The Classical Teacher - Summer 2024

Summer 2024

Saving Western civilization one student at a time.

BEATRICE AND THE SIREN

by Kyle Janke

Mark the Music: Beauty and Literature by Joseph Pearce

Beauty Is Not Just in the Eye of the Beholder by Mark Milke

The Country and the Cosmos by Martin Cothran

On the Road

by Martin Cothran

Ihad occasion recently to go on a Sunday afternoon drive. Sunday afternoon drives used to be a fixture of American culture. I remember them from my childhood in southern California, when my parents would load my sister and me in the car and just take off. Driving today is a purely utilitarian activity: You do it because you need to get from one place to another. My parents went on Sunday drives because they enjoyed it. They didn't necessarily have any place to go, they would simply go until they found something worth looking at, and we would all get out and behold it.

My most recent Sunday afternoon drive was conducted after a birthday party for my grandson in Lexington, Kentucky, heading back to my new home in Louisville—a drive, when done on the interstate, that takes a little over an hour. But I set my Google Maps to avoid interstates and I took off.

I turned onto the old Route 44, roughly paralleling the interstate. The landscape was somewhat stark, since it was winter, and the trees were without their leaves. The grass was mostly brown; snow would have made it better. I cracked the window, lit up a cigar, and turned on Jack Kerouac's On the Road, read by the inimitable Will Patton. Having driven as much as I have, I've gotten used to the disrepair into which much of rural America has fallen. Old farmhouses, neglected cattle pastures, broken down windmills—sometimes one must take pleasure even in the ruin of great beauty. And, of course, there's enough of the old America left to remind you what it was like before.

I turned around a bend and there was an antique railroad trestle passing high over the road, and just past it the road turned onto an old bridge that crossed over the river alongside the tracks. On the promontory overlooking the river valley was the Wild Turkey Bourbon distillery. It had a striking, time-worn beauty. What a pleasant surprise to stumble upon something I had heard so much about but had never seen. How nice to see it as a surprise rather than as part of a plan.

I used to do this a lot—take country roads—since for most of the last twenty-five years I lived over an hour from my office. Instead of turning right toward the interstate out of the little country road I lived on, I would turn left and take the old KY-55, a beautiful country drive. This route is maybe only five minutes longer and is actually a much straighter path—or that, at least, was how I justified it to myself (and my wife). But that wasn't the real reason. I could listen to books—I probably listened to hundreds of books over those two and a half decades—or I could just think, and I could do it surrounded by the natural beauty of the Bluegrass region of Kentucky.

When I moved closer to my office, a fifteen-minute drive in traffic was all I got. I realized it wasn't even the same kind of thing. I realized, on those last few drives back to our country house, that I would miss the long treks. I realized that that drive gave me time away from the mechanistic obligations of life. It was good for my soul.

Among the many thoughts I had on those journeys was that the best way to think is to do it in a beautiful place. There is something stifling about ugliness, something that is actually, I believe, bad for you. I do most of my thinking now (my best thinking anyway) in my library, which I have tried to make beautiful, or on my front porch in the nice little neighborhood I now live in.

We talk an awful lot more about the True and the Good than we do about the Beautiful. We need to rectify this. It will involve a long journey from the way most of us think now.

30 Dorothy Mills' Histories & Classical Studies Supplements

Geography

62 American Studies, Medieval History, & Modern European History

72 Arithmetic & Math

91 Science & Nature LOGIC & RHETORIC

87 Traditional Logic, Material Logic, & Aristotle's Rhetoric

66 Professor Carol: Discovering Music, Exploring America's Musical Heritage, & Early Sacred Music

67 A Classical History of Art, Art Posters & Cards, Creating Art, Reading Music, & Music Appreciation 70 Primary Enrichment

RESOURCES

27 Resource Books, Memoria College Press, Pamphlet Series 83 Memoria Academy

Prima

Latina: An Introduction to Christian Latin

by Leigh Lowe | Grades

1-4

Prima Latina is a gentle introduction to Latin speci cally designed for students and teachers with no Latin background. It teaches the basic parts of speech while introducing Latin, grounding students in the fundamental concepts of English grammar. Each lesson includes ve Latin vocabulary words and English derivatives, a Latin saying, a Latin prayer, and grammar exercises. If you are looking for additional support in teaching your student, the author, Leigh Lowe, has recorded detailed Instructional Videos for every lesson that are sure to delight your young students! Prima Latina transitions seamlessly into Latina Christiana

