CLASSICAL WRITING

by Kathy Weitz, Tracy Davis Gustilo, Lene Mahler Jacqua, and Carolyn Vance.

This program has been available since 2002. In it’s latest edition, it offers the classical student the combined skills of learning grammar and punctuation, writing through use of the Progymnasmata, plus copywork and oral narration. It is the best combined program I have found on the market today.

The Classical Writing approach to the Progymnasmata is more subtle and less obvious in the early stages. In the Aesop series the student will focus more on oral narration, copy work, and grammar and punctuation skills. Once the student moves into the Homer series, they will delve more into the exercises of the Progymnasmata.

This curricula is fairly easy to use, but you must work on it daily to have the desired effect. You should see results that include better reading comprehension, better handwriting (with teacher instruction to details), the beginnings of a broader understanding of universal truths and a greater understanding of abstract ideas, and improved writing skills that move toward more detailed explanations and descriptions of places, characters, ideas, etc.

As students move into the upper grades, they will gain a better understanding in logical thought processes and rhetoric. For a more detailed introduction to the Progymnasmata, click here: The Progymnasmata

The Classical Pedagogue is a licensed Distributor for the Classical Writing Series of books.

The following are descriptions

of the curricula as written by

the authors:

AESOP - Grades 3 & 4

Fable is the beginning step of the ancient Greek writing exercises known as the progymnasmata. For this exercise we have chosen Aesop, whose name has become synonymous with fables, as our mascot for the introductory level of Classical Writing. Aesop gives beginning writers a gentle introduction to basic grammar, sentence structure, and analysis and imitation of short narratives. Our aim is retelling those short narratives accurately and with good writing mechanics. The models in Aesop are chosen from Aesop’s fables, fairy tales, well-written historical narratives, Bible stories, and fairy tales.

Aesop is designed to be used during the first two years of writing instruction, typically third to fourth grade. The skills learned in Aesop are a necessary foundation for all that follows in Classical Writing. Even your older students need to master these skills. Usually they can do so in far less time. The Older Beginners series of workbooks guide older students quickly through Aesop and the next level, Homer.

All the grammar needed at this level is taught in the Aesop text. Using a gentle, sequential approach, your students will cover capitalization and punctuation, sentence classification, and direct and indirect quotations. They will be introduced to the parts of speech and learn the elementary rules of correct usage.

Analysis and Imitation

In Aesop, we teach a four day routine for analysis and imitation. Each day we work with the weekly model (a fable or story) practice writing.

Day 1 ~ Reading and Comprehension

Day 2 ~ Spelling and Vocabulary

Day 3 ~ Grammar

Day 4 ~ Copywork and Dictation

One of our main goals in using this method is to help your students begin to develop copia—a variety of ways to express the same thought.

Practice (Writing Projects)

Each week, students will write a retelling of the weekly model. They will learn to retell a story in chronological order, and to amplify it by adding dialogue and descriptive details. From the beginning, they will learn that writing is a process, and that editing is part of that process. Editing routines are taught step-by-step to make this process easy. Our student workbooks include editing checklists for each week’s writing project. These lists also help teachers evaluate their students' progress.

The Aesop series of books:

Aesop is the non-consumable teacher text for the Aesop program. For a student starting in the 3rd grade, this book provides two years of instruction. In order to make Aesop a "pick up and go" curriculum, our non-consumable Instructor’s Guides have models, daily lesson plans, and teaching helps included in the text, all designed to keep you on track. The accompanying consumable Student Workbooks include a copy of the model for the student to mark up, space to do most of the exercises for each week, and editing checklists for each week’s writing project.

Each level of the Student Workbooks and Instructor’s Guides is divided into eighteen weeks, for a total of 36 weeks. This provides plenty of writing instruction for 3rd and 4th graders, with ample time in the school year to apply skills learned in Classical Writing to other subjects. We include additional forms to aid in this.

