Memoria Press was kind enough to send me not only their New American Cursive book, but also Copy Books I, II, & III for review! Since my daughter is not quite ready to learn Latin, these books will serve us quite nicely as we work on writing in English for now.
Founded by Cheryl Lowe in 1994, Memoria Press is a family-run company where the goal is "to help promote and transmit the classical heritage of the Christian West through an emphasis on the liberal arts and the great works of the Western tradition." The company produces classical materials for use in home and private schools. They offer a full Latin curriculum as well as studies in French, Logic & Rhetoric, Famous Men throughout history, and the Bible.
Ella has shown some interest in writing in cursive, so I decided to start working in the New American Cursive (NAC) book right away. Her print is actually pretty good for her age, but she still mixes up the problem letters (b, d, p, q) and I have heard that learning cursive can help with those issues. The NAC book seems perfectly geared toward children of Ella's age/grade level, but can be used for first grade and up. A cute little character named Mr. Meerkat "teaches" your child the correct way to write each letter. The book begins with Mr. Meerkat illustrating the way to hold a pencil, position the paper, and how to form the basic lines used in cursive writing. Ella was a bit unsure at first about this new book, but Mr. Meerkat quickly put her mind at ease (especially with his British accent - added by me, lol!). We got right to the lesson for letter "A" and she worked through the exercise with ease. At the end of the lesson, Mr. Meerkat showed her how he "exercises" on the letter (reinforcing the lines taught in the lesson). She seemed to really enjoy learning how to write a few letters in cursive and we will continue working on this book as she is interested! Here are a few pictures:
The Copy Book Set will be great for practicing Ella's manuscript skills. This set of books teaches "penmanship, basic grammar, spelling, literature, accuracy, attention to detail, and memory--all through the simple skill of copying." I really love the idea of copywork and will incorporate this into our homeschool during the coming year. The great thing about this set is that each book includes 35 or more passages of Scripture and poetry for grades K-2, which increase in difficulty over the three years. One thing I'll mention is that the Scripture passages come from the King James Bible. That may or may not be an issue for you, so just take note! Though we use the NASB for Scripture memory, I see the value in learning the poetic language used in the KJB. The Copy Books each include the memory passages, copywork practice and drawing pages.Memoria Press is a great resource for homeschoolers, especially for those using the classical method. Even if you are not interested in the classical approach, you need to take a look at all of the books offered from this company to see if there is something for you. The quality of their books is superb, and you can't beat their customer service!
The New American Cursive book is available for $22.95. You can find samples of the book HERE. The Copybook Set is $39.95, or you can order the individual Copy Books for $14.95 each. Once your child has learned to write in cursive, there is a Cursive Copy Book also available for $14.95. You can find samples of these books HERE.
As always, please stop by the TOS Crew blog to find out how they felt about these and other products from Memoria Press, by clicking HERE!
**Just a note...this was my last review as part of the TOS Crew. I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the Crew and am very grateful for the items I received for review! A new Crew has been enlisted and they will continue to post reviews on the TOS Crew blog. If you have not yet, please bookmark that site so that you can continue to receive reviews from real homeschoolers about the latest and greatest products on the homeschool market! Here is the blog link again: TOS Homeschool Crew. Thanks for sticking with me even if you're not homeschooling and I will now return to my "regularly" scheduled (well...you know that's not true!) blogging! ;)**
No comments:
Post a Comment