Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Ninth Grade Literature Set by Memoria Press ~ A Schoolhouse Crew Review



With Drake being in high school, we were really wanting to incorporate more literature into his schooling. We were able to do that easily with the Ninth Grade Literature Guide Set by Memoria Press. Even though Drake is older, this worked well for some of the literature he hasn't read. This entire set as a whole would make for a wonderful year of literature. 

If you're familiar with the homeschooling world then you have probably heard of Memoria Press. They are a classical Christian educational company that was founded in 1994 by Cheryl Lowe. 

Memoria Press prides themselves on a classical education, and their products are characterized by simplicity, quality, and affordability. They specialize in making sure that their products are easy to use by parents who are not familiar with the subject being taught. 

What we received for this review ~

Memoria Press was extremely generous to us for this review. We were given the entire 9th Grade Literature Guide Set! This will be extremely useful for us to compare and contrast all of these Medieval works!

We received:
Beowulf Student and Teacher Guides
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Student and Teacher Guides
Canterbury Tales Student and Teacher Guides
Henry the V Student and Teacher Guides

All of the Student Guides are consumable.
We did buy the actual Beowulf book for this review. 

Memoria Press Literature Guides Review
How we used this in our school ~

With so many works to choose from, Drake chose to do Beowulf first. This literature guide is intended to be used with Beowulf: The Warrior retold by Ian Serraillier. You are able to order the book from the Memoria Press website for $10.95 plus shipping.

When I first got the literature set and we determined which book he would read first, I sat down with the Teacher's Guide to read through it. The first thing that I found helpful was that it gives you a step by step plan on how to use the study guide with the text. This entire guide is based on the Central One Idea, or main idea. This guide is to help the student through the 4 stages of the Trivium to the acquisition and expression of the Central One Idea. Both the Student Guide and the Teacher's Guide of all sets are broken down into parts. The Teacher's Guide provides quizzes and exams in the back.

Drake is so independent that after I looked over it, he took off and started it the same day. He read through the pages that explain the 4 stages of the Central One Idea and how to mark a book. We both learned something from this because it gives great examples of how to mark the book properly and make notes. 


Each student guide starts out with an introduction and some comprehension questions. Following the introduction the student is taken into the first part of the reading. Each part is broken down into 3 parts. First is the Pre-Grammar/Preparation part which is kind of like a warm up. It gets them prepared for the poem by drawing upon prior knowledge, experience, and interests. The second part is the Grammar/Presentation stage. This includes some reading notes, vocabulary, and some comprehension questions. Lastly is the Logic/Dialectic portion which includes discussion questions. This is a great time to have a discussion with your student about the reading they have done. After he completes each Part, then he takes a short quiz. When he's done with the entire thing, he will take a final exam. 

What we thought ~

This is a very intense literature curriculum with a lot of writing involved. Drake didn't mind doing it, and will continue through the entire set, although he is not fan of all of the writing. If your child is one to complain about extensive writing then I would not recommend it. I think it's very thorough and well put together, and it is a great companion and help to the student so that they can dig deeper into the reading and have a better understanding of it. I love the fact that you get guides for 4 different works in the package. I love that the Teacher's Guide for every set is laid out and easy to understand with the quizzes and exams in the back. All of the different guides are broken down into parts just like Beowulf is, and that is one of the huge assets to this curruiculum. My kids all do better when things come in smaller doses.  All in all I think the Ninth Grade Literature Guide Set by Memoria Press  is a very nice set for anyone who is really looking to connect to these Old English and Medieval works.



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Memoria Press was generous enough to let 100 of us review their products. If you would like to read reviews over other grade levels, click the banner below.

Memoria Press Literature Guides Review
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