If you need a Composition course for your homeschool students, then you might want to check out the Classical Composition I: Fables Set and Classical Compostion II: Narrative Set from Memoria Press.
Memoria Press is a curriculum publishing company that focuses on the Classical Education method with a Christian worldview.
Classical Composition
Memoria Press has published 9 courses in Classical Composition. You can begin these courses as early as 4th grade and use them all the way through 12th grade if desired, or start when it best fits into your student’s homeschooling journey.
- Fable
- Narrative
- Chreia/Maxim
- Refutation/Confirmation
- Common Topic
- Encomium/Invective/Comparison
- Characterization
- Description
- Thesis & Law
These Classical Composition courses are unique and highly successful. They were developed by Jim Selby, a teacher from Kansas. He found that all of his students were able to master the skills of composition with this curriculum. When his students take these Classical Composition courses, they have “a 100% qualification rate on the optional essay portion of the college entrance exams (ACT and SAT) versus the national average of 23%” and many have “gained college credits with successful completion of the English AP exams.” That is quite a record of achievement!
Classical Composition I: Fable Set
Student Book
Spiral Bound-Paper Back
101 pages
20 Lessons
Teacher Guide
Spiral Bound-Paper Back
Lesson Plans
Answer Key
101 Pages
Instructional DVDs
4 DVD’s covering 20 Lessons
Retails for $85
Classical Composition I: Fables is the first course in the Classical Composition series. Composition is learning how to write well. The premise is that as students learn about writing and begin to understand and imitate good writers, they will master the techniques of composition and become good writers themselves.
Classical Composition 1: Fables uses short fables to teach students to become good writers. A fable is a short story that uses animals for characters, has humor, and has a deeper message, a common truth that is wise to learn. This common truth is called a “common place” because it can apply to everyone.
In each lesson, students will read a fable, become familiar with the contents of the fable as they study the various words and learn the meanings and synomyms of those words, make an outline of the main parts of the fable, narrate the fable from memory, the rewrite the fable with variations or paraphrases using synonyms for the key words while still maintaining the overall meaning of the deeper message.
Course Contents:
Teaching Guidelines
Introduction to the Fable Stage
Definition of Terms
Lessons:
Lesson 1 – The Ant and the Chrysalis
Lesson 2 – The Ant and the Grasshopper
Lesson 3 – The Fox and the Grapes
Lesson 4 – The Hare and the Tortoise
Lesson 5 – The Fisherman Piping
Lesson 6 – The Flies and the Honey-Pot
Lesson 7 – The Bear and the Two Travelers
Lesson 8 – The Dove and the Ant
Lesson 9 – The Thirsty Pigeon
Lesson 10 – The Dog and the Shadow
Lesson 11 – The Dog in the Manger
Lesson 12 – The Mountain in Labor
Lesson 13 – The Sick Lion
Lesson 14 – The Ass and the Lapdog
Lesson 15 – The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Lesson 16 – The Ass and the Mule
Lesson 17 – The Frogs Asking for a King
Lesson 18 – The Mischievous Dog
Lesson 19 – The Old Woman & the Physician
Lesson 20 – The Fighting Cocks & the Eagle
Appendix:
Figures of Description With Examples
Introduction to the Progymnasmata by James A. Selby
The complete set includes the Student Book, Teacher Guide and a set of 4 DVDs. These items can be purchased separately or as a set. You will save money buying them together as a set.
The Student Book has the fable, plus room on 4 worksheets to complete each written exercise.
Student Book sample:
The Teacher Guide has the student’s worksheet, additional lesson helps such as vocabulary definitions and lesson structure (not a daily schedule plan), and the answers to the corresponding student worksheet included all on one page. It also has additional teaching tips scattered throughout, a grading rubric, and plenty of room to write extra notes if needed.
Teacher Guide sample:
The DVDs brings the fable to life with an audio visual component rather than just reading from the Student Book. The DVD set contains a set of 4 DVDs and each one contains 5 lessons from the Student Book and covers all 20 lessons of the course. Be sure to click the link below to see and hear a sample of Lesson 1 and how the instructor presents the fable and explains the tasks to be completed.
DVD Video Sample:
Classical Composition I: Fable DVD Sample from Lesson 1 on Vimeo.
Grading:
Course grades are based on:
- Handwriting
- Mechanics (spelling, punctuation, grammar)
- Content (storyline)
- Vocabulary/Diction (word choice)
- Figures of Description
Classical Composition II: Narrative Set
Student Book
Spiral Bound-Paper Back
156 Pages
20 Lessons
Teacher Guide
Spiral Bound-Paper Back
156 Pages
Instructional DVDs
Retails for $85
This is the second course in the Classical Composition courses. Classical Composition II: Narrative Set uses narratives to teach students to become good writers. Each lesson in the Student Book begins by reading aloud a narrative. The narrative may contain a few difficult words, and the Teacher’s Guide contains lists with definitions to go over with the student. Through a process of writing an outline, and writing 2 rough drafts of paraphrasing and a final draft, the students will narrate the narrative in their own words to master the writing skills in this Composition course.
Course Contents:
Teaching Guidelines
Definition of Terms
Introduction to the Narrative Stage
Lessons:
Lesson 1 – The Rose
Lesson 2 – Chico and the Crane
Lesson 3 – Elijah and the Widow
Lesson 4 – Giufà—Eat, My Clothes!