$108.54 complete set (student, teacher, CD, videos, flashcards)

$41.12 basic set (student, teacher, CD)

Student $17.90 | Teacher $17.90 | Audio $10.00

Videos $55.00 | Flashcards $17.30

Latina Christiana: An Introduction to First Form Latin

by Cheryl Lowe | Grades

3-6

Begin your Latin study here or continue on from Prima Latina . Each lesson consists of a grammar form, ten vocabulary words, English derivatives to help build vocabulary, and a Latin saying that teaches students about their Christian and classical heritage.

e Teacher Manual includes a complete copy of the student book with overlaid answers, and provides detailed weekly lesson plans, comprehensive teaching instructions, tests, and weekly quizzes and keys.

$106.60 complete set (student, teacher, CD, videos, flashcards)

$48.30 basic set (student, teacher, CD)

Student $19.00 | Teacher $22.65 | Audio $10.00

Videos $55.00 | Flashcards $17.30

Latina Christiana Games & Puzzles

Grades 3-6

Games & Puzzles

$14.05 | Games & Puzzles Answer Key $6.20

In this activity book we've stu ed enrichment activities of every kind to help your students practice the vocabulary, grammar, and derivatives in Latina Christiana . Students will nd hours of enjoyment playing Latin hangman, solving Latin crossword puzzles, and competing against each other in Latin picture games, while you can secretly delight in the fact that such "fun" work is actually worthwhile!

Introduction to English Grammar

Grades 1-4

Student Workbook $11.85 | Teacher Key $9.25

Help students make connections between the Latin grammar they are learning in Prima Latina and English grammar with these single-page worksheets. We highly recommend this companion book, which can also be used as a standalone review of English grammar to solidify concepts already learned if your student is not doing Prima

Latina Christiana Review Worksheets

Grades 3-6

Review Worksheets $11.85

Review Worksheets Key $6.20

We highly recommend Latina Christiana Review Worksheets as a companion to Latina Christiana. Two pages of cumulative review for every lesson of Latina Christiana will ensure your students get weekly reinforcement of old and new concepts.

Latina Christiana Grammar Charts

Wall Charts (left) (33" x 17") (4 charts total) $22.70

Desk Charts (right) (8.5" x 11") (4 charts total) $15.10

All of the grammar forms from Latina Christiana are organized here in a clean, easy-to-read format that is a perfect visual aid for a classroom wall or student desk.

Latin Latin Forms Series A grammar-based approach to learning Latin.

e Latin Forms Series is based on decades of teaching experience and use in private schools and homeschools around the world. First Form is the ideal text for all beginners, grades 5 and up, or is a great follow-up to Latina Christiana. e uniqueness of the Forms Series lies in two features:

1) A systematic, grammar- rst approach to learning Latin that is suitable for the grammar stage student—and all beginners, regardless of age, are in the grammar stage of learning.

2) Extensive workbook exercises that ensure skill mastery and rapid recognition of in ected forms.

Our text and guides help every student (and teacher!) make sense of this di cult subject. A complete set includes:

• 34 two-page lessons in the Student Text are paired with 4-6 pages of Student Workbook exercises, weekly Quizzes, and unit Tests to make sure your students are mastering and retaining what they learn.

• e Pronunciation Audio and Flashcards provide constant practice of grammar forms and vocabulary.

• e scripted Teacher Manual and complete Teacher Key give even the most novice Latin teacher the tools to teach with con dence.

• Instructional Videos in DVD or streaming format are also available, to bring the experience and expertise of a Highlands Latin School master teacher into your home.

First Form Latin: Latin Grammar, Year One by Cheryl Lowe Grades 5+ (Grades 4+ if completed Latina Christiana)

Latin Forms Series

(First Form shown)

$138.69 complete set ea. (all 5 books, CD, videos, flashcards) $77.11 basic setea. (all 5 books + audio)

Text $16.25 ea. | Workbook $17.90 ea.

Teacher Manual $14.05 ea. | Teacher Key $17.90 ea.

Quizzes & Tests $6.20 ea. | Audio $10.00 ea. | Flashcards $17.30 ea.

Instructional Videos: DVDs or Streaming $55.00 ea.

