roughly 1/5 of the book is dedicated to Religion. Of that section, half is prayers, creeds, verses and passages, the other half is poetry of a religious nature (ie a poem by John Donne), hymns and songs. It is not too Catholic specific in my mind - it includes a huge range of hymns and songs - several creeds are given, including ones common for Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox churches. Verses are given in the King James. The books of the Bible song uses the Catholic books of the Bible, but that would be easy to eliminate verses from. It includes a few lists such as the 7 deadly sins/7 virtues, and he notes where those differ.

Living memory does not go into detail about the technique of loci - he briefly explains it in 2 paragraphs, giving an example of how it is done. If you want to understand in more detail, there are a number of sites that explain it. I will link them below. They give you pretty much the info that Memorize the Faith gives you. You don't need Memorize the Faith to understand it, that book just goes into detail giving actual "houses" for you to memorize various points of faith (mostly applicable to Catholics only though). Hopefully these will help. loci technique loci explanation in wikipedia Roman Room explained art of memory

Oh, and see, I thought the cover was cute - the finger thing did not even occur to me :)

I am really enjoying looking it over - I reviewed it this week on my blog for anyone who wants to hear more details before ordering!

The newer LCC gives more specific reference to which things to memorize, but as I said, the book is ordered by difficulty, so you can just slowly go through it in order, or you can pick and choose (especially in sections like the history where you would want to select pieces that correlate with your current period of study). The math and grammar sections would pretty much be done in order. Thanks for the compliment on the blog - I am under the Antiochian Archdiocese - and as for incense, it's funny, most of the time it does not bother me, but there is one acolyte who goes a little crazy when he is preparing the censor, and on those days I often have to take a few steps back! :)

here is my "review" -

I have a friend who has secret recipes - because she is in catering, she rarely shares any of her recipes. The worst though, is I know an older lady who will give you a recipe when you ask, but she leaves out a key ingredient or instruction, insuring that your version will never be as good! The only recipes I have ever kept secret are a few cake recipes because for years I was in the wedding cake business, so I did not share recipes I used in business with anyone outside my family. But when you are in business, it is rare for anyone to ask for the recipes, so that was rarely ever an issue.

I got my book today :)

mine too - hoping it will be here tomorrow - I paid more in shipping to avoid the media mail delay - so it better be here before the weekend! ;) Oh, and I am so wanting one of those LCC groupie shirts - someone needs to get creative and design one - I would buy it :)

thanks for this post! I have spent the past few weeks researching classical conversations - with the goal of creating something similar only using Campbell's book as the spine. I was thrilled to see his book is out - as I have been hoping to get a group together for next year, and was just waiting to hear the latest on the release of the book. I would love to hear what others are doing - I like the accountability concept of CC - but do not care for the emphasis on memorizing with music, so I have not pursued joining a local CC. I will keep you updated on what ends up happening - hopefully my book with arrive before Christmas!!!

The kids do not need to watch while they actually do the art. They can watch the dvd, then move to the art area and do the project. In fact, I often do not even show the video to the kids - I watch it myself and then teach it to the kids much faster than them watching the video. They do not need an easel, we just all sit at the kitchen table. I really like it, because it holds your hand through the whole thing. You don't have to know anything, watching the dvd gives you all you need to be able to explain any concept, and the manual is very helpful.

a bit pricey - but Atelier Art is great - you can use with multiple ages (I have 5-9 year olds doing the same level right now) - it covers art concepts very well, and includes several studies at each level on certain artists, plus a guide for how to go about studying other artists - and you can order art packets from them. You can often find it used - which can be a great deal.

I can't give you a complete answer - but, we did most of CW Aesop A - and then I got frustrated and thought WT would be a nice change of pace - I quickly realized it was far too redundant and easy after going through CW. I have not looked at WT 2 - but my understanding is that WT 1 & 2 cover pretty much similar material to CW Aesop - and I think you probably do not need to do both. You definitely would not want to do CW Aesop A - that would be taking a step back in my opinion. I have not used CW Aesop B, so I cannot comment directly on it, but - if you feel your child had grasped the concepts of rewriting a fable presented in WT - then I would move on to Homer myself.

thanks to all for the input - I went to an info meeting this morning - I like the idea, and got to look at the manual - but don't think the community would work for us. I disagree with memorizing math facts to music (and really, don't like memorizing much of anything to music which they seem to do a lot of!) , and also having a different perspective on history than protestants I can see this might be an issue. I am going to order the 2nd edition manual b/c it is only $25 right now (they are updating next month) and use it for some guidance in our recitation.

you can usually get standards and scope and sequence info from a public school system - some even have it online - along with curriculum used (and even a few private ones will do that) but as for access to school resources and collaboration - scary!!! Any time the govt. gives you money (in form of resources and access) they get a say in what you do - and there is no way I want to open that door.

I am just curious if anyone gets the manual and then uses it as a guide without being a part of one of the weekly classes. If so, how do you like it, and how would you compare it to programs like TOG or MFW?

check out Serendipity for some great ideas for Waldorf learning that can be incorporated into a WTM cycle and curriculum. We use Waldorf techniques for geography and grammar, and with my second one I did the intro math stuff along the lines of Waldorf techniques.

we have a monthly co-op and I have been teaching The Sentence Family - that has been a huge hit and an easy one to do in 20-30 minutes each month, with parents doing follow up activities at home (we have ages roughly 5-10).

one note re teacher intensive in highschool - MOTL is only up to pre-algebra - it does not cover high school math

one thing to keep in mind - they offer a complete 60 day money back guarantee - if you need to hold it and use it for a while - try it out. If it is not right for you, you can send it back.

another great set of pencils that don't break and give beautiful color is the Lyra brand used by Waldorf schools. I got my kids a set of these and they are a favorite around here - they also are nice and fat so easier for a younger to grip (though my 9yo loves them just as much!)

yes! :) Ambleside is far more complete and thorough - and is updated and maintained by a group dedicated to recreating the school & curriculum founded by Charlotte Mason. Tanglewood is a site founded by a homeschool mom who created a reading plan for her own kids that combines CM and neo-classical ideas - but the site is no longer updated, and the plans only go to 6th grade (I think?). It is my understanding that she has no plans to develop her curriculum further (at least not in the near future). I consider many of Ambleside's books to be higher level than those on Tanglewood, but there are many great suggestions on Tanglewood.

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can someone explain to me the point of the "friends" thing on these boards? When someone requests to be added to your friends list, what does that mean? I just want to understand what that entails and what it means if you approve or reject a friend request, and why you do that. Thanks to anyone who will explain this to me!

a few things - if you follow CM's lead - you don't ask questions, you just let the child tell you about the work (narrate) - the parent/teacher is not supposed to come between the child and the art here is a great CM book with very simple instructions on implementing various CM concepts - they have a great explanation of how to go about picture study here is a link to a description of how we do picture study and finally - one of my current favorite resources- a book with hundreds of famous reproductions, info on the painters and paintings etc - great for picture study because each painting is an attached piece that you could remove from the book if you wanted to I also pick up those discount books in the bookstores - you know, the bargain books that cost $5 and are full of paintings by a particular artist - these are a great buy, and I have quite a few of them now . I also have sometimes had luck at walmart with 11x14 sized posters of famous paintings (I found a large number one time of Monet, Degas, Picasso etc all for $1 each). They make for wonderful picture study! Oh, and of course you can use Ambleside as a resource - there is a yahoo group that is nothing but a group of files with paintings by certain artists, you just have to print them off the computer (if you use photo paper they are excellent quality)