Memoria Press Literature Guides and or WWE

[classicmommy]

My 2nd grader is half way through WWE 2. I'm looking at using some aspects of Memoria Press next year for her and I like the looks of the literature guides. Do they have similar learning objectives to WWE? Would doing both be too much? 

Edited March 10, 2016 by classicmommy

[Upennmama]

I would say they are pretty different- WWE is mostly writing, narration, copywork, and the Lit guides are more literature study and comprehension, etc. I think they're both great but different things. 

[Guest]

MP lit guides are just busywork imo. It's fill-in-theblank and write a sentience type stuff. ymmv

 

Their Classical Composition program is comparable to WWE- and up. You're expected to read the whole book, though, not just use excerpts.

 

 

[bfw0729]

We used the MP literature guides. I had three of my kids using them and it took away the enjoyment of reading and analyzing the books. I consider myself pretty Type A and don't want to create any gaps in learning, but this wasn't a good use of our time. Instead we read aloud and talk about what was read.  We use WWE and really like it.

Edited March 10, 2016 by bfw0729

[hermione310]

We're using the MP literature guides for a second year. I've found them to be far more than busywork. The vocabulary list for each chapter is quite meaty, and although the questions require students to recall information in the text, this involves more than just regurgitating basic facts. Many of the questions require insight into a particular character's motivation, for example. The discussion questions following the written work are very thought provoking. 

 

We used K12 literature lessons for a couple of years, and found the bare bones reading comprehension style to be sterile and uninspiring. I've really been impressed so far with the MP literature guides -- they've offered quite a contrast to our experience with other materials.

[Penelope]

I don't consider the lit. Guides to be our writing instruction, but I do use one per year in grades 3-4 (I've also used the guides for Greek Myths and Famous Men of Greece, but that is more because I think they can be useful for cementing the stories).

 

I have a specific purpose for the lit. Guides: to increase writing output while writing in complete sentences, and to get them used to looking up vocabulary words. They are assigned as independent work. I do go over them, but do not spend much time on them. I am sure there are other resources that could be used for my purpose, but this works for us.

 

We have used WWE along with other resources for writing instruction. I am there with them, helping them from better sentences if needed, discussing grammar and using descriptive words, etc. Or often instead, we just do written narrations of their lit., history and science, with similar help with writing. Different purpose for me than the literature guides.

[SevenDaisies]

MP lit guides are just busywork imo. It's fill-in-theblank and write a sentience type stuff. ymmv

 

Their Classical Composition program is comparable to WWE- and up. You're expected to read the whole book, though, not just use excerpts.

 

It is MP's Intro to Composition that is comparable to WWE. Classical Composition is based on the progym.

[Guest]

It is MP's Intro to Composition that is comparable to WWE. Classical Composition is based on the progym.

 

K. CC would replace wwe. It is the equivalent composition program. The Literature Guides are not. They are literature workbooks.

[Sahamamama]

We loved "Story Time Treasures" (five books) and "More Story Time Treasures" (seven books) for 1st grade. Those were worth doing, IMO.

 

The 2nd grade literature guides were tedious busy work. We only finished the guides for The Courage of Sarah Noble (boring guide, boring & depressing book) and Tales from Beatrix Potter (great book, boring guide). Not worth getting, IMO. We read the other two books, but gave away the guides for Mr. Popper's Penguins (great book, just doesn't need a guide) and Little House in the Big Woods (another great book that doesn't need a guide).

 

With my oldest, we did two of the literature guides for 3rd grade -- Farmer Boy and Charlotte's Web. The books are great, the guides were worth doing (IMO), but I'm glad we didn't try to do all of them (not sure how many there were at that time, MP keeps changing these). I did think that doing the guides added to my student's writing load, in a good way. It required her to answer questions in complete, written form, so that stretched her a bit.

 

We decided to forego using the 2nd grade and 3rd grade literature guides a second time (with our twins). I'd rather foster a love of literature, than a dread of it. Also, we don't plan to do any more of the MP literature guides.

