Happily Homeschooling

Memoria Press

Memoria Press – Classical Education 

For my last and final review for the TOS Crew, I had the opportunity to review Memoria Press, a classical Christian education company. I was graciously given 3 different products: Latina Christiana, Traditional Logic I, and Famous Men of Rome. As I have in previous reviews, I will give an overview of the company and then will discuss the products.

Memoria Press offers products to homeschool families that are characterized by “simplicity, quality, and affordability.” Although the programs are of the “highest academic standards”, they are not difficult to follow and can be used by everyone. Parents do not need to be familiar with the subjects in order to teach. This is a wonderful aspect of their programs. Latin and logic are not necessarily easy subjects, but they can be learned smoothly with Memoria Press. 

You can read more about Memoria Press in their About Us section. 

Now on to the products:

Latina Christiana I is an introduction to Christian Latin. It is designed for beginners from 3rd grade up and is generally covered over the course of one year. This is the first course written by Cheryl Lowe. It is designed for students and parents with no Latin background (which is me!). The course has been modified and is now available in the 3rd edition. What we received was the teacher and student workbooks, the pronunciation CD, and the DVD’s. Leigh Lowe is the instructor on the DVD’s and does a remarkable job. Leigh’s voice is calm and easy to listen to, which is important, I think, when watching an instructional video. She follows the workbooks well, too, which makes everything flow right along. Leigh is the author of Prima Latina and teaches at Highlands Latin School. The DVD’s cover all 25 lessons from the workbook. Each lesson is approximately 25 minutes long. Leigh offers tips during each lesson as well as assistance with difficult exercises. It is nice to be able to listen to the pronunciations of each word and know that you are doing it right (or wrong). The curriculum covers vocabulary, grammar, prayers, songs, history lessons, and more. It really is quite amazing how much information is incorporated into this curriculum. The teacher’s manual is a keyed copy of the student workbook. It provides guidelines for teaching, lesson plans, tests & keys, and extra information on Latin and Roman sayings. 

We enjoyed reviewing this program. Because we recently received this, we have not completed many of the lessons, but we have already learned some Latin already. I have always wanted to learn Latin because it is the basis of many of the languages used today. Learning even just the vowels helps explain some of the rules of English (or how vowels break the rules, lol).

Traditional Logic I is an introduction to formal logic. This curriculum can be for all ages but is designed typically for 7th grade and up. It can be covered in one semester or over one school year. Traditional Logic is an “in-depth study of the classical syllogism”. Mr. Cothran explains logic in an easy to understand and comprehensive manner. Traditional Logic I teaches Christian theory of knowledge, 4 kinds of logical statements, 4 ways propositions can be opposed and 3 ways they can be equivalent, and the 7 rules of validity of syllogisms. Like I said, this course is comprehensive and thorough! We received the workbooks (teacher and student) and the DVD set. The DVD set is taught by Martin Cothran, the author and like Latina Christiana, follows the workbook well and also reviews difficult exercises.

Again, we enjoyed reviewing this program. We chose logic because we are involved in NCFCA for Speech and Debate and believe it will all coincide. I first looked at Classical Rhetoric, but after discussing with Tanya from Memoria Press, decided to start with the Traditional Logic program. What we have been able to cover in the short time we’ve had the program has been interesting. The DVD’s are a little dry, but Mr. Cothran does an excellent job explaining logic, which is not an easy task. I do plan to finish this and ultimately move on to Classical Rhetoric.

Famous Men of Rome is an awesome book on great men in Roman history. It covers from Romulus to the end of the Western Empire. It is very well done and easy to read, even for younger students. It includes wonderful full-color illustrations of events during the lives of the men discussed. This book intertwines with Latina Christiana I, as Latin was language for this era. We received the book, as well as the year-long student workbook and teachers manual. The workbook includes famous quotes, a drill of key people and places, vocabulary words, timelines, as well as other great information. Famous Men of Rome alone offers an incredible amount of information. But adding the workbooks allows the student to think far beyond the stories and gain more knowledge and understanding of the Roman Empire, and ultimately, modern political philosophies. Both my children enjoyed reading this book. It is so interesting with all of the historical facts and stories. I plan to purchase the other Famous Men books. You can check them out here. 

The bottom line:

Memoria Press is very reasonably priced. You have the option of purchasing in part or whole most of the curriculum they offer.

Latina Christiana I is available for $39.95, with the DVD’s and flashcards it is $97.60. You can also purchase individual supplements from this page. 

Traditional Logic I is available for $31.90, with the DVD’s it is $68.95. The DVD’s alone are $45.00. Again, you can purchase supplemental material from this page. 

Famous Men of Rome is available right now for $39.95, which includes the teacher and student guides. The book alone is $16.95.

There are many more products available. You can look at all of them from the home page. 

You can also view the other crew member’s reviews here.

Memoria Press is a family-run publishing company that offers classical Christian education materials for home and private schools. Cheryl Lowe founded the company in 1994 “to help promote and transmit the classical heritage of the Christian West…” Currently, a K-12 classical curriculum is being developed and field-tested at Highlands Latin School in Louisville, KY. Memoria Press’ educational philosophy is classical Christian education, which is “the cultivation of wisdom and virtue through meditation on the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.