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Disclaimer: Institute for Excellence in Writing sent my family their program Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization in exchange for this fair review. We also received the physical version of the Student Book. (The set comes with the pdf version of the book; the physical is an extra purchase.) Clear? Groovy.

My kids have been studying poetry for as long as they could talk…longer even. I would read poetry to them when they were tiny little nubbins. They could “recite” poetry before they could pronounce their Rs and Ls. One of our daughters is a very talented poet. Poetry is a pretty big deal here.

Memorization is equally as important. Fill them with good things, and good things will flow out. (That’s a paraphrase from the Bible, but God said it a lot better than I did. Obviously, I’m not a poet.) For years Fridays (and now Saturdays) were reserved for recitations–good times!

That used to be a common practice in schools across the country, but not anymore. Memorization fell out of practice around the 1950s, being touted as a nail in the coffin of creativity. Au contraire! (That’s French for wrong-o!) The fact of the matter is that one way children learn the beauty of language and how to use it is through listening, repetition, and imitation, all of which are part of memorization.

Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization (heretofore known as This Course) capitalizes on the value of poetry and memorization to not only fill students with good things, but to improve their speaking ability, comprehension, vocabulary, overall language usage, and, dare I say, writing.

What’s in it?

This Course comes with a five-disc CD series of poems, a DVD entitled Nurturing Competent Communicators by Andrew Pudewa, a teacher’s manual, a downloadable student text (pdf) containing all the poems, and seven downloadable workshops (audio mp3s) for the parent/instructor. The student text is also available as a physical book if you wanted to purchase that separately.

The DVD explains how you can influence your child’s language development on a daily basis. Your daily habits and natural language usage is huge for your children, and poetry memorization can enhance the experience enormously. Andrew Pudewa wins me over by stressing the importance of competence in writing–hello! Have I not been saying that?! My mom will tell you that I once turned down a man because the letters he sent were poorly written. I wish I could say she’s exaggerating.

Moving on.

The very most basic way I can explain how this programs works is this:

Your children listen to the poems read on the disc or you read them to or with your child several times throughout the day. Not all of them every day–stop choking on your latte. The process of hearing, seeing (if they’re readers), and repeating will cement the sound and flow of the language in their minds (and hearts–I love words!).

If you have small children, begin at the beginning. If you have older children, you can start at the beginning also, but IEW recommends you allow them to “get into it” by choosing a fun poem from the more advanced sections. There is a schedule for the older children that they can develop to keep track of which poems to review each day. It would be a shame ot forget them after building those neuro-connectors, wouldn’t it?

Over the course of the five levels, your children will be memorizing fun lilts, complex poetry, speeches, Shakespeare, and more. This Course will carry you throughout your child’s schooling years, and can be used for copywork and dictation (and even spelling, if you want). I also used it for a little creative writing, thanks to some suggestions from the teacher’s manual.

I like to listen to a poem together and have my child use that poem for copywork. I then like to display the copywork someplace prominent while the child is learning that poem. You could also photocopy it from the student book, which contains all the poems as well as some illustrations they could color. Having the poem, say, on the refrigerator or in the bathroom (although it’s only about two feet from our frig to the toidy) is a good way to keep it the forefront of our minds and keep Mama from forgetting to review it.

Because we have many different ages, we play the CD from the beginning, and then the littles are excused from participating when we get to the poems they haven’t begun yet. They, of course, stick around and learn faster than a person would expect. Kids surprise ya’ like that. As we get to the higher levels, and the kids are on different discs, we’ll have to break up into groups–it’s okay…we’ll survive!

A note for large families:

One thing about IEW that I really appreciate is that they allow you to photocopy pages from their student book for use within your own family. I always like it when the homeschool company gives a nod to the many single income, large families who homeschool. It makes me far more likely to purchase from them.

Having all five levels together also makes it more budget (and shelf space) friendly–you only buy once! Plus, since all the kids eventually go to the beginning (even if they started with a harder poem just to get them interested), they will all be reciting and practicing and reading and posting and copying poems as a constant review to the others. I love this real life review!

Warning:

Do not use this curriculum if you don’t appreciate your children bursting into sudden and seemingly random poetical recitations at the most unpredictable moments…especially when your walking in the woods and two roads diverge. Here’s a life hint–take the one less traveled; that will make all the difference.

Additional Thoughts for my Fellow Roadschoolers:

Space and durability: the teacher’s manual is thin, and the binding is a sturdy plastic-coated wire. The discs are enclosed in a slim, leather-like case that even this little fella didn’t destroy.

Internet: I will admit it was a juggling act to get the seven mp3s downloaded, but the course does not rely on them. If your internet connection ain’t what it could be wherever your home is parked at the moment, you can begin the course anyway and download the workshops next time you’re at the library or Starbucks. They are interesting and helpful, but you can proceed without them and listen at your downloadable leisure.

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