Lesson 5 – The Song of the Vineyard
Lesson 6 – Giufà and the Judge
Lesson 7 – Elijah and the Prophets of Baal
Lesson 8 – Elijah and the Burning Sacrifice
Lesson 9 – Nathan and David
Lesson 10 -The Frog Prince
Lesson 11- Elisha and the Widow’s Jars
Lesson 12 – Conrad Von Tannenberg
Lesson 13 – Latona and the Rustics
Lesson 14 – A Vine Out of Egypt
Lesson 15 – The Sower
Lesson 16 – The Good Samaritan
Lesson 17 – Baucis and Philemon
Lesson 18 – The Foolish Rich Man
Lesson 19 – The King and Two Servants
Lesson 20 – The Pen and the Inkstand
Appendix:
Figures of Description With Examples
Figures of Speech With Examples
The Classical Composition II: Narrative Set includes a Student Book, Teacher Guide, and a set of 4 DVDs. These items can be purchased separately or as a set. However, you will save money when you buy these together as a complete set.
The Student Book has the narrative story, plus room on 6 worksheets to complete each written exercise.
Student Book sample:
Each page of the Teacher Guide has the student’s corresponding lesson page in a subset, lesson vocabulary and definitions, lesson structure (but not a daily lesson plan schedule), and the answer key included all on one page. Some pages within the book also contain teaching tips. The Teacher’s Guide also contains a grading Rubric, examples of figures of description, examples of figures of speech, and room to write extra notes too.
Teacher Guide sample:
The Classical Composition II: Narrative Set has a set of 4 DVD’s. Each DVD contains 5 lessons from the Student Book covering all 20 lessons. The addition of the DVD to this course brings the Narrative story to life with an audio visual component rather than just reading from the Student Book. Be sure to click the link below to hear the Narrative sample from Lesson 3 and see and hear how the instructor explains the narrative composition tasks to be completed.
DVD Video sample:
Classical Composition II: Narrative Sample DVD from Lesson 3 on Vimeo.
Grading:
Course grades are based on:
- Handwriting
- Mechanics (spelling, punctuation, grammar)
- Content (storyline)
- Vocabulary/Diction (word choice)
- Amplification (figures of description, inverting in draft, etc)
Our Experience:
We were glad to receive Classical Composition I: Fables Set and Classical Compostion II: Narrative Set for the purpose of this review. The arrival of this course was perfect timing for my son’s English Composition course work. These courses count for a full credit on his highschool transcript.
We have loved the Classical Education products Memoria Press has sent us to review in our homeschool. Memoria Press has many wonderful curriculum products that can be used by homeschool families who use a variety of homeschool education methods (Classical, Traditional, Eclectic, Charlotte Mason, etc). Classical Composition is one of those great versatile products.
My son is doing an accelerated plan to get both of these Classical Composition courses done in his final year of highschool. That means working daily on Composition instead of spacing it out a few days a week. He has to be laser focused to work on it each day. Hopefully at the accelerated pace, he will accomplish each Composition course in about 18 weeks. These courses are flexible and can also be stretched out for a whole school year if you don’t need the accelerated pace. He needs to finish two courses, and perhaps even a third course, before he graduates. So this accelerated plan is a better option for him. Memoria Press also sent us their Classical Composition Accelerated I Lesson Plan (9 pages) for him to follow so he can complete both of these courses together in 1 year.
Though he is a strong reader, with excellent comprehension, he is not a strong essay writer. He really has had no desire to write stories or essays, until recently. However, this course has motivated him to want to write.
He starts each lesson out by reviewing the short lesson on video and reading it in the student book. Then he completes the activities in the student book through out the week. There are approximately 4 pages of activities to a lesson in Fables and 6 pages of activities to a lesson in Narrative (he has not begun the Narrative lessons yet).
The course instructor on the DVDs is Dr. Brett Vaden. He is very easy to understand and my son and I enjoy the sound of his voice and his explanations. Having these DVDs made a huge difference in my son’s motivation level to do the writing exercises. Though you could do the course with only the student book and teacher guide, I would encourage everyone to get this course as a set with the DVDs because they really do enrich the learning experience.
Though Memoria Press recommends students start learning Composition as early as possible (as early as 4th grade to get through all 9 levels of their courses), the everyday reality is that most students focus on Composition as a structured course during their highschool years. Given the research and success record of Memoria Press curriculum, it is obvious that the sooner you begin these courses, the more opportunity and more time you will have to master all the skill levels.
Memoria Press
In addition to their publishing company, Memoria Press also own a private Christian school called Highlands Latin School in Louisville Kentucky that uses their award winning curriculum. They have scored in the top 1% of schools in the country for 9 years in a row. The quality of the Memoria Press curriculum is top notch. Using this curriculum, their students score an average of 3 grades above their grade level.
Memoria Press curriculum products are available to the public and are well loved by many in the homeschool community.
They have every grade level available in both a complete subject grade package format and also as individual subject products. So you can choose what best fits your homeschool student’s needs, and search for products by subject area or by grade.
Special Offers
You can save $50 when you buy ANY TWO Classic Composition Sets (Student Book, Teacher Guide, DVDs)! Be sure to use the coupon code CCSET at checkout.
Social Media
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Homeschool Review Crew
Memoria Press recently sent a variety of products to The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew:
New American Cursive 1
New American Cursive 2 (Scripture)
New American Cursive 2 (Famous Americans)
New American Cursive 3 (Famous Quotes)
Traditional Logic I Complete Set
Traditional Logic II Complete Set
Classical Composition I: Fable Set
Classical Composition II: Narrative Set
Be sure to check out what others on the Homeschool Review Crew had to say about using products from Memoria Press in their home.
