My family had the privilege of trying the Iliad & Odyssey Complete Set from Memoria Press for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.
Memoria Press is a family-run publishing company that produces simple and easy-to-use classical Christian education materials for home and private schools. It was founded by a woman named Cheryl Lowe in 1994. They currently have preschool through ninth grade in most of their curriculum and some through twelfth grade. They also cover subjects in: Classical Core Curriculum, Latin, Classical Studies, Christian Studies, Logic & Rhetoric, Phonics & Early Reading, Penmanship, Literature & Poetry, American & Modern Studies, Writing & English Grammar, Science & Math, Greek, Modern Languages, Educational Resources, eBooks, Special-Needs, and Art & Music.
Iliad & Odyssey Complete Set is a great curriculum which covers epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, known to be contributed by the Greek poet Homer. The Iliad is about the Trojan War (think Trojan Horse and the Fall of Troy). The Odyssey is about a man named Odysseus who is trying to get home from the Trojan War and meets/battles all sorts of fantastical mythical creatures and Greek gods/goddesses along his 10 year journey.
This set includes an Iliad book, student guide, teacher guide and DVDs & Odyssey book, student guide, teacher guide and DVDs. The books are the Samuel Butler translation and have black and white line drawings throughout. The Student Guides are put together by Stephen Musick and both have vocabulary words (Identify Places and Characters), comprehension questions, quotations, and discussion questions for each book/chapter. Both consumable workbooks also have an Appendix with: Genealogies, Alternate Names, Friends and Foes, Weaponry and Armor, Ship Terminology, and Character References. The Teacher Guides are also put together by Stephen Musick and cover: Drills to do with your student, Background summary of the book/chapter, Discussion Help, answer key to workbook pages, Questions to Mark for study of the Test for students, Teacher Notes, and Essays & Assignments for each book/chapter. There is also appendix with the same information as the workbooks and Tests to give to the student with answer keys. The Instructional DVDs are taught by the instructor, Sean Brooks. These give further background information and culture of the time period, as well as the themes that dominate these great epics. Geared towards 7th through 12th grade it introduces students to these epic poems. This set is great for middle/high school language arts and literature and would be fabulous along with an ancient history course on the Greeks. It is a wonderful addition to a classical christian homeschool curriculum.
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| Memoria Press Iliad & Odyssey Complete Set |
Complete Set includes:
- Iliad (447 pages, 24 books/chapters with a preface and character chart at the beginning)
- Iliad Student Guide (64 page consumable workbook: covers all 24 books and has additional information in the appendix)
- Iliad Teacher Guide (66 page teacher manual: covers all 24 books, workbook answers, appendix with same info as workbook, plus 10 pages of tests and keys, etc.)
- Iliad DVDs (5 DVDs, spanning the introduction and all 24 books)
- Odyssey (358 pages, 24 books/chapters with a preface and character chart at the beginning)
- Odyssey Student Guide (68 page consumable workbook: covers all 24 books and has additional information in the appendix)
- Odyssey Teacher Guide (68 page teacher manual: covers all 24 books, workbook answers, appendix with same info as workbook, plus 12 pages of tests and keys, etc.)
- Odyssey DVDs (6 DVDs, spanning the introduction and all 24 books)
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| Delbin reading the Iliad and working in the student guide. |
How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
Memoria Press was very generous in sending us the entire Iliad & Odyssey set, even though they knew my student would not get through more than one title during the review period. I love how both sets actually come with the reading texts. This is super convenient if you do not have them already in your home library.
We started with the Iliad, which is the first epic poem in the sequence. It is also longer than the Odyssey so we have been trying to pace ourselves well. Each of the 24 books/chapters within each epic take about an hour to an hour and a half to read. As instructed in the teacher guide I had Delbin, my son who is 16, start with drills and then read the book (which are what these epic poems are divided into instead of chapters) we were on in the Iliad aloud to me. This was good practice of his reading, speaking, enunciation, projection, and pronunciation of words. We then had a discussion about what was read and went over some comprehension. After this he would watch the corresponding DVD lesson. The DVD is great for the auditory/visual learner, is informative and professionally done. It is a great break from the book work and is a lot like sitting in a typical classroom with the instructor in front teaching. The DVD videos are each about 30-45 minutes in length. After his reading and watching the DVD lesson, he worked through the student guide pages for the book/chapter we read. Delbin would then mark down notes to help him study for the tests. We did not get around to doing the optional essays and assignments from the teacher guide, but may circle back to this at a later date.
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| Memoria Press Iliad DVDs. |
This curriculum is extremely thorough and comprehensive. I remember learning this in school myself, but not to this extent. I learned a lot that I didn't know. Delbin being new to this, enjoyed the learning as well.
I highly recommend the Memoria Press Iliad & Odyssey Complete Set to anyone who is homeschooling or doing supplemental work at home. These would also be great during Summer Vacation if you don't homeschool. The classical christian curriculum is some of my favorite literature curriculum in my eclectic homeschool ways. Everything that I have tried so far from Memoria Press I have loved. They have wonderful curriculum for k-12 homeschooling. Thanks again Memoria Press for being so generous in giving us the opportunity to look over the whole set. We can't wait to start The Odyssey next in this set!!
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BUY IT
Iliad & Odyssey Complete Set is $135.00. They are $75 separately.
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