Second Form Latin: Latin Grammar, Year Two by Cheryl Lowe | Grades 6+

ird Form Latin: Latin Grammar, Year ree by Cheryl Lowe | Grades 7+

First through ird Form

Latin Review

Summer Review Courses by Cheryl Lowe | Grades 5+

Student $15.10 ea.

Key $11.85 ea.

Fourth Form Latin: Latin Grammar, Year Four by Cheryl Lowe & Michael Simpson Grades 8+

Students are prone to forget what they have learned from year to year—an especially detrimental loss for the Latin student. To prevent this, Memoria Press has developed these summer courses that feature vocabulary review, form drills, and other exercises, all designed to foster mastery and retention.

Prima Latina Copybook

New American Cursive font

Grades 1-4

$16.80

is Latin copybook in the New American Cursive font, featuring vocabulary practice and a page to copy each prayer in Prima Latina, is a great way to help your children practice their Latin while developing penmanship skills.

Latin Cursive Copybook

Hymns & Prayers

Grades 4-6

$16.80

Practice your cursive with Latin sayings and hymns and prayers from Latina Christiana, First Form Latin, and Lingua Angelica

Latin Grammar Recitation Program

Grades 4+ | $29.15 set (flashcards and handbook)

Flashcards for every grammar form taught and recited in our Latin Forms Series and a handbook with a lesson-by-lesson schedule for coordinating with the recitations in First Form through Fourth Form

Latin Recitation CD/DVD

Grades 3+

Audio & Video (includes streaming)

$17.35

e entire Latin grammar, presented by Cheryl Lowe. CD is audio only; DVD includes visual grammar charts.

Introduction $11.85

Beginning Latin Exam (formerly Level I) $17.90

Intermediate Latin Exam (formerly Level II) $22.65

Intermediate Reading Comprehension Exam (formerly Level III) $22.65

ese guides include the vocabulary, grammar, syntax, Roman history, culture, mythology, and geography commonly found on the National Latin Exam. When paired with previous exams, these guides are perfect preparation for the NLE.

Memoria Press Guides to the National Latin Exam by Cheryl Lowe, Susan Strickland, and Jon Christianson Grades 5+

Latin Forms Series Grammar Charts

Roots of English

Latin & Greek Roots for Beginners by Paul O'Brien

Grades 6-8

$23.75

An introduction to English vocabulary through a study of Latin and Greek roots.

e Book of Roots

Advanced Vocabulary Building from Latin Roots by Paul O'Brien

Grades 8+

Student $27.00

Key $6.20

Your student will learn the de nition and etymology of over 1,500 English derivatives, along with pre xes, su xes, and supplemental Latin vocabulary lists.

Lingua Biblica:

Wall Charts (33" x 17")

First Form (4 charts)

$22.70

Second Form (3 charts) $22.70

Lingua Angelica I & II

Latin Songs & Prayers (Translation Course) by Cheryl Lowe | Grades 4-12

$46.80 setea. (student & teacher, song book, & audio)

Student $14.05 ea. | Teacher $20.05 ea. Song Book* $11.85 | Audio* $12.55

*Used for both LA I and II

Desk Charts (8.5" x 11")

First & Second Form (6 charts) $15.10 ird & Fourth Form (20 charts) $19.00

Vocabulary work, interlinear translation exercises, and grammar word study exercises for 28 hymns sung by a six-voice Gregorian chant choir.

Old Testament Stories in Latin by Martin Cothran Grades 9+

Student $22.65

Teacher $22.65

Translation exercises from the Latin Vulgate. Each lesson includes exercises at three levels of di culty.

Latin Grammar for the Grammar Stage

by Cheryl Lowe

All Ages | $17.90

A compendium of Latin grammar forms and a basic introduction to Latin syntax. Includes all conjugations and declensions, making it an easily accessible reference.

Originally published in 1945, the Henle Latin Series teaches Latin the traditional way. Our Teacher Manuals split the work of Henle Latin First Year over two years, scheduling what to do every step of the way. e Manuals include scripted lessons for the teacher, additional explanations and practice for the student, and a full answer key. e Quizzes & Tests help you measure your mastery along the way.

Note: Though Henle is considered a Catholic text, its superiority as a teaching resource and the outstanding benefits of its Christian perspective also make it appropriate for Protestants.

