Homeschool Happenings: Memoria Press ~ A Review

Classical Composition I: Fable Set from Memoria Press. This curriculum is for grades 4th-12th. In Fable Stage: Discovering the Skills of Writing, students begin learning how to use words to engage the imagination of the audience.

What exactly is the Fable Stage?
"The Fable Stage is the first of fourteen stages in the Progymnasmata (i.e., the "before exercises"). In this stage students read and imitate fables, which are short tales that usually have talking animals or other mythical elements. Fables are a good place to start your writing career. They are short, entertaining, and teach us wise lessons about life. Most importantly, fables are easy to imitate."

The Fable Stage of Classical Composition includes twenty lessons, each lesson following a similar routine. Many of the fables found in this curriculum are fables that your student most likely will be familiar with from earlier grades such as; The Ant and the Chrysalis, The Hare and the Tortoise, and The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.

Each lesson has 8 steps which include:

The Fable
Variations: Part 1
Outline
Narration
Paraphrase 1
Paraphrase 2
Variations: Part 2
Final Draft

Each step is explained in detail in the Teacher's Manual.

In The Fable students read aloud the fable, decipher difficult words, identify recognition, reversal, and suffering, and narrate the fable. In Variations: Part 1 students paraphrase words and sentences. In Outline students will summarize the fable, in outline form, in their own words. In Narration students retell the fable using the outline that they made. In Paraphrase 1 students will use figures of description while rewriting the fable trying to stick to the original fable as closely as possible. Students will then work at paraphrasing their outline using sentences for each point in the outline. Next, in Paraphrase 2 students will work at reducing details from their first paraphrase. This can be tricky. They need to ensure that they do not cut too much but enough that the reader can still follow and understand the story. This is where students learn to work on adding details without the fluff. Next, Variations: Part 2 cleaning up. Final Draft students will complete their final draft to turn in.

I absolutely love the encouraging words as they start out on their journey before they begin this curriculum. It says,

"As you begin your journey in writing, do not become discouraged by how big the task appears. The journey has been divided into stages to help you. As you go, make the most of each stage. Enjoy them -- they can be very fun! Do not rush. Rather, follow the example of the tortoise: ' Slow but steady wins the race.' "

Isn't that amazing advice?

Each lesson took my daughter about two weeks to complete. We could have pushed through in a week but with all of her other school work she just felt overwhelmed and I wanted to really get quality work and have her get the most out of the curriculum. Working at this pace has worked well for us. It has given her time to really focus on detail and thinking through the processes of each step.

I really liked that my daughter was able to plop the DVD in the computer and listen to the lesson and I didn't have to worry about teaching the lesson. My daughter didn't particularly enjoy the DVD lessons as she said that they were boring. I have to agree with her. The teacher is dressed in a suit and tie and is so formal looking and so serious. I would be so much better if the lessons were presented in a more relaxed fashion and not in such a formal, intimidating manner. I would like to see something to draw students interest a bit more and help keep their attention. The DVD's do utilize typed graphics, but again it is very underwhelming. I wish that the DVD's were not so formal.

I absolutely loved this curriculum and so did my daughter. It not only was a great way to strengthen her writing skills but it helped her work on creating outlines, revising, and focusing on detail. I would highly recommend this curriculum to others. For my daughter who is going into the 7th grade this was the perfect fit grade level wise.

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