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My daughter frequently asks me WHY I can seem to argue any point. And my answer is always, because I was TAUGHT to! Most of my life I was taught by Dominican nuns and Jesuit priests, including into university. As they were taught a true Classical Liberal Arts way of thinking, so they imparted it upon us. And part of that classical education is looking at the classics, and learning not only morals, but character and ideas from them. So that is why I was SO thrilled to find out about Silverdale Press LLC! Their mission is help parents, like me, to cultivate knowledge in the middle and high school students, and help them to sharpen learned skills, preparing their students for a lifetime of learning and citizenship.
So I was thrilled to be able to use their amazing Persuasive Writing & Classical Rhetoric: Practicing the Habits of Great Writers this past month with Miss Grace! While the program is technicallt aimed at kids ages 14-18, it also depends on where your child is in their clearning, as to whether the program is good for them or not. As Miss Grace is becoming QUITE the debater, and needed to really work on her writing skills, I thought it actually might help her to strengthen her argument and persuasion skills!
This all digital program is a 36-week language arts curriculum, for students primarily again, in grades 9-12. Each week students will learn how to write persuasively, through the framework of classical rhetoric and by practicing the habits of great writers: writers write, writers read, and writers think. While the focus is on writing, students will also read and interpret great works of non-fiction and learn about style, including correctness in grammar and clarity in sentence structure. You can either use this curriculum by itself for a language arts credit, or as a supplement to hone student writing skills. For our purposes, at this stage, it is more of a supplement.
- Student Workbook (consumable, 202 pages)
- Reader (111 pages)
- Parent Answer Key (68 pages)
On Day 2, students read a passage by a great writer or rhetorician and answer set of review questions about it. What Miss Grace adored was being able to watch videos, when applciable, and follow along, such as for the example shown. It was such a moving speech, and I was thrilled that she was able to HEAR it, and hear how a excellent speaker caa take a piece of writing and make it amazing and moving, with inflection and their voice!
Overall, we were really both impressed with the Persuasive Writing & Classical Rhetoric: Practicing the Habits of Great Writers program, and how it changed how she thought about writing, and how it helped to make writing easier for her, by reading other persuassive writing, and seeing how traditional structure can be varied for more effective persuassion! I was very impressed with this homeschool writing curriculum, as it could easily be taught in a classroom or coop setting! If you want to broaden your students thought on writing, and make them flex their critical thinking skills by 'debating in writing', this is a superb program to help them do JUST that! We both ighly recommend it!
Be sure to check out Silverdale Press LLC on their social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, not only for some great specials, but also great holiday information and lessons! Plus they have some fun Summer Unit Study ideas over on their Pinterest Page, like how to combine Summer vacation into a Unity Study, too!
My daughter frequently asks me WHY I can seem to argue any point. And my answer is always, because I was TAUGHT to! Most of my life I was taught by Dominican nuns and Jesuit priests, including into university. As they were taught a true Classical Liberal Arts way of thinking, so they imparted it upon us. And part of that classical education is looking at the classics, and learning not only morals, but character and ideas from them. So that is why I was SO thrilled to find out about Silverdale Press LLC! Their mission is help parents, like me, to cultivate knowledge in the middle and high school students, and help them to sharpen learned skills, preparing their students for a lifetime of learning and citizenship.
So I was thrilled to be able to use their amazing Persuasive Writing & Classical Rhetoric: Practicing the Habits of Great Writers this past month with Miss Grace! While the program is technicallt aimed at kids ages 14-18, it also depends on where your child is in their clearning, as to whether the program is good for them or not. As Miss Grace is becoming QUITE the debater, and needed to really work on her writing skills, I thought it actually might help her to strengthen her argument and persuasion skills!
If you're not sure what Rheoteric is, let me give you their definition: "The art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques" (from the Oxford English Dictionary). So really any time we are making a try at convincing someone of our opinion, a new skill, or why they should support a cause, we ARE using rheoteric! And when you think about it, you can understand how it can help students refine their critical thinking skills into skills they will use throughout their lives!
This all digital program is a 36-week language arts curriculum, for students primarily again, in grades 9-12. Each week students will learn how to write persuasively, through the framework of classical rhetoric and by practicing the habits of great writers: writers write, writers read, and writers think. While the focus is on writing, students will also read and interpret great works of non-fiction and learn about style, including correctness in grammar and clarity in sentence structure. You can either use this curriculum by itself for a language arts credit, or as a supplement to hone student writing skills. For our purposes, at this stage, it is more of a supplement.