Henle Latin Second Year

Advanced Christian Latin by Robert

Henle

Grades 9+

$74.23 set (text, key, student, quizzes & tests, flashcards)

Text $21.99 | Key $7.99

Student Guide $19.00

Quizzes & Tests $11.85

Flashcards $17.30

After the completion of Henle Latin First Year or Memoria Press’ Latin Forms Series, the next step for Latin students is Henle Latin Second Year , which rounds out the Latin grammar and introduces students to the text of Caesar’s De Bello Gallico Memoria Press offers a Student Guide with comprehensive guidance for each lesson as well as Quizzes & Tests to assess progress and mastery. These resources contain everything needed to succeed in the course and conquer the first step into the world of authentic Latin texts.

Henle Latin Fourth Year

Advanced Christian Latin by Robert Henle

Grades 11+

$28.48 set (text, key)

Text $21.99 | Key $7.99

Henle Latin Fourth Year leads students through Cicero's Defense of Archias and the rst six books of the culmination of Latin poetry, Virgil's Aeneid.

Mueller's text and accompanying Teacher's Guide will lead students through Caesar's account of his wars in Gaul. A perfect text for Latin students who are ready to translate, this program includes vocabulary, footnotes, historical background, and other resources, preparing interested students for the Caesar portion of the AP Latin Exam. Memoria Press' Lesson Plans schedule the work and teach, step by step, how to approach Latin translation.

Henle Latin First Year

Advanced Christian Latin by Robert Henle | Grades 8+

$59.78 Text Set (Henle I text, key, grammar, and flashcards)

$81.55 Units I-V Guides and Instructional Videos Set

(I-V teacher manual, quizzes & tests, instructional videos)

$81.55 Units VI-XIV Guides and Instructional Videos Set

(VI-XIV teacher manual, quizzes & tests, instructional videos)

Henle I Text $21.99 | Henle I Key $7.99 | Henle Grammar $16.99

Henle Latin I Vocabulary Flashcards $19.45

Henle Latin First Year Teacher Manual: Units I-V or VI-XIV $23.75 ea.

Henle Latin First Year Quizzes & Tests: Units I-V or VI-XIV $11.85 ea.

Henle Latin First Year Streaming Instructional Videos: Units I-V or VI-XIV $55.00 ea.

Henle Latin ird Year

Advanced Christian Latin by Robert Henle Grades 10+

$96.79 set (text, key, student, teacher, quizzes & tests, flashcards)

Text $21.99 | Key $7.99

Student Guide $19.00

Teacher Manual $23.75

Quizzes & Tests $11.85

Flashcards $17.30

Henle Latin ird Year teaches students to reach beyond grammar and grasp the rudiments of rhetoric with the help of Cicero, perhaps Rome's most illustrious orator. Memoria Press' Student Guide, Teacher Manual, and Quizzes & Tests are sources of invaluable support in learning and mastering rhetorical Latin, even without the guidance of an experienced teacher. ese texts organize the course into a sensible schedule, o er a wealth of insight to assist students in their exercises, and provide levelappropriate assessments to determine mastery of Latin.

Henle Latin Vocabulary Flashcards

Grades 8+

Henle Latin First Year

Flashcards

$19.45

Henle Latin Second Year

Flashcards

$17.30

Henle Latin ird Year

Flashcards

$17.30

Mueller's Caesar: Selections from De Bello Gallico by Hans-Friedrich Mueller

Grades 10+

$81.99 set (text, teacher, lesson plans)

Text $45.00 | Teacher $24.00

Lesson Plans $17.30

AP Latin

Vergil's Aeneid: Selected Readings from Books 1, 2, 4, and 6

by Barbara Weiden Boyd

Student $45.00

Teacher $24.00

is course covers all lines of Vergil on the AP Latin Exam. Each page contains the Latin text, key vocabulary, and English summaries.

Excelability in Advanced Latin

by Marianthe Colakis

Student $30.00

Teacher $30.00

is course contains over 75 passages drawn from a variety of Latin authors, translation exercises, multiple choice tests, practice sight-reading Latin, and a comprehensive review of Latin grammar.

Caesar and Vergil AP Vocabulary Cards

$19.00

All vocabulary appearing ve or more times on the Vergil and Caesar sections of the AP Latin Exam.

The Remains of the Ancients

by Tracy Lee Simmons

Classics, as taught by Humanists, gave untold generations canons for taking in the Beautiful and Sublime. Classically educated people learned what was seemly. Education at its higher reaches should be, according to English classicist R. C. Jebb, a matter of aesthetic revelation.

