Poetry & Short Stories:American Literature Set - A New TOS Review!!

We have loved our Memoria Press curriculum over the years, so we were very excited to receive Poetry & Short Stories: American Literature Set this time to review. My younger daughter (now 13!) loves poetry and since she had fully enjoyed Poetry for the Grammar Stage Set in the past we thought this would be the next step for us. In our move her beloved poetry book has been mislain ... probably in one of the MANY boxes, so we thought that getting a new poetry curriculum to try out would be just the ticket.

When we received Poetry & Short Stories: American Literature Set  it came in a box with three books -- a teacher guide, a reading text, and the student guide. The teacher and student guide are basically identical EXCEPT that the teacher guide has all the answers for the questions. In the case of subjective essay type questions those don't have answers since they are generally up to the student's interpretation. The reading text is divided by author and the longer pieces have their paragraphs or stanzas numbered for easy recall while discussing questions or answering questions from the lessons.

Included in Poetry & Short Stories: American Literature Set are 14 authors starting with Washington Irving and Poe all the way throguh Longfellow and Holmes and ending with Amy Lowell and Robert Frost covering some of the most influential American authors (and even a sample of some British authors at the end of the book) of the 19th and 20th centuries.  Each author has one to three of their works and each is set up in the same way in the guide.

Before you delve into the studies of these wonderful writers the student will find a step by step plan on how to use the study guide with the text. Then there are notes on how to mark a book, how to read so that you find the 'central one idea', and how to use the trivium to find the "heart of a work" which namely is the 'central one idea'. This discovery will cover four stages: Pre-Grammar (Preparation); Grammar (Presentation); Logic (Dialectic); and Rhetoric (Expression). If you are familiar with classical education or with Memoria Press you will have heard the terms. But since the student may not be as immersed in the terminology, the author of the curriculum, David M. Wright, takes some time introducing the terms and defining them as well.

These first 10 pages make take a little time to go through and would be best to be done together with your student. I know that my daughter wasn't ready to digest all of this info all at once so we took our time and read through this introduction together. Then we were told to read the "Introduction to American Literature" in the text and to mark the text in the way they were taught after reading "How to Mark a Book". This was a completely newway to study for my daughter, but she seemed to both understand and enjoy doing it this way. It helped her focus her reading on what she needed to find next in the text while answering the comprehension questions.

Marking a book

The rest of the lessons in the Student Guide continue in a similar fashion and are divided into the four sections. Your student does some Pre-Grammar/Preparation to try and think about the Central One Idea of the poem or short story.

Then they enter the Grammar/Presentation stage of discovery of the essentials by reading notes, definitions of hard or unkown words, and comprehension questions. Then your student reads the texts and uses what they've learned to mark the text in key places.

Definitions

Reading Notes

Comprehension questions

Next is the Logic/Dialectic stage where your student will reason with the facts, elements, and features of the story. Using Socractic discussion questions the student will hopefully beging to uncover and find the 'Central One Idea' of the text.

Lastly is the Rhetoric/Expression stage where in their own words the student identifies the Central One Idea andshows their supporting points that helped them come to this conclusion. There are also some essay options for your stronger reader/writer students that require 3 to 5 paragraphs on the topic.

The set is recommended for grades 8 and up so I knew that it might be a little stretch for my daughter, since she is only 13 (and working at a slightly lower level) and she has had some trouble with reading, some of these concepts were very difficult. We took a few weeks for each of the stories we worked on. The introduction also took us about 2 weeks to complete. I did not want to push her when she was either not ready or not comprehending the new concepts. She loves poetry and I did not want to have her struggle with the reading push her away from the love of the words in poems or these amazing short stories.

Audrie working on answering questions

I also decided we would not necessarily go in order after the first lesson of Rip Van Winkle from Washington Irving. Being from New York, I was very familiar with both of this author's works, so that made teaching it fun for me. We also talked about when we go to visit New York to go "see Rip and Sleepy Hollow" (fun fact - my uncle actually built log homes in Sleepy Hollow community). We ended up jumping on to To Helen by Edgar Allen Poe after Rip, but plan to go back to Sleepy Hollow in the near future. But before we do that one she has her eye on A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I can't wait until we get to reading some of Emily Dickinson and of course one of our favorites The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.

The text

These poems and stories are all the full version, not anthologies where you only read excerpts. For a more complete overview there are tests for each selection that you read as well as an answer key for the teacher in the very back of the teacher guide. We have not decided how we will use these or if we will at this time.

Test answer key

Test

We have discussed purchasing another student guide book so that my 10th grade student could join in on these studies. I think that with them working together it might make it a little easier on my younger daughter so that she could discuss the questions with another student, not just with mom/teacher. And since literature is really my "thing", I hope that they will enjoy learning from these authors just as much as I have.

We have truly enjoyed all of our Memoria Press curriculum and look forward to continuing with Poetry & Short Stories: American Literature Set.  There were many other products being reviewed this time by other members of the Crew including Latin, other books of poetry in their collection, as well as their Classical Phonics program. I encourage you to check these all out by clicking the link below. You can also find Memoria Press on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!