Homeschool Happenings: Memoria Press ~ A Review

Memoria Press publishes classical, Christian curriculum for both homeschool and private schools. The Ninth Grade Literature Guide Set includes; Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, and Henry V. For review, I received the Literature Guide Set without the novels. These works focus on Old English and Medieval Works.

Four Stages to the Central One Idea

Using the Trivium to Uncover the Hear of a Work

Memoria Press uses this set-up with their guides. Here is a brief breakdown of the Trivium.

Stage 1: Pre-Grammar/Preparation - students are prepared to conceptualize the Central One Idea by using their own experiences and interests. "It is helpful to cultivate the soil in preparation for planting the seed." Students in this first stage are asked questions relating to this Central One Idea. This stage is to get the student thinking. In the Student Guide a couple of questions are asked.
Stage 2: Grammar/Presentation - in this stage the student is presented and will interact with essential facts, elements, and features of the story or poem. Within the Student Guide the student will learn useful facts in the Reading Notes and learn new vocabulary in the section Words to be Defined as well as Comprehension Questions.
Stage 3: Logic/Dialectic - the student reasons with the elements within the poem or story to ultimately determine the Central One Idea. This is when the Socratic method comes in. In the Socratic Discussion Questions the student digs deeper leading closer to the Central One Idea.
Stage 4: Rhetoric/Expression - In this final stage of the Trivium the student explain what they think is the Central One Idea. In the Student Guide the student is asked to summarize the plot, and express the Central One Idea. The student is also asked to list three or four supporting facts to support as to how they came to their Central One Idea. An opportunity to write an essay is also given.

Here is a wonderful video that explains how the Upper School Literature Guides

through Memoria Press function.

For the review period my daughter worked through The Canterbury Tales.

The Student Guide covers The General Prolougue, and Three Tales; The Pardoner's Tale, The Nun's Priest's Tale, and The Franklin's Tale. Memoria Press does use a Reader-Friendly Edition in the original words put into modern spelling, edited and copyrighted by Michael Murphy which is published by Memoria Press. We chose to use the Penguin Classics Edition which did make following the Student Guide a bit more difficult as page numbers did not match up but overall the Tales are the same. Memoria Press does recommend certain editions for each of the four guides in the ninth grade literature set. I would definitely recommend purchasing the recommended versions.

Students are directed as to, How to Mark a Book, which is in the Student Guide. My daughter is quite familiar with annotating because she has had to annotate all of her literature books for co-op since she was in the 7th grade. Within the Student Guide students will interact with The Canterbury Tales Poetry and read through reading notes, define unfamiliar words, answer comprehension questions, use logic and dialectic reasoning to answer Socratic discussion questions, work with quotes, and complete essays.

Even though this set states that it is for the 9th grade, when you click on each individual guide it says that it is for grades 8 and up. My daughter will be going into the 11th grade is coming year. She enjoyed working through the three tales from within the collection of tales from The Canterbury Tales.

From a teacher's perspective, being that this was high school level literature I really wish that Memoria Press would have included background content, explanations, and breakdowns of each poem/story. Often times upper level literature is quite difficult to understand and I really feel that this needs to be included in the Teacher Guide. The Teacher Guide is pretty much a cookie cutter of the Student Guide except the answers are included. Of course the Teacher Guide does include quizzes and tests.

Henry V

Most of us are very familiar with William Shakespeare's works. In this play soon after becoming king Henry sets out to try and lay claim to France and England. The whole play covers the Hundred Years' War. During the Battle of Agincourt Henry disguises himself the eve before battle. At the end of the play Henry and Katherine join alliances in order to ensure the safety of their two countries through marriage. There are Five Acts in Henry V. In each Act the student is directed through the Trivium as follows:

Pre-Grammar - Preparation
Grammar - Presenttation
Logic - Dialectic
Rhetoric - Expression

For one of the essay options students are asked to, "Write an essay about Henry and his various attributes. Take a position about Henry as a king, leader, or person (or all three), and support your thesis with evidence from the text.

Beowulf The Warrior

I do not remember much about Beowulf. I remember that Beowulf is about a young warrior. Beowulf gains fame by fighting a monster, Grendel, and then a dragon. He dies while slaying the dragon. Of course I am leaving out a whole lot, lol.

There are 3 parts to this story written in poem form. Did you know that Beowulf is "the first epic poem in the English language; one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature."

As Beowulf is fighting the dragon in Part 3 - The Fire Dragon, one of the Socratic Discussion Questions that is asked is;

6. "Together they quenched the fire, together beat out His loathsome life."

This line contains anaphora, the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. Through the use of anaphora, what was the poet emphasizing?

Answer - The poet was emphasizing the unity and togetherness of Beowulf and Wiglaf. They were the only two who chose to valiantly fight the dragon And their unity is what allowed them to defeat the dragon.

Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

Sir Gawain And The Green Knight is not a classic that I am familiar with. I actually had to read about this story/peom. Sir Gawain is a knight in King Arthur's court who accepts a challenge from a mysterious Green Knight who dares any knight to strike him with an axe. He will then in turn the following year and a day take a blow from an axe.

The Student Guide is divided into IV Fits. Each fit has 21, 24, 34, and 22 stanzas, respectively, for a total of 101. Each stanza ends with a two-syllable "bob" and a four-line "wheel" that rhyme ABABA.

In the Reading Notes some of the more unfamiliar vocabulary words that students many come across are: Zephyrus, greave, cuisse, casque, baldric, five wits, five pure Joys, evensong, beldame, castellan, and Logres. All of these words are defined in the Reading Notes.

Overall, Memoria Press is a wonderful company and over the years our family has used many of their materials. I would highly recommend this set and any of their materials. Definitely check out what other reviews had to say by clicking the link below.