StoryTime Treasures Teacher Guide $16.95 Billy and Blaze $7.99 Blaze and the Forest Fire $7.99 The Story About Ping $3.99 Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie $6.95 Stone Soup $7.99 The Little House $7.99 Miss Rumphius $7.99

*denotes consumable book

Grammar School Literature

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

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

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

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

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

Grades 4-6 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $8.99

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

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

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

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

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

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

Literature

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

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

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

Grades 2-3 Prairie School *Student $11.95 Teacher $7.00 Novel $3.99

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

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

Grades 2-3 Tales from Beatrix Potter *Student $11.95 Teacher $7.00 Novels $6.99 ea.

Grades 3-4 The Moffats *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $6.95

Grades 3-5 The Cricket in Times Square *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $6.99

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

Grades 3-5 The Blue Fairy Book *Student $11.95 Teacher $12.95 Novel $10.00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Literature

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Upper School Literature

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Use coupon code LITGUIDE at checkout!

Poetry

faq:

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

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

One per student is required.

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

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

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Literature & Poetry

Grades 3-7

Grades 9+

*Student $14.95 Teacher $16.95

Student $14.95 Teacher $16.95 Anthology $19.95

Poetry for the Grammar Stage This poetry book is intended for use in the grammar school years as a companion study to literature, science, and American studies.

Poetry study includes questions to help students analyze meanings of the poems, including vocabulary work. Poems increase in difficulty each year.

Poetry & Prose II: The Elizabethan to the Neoclassical Age This anthology and study guide covers the English Renaissance, the Cavalier Poets of the early seventeenth century, the great Puritan writers, the Restoration period, and the Neoclassical Age. Students are guided towards discovering the Central One Idea of each work.

Greek Tragedies

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

Teacher $17.95 ea.

Aeschylus was the first of the three great Grades 9+ tragic playwrights. The Oresteian Trilogy is the exciting story of the end of the curse of the House of Atreus. Sophocles, "famous for wisdom," won the playwright competition at the Festival of Dionysus many times. Here, in The Three Theban Plays, is his story of Oedipus. It is the great myth, influencing all subsequent literature. Euripides further developed the tragedy in Medea & Other Plays, instituting the deus ex machina, a prologue with a background, and greater realism. These plays together provide a comprehensive yearlong literature or classical studies course for high school.

Charter.MemoriaPress.com

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

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

Science & Nature Grades 3+

Grades 4+

Grades 3+

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

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

*Student $14.95 Teacher $16.95

Mammals

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

The Book of Trees

The Book of Insects

The Book of Astronomy

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

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

Grades 6+

Grades 5+

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

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

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

What's That Bird?

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

Students will learn 31 common birds and several incredible birds!

Math

College of the Redwoods Prealgebra

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

502-855-4824

Prentice Hall Classics Algebra I

Textbook $73.00 *Quizzes & Tests $14.95 Quizzes & Tests Key $16.95 Online Instructional Lessons $55.00

Prentice Hall Classics Algebra II

Textbook $73.00 *Quizzes & Tests $14.95 Quizzes & Tests Key $16.95 Online Instructional Lessons $55.00

McDougal Littell Geometry

Textbook $134.00 Teacher Edition $225.93 Solution Key $87.07

Science & Math

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TEACHER TRAINING & SCHOOL CONSULTATION

Martin Cothran

Paul Schaeer

Ryan Weston

Michelle Tefertiller

Kathy Becker

Memoria Press' training team has worked with schools all over the country to assist teachers and staff in understanding the vision of classical education and to better implement a coherent and rigorous classical curriculum. Our staff is also available to address your parents and your community to answer questions about classical education. Contact us at schools@memoriapress.com or (502) 855-4824.

Jim Duncan

Tanya Charlton

ISBN 9781547701544

90000 >

9 781547 701544