Memoria Press Literature Guides?

[*AM*]

I have not used any of these and was wondering what others had to offer about them.

 

Thanks for your thoughts :-)

 

 

 

 

 

[Reefgazer]

I found the MP literature guides (we tried the 5th and 6th grade ones) dry as dust.  The questions in the MP literature guides asked basic, parrot-back and recall type questions, and there was little deeper discussion of the literature at all.  I was sorely disappointed, and somewhat surprised, because I absolutely love MP other products.

[*AM*]

Karen, if you don't mind my asking, what products do you like best?  Thanks for the info about the lit guides.  I did purchase a few, but, we'll see how it goes.  Not big on parrot back type of thing. 

[hermione310]

We're using the Memoria Press literature guides this year for the first time. DD is currently working her way through Farmer Boy (part of the 3rd grade core curriculum). 

 

I've been quite impressed with the quality of the literature guides thus far. The "Reading Notes" section contains challenging vocabulary selections from each chapter (ex: "stanchion", "treadle", "bested") and asks students to provide a synonym or brief phrase to describe each word after seeing it in context. I love this -- it grounds the vocabulary and prevents the need for a separate vocabulary curriculum. DD has a pretty advanced vocabulary for her age and has been consistently challenged by the vocabulary in each lesson. 

 

The comprehension questions are thorough -- they may be unexciting, but they do the job of testing a student's recall/understanding of the chapter. DD's had to return to the text now and then to look up an answer, which I also like as it's reinforcing her scanning/research skills. As far as the "dry as dust" comment above, that hasn't been my impression as we've had pretty in-depth discussions working through the Discussion Questions section orally. The questions in this section require insight I only remember being asked of me in high school English classes. The fact that young students are challenged to probe the text as well as recall it has impressed me. On more than one occasion I've been a little stumped as to how to address the discussion questions -- fortunately, there's a section in the back with teacher prompts that I've used to spur our conversations along. 

 

Lastly, the amount of writing required in the literature guides is really improving my daughter's writing. The bar's been set higher now as she's required to answer each question with a full, well-written sentence vs. whizzing through with one-word responses. (This is true in other MP courses we're using as well, further reinforcing the expectations re: writing.)

[Reefgazer]

Well, my choices might be different from yours, if your kids are younger.  My DS is 10 1/2 and DD is 13,  For DS, we don't actually discuss literature in any formal way; we read and enjoy, and discuss informally.  That will change once he hits middle school.  For DD, I actually struggle with which literature guides to buy, and draw sources from a few places.  I like Royal Fireworks Press' literature guides - they are much more in-depth than others I have seen.  Some I have found for free online (Tom Sawyer, The Bronze Bow, Lord of the Rings).  When I can't find something free online, I'll generally turn to Sparks notes, but they are considered high school level and wouldn't work for elementary or young middle schoolers, I don't think.

 

ETA:  I will say I think MP poetry guides are excellent; completely different from the literature guides because they ask thoughtful questions about the poem (in addition to the usual dull vocab and parrot-back type questions).

Karen, if you don't mind my asking, what products do you like best?  Thanks for the info about the lit guides.  I did purchase a few, but, we'll see how it goes.  Not big on parrot back type of thing. 

 

[Tess in the Burbs]

My kids liked them. Ds did Treasure Island two years ago.Dd did Heidi. We did meet with another family for discussion each week. It helped my Dd not skim too fast. She really had to read slower to get all the basic details. Ds did fine. He did find the book long having to answer so many questions.

 

I would do them again.

[SevenDaisies]

We enjoy them here. For the most part the comprehension questions are recall, but the discussion questions do delve in deeper.

[Shay]

I was hesitant to buy them at first because I had read that such guides were boring or not necessary. I quickly realized the lit guides were a favorite part of the day for us. Like another poster mentioned, I appreciated vocabulary being incorporated and did not have to have a separate vocab program. I'm short on time or I would offer up more, but did want to chime in to say they were a hit here.

[Dory]

We can't do more than one of them a year, but my oldest thrives with them. There is a spot for more discussion and it opens things up well for more in depth probing. It has helped my kids slow down and really think about the book. They are a little heavy, and my youngest doesn't find them very exciting, so more then one a year for each kid is just too much. We look through them and pick one out for the year. Then we pick a literature study from another group just to have variety in how we look and think through books. I love having variety.

[Wordsworth]

I just bought the one for D'Aulaires' Greek Myths and am going to do it with my daughter, Grade 6. She's read the book before so she could probably answer all of the questions from memory, but I do like the incorporation of vocabulary into the workbook. I'm generally opposed to Reading Comprehension Questions because I think they exist solely to make sure the kid actually read the text, haha, but these don't look TOO terrible - simple enough that they can be done easily without it seeming like I am ruining a perfectly good book with a bunch of busy work. 

[ALB]

If you look at them just a workbook, then yes they would be dry and more like busy work.

 

If you look at them as what they are intended to be, a guide, then they are great.  Writing out well-thought out answers to the comprehension questions is a really important skill for kids to learn.  The questions are not just for checking understanding, they help the student interact with what they read and compose a well written response.

 

I've only used 1st, 2nd, and 4th grades, so I'm not sure about 3rd.  For 4th grade there are good discussion questions that can lead to great conversation if you're willing to spend the time doing that.  There are also worthwhile enrichment activities and copywork/ dictation passages.  For 2nd grade, there are some really neat activities including things like making a Venn diagram, finding the author/illustrator/characters/setting and plot of a story, and some fun crafty type activities suggested.  

 

The amount of writing was overwhelming to me in the beginning and I probably would have been tempted to cut corners had I not looked around at the MP forum.  Every exercise has a point to it, and after awhile I could see so much progress in my kids' abilities.