Once, educated people could pronounce upon Taste and Style, and by and large the education they had received had granted them the license to do so. Standards ruled. This never meant that all educated people always agreed about what was tasteful and stylish, only that they had canons to which they could appeal when disputes arose. They had benchmarks. That day also is done. But we should not allow our excursion to reach its terminus without touching upon the subtle power of aesthetic precept that the Greek and Roman classics lent to the Western mind.

Taste and Style were primary aims within sight of Humanists for centuries. Heraclitus once said that "masses of knowledge do not instruct a mind." The civilized person had not merely to be knowledgeable; he had to own and wear that knowledge in a special way. Knowledge was as much a courtly acquisition as an arrow in a quiver with which to combat and conquer the world. A person's inner nature had to be transformed. We might say that this vision is a "construct." It is artificial. Of course it is. But we err if we thereby conclude that men and women, say, of the Renaissance did not know that Taste and Style were artificial. They did. So, they would have said, were manners. So was piety. So was an ability to dance a minuet or to sing a madrigal—or to parse an ode of Horace. So was any sense for the finer, more profound things. All of these had to be learned. They had to be constructed, made and re-made from the raw materials of mind, heart, and body. As Humanists saw it, we enter this life naked and hungering and brutal. We need civilizing. Such artificial attainments—such "constructs"—made and strengthened the very sinews of culture. The world certainly would have been survivable without them. It also would have been a lesser place.

Those elusive things called Taste and Style, though, must rest upon not-so-elusive standards. One must choose the norms by which he'll be guided. Will one follow fashion and the personal whims of the moment? Or will one take his cues from what has been established as the best the world has to offer? Aesthetics is not an easy field to joust on; neither of these questions is easily parried. Personality will play a role in the struggle, and genius, as has been said, is a law unto itself. Yet those schooled along classical paths knew that they had been given an education as much aesthetic as it was intellectual. Humanism made sure of it.

The classical world bestowed upon all who served their youth in its purlieus a kind of parallel universe. It was at once a lens through which to peer and a code to break. Within its rich and peopled precincts we find personalities, high and low, and conditions, glorious and desperate, that serve as cultural compasses, showing us the distance we have still to travel before the flowering, the realizing, of our supreme ideals. They show us our proximity to perfection. No wonder the pursuit of classics was for so many centuries an erstwhile rival to religion—and why so many religious spirits bridled against it. Classics established yet another guide point, set another lodestar in the firmament, by which to steer our lives, intellectually, aesthetically, spiritually. Classical literature, thought, and art showed us the best of which we're capable.

But what finally about this idea of Taste? Were the classics a source of Taste because they were naturally "tasteful"—or was classical literature automatically considered tasteful because it was classical? Certainly not the latter. Many judicious people over the centuries have excluded the Satyricon of Petronius from the ranks of tasteful works, as well as some of the poems of Catullus, to name but two authors. Not every work of classical literature has been roundly embraced through history, as we saw with the English Puritans of the seventeenth century. Greatness is not always tasteful. So what accounts for this association of Taste with classics? One explanation is practical: classics have been veritably defined as that which has survived. So the conflation of classics with Taste isn't all that farfetched when we recognize the high degree of selectivity involved in both the formal and informal sifting of classical literature. The sad fact is that most of what the Greeks and Romans wrote has been lost. What remains is the list of Greatest Works, those pieces and fragments that successive generations of critics, scholars, and lay readers deemed worth preserving. The crème de la crème had risen to the top and been scraped off, leaving us with the best they had thought and said.

Yet this account isn't quite complete. Certain qualities of character, good and bad, were thought to inhere within those Greek and Roman shards that two millennia of discerning spirits have considered to be the best of their kind. The jury is already in; judgment was passed long ago. Within Greek literature we find, along with all the mayhem of petty wars and nastily destructive domestic jealousies—all the meanness and pettiness of mankind—footprints of those grander traits of humanity: nobility, restraint, balance, harmony, proportion, generosity, grace. And these traits are aesthetic as well as ethical. Within the lines of Greek epic and tragedy, man finds the place assigned to him in the universe by the gods, a place he transgresses to his peril;

the man or woman beset with hubris finds redemption in calm, opened-eyed resignation to fate. Later, the Romans showed us how man can acquit himself with dignity, even majesty. Chronicles of noble quests for order fill their pages. The long, straight Roman road is itself a telling symbol of the high destiny the Romans sought to fulfill. By the very nature of the task, wrote T. S. Eliot most tellingly, close reading of Greek and Latin classics over many years tends to engender "maturity of mind, maturity of manners, maturity of language and perfection of the common style."

