Book II: Homer
Progymnasma Narrative ~ 5th - 6th grade
| Theory | The Homer Series of Books |
| Analysis & Imitation | What to Buy |
| Practice (Writing Projects) | Frequently Asked Questions |
Narrative follows fable in
the progymnasmata sequence. Master storyteller Homer is our
mascot for this level. Homer is for the advancing writer who
has completed Aesop. In Homer, students
are presented with
longer and more challenging narratives for analysis and
imitation. In addition, more rigorous grammar and diagramming
is practiced.
The models in Homer include Aesop’s fables, Bible stories,
historical legends, myths, fairy tales, historical accounts,
and even nature studies.
Homer provides two years of instruction, which are typically
completed during 5th and 6th grade. The skills
learned in Homer build on those from Aesop and are the
necessary foundation for all that follows in Classical
Writing. Even an older students need to master these concepts,
but usually they do so with far less time and practice. We
offer the
Older Beginners series to meet this need.
To complete the work in Homer, the
student needs to study a grammar curriculum concurrently. You may use any grammar curriculum
you choose. We recommend Harvey’s Elementary
Grammar, for which we have
produced
Workbooks and Answer Keys. Theory learned from the grammar program is practiced in Homer as the
student parses, diagrams, and imitates sentences from the model.
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In Homer, as in Aesop, we teach a four day weekly routine for analysis and imitation. As in Aesop, Days 2 and 3 are vital for helping students to develop copia—a variety of ways to express the same thought.
Day 1 ~ Reading and Understanding
developing literary analysis skills for both fiction and
non-fiction, learning to outline with increasing detail
Day 2 ~ Words
advancing vocabulary skills - particularly etymology and synonyms
Day 3 ~ Sentences
applying grammar - parsing, diagramming, and imitating sentences
from the model
Day 4 ~ Paragraphs
paraphrasing by various means such as synonym substitution,
grammatical change, addition, and subtraction; learning to summarize and
write a precis of the model
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There are ten writing projects in
Homer; each complements concepts students are learning in
theory, imitation, and analysis. Students also learn to rewrite a
narrative in a different chronological order: beginning in the middle
with a flashback; or rewriting a narrative backwards.
Writing is a process, and that
editing is part of that process. As in Aesop, routines are developed in
editing to make this as painless as possible. The Student Workbooks
include editing checklists for each week’s writing project. These are
very valuable to teachers in evaluating the student’s progress.
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Homer is the teacher text for the Homer
program.
In order to make Homer "pick up and go" version, the student workbooks divide
the work for Homer into 20 weeks for each year of instruction. For each
week, there is a weekly assignment checklist, a copy of the model for
the student to mark up, space to complete most of the exercises and
assignments for each week, along with comprehensive editing checklists
for each week’s writing project. The weekly checklist also lists each
week’s assignments in Harvey’s Elementary Grammar. The
optional Instructor’s Guides have teacher helps and Answer Keys.
They also contain a copy of each model and each week’s assignment
checklist. Workbooks and
Answer Keys
for Harvey's Elementary Grammar are also available.
Athough we highly recommend that you use the Student Workbooks, if you choose to create your own lesson plans, the optional
Animals and Heroes
book may be a help to you. It contains model fictional narratives, Bible
stories, and historical legends, as well as a few non-fiction
narratives. You can use these to build your own lessons. You do not need
this book if you use the Student Workbooks.
We highly recommend that Homer students spend an additional twelve weeks
each year studying
Poetry for Beginners.
If you have students in 7th grade or above, you
might consider our
Aesop and Homer for Older Beginners, which covers the
material in Aesop and Homer in 22 weeks. Please see
Place Your Student for additional help in deciding what to buy.
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Core Text:
Homer
~ core text needed for all study of Homer
~ contains model suggestions
~ for advancing beginners of all ages
~ two years of work for a typical 5th-6th grade student
Preview Sample Pages
For the first year of Homer work:
Student
Workbook A
~ consumable
~ 20 weeks of assignments covering first part of Homer
~ includes all models and grammar assignments
~ editing checklists for each writing project
~ Instructor's Guide A recommended
Preview Sample Pages
Instructor's
Guide A
~ non-consumable
~ use with Student Workbook A
~ 20 weeks of daily lesson plans
~ has many teacher helps and notes for weekly lessons
~ answers to grammar exercises, including diagramming
~ includes ways to apply lessons to other subject areas
Preview Sample Pages
For the second year of Homer work:
Student
Workbook B
~ consumable
~ 20 weeks of assignments covering first part of Homer
~ includes all models and grammar assignments
~ editing checklists for each writing project
~ Instructor's Guide B recommended
Preview Sample Pages
Instructor's
Guide B
~ non-consumable
~ use with Student Workbook B
~ 20 weeks of daily lesson plans
~ has many teacher helps and notes for weekly lessons
~ answers to grammar exercises, including diagramming
~ includes ways to apply lessons to other subject areas
Preview Sample Pages
How do I know if my students are ready for Homer?
Beginning Homer students should have completed Aesop.
What else should my students be studying along with Homer?
Your students will need a separate grammar program. We recommend Harvey's Elementary
Grammar, which is a thorough and simple classic grammar text.
However, you may use a different grammar text. We provide information
to help you schedule your student's grammar lessons.
In response to requests from teachers using Classical Writing, we have
also developed
Workbooks
and Answer Keys
to go with Harvey's Elementary Grammar.
Your students will also need:
• a spelling program as needed - preferably a systematic phonics
approach
• a handwriting program
• a typing program - optional, but highly recommended
Although we give sentence diagramming instruction in the Homer
text, if you are completely new to diagramming,
a resource 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
Poetry for Beginners along with Homer.
I’d love to buy Classical Writing but we are on a tight budget, and I have many students coming down the line.
Aesop and Homer and Poetry for Beginners are all two year
non-consumable books. All the Instructor’s Guides are non-consumable,
also. In fact, all the core books are non-consumable.
It may be possible to only purchase one Student Workbook 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.