Although we highly recommend that you use the Instructor's Guides and Student Workbooks, you may plan and schedule your own lessons using just he Aesop text. The optional Traditional Tales may be a help to you in this case. It contains models (fables, fairy tales, short historical accounts, and Bible stories). You can use these to build your own lessons. Do not purchase this book if you use the Student Workbooks.

To purchase Aesop, click here:Purchase CW Aesop

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Homer - Grades 5 & 6

Narrative follows fable in the progymnasmata sequence. Master storyteller Homer is our mascot for this level. Homer is for the advancing writer who has completed Aesop. In Homer, students are presented with longer and more challenging narratives for analysis and imitation. In addition, more rigorous grammar and diagramming is practiced. The models in Homer include Aesop’s fables, Bible stories, historical legends, myths, fairy tales, historical accounts, and even nature studies.

Homer provides two years of instruction, which are typically completed during 5th and 6th grade. The skills learned in Homer build on those from Aesop and are the necessary foundation for all that follows in Classical Writing. Even an older student needs to master these concepts, but usually they do so with far less time and practice. We offer the Older Beginners series to meet this need.

Theory

To complete the work in Homer, the student needs to study a grammar curriculum concurrently. You may use any grammar curriculum you choose. We recommend Harvey’s Elementary Grammar, for which we have produced Workbooks and Answer Keys. Theory learned from the grammar program is practiced in Homer as the student parses, diagrams, and imitates sentences from the model.

Analysis and Imitation

In Homer, as in Aesop, we teach a four day weekly routine for analysis and imitation. As in Aesop, Days 2 and 3 are vital for helping students to develop copia—a variety of ways to express the same thought.

Day 1 ~ Reading and Understanding, developing literary analysis skills for both fiction and non-fiction, learning to outline with increasing detail

Day 2 ~ Words,advancing vocabulary skills - particularly etymology and synonyms

Day 3 ~ Sentences, applying grammar - parsing, diagramming, and imitating sentences from the model

Day 4 ~ Paragraphs, paraphrasing by various means such as synonym substitution, grammatical change, addition, and subtraction; learning to summarize and write a precis of the model

Practice (Writing Projects)

There are ten writing projects in Homer; each complements concepts students are learning in theory, imitation, and analysis. Students also learn to rewrite a narrative in a different chronological order: beginning in the middle with a flashback; or rewriting a narrative backwards.

Writing is a process, and that editing is part of that process. As in Aesop, routines are developed in editing to make this as painless as possible. The Student Workbooks include editing checklists for each week’s writing project. These are very valuable to teachers in evaluating the student’s progress.

The Homer Series of Books:

Homer is the teacher text for the Homer program. In order to make Homer "pick up and go" version, the student workbooks divide the work for Homer into 20 weeks for each year of instruction. For each week, there is a weekly assignment checklist, a copy of the model for the student to mark up, space to complete most of the exercises and assignments for each week, along with comprehensive editing checklists for each week’s writing project. The weekly checklist also lists each week’s assignments in Harvey’s Elementary Grammar. The optional Instructor’s Guides have teacher helps and Answer Keys. They also contain a copy of each model and each week’s assignment checklist. Workbooks and Answer Keys for Harvey's Elementary Grammar are also available.

Although we highly recommend that you use the Student Workbooks, if you choose to create your own lesson plans, the optional Animals and Heroes book may be a help to you. It contains model fictional narratives, Bible stories, and historical legends, as well as a few non-fiction narratives. You can use these to build your own lessons. You do not need this book if you use the Student Workbooks.

We highly recommend that Homer students spend an additional twelve weeks each year studying Poetry for Beginners.

To purchase Homer, click here: Purchase CW Homer

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Poetry for Beginners - 5th & 6th

We at Classical Writing believe, as did the Ancients, that the study and appreciation of poetry is a vital part of a student's education. In fact, much of early fiction and mythology was written in poetic form. In order to be truly educated, students need to be able to read and understand Homer, Dante, Spenser, Milton, and Wordsworth by the time they graduate from high school. Like many of the arts of writing, poetry has been sadly neglected in modern times, and we seek to remedy that with our poetry courses.