There's no escape: Our aesthetic vocabulary has grown from the classical sensibility. It would not be far off the mark to say that the Greeks and Romans have best taught us how to think and feel. Their greatest medium was their words. And to weigh words in our hands is to measure both their logical power and beauty together. It is to know what they mean, and can mean, at full thrust. For Thomas Jefferson, the classics provided "models of pure taste in writing." To Greek and Latin, he said, "we are certainly indebted for the rational and chaste style of modern composition which so much distinguishes the nations to whom these languages are familiar."

"The remains of the ancients," said John Witherspoon at the College of New Jersey in the eighteenth century, "are the standard of taste." Well enough. But of course we need not take up Greek and Latin in order to acquire models of Taste and Style any more than we may for their intellectually formative ones. This aim is almost unheard of now anyway. Content is quite reason enough to sustain interest and justify their nest in schools' and colleges' curricula.

The point we might make, though, is that one can do so—and that these goals of intellectual and aesthetic shaping were more commonly pursued over the past several centuries than were the more scholarly ones of simple philological and historical inquiry. After all, the probing of chronological, sociological, and linguistic problems, however weighty and vital they may be for the life of scholarship, does not alter our mental natures. Forming the mind does. Perhaps a renewed ardor for the formation of mind and soul will once again give us a pass for making deft and shrewd aesthetic judgments. We may not be put off thereafter when someone says that any response of ours to a piece of literary or visual art is "just" our "opinion." An opinion built upon established standards, after all, is not quite the same thing as a mere feeling. Such an opinion may be well or ill-founded, right or wrong, but it isn't mere. It never was.

Tracy Lee Simmons holds a master's degree in classics from Oxford and is the best-selling author of Climbing Parnassus, a case for classical education in America, from which this article is excerpted, and On Being Civilized, available now from Memoria College Press.

StoryTime Treasures

More StoryTime Treasures

Grade 1

StoryTime & More StoryTime Treasures

StoryTime Treasures

$51.68 set (guides & novels)

Student Guide $17.90

Teacher Guide $20.05

Little Bear $5.99

Caps for Sale $8.99

Frog and Toad Are Friends $5.99

Make Way for Ducklings $9.99

More StoryTime Treasures

$74.90 set (guides & novels)

Student Guide $17.90

Teacher Guide $20.05

Billy and Blaze $9.99

Blaze and the Forest Fire $9.99

e Story About Ping $5.99

Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie $8.99

Stone Soup $7.99

e Little House $9.99

Miss Rumphius $8.99

Grade 2

$119.40 guide set (student & teacher guides)

$184.04 guides + novelsset (guides & novels)

Student Guide $13.95 ea.

Teacher Guide $8.15 ea.

Amelia Bedelia $5.99

Prairie School $5.99

e Courage of Sarah Noble $5.99

Little House in the Big Woods $9.99

Sea Story $9.99 | High Hills $9.99

Beatrix Potter novels $8.99 ea.

Recommended Supplement: Literature Dictionary $6.20

Grade 3

$75.36 guide

guides + novelsset

and teacher guides & novels)

e Mo ats

Student Guide $13.95

Teacher Guide $13.95

e Mo ats $9.99

Grade 4

$100.48 guide set (student & teacher guides)

Grade 5

$75.36 guide set

& teacher guides) $101.43 guides + novelsset

and teacher guides & novels)

Grade 6

$100.48 guide set

Grade 7

$100.48

Grade 8

$75.36 guide set

Grade 9 $100.48

Grade 10

Grade 11

Mix and match any 10 or more individual Memoria Press literature guides and receive 20% o your literature guide purchase! Use coupon code LITGUIDE at checkout!

Grade 12

Macbeth

Alternate Literature Options

Animal Folk Tales of America Grade 2

Mr. Popper's Penguins Grades 3-4

Student

Robinson Crusoe Grades 9+

e Magician's Nephew Grades 5-7

e Adventures of Tom Sawyer Grades 7-8

Mark the Music

Beauty and Literature

by Joseph Pearce

Itmight seem a little odd to begin a meditation on beauty and literature with a discussion of music. Yet such a discussion is necessary for an understanding of beauty in general and the way that it is made manifest in the literary, visual, and musical arts.

