This blog is my attempt to document our busy but BLESSED lives raising and educating our children for His glory. A child of God, wife to one, and mom to 6 fabulous kids. We are in our 16th year of homeschooling using a Classical ~ Literature based approach.

Come along for the good, the bad & the ugly.



Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Art of Poetry ~ a TOS review

PhotobucketReviewing curriculum is so much fun especially when I get to use products from Classical Academic Press. We love and use a lot of their products in our everyday homeschooling so when The Art of Poetry was up for review I jumped at the chance!

This introductory program consists of a student text, teacher’s edition and DVD lessons all written by Christine Perrin, MFA. We received The Art of Poetry student text, teacher’s edition, and disc 1 with Chapters 1-2 about 6 weeks ago and have been going through it.

If you have ever felt mystified by, or unable to enjoy the significance of poetry, this book will lead you step by step to understanding and love of this branch of literature, guided by a gifted poet and teacher. The Art of Poetry is an excellent middle school or high school curriculum; it will teach the practice of reading a poem slowly and carefully, introduce students to the elements of poetry (such as imagery and metaphor) and the many forms that can make a poem, from sonnet to open verse. In the belief that practice is the best way to learn, this book is rich with explications, exercises, and activities. ~ from wesbite

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The Student book is divided into three sections and includes 16 Chapters, The Elements of Poetry, The Formal History of Poetry and Application.

The Element section includes eight chapters dedicated to chapters on:

Images,

Metaphors

Symbols

Words

Sound & More Sound

Rhythm

Shape

Tone

The Formal History section includes chapters on:

The History of Form

Verse

Shaping

An Emily Dickinson Case Study in Form

Open Verse

Walt Whitman Case Study in Open Verse

An Anthology of Narrative Poems

The final chapter helps you growing your interest by suggesting was to start your own poetry group or hosting a Summer poetry camp. A handy section on how to schedule your Poetry learning is included, which is really helpful.

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The teacher's edition is an absolute must if you are not a poetry buff. It includes a complete copy of the student text along with detailed explanations of all the poems, a poetry timeline, answer keys to the Anthology exercises and quizzes and lots of activities to make teaching poetry come alive.

 

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The Art of Poetry DVD Set is a 15 hour series that showcases the author teaching four eighth-grade students through the entire student book. Capturing  the “magic” of  Socratic teaching this DVD set helps the child focus on becoming an accomplished close-reader and respond as an excellent writer.

Initially, I planned on using this review product with all of my girls, except McKenzie. However, it became clear to me that this is way over the head of Mikayla and Montana. So, I switched gears and just had  Madison focus on poetry as she showed the most interest.

aop Madison is in 6th grade and we stuck to the basics as the book suggested and completed a few of the age appropriate activities. We took two weeks studying the 7 poems in the first chapter. After which we then watched the DVD of the Socratic teaching. Can you say Amazing! Wow, those students on the DVD are so smart! I love the Socratic teaching method and I tried to incorporate some of the principles into our daily schooling. We opted not to complete any of the quizzes at this stage of the game.

Classical Academic Press never lets me down and they will continue to be on the top of my curriculum list! While I thoroughly enjoyed going through this course with my 6th grader, Madison, I do not think she is quite ready for it. At least not to the full extent of what the program is geared for. For that reason, I plan on saving the rest of the material until 8th grade when she will be better equipped. However, I suggest you check out this program if you have a poetry loving child. Take a look at the PDF sample from the student book and the sample from the Teacher’s edition.

Also, be sure to check out what my Crew Mates thought of The Art of Poetry and the other product being reviewed, The Discovery of Deduction: An Introduction to Formal Logic by clicking the banner below.

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Company ~ Classical Academic Press
Product ~ The Art of Poetry
Price ~ Beginning April 1st the bundle package will retail for 99.95. Student & Teacher’s text are available separately for $24.95 and $29.95 respectively. The complete DVD set will also retail for $69.95.
Ages ~ Middle school – High School
 
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