In addition to the formal study of poetry, we consider it essential for all students to hear poetry read aloud often. Students should also memorize and recite poetry selections on a regular basis.

The models we use in Poetry for Beginners include nursery rhymes, children’s songs, hymns, and verses from many American and English poets of the last five centuries. Our selection of poets includes Robert Louis Stevenson, William Blake, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Geoffrey Chaucer, Martin Luther, William Wordsworth, Dylan Thomas, as well as many others.

Poetry for Beginners provides up to two years of poetry instruction, typically studied in fifth and sixth grade. The skills learned in Poetry for Beginners are the necessary foundation for Intermediate Poetry and Advanced Poetry. Even older students need to master the concepts presented in this foundational text. We have developed the Older Beginners series to provide a means for older students to complete this book in just 12 weeks.

Theory

The theory of poetry is divided into the study of figures of speech, poetic meter, and stanza forms. In Poetry for Beginners, we cover:

Reading and discussing the content of the poem
Figures of Speech - end rhyme, onomatopoiea, simile, metaphor, and personification
Poetic Meter - how to scan a poem, iambic meter, and trochaic meter
Stanza Forms - stanza form identification, couplets (including heroic couplet), triplets (including terza rima and haiku), and quatrains (including ballads and hymns - short, long, and common meter)

Analysis and Imitation

In Poetry for Beginners, as in Aesop and Homer, we teach a four day routine for analysis and imitation. We continue to help students develop copia—a variety of ways to express the same thought in the analysis and imitation of figures of speech.

Day 1 ~ Reading and Understanding
developing literary analysis skills using a careful questioning process to discern the central message of the poem

Day 2 ~ Figures of Speech
identifying, analyzing, and imitating figures of speech in the poem; vocabulary and spelling using words from the model

Day 3 ~ Poetic Meter
scanning and imitating the poem’s meter

Day 4 ~ Stanza Forms
analyzing and imitating the stanza form of the poem; copywork and dictation

Practice

In Poetry for Beginners, the practice is done by imitating poems. Students write their own poems by imitating poetry in content, rhyme, meter, and stanza form. Also, they will learn to write a short essay about the poem based on the Day 1 Analysis. Finally, students learn to write short summaries of each stanza of the model poem.

The Poetry for Beginners Series of Books:

Poetry for Beginners is the non-consumable teacher text. For students starting in the 5th grade, this will provide one to two years of writing instruction. Our consumable Student Workbooks organize the work and divide Poetry for Beginners into two 12 week segments. For each week, there is a weekly assignment checklist, a copy of the model poem for the student to mark up, space to do most of the exercises and assignments for each week. The optional Instructor’s Guides have teacher helps and answer keys, a copy of each model, and each week’s assignment checklist. We have also included analysis of each model poem’s figures of speech.

Although we highly recommend that you use the Student Workbooks, if you choose to create your own lesson plans, the optional Poems for Beginners book may be a help to you. It contains model poems which you can use to build your own lessons. You do not need this book if you use the Student Workbooks.

For students in 7th grade or above, you might consider Poetry for Older Beginners, which moves at a more rapid pace and offers models which will appeal to the older student.

To purchase Poetry for Beginners, click here:Purchase CW Poetry

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Harvey's Elementary Grammar

Harvey’s Grammar is Classical Writing’s top choice for a grammar program for its depth and pace, as well as the excellent sentences used for practice. While you may choose another grammar text, be aware that other grammar programs tend to move slower and cover less material than Harvey’s Grammar.
Either of Harvey’s texts, Elementary Grammar and Composition or Revised English Grammar may be used with Classical Writing’s Homer, Diogenes Maxim, and Diogenes Chreia.

So far we have written two workbooks to accompany Harvey’s Elementary Grammar and Composition, making it extremely easy to work through the text. Each lesson in the workbook includes all the exercises to be completed, with every line presented in workbook format.