The Latin word musica has its roots in the Greek mousiké, which refers to the nine Muses, the goddesses of inspiration and creativity. To the Greeks, the inspiration and creativity provided by the Muses were necessary to innovation in both the arts and the sciences. They were also inseparable from harmony, order, and proportion, each of which is a manifestation of the triune splendor of Goodness, Truth, and Beauty. This understanding of the interconnectedness of the creative inspiration of the artist and the harmony and order of the cosmos was integral to the Greek understanding of the arts. The artist received his creative inspiration from the gods and was meant to use the creative gifts he'd been given to reflect the Goodness, Truth, and Beauty of creation itself. In essence, the work of the human artist or poet should emulate and reflect the beauty of the order and harmony of the cosmos.

This ancient understanding of the relationship between beauty and art was taken up by the great Christian philosopher Boethius in the early sixth century. In his seminal work, De Musica, Boethius explicates the teaching of Pythagoras and Plato as encapsulated in the latter's dictum that "the soul of the universe was composed according to a musical harmony." The harmony of the cosmos is divine, dwelling in the mind of God and expressive of God's intrinsic Goodness, Truth, and Beauty. This shines forth in Creation in the musica mundana, the music of the spheres (or the world), the physical expression of the spiritual harmony of the cosmos itself. In this sense, the music of the cosmos is united with arithmetic or mathematics, obeying the rules of order and proportion.

In addition to the musica mundana, Boethius also speaks of the musica humana, the inner harmony of the human person, body and soul, as well as the musica instrumentalis, the manifestation of music in a physical sense.

Boethius' De Musica would become the standard music theory textbook throughout the Middle Ages, in much the same way as his Consolatio would become the standard philosophical text.

Boethius' enduring influence is seen in the works of Shakespeare and is made manifest especially in the words of Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice. The extent to which Shakespeare is indebted to De Musica is seen in the manner in which Lorenzo's words echo Boethius' understanding of the musica mundana, the musica humana, and the musica instrumentalis, alluding to each in the order in which Boethius writes of them.

Lorenzo begins by waxing lyrical about the beauty of the universe itself, the music of the spheres, or the musica mundana :

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!

Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music

Creep in our ears. Soft stillness and the night

Become the touches of sweet harmony. Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven Is thick inlaid with patens of bright gold. There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st

But in his motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-ey'd cherubins…

The "sweet harmony" of the cosmos does not merely "creep" into the ears audibly, it is felt in the sweetness of the sleeping moonlight and the softness of the night; it "touches" us. It is seen in the stars in the sky, which are "inlaid" within heaven's "floor" like glittering jewels. And it is beyond the physical senses, shining forth spiritually so that every star and planet in the sky, in its ordered motion and physical beauty, sings like an angelic choir.

Having exhorted Jessica to experience the beauty of the musica mundana, Lorenzo then speaks to her of the musica humana, the music of the human person, body and soul, the imago Dei:

Such harmony is in immortal souls,

But whilst this muddy vesture of decay

Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.

Insofar as man is made in God's image, he reflects the beauty of his maker, the harmony of the divine, which is present in his undying soul. But his mortal body, the "muddy vesture" that he wears, is subject to decay, a reflection of his fallen state, which means that his soul is also subject to decay, the decadence of sin. This mortality, this presence of death and decay, deadens the immortal soul, grossly closing it in upon itself, so that we cannot "hear" the inner harmony that is God's image within us.

Come, ho, and wake Diana with a hymn, With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear

And draw her home with music.

Lorenzo's marvelous speech concludes on a cautionary note, serving to remind not merely Jessica but Shakespeare's audience that those who pay no heed to divine harmony, who have no sense of beauty, and who are deaf to the music of Creation are not to be trusted:

The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus.

Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.

Shakespeare's words, spoken in the voice of Lorenzo, were a warning against the puritans of his own time who mistrusted music and the seductive power of beauty, but they were also prophetic of the coming of the so-called and superciliously selfnamed "Enlightenment." In the century or so following Shakespeare's death, the "age of reason" would reject metaphysics and the metaphysical understanding of Goodness, Truth, and Beauty that had animated the philosophy of Plato and Boethius. The materialism and scientism of the eighteenth century were marked by the ideas of those who had no music in themselves, who were "not moved with concord of sweet sounds." The motions of their spirit were as "dull as night" and their affections as dark as hell itself. They refused to "mark the music" and should not be trusted.