 

Edited to add: I'm not sure what the line-up of guides is now at MP. As I said, this is what it was when we did the guides, and I think they've changed up things since then. HTH.

Edited March 11, 2016 by Sahamamama

[EmseB]

We've enjoyed the lit guides this year, and for my guy in 3rd I really like them. He reads fast and is a very literal thinker, so the guides helped him see things that he would otherwise speed through. Same with the vocab and discussion.

 

It's helpful to know that they're designed for classroom use where a teacher will help the class craft an answer and they will all copy it in their books from the board. At home we have more flexibility to do some answers orally, some written based on the day.

 

We're doing story time treasures fit my first grader and he loves having a lit guide like his brother, and I can see how it's helping him read for comprehension and introduce gentle grammar discussion.

 

I should also caveat that MP really fits our family, so I like most of their stuff. I haven't found it dry, as we get into some really interesting discussions based off the topics and questions. We spent 30 mins studying about London after doing our work in Paddington today.

 

Also, for us, after every completed lit guide, ds has asked for the next book in the series or has picked up the same exact book again to read in his free time. He was definitely not put off the lit selections because we do the guides.

 

But, they are not a writing curriculum, like classical composition or wwe.

Edited March 11, 2016 by JodiSue

[SevenDaisies]

K. CC would replace wwe. It is the equivalent composition program. The Literature Guides are not. They are literature workbooks.

That is exactly what we do. We use WWE until we start Classical Composition.

[classicmommy]

That is exactly what we do. We use WWE until we start Classical Composition.

 

So do you go from WWE 3 to Classical Composition? What do you think Introduction to Literature?  http://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/writing-and-english-grammar/introduction-composition

[EmseB]

Intro to Comp is basically WWE. If I had a kid who completed WWE3 and I was switching over, I'd go directly into Fable.

Edited March 12, 2016 by JodiSue

[SevenDaisies]

So do you go from WWE 3 to Classical Composition? What do you think Introduction to Literature?  http://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/writing-and-english-grammar/introduction-composition

 

With my oldest we went straight from WWE 2 (in 3rd grade) to Fable (in 4th grade). I've never used Intro to Comp, but I received it with my MP order this year. My son is not quite ready for Fable, so I plan to try it with both of my younger two because both will be using the 3rd grade lit package. As JodiSue said, Intro to Comp looks very similar to WWE. I'm not sure I would choose to use Intro to Comp if we weren't already doing the lit package because the reading selections are not printed in the text - they come straight from the books.

[classicmommy]

With my oldest we went straight from WWE 2 (in 3rd grade) to Fable (in 4th grade). I've never used Intro to Comp, but I received it with my MP order this year. My son is not quite ready for Fable, so I plan to try it with both of my younger two because both will be using the 3rd grade lit package. As JodiSue said, Intro to Comp looks very similar to WWE. I'm not sure I would choose to use Intro to Comp if we weren't already doing the lit package because the reading selections are not printed in the text - they come straight from the books.

 

I am planning on doing the Lit. package for 3rd grade and was considering also using the Intro to Comp. Some of the narrations have been a challenge for my  7 year old daughter because of the literature passages, I think. She does great with the rest of it. And she did really well in WWE 1. I was debating doing WWE 2 again for third or adding the Intro. to Comp. Any thoughts?

[SevenDaisies]

I am planning on doing the Lit. package for 3rd grade and was considering also using the Intro to Comp. Some of the narrations have been a challenge for my 7 year old daughter because of the literature passages, I think. She does great with the rest of it. And she did really well in WWE 1. I was debating doing WWE 2 again for third or adding the Intro. to Comp. Any thoughts?

My son balks at the dictations which is one of the reasons I thought Intro to Comp might be better for him. One concern of mine is that Intro to Comp looks to be pretty light. I've never seen WWE3, but if you look at the samples of Intro to Comp on the MP website, each lesson is a week's work. I think they schedule one section a day. The other concern is that the The Moffats was removed from the 3rd grade lit package and replaced with Mr. Popper's Penguins, but Intro to Comp was not updated to reflect that change.