When writing the two workbooks, we used the 1880 edition of Harvey’s Elementary Grammar and Composition. However, the 1986 Mott Media version of Harvey’s Elementary Grammar can be used with the workbooks as well. Do use our Answer Key. It is exhaustive, and often when you puzzle over a grammar answer, working backwards from the answer key is excellent training in grammatical reasoning. The Answer Key also includes diagramming solutions to every sentence. We diagrammed even more sentences than Harvey originally asked for, making the workbooks and the Answer Key an excellent diagramming curriculum also.

Part 1 of the Workbooks and Answer Keys covers the sections in Harvey’s Elementary Grammar needed to be taught along with Homer, and Part 2 covers the sections to be taught along with Diogenes Maxim and Diogenes Chreia.

Purchase Harvey's English Grammar: English Grammar

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Aesop/Homer Older Beginners and Poetry for Older Beginners

For older students entering our program, we have developed an older beginner Workbook and Instructor’s Guide. Aesop & Homer for Older Beginners consists of a Student Workbook and an Instructor's Guide. Students in 7th grade and up can complete the work from Aesop and Homer in 22 weeks.

With this workbook, students starting Classical Writing in 8th grade or above can complete Aesop and Homer in one semester.

Likewise, for older students who want to complete our three volume poetry series, we have developed a Workbook and Instructor’s Guide which will guide 7 ^th graders and older through Poetry for Beginners in twelve weeks.

Purchase Older Beginners: Purchase For Older Beginners

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DIOGENES - Grades 7 & 8

In 7th and 8th grade, respectively, the students study Maxim and Chreia in the progymnasmata sequence. Athen’s famous cynic Diogenes of Sinope is our mascot for Diogenes: Maxim, and Diogenes Laertes, the biographer of philosophers, is our mascot for Diogenes: Chreia.

Essay writing and analysis is the focus of both levels of our Diogenes books. Those books provide instruction for junior high to early high school students as the necessary foundation for our advanced writing courses.

Diogenes: Maxim is for the beginning essay writer, typically 7th grade or higher. The literary models used include selections from Erasmus, Shakespeare, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill.

Diogenes: Chreia is for the advancing essay writer, typically 8th grade. This book is also appropriate for a high school course. Literary selections (models) in Diogenes Chreia include selections from Sophocles, Aeschylus, Seneca, early church fathers, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Alexander Schmemann.

To write well, students must be well and broadly read. Beginning with Diogenes: Maxim, we include (optional) reading schedules with selections from the Great Books of the western tradition.

Theory

To accompany the studies in Diogenes, we recommend a concurrent study of Harvey’s Elementary Grammar. In response to requests from teachers, we have produced Workbooks and Answer Keys which make it very easy to use Harvey's Elementary Grammar. You may use another program if you prefer.

Theory learned from the grammar program is practiced as the students parse, diagram, and imitate sentences from the literary models.

The progymnasmata paragraph types for the essays learned in Diogenes are introduced one at a time: encomium, paraphrase, cause, opposite, analogy, examples, testimony, and epilogue. Students are also introduced to rhetoric theory and formulation of a thesis statement in preparation for the modern academic five paragraph essay.

Diogenes: Chreia teaches expository essay writing. Modern paragraph conventions, how to write proper citations, as well as timed essays are covered to prepare the students for testing and writing at the university level.

Analysis and Imitation

Words, sentences, and paragraphs are read and discussed, the author’s use of rhetoric is analyzed, and the essay is summarized. The students learn to write a précis, a short (one to two sentences) summary of the essay. Through study of classical literature selections students develop style and grace in composition.

Practice (Writing Projects)

The writing projects begin with a familiar maxim as the subject. The students write to demonstrate the wisdom of the maxim, using the paragraph types learned in the theory lessons. The final unit of Diogenes: Maxim focuses primarily on the modern five paragraph essay.