Thankfully, the music cannot be silenced by false philosophies or false prophets. It plays in the cosmos in which we live, in the microcosmos of our souls, and in the beauty of the music we produce in literature and the other creative arts.

Let Lorenzo's words be heeded. Let's mark the music. Let's praise the music. Let's play the music.

Finally, Lorenzo speaks of the musica instrumentalis, the beauty of art, which is in some sense an incarnation of the musica mundana and the musica humana, the divine image in man singing in harmony with the divine presence in Creation:

Joseph Pearce is the series editor of the Ignatius Critical Editions, the Tolkien and Lewis Chair in Literary Studies at Holy Apostles College and Seminary, and the author of several biographies of Christian literary figures.

Poetry for the Primary Stage

Grades K-2 | $10.80

Your child will be delighted by the whimsy and inspired by the beauty of the beloved poems in our Poetry for the Primary Stage anthology. ese selections are perfect for family read-aloud time or memorization practice.

Poetry for the Grammar Stage

Grades 3-7

$50.18 set

(student, teacher, anthology)

Student $17.30

Teacher $19.45

Anthology $19.00

Our illustrated anthology is the perfect companion for this study guide, which includes vocabulary work and comprehension questions, and beginning concepts of poetry analysis. Poems increase in difficulty as students move through the book in each year of the grammar stage.

Poetry & Short Stories for the Logic Stage: 19th and 20th Centuries

Grades 7+

$53.83 set

(student, teacher, anthology)

Student $18.35 | Teacher $20.50

Anthology $20.95

Revisit the Old World elegance of Irving's prose and the range of Poe's romanticism. Enjoy the Fireside Poets—Longfellow, Whittier, and Holmes. Rediscover the rich, varied authenticity of American literature with this anthology and study guide.

e British Tradition

Poetry, Prose, & Drama (Book I): e Old English & Medieval Periods

Poetry & Prose (Book II): e Elizabethan to the Neoclassical Age

Poetry (Book III): e Romantic to the Victorian Age

Grades 8+ | $53.83 set ea. (student, teacher, anthology)

Student $18.35 ea. | Teacher $20.50 ea. | Anthology $20.95 ea.

Did you ever wish you didn't have to sort through all the thousands of poems that have been written over the years to nd the best of the best? Cheryl Lowe has done the work for you in these British poetry anthologies, from legendary knights to staid Victorians. Use our accompanying study guides for a full-year course that guides students into a deeper understanding of the most important and in uential poetry, prose, and drama in the British tradition.

SIREN

Dante’s

Vision of Beauty in the Comedy BEATRICE and the

BY KYLE JANKE

Should pleasure define our sense of beauty or should beauty define our sense of pleasure?

This is the essential cultural question of The Divine Comedy, and that of our lives as well. Every person follows one or the other of its directives. The world treats beauty as the outgrowth of personal preference. Its definitions of beauty are numerous and varied. It might cast itself at Beauty's feet, but not before it makes her in its image. This is beauty conforming to pleasure. However, it is possible to take another path. It is possible to train our sense of pleasure, as a vintner trains a vine, to grow towards the sun. Both classical paganism and Christianity appeal to a source of beauty exterior to our human experience. Classical art aims at the perfectibility of man. The Incarnation of Christ hits the mark and Christians seek to follow. This is pleasure conforming to beauty. As far as Dante is concerned, this distinction defines a person's cultural identity. Is he of this world or of another? In this way, the Classical-Christian culture that is manifest in Dante's epic hinges on the proper definition of beauty as the climactic decision of "our life's journey."

More than a statesman, a celebrity, or even a historical man, Dante was a poet. We know him best by his text and his text pursues beauty, which is the poet's object. In the Comedy, the pursuit of beauty is synonymous with both Dante's poetic project and his pilgrimage to God. All beauty reflects God's glory, an assertion that places Dante firmly on the Classical-Christian side of our essential question. Purgatorio, at the center of Dante's trilogy, carries the reader from the earthen paths of Hell to the airy heights of Heaven. It does so by means of a climb up a mountain—towards the sun—and a discourse on beauty.

The metaphor of light throughout the poem frames the development of Dante's good taste. I

have said that all beauty, in Dante's mind, reflects the glory of God. His Paradiso, filled with celestial light, asserts this. Its opposite is Inferno, all dark except for fire. The distinction between them takes a concrete form in Purgatorio, where Dante meets two diverse beauties: Sