Exploring Classic Children's Literature with Memoria Press {Curriculum Review}

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We have been blessed to be able to review products from Memoria Press twice this year, and today I'm thrilled to be sharing our third review from this award-winning company. For the last several weeks, we've been using the Third Grade Literature Guide Set which includes the Farmer Boy Literature Guide that we worked through. Today I'd like to share our thoughts on this product and whether or not it worked with my youngest son. While we aren't usually fans of a classical method of curriculum, I'm going to tell you why we still love Memoria Press products.

About the Product

Memoria Press is an award-winning company featuring products for every grade and subject. One of the areas that they excel in is offering literature packages for all grade levels. These literature
packages include some of the best-loved books out there. Each package includes the Teacher Guide and Student Study Guide for each book in the set. Our family reviewed the Third Grade Literature Guide Set. This set includes the teacher guide and student study guide for the following books:

Farmer Boy
Charlotte’s Web
A Bear Called Paddington
Mr. Popper’s Penguins

If purchasing the Third Grade Literature Guide Set, you will also receive the corresponding book package to go with it. (we did not receive the books with our review).The literature guides can be purchased separately for those already owning the books. There is also the option to purchase lesson plans to go with each of the literature sets or the individual literature guides themselves.

The guides focus on vocabulary, reading comprehension, and composition skills. Each lesson contains a word study portion, as well as comprehension questions to get the student to think about what they read. They are encouraged to write in complete sentences, which help them practice sentence structure. Many of the elementary books also include copywork which helps them to visually see good sentences and practice their form.

The Teacher Guide is identical to the Student Study Guide, except that it has all the answers for the lessons, quizzes, and tests.

The Student Study Guide is separated by lessons. Every lesson follows a similar pattern, and after a certain amount of lessons, there is a quiz over the material covered so far. This pattern continues to the end of the book where there is a final whole book review.

Our Thoughts on the Product

We have reviewed a literature set from Memoria Press before, so I was experienced in knowing how it worked. When deciding which one we wanted, we opted for the third-grade option over the fourth grade because we had only already one of the books before. The third-grade literature set is listed however as for grades 3-4, which makes it just right for us.

My son decided he wanted to start with Farmer Boy. We already owned the book, so that was a great idea and we dove right into it. My son is very workbook oriented so he did very well. He liked the routine of the lessons because it was completely open-and-go style.

We started by reading the Reading Notes which gave us new vocabulary and definitions that we were going to come across in our chapter. (Chapter 6 told us the definitions for bobsled, plaid, and laprobe). Next, we read the chapter from Farmer Boy. Once that was done, we worked through the Vocabulary section. (Chapter 7 had us define hatchet, avalanche, immense, racket, and scrolls.) We first decided if he already knew any of the meaning of the words. Then I guided him through the use of the dictionary and he found the meanings for all the ones he didn’t already know. He actually really enjoyed using the dictionary.

Next, we worked through the Comprehension Questions. I didn’t expect complete sentences as long as he could adequately tell me the answers. He doesn’t like to write things out, so I knew we were going to struggle if I demanded complete sentences. There were a few times when it was a long answer, and I allowed him to dictate the answer to me to write down.

The next portion is the Quotations. This section contains important statements from the chapter and sometimes asks the student to identify who made the statement.

Discussion Questions is just that. These are questions about the book or about things related to the book, allowing the child to discuss what it means without having to write anything down. This is where the critical thinking aspect is explored. We had questions discussing things that may have been harder to do back in the 1800s, how Mother made doughnuts and what made them special, why sawdust is used to cover the top layer of ice, what might have happened if Almanzo had fallen through the icy pond and other things like that.

Completing the Copywork in the Enrichment section

The Enrichment section is where the writing occurs. For many lessons, it is simply copywork from a passage in the book. For Lesson 6, it was detailing the process of cutting ice to fill the ice house. Sometimes it’s a drawing page or making a map.

Once we completed the first 9 lessons, we did the Quiz 1 review which went over lessons 1-9. Additionally, there was the option to do some extra practice which included learning about some elements of literature and a drawing page of the favorite chapter so far.

Extra Practice Page

We modified part 2 of the first quiz by allowing him to dictate his answers to me. I read the questions and then asked him to respond in a complete sentence and I copied it down verbatim. This allowed him to say what he wanted to say without being stuck trying to write it all down. I prefer this method as I want the information and I’m not stuck on the perfect sentences.

Part 1 of Quiz 1: Vocabulary Matching

There are 29 lessons in the study guide with several pages of extra practice, three quizzes, and a final test review. Additionally, there are appendix pages for activities that can be added like crosswords, additional history information, photos of farm machinery and clothing of the 1800s, a recipe, and two poems.

Farmer Boy is designed to be a 12-week study. With the 29 lessons and the extra work, I see it being used at about 3 lessons per week. We used it at 2 lessons a week, minus a week we were gone at summer camp. This allowed us to complete 9 lessons and a quiz. We have our official school year starting in a couple of weeks, so we will pick up where we left off and continue into our new school year. When we use it “for real” I will use it 3-4 days a week as it is scheduled. I may even purchase the lesson plan for the literature set to see how they recommend working the books.

Altogether, the literature set provides a complete year of material. I think he will probably pick Mr. Popper's Penguins to work through next. I just love that book and it will be a good one for us. I plan on watching the movie when we are done with it. A Bear Called Paddington will be book #3 and we will probably finish our year with Charlotte's Web. This is because we've actually already read this book, and I want to allow time to go by before we read it again. Based on our experience with the literature sets from Memoria Press, I know that I can expect the rest of the guides to follow the same pattern as Farmer Boy with minor variances. Mr. Popper's Penguins and A Bear Called Paddington are shorter literature studies, which is another reason I like them in the middle between the two longer ones.

If we finish any books early or decide we don't want to do Charlotte's Web, I can purchase another book set to do instead. That is very nice about Memoria Press. You can piece it together yourself.

Because he enjoys working through it, I am going to use it for our 2019-2020 year. It is the perfect literature course and he works through it well. My oldest son didn’t like it when he did the 4^th grade set for review because he hates workbooks. If your child likes routine and does well with workbooks, this would work perfectly for you.

If you'd like to check out our previous review of the Fourth Grade Literature Guide Set, you can read my review here. You can also explore other reviews I have written about Memoria Press products!

Want to Know More?

While I reviewed the Third Grade Literature Guide Set by Memoria Press, our review crew was given literature sets from First Grade thru Tenth Grade to review--so I hope you will check out some of the other reviews our team wrote!

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I think we will always love Memoria Press and the products they make. While we won't always use them in all our subjects, we love to have the option to add the ones we love to our studies. I highly recommend you check them out if you have students who prefer a workbook style of learning!