In Diogenes: Chreia, the writing projects teach expository essay writing. Development of both thesis statements and topic sentences for each paragraph is emphasized.

The Diogenes Series of Books

The two levels of Diogenes are written directly to the student, but teacher involvement is crucial. All the material needed is covered in the text. Even if you are a teacher to whom these concepts are new, the material is explained in such a way that you will be able teach it. Learn along with your student through active reading and dialoguing and writing!!

The non-consumable Diogenes: Maxim and Diogenes: Chreia texts each contain about a year’s worth of composition work. The layout of the books is linear. Students start in Unit 1 at Lesson 1 and work straight through the text through Unit 5’s final lesson. The students cover the material in these books simply by working through the lessons in sequence.

We strongly recommend that the majority of our teachers and students should use the consumable Student Guides available for each level of Diogenes.

The material in the Diogenes is challenging, and is best encountered with the strong organizational foundation that the Student Guides provide: weekly schedules with check lists, coordinating lessons, grammar work, writing projects, and reading for each unit. The Student Guides include copies of the models, charts and tables for analysis and imitation, as well as space for most of the diagramming work. Also included are the planning forms and editing checklists for each writing project. The weekly checklist also schedules each week’s assignments in Harvey’s Elementary Grammar and provides room for you to write in assignments from your own grammar text. Finally, the Student Guides have extensive Answer Keys which you will find invaluable as a time and stress saver! Workbooks and Answer Keys for Harvey’s Elementary Grammar are also available.

The Student Guides divide the work in Diogenes: Maxim into 26 weeks, and the work in Diogenes: Chreia into 24 weeks. This leaves time in the traditional 36 week school year to complete our optional but highly recommended Intermediate Poetry (16 weeks) during these two years as well.

Purchase Diogenes: Purchase Diogenes: Maxim and Chreia

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Intermediate Poetry

Intermediate Poetry is intended for use in 7th grade through high school. Abstract thinking skills are required, and the models we use are more appropriate for older students.

Intermediate Poetry:

Theory

In Intermediate Poetry, we introduce:

Figures of Speech – alliteration, refrain, hyperbole, as well as a review of figures learned in Poetry for Beginners

Poetic Meter – dactylic and anapestic meters, as well as a review of iambic and trochaic meters

Stanza Forms – limericks and ballads as well as a review of stanzas learned in Poetry for Beginners

Analysis and Imitation

In Intermediate Poetry, students continue to develop copia—a variety of ways to express the same thought. The book's six units are laid out as follows:

Unit 1 ~ Reading and Understanding, paraphrasing poetry to prose, background research on the poet and the poem, analyzing lyrical and sensory appeals

Unit 2 ~ Metrical Feet, scanning and imitating dactylic and anapestic meter; review of previously learned meters

Unit 3 ~ Figures of Speech, analyzing and imitating figures of speech; effective use of figures of speech in poetry and in prose

Unit 4 ~ Stanza Forms, analyzing and imitating limericks and ballads; review of previously learned stanza forms

Unit 5 ~ Lyrical Analysis and Imitation, Romantic and Victorian poets; analytical essay of a lyrical poem

Unit 6 ~ Narrative Analysis and Imitation, analysis and imitation routine for narrative poetry, particularly Old English alliterative poetry; analytical essay of narrative poem.

Practice

In Intermediate Poetry students imitate poems and write analytical essays about poems. They also compose poems of their own by imitating classic models.

The Intermediate Poetry Books

Intermediate Poetry contains six units, each of which takes from 2 to 6 weeks to complete. In all, the book contains 16 weeks of instruction.

Intermediate Poetry is a non-consumable book containing one semester’s worth of writing instruction and work. The layout of the text is linear: start in Unit 1 at Lesson 1 and work straight through the book to Unit 6’s final lesson. The students may cover the material simply by working through the lessons in sequence.

We strongly recommend that the majority of our teachers and students should use the consumable Student Guides. The material in our intermediate and advanced books is challenging, and is best encountered with the strong organizational foundation that the Student Guide provide: weekly schedules with check lists, coordinating lessons, and reading for each unit. The Student Guide includes copies of the models, charts and tables for analysis and imitation, as well as space for most of the diagramming work. Finally, the Student Guide has an extensive Answer Key which you will find invaluable as a time and stress saver!

Purchase Intermediate Poetry: Purchase CW Poetry

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Herodotus - 9th

In 9th grade and up, the students study Herodotus, which covers the progymnasmata of Confirmation, Refutation, and Commonplace. The mascot for this book is Herodotus, the Greek father of history with his vivid narratives of Egypt and the Persian Wars.

Argumentative essay writing and analysis is the focus of Herotodus, arguing for and against the likelihood that a certain account is accurately recalled, as well as arguing for and against different issues. Students who complete Herodotus will have received writing instruction which is at least on par with a standard K-12 writing scope and sequence.

The literary models used in this book include selections from Herodotus’ Histories, the Greek myths, Athanasius’ On the Incarnation of the Word of God, Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, and Aeschylus’ trilogy The Oresteia, just to mention a few. The weekly reading schedule suggests that the student read through many of these classic works during the course of the school year. This book is also appropriate for two semesters of literature and writing at the high school level.

Theory

Herodotus continues adding to the student’s battery of paragraph types with advanced treatment of introductory and concluding paragraphs as well as specific instruction in writing paragraphs arguing for or against an account of an event being is clear, credible, possible, plausible, and appropriate. Students are also introduced to consideration of audience and occasion, and to stasis theory.

Where Diogenes Maxim and Diogenes Chreia focused specifically on deliberative rhetoric, Herotodus’ emphasis is on judicial rhetoric, the rhetoric of the court room. We begin with an analysis of Aeschylus’ Oresteia, which shows how humanity went from personal vengeance to a third party neutral justice system to settle disputes between claimants.

With this theme of Confirmation and Refutation, the students write argumentative essays arguing for and against issues of credibility, clarity, possibility, plausibility, expediency, and propriety. The final essay in this volume is the modern argumentative essay.

Modern paragraph conventions, how to write proper citations, and timed essays are covered to prepare the students for testing and writing at the university level.

Chapter 5 of Herotodus covers material logic, and beginning formal logic. We recommend going through a beginning logic course such as Memoria Press' Traditional Logic I concurrently. Instruction in syllogistic logic will be given in more detail in Demosthenes, the 11th and 12th grade text.

Analysis and Imitation

Words, sentences, and paragraphs are read and discussed; the author’s use of rhetoric, particularly logic, is analyzed. Students continue to write summaries and précis, a short (one to two sentences) summary of the essay. The through study of classical literature selections students develop style and grace in composition.

Practice (Writing Projects)

The writing projects begin with retelling a narrative from a particular point of view, and for a particular audience. Students will also argue for or against the plausibility of a narrative account. The final chapters of Herodotus focus primarily on the modern argumentative essay.

The Herodotus Books

The non-consumable Herodotus text contains about a year’s worth of composition work. The layout of the book is linear: start in Chapter 1 at Lesson 1 and work straight through the text to Chapter 5’s final lesson. The students cover the material in these books simply by working through the lessons in sequence.

We strongly recommend that the majority of our teachers and students should use the consumable Student Guides that accompany this book.

The material in Herodotus is challenging, and is best encountered with the strong organizational foundation that the Student Guide provides: weekly schedules with check lists, coordinating lessons, grammar work, writing projects, reading for each unit. The Student Guide include copies of the models, charts and tables for analysis and imitation, as well as space for most of the diagramming work. Also included are the planning forms and editing checklists for each Writing Project. The weekly checklist also also lists each week’s assignments in Traditional Logic or room for you to write in assignments from your own logic text. Finally, the Student Guide has and extensive Answer Key which you will find invaluable as a time and stress saver!

The Student Guide divides the work in Herodotus into 28 weeks.

Purchase Herodotus: Available June, 2010.