Your digital package includes:
- Lesson Book (235 pages)- Student Workbook (consumable, 202 pages)
- Reader (111 pages)
- Parent Answer Key (68 pages)
The course is aimed at being done 5 days a week, and each week's lesson plan is shown at the start of each new chapter. Something that is helpful to both student and parent alike. Depending on the lesson, there were days when we combined Days 1 and 2 (because as you know, Miss Grace likes block scheduling!).
On Day 1, students will read the lesson and answer review questions (note: I did print out the student workbook for her, as it was easier for her to use that way- but most kids would be okay using it digitally, however).
But we did vary the directions a bit- I would go over the lesson with Miss Grace, having her read out parts of it to me, in the first couple of chapters, After that she used her digital reading program, to scan and read for her, as an audio lesson.
Then when it came to review, Miss Grace would look up the definitions and tell them to me, giving me an example as she did, not related to the lesson itself. Partly this was due to her being used to oral questioning, and to help speed up the lesson, as if she gets bogged down with too much physical writing, she can't loose interest. She would also read the biography that was included on the person, and if it was one known to her, then we would have a small discussion about that person, and their merit to being included in the course
But we did vary the directions a bit- I would go over the lesson with Miss Grace, having her read out parts of it to me, in the first couple of chapters, After that she used her digital reading program, to scan and read for her, as an audio lesson.
Then when it came to review, Miss Grace would look up the definitions and tell them to me, giving me an example as she did, not related to the lesson itself. Partly this was due to her being used to oral questioning, and to help speed up the lesson, as if she gets bogged down with too much physical writing, she can't loose interest. She would also read the biography that was included on the person, and if it was one known to her, then we would have a small discussion about that person, and their merit to being included in the course
On Day 2, students read a passage by a great writer or rhetorician and answer set of review questions about it. What Miss Grace adored was being able to watch videos, when applciable, and follow along, such as for the example shown. It was such a moving speech, and I was thrilled that she was able to HEAR it, and hear how a excellent speaker caa take a piece of writing and make it amazing and moving, with inflection and their voice!
Something I really liked about the Parent Answer Key was that all the answers were provided for both sets of review questions, was that they gave specifics, when needed, but allowed for answers to vary. What we found best was for me to read the passage before she started the lesson, and then I knew in advance, how to apply parts of the lesson, when the review questions came up.
On Day 3, students will complete an activity, which builds toward the final writing assignment (submitted at the end of Lesson 32. Miss Grace 'wrote' her answers, but typed them on a digital journal book instead of on the included downloaded lesson sheets.
She still had to answer all the questions, but it allowed her to keep them all in one place,and she could be creative, by adding digital drawings, like what her favorite writing space would look like (which she didn't want me to show you, sorry!).
She still had to answer all the questions, but it allowed her to keep them all in one place,and she could be creative, by adding digital drawings, like what her favorite writing space would look like (which she didn't want me to show you, sorry!).
On Day 4, students write a 500-word essay based on a prompt, usually from the reading. We combined Day 4 and 5, giving Miss Grace 2 days to do the essay if she wanted. Again, she used her office program to compose her thoughts, then edit them, and then hand in an essay. She was probably most excited about the Chapter 2 prompt, as she is ALL about space, LOL I do have to admit at first getting 500 words was hard for her, as we had been working on 400, but I found as we progressed through the chapters, she starting thinking more before she started writing, and the words just seemed to flow.
If you want your student writing again on Day 5, which I would if I was using this course for a Language Arts High School credit, then you could make it an editing day, and have your student read out their essay to someone as a homework assignment, and then come back on Day 5 and edit it, based on feedback given to them, as to whether it needed more persuassion, or not!
Overall, we were really both impressed with the Persuasive Writing & Classical Rhetoric: Practicing the Habits of Great Writers program, and how it changed how she thought about writing, and how it helped to make writing easier for her, by reading other persuassive writing, and seeing how traditional structure can be varied for more effective persuassion! I was very impressed with this homeschool writing curriculum, as it could easily be taught in a classroom or coop setting! If you want to broaden your students thought on writing, and make them flex their critical thinking skills by 'debating in writing', this is a superb program to help them do JUST that! We both ighly recommend it!
My fellow reviewers checked out other offerings from Silverdale Press LLC, that are wonderful homeschool unit studies, like their White House Holidays Unit Studies, aimed at kids ages 5-18! Which makes them perfect for homeschooling multiple age groups! Click the picture below to head on over and check out all of their review:
Be sure to check out Silverdale Press LLC on their social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, not only for some great specials, but also great holiday information and lessons! Plus they have some fun Summer Unit Study ideas over on their Pinterest Page, like how to combine Summer vacation into a Unity Study, too!
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