Books III &
IV: Diogenes
Progymnasmata Maxim & Chreia ~ 7th - 8th
grade
Classical Writing News!
Online tutorials
for Diogenes are being offered for the 2008-2009 school year.
| Theory | The Diogenes Series of Books |
| Analysis & Imitation | What to Buy |
| Practice (Writing Projects) | Frequently Asked Questions |
In 7th and 8th grade, respectively, the
students study Maxim and Chreia in the progymnasmata sequence. Athen’s
famous cynic Diogenes of Sinope is our mascot for Diogenes: Maxim, and
Diogenes Laertes, the biographer of philosophers, is our mascot for
Diogenes: Chreia.
Essay writing and analysis is the focus of both levels of our
Diogenes books. Those books provide instruction for junior high to early
high school students as the necessary foundation for our advanced
writing courses.
Diogenes: Maxim is for the beginning essay writer, typically 7th
grade or higher. The literary models used include selections from Erasmus, Shakespeare, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln,
Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill.
Diogenes: Chreia is for the advancing essay writer, typically
8th grade. This book is also appropriate for a high school course.
Literary selections (models) in Diogenes Chreia include selections from Sophocles, Aeschylus, Seneca, early church fathers,
Robert Louis Stevenson, and Alexander Schmemann.
To write well, students must be well and broadly read. Beginning with
Diogenes: Maxim, we include (optional) reading schedules with
selections from the Great Books of the western tradition.
To accompany the studies in Diogenes,
we recommend a concurrent study of Harvey’s Elementary Grammar.
In response to requests from teachers, we have produced
Workbooks and Answer Keys which make it very easy to use
Harvey's Elementary Grammar. You may use another program
if you prefer.
Theory learned from the grammar program is practiced as the students
parse, diagram, and imitate sentences from the literary models.
The progymnasmata paragraph types for the essays learned in Diogenes are
introduced one at a time: encomium, paraphrase, cause, opposite,
analogy, examples, testimony, and epilogue. Students are also
introduced to rhetoric theory and formulation of a thesis statement in
preparation for the modern academic five paragraph essay.
Diogenes: Chreia teaches expository essay writing. Modern
paragraph conventions, how to write proper citations, as well as timed
essays are covered to prepare the students for testing and writing at
the university level.
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Words, sentences, and paragraphs are
read and discussed, the author’s use of rhetoric is analyzed, and the
essay is summarized. The students learn to write a précis, a short (one
to two sentences) summary of the essay. Through study of classical
literature selections students develop style and grace in composition.
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The writing projects begin with a
familiar maxim as the subject. The students write to demonstrate the
wisdom of the maxim, using the paragraph types learned in the theory
lessons. The final unit of Diogenes: Maxim focuses primarily on
the modern five paragraph essay.
In Diogenes: Chreia, the writing projects teach expository essay
writing. Development of both thesis statements and topic sentences for
each paragraph is emphasized.
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The Diogenes Series of Books
The two levels of Diogenes are written
directly to the student, but teacher involvement is crucial. All the
material needed is covered in the text. Even if you are a teacher to whom these
concepts are new, the material is explained in such a way that you
will be able teach it. Learn along with your student through active
reading and dialoguing and writing!!
The non-consumable Diogenes: Maxim and Diogenes: Chreia
texts each contain about
a year’s worth of composition work. The layout of the books is linear.
Students start in Unit 1 at Lesson 1 and work straight through the text
through Unit 5’s final lesson. The students cover the material in these
books simply by working through the lessons in sequence.
We strongly recommend that the majority of our teachers and
students should use the consumable Student Guides available for each level of Diogenes.
The material in the Diogenes is challenging, and is best encountered
with the strong organizational foundation that the Student Guides
provide: weekly schedules with check lists, coordinating lessons,
grammar work, writing projects, and reading for each unit. The Student
Guides include copies of the models, charts and tables for analysis and
imitation, as well as space for most of the diagramming work. Also
included are the planning forms and editing checklists for each writing
project. The weekly checklist also schedules each week’s assignments in
Harvey’s Elementary Grammar and provides room for you to write
in assignments from your own grammar text. Finally, the Student Guides
have extensive Answer Keys which you will find invaluable as a time and
stress saver!
Workbooks and Answer Keys for Harvey’s Elementary Grammar
are also available.
The Student Guides divide the work in Diogenes: Maxim into 26
weeks, and the work in Diogenes: Chreia into 24 weeks. This
leaves time in the traditional 36 week school year to complete our
optional but highly recommended
Intermediate Poetry (16 weeks) during these two years as
well.
We are now offering
online tutorials for Diogenes: Maxim and Diogenes:
Chreia.
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What to Buy for Diogenes: Maxim
Diogenes: Maxim
~ core text needed for Diogenes: Maxim
~ non-consumable
~ lessons laid out in units
~ prerequisite: Homer
~ one year of work for a typical 7th-8th grade student
~ Student Guide is highly recommended
Preview Sample Pages
Diogenes: Maxim Student Guide
~ consumable
~ 26 weeks of assignments covering all of Diogenes: Maxim
~ weekly schedules for all assignments
~ optional reading schedule
~ Harvey's Elementary Grammar work scheduled
~ all models, charts, and tables needed
~ editing checklists for each writing project
~ answer key included
Preview Sample Pages
What to Buy for Diogenes: Chreia
Please note that Diogenes: Chreia is still being field
tested, but we are making it available at a reduced price as a beta
version.
Download information on ordering Beta Version
Diogenes: Chreia (Beta Version)
~ non-consumable core text for Diogenes: Chreia
~ lessons laid out in units
~ prerequisite: Diogenes: Maxim
~ one year of work for a typical 8th-9th grade student
~ Student Guide is optional, but recommended
Download information on ordering Beta Version
Diogenes: Chreia Student Guide (Beta Version)
~ consumable
~ 24 weeks of assignments covering all of Diogenes: Chreia
~ weekly schedules for all assignments
~ optional reading schedule
~ Harvey's Elementary Grammar work scheduled
~ all models, charts, and tables needed
~ editing checklists for each writing project
~ answer key included
Download information on ordering Beta Version
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How do I know if my students are ready for Diogenes: Maxim?
The beginning Diogenes: Maxim student should have completed Homer.
What else should my student be studying along with Diogenes: Maxim?
Your student will need a grammar program
to accompany Diogenes: Maxim. We recommend Harvey's Elementary
Grammar, which is a thorough and simple classic grammar text.
However, you may use any basic grammar text, and we provide information
to help you schedule your students' grammar lessons.
We have
also developed
Workbooks
and Answer Keys
to go with Harvey's Elementary Grammar.
If your students are not proficient at typing, we highly recommend
that they complete a typing program.
Although we give sentence diagramming instruction in both Diogenes
texts, if you are completely new to diagramming,
a reference like Mary Daly’s First Whole Book of Diagrams may
be helpful.
Online diagramming resources are also listed on our
Helpful Links page.
Again, we highly recommend a study of
Intermediate Poetry along with Diogenes: Maxim and
Diogenes: Chreia.
I’d love to buy Classical Writing but we are on a tight budget, and I have many students coming down the line.
Diogenes: Maxim and Diogenes: Chreia are both non-consumable books, so they can be reused. It may be possible to only purchase one Student Guide and use it as a non-consumable book by having your students do their work on the computer or on separate paper instead of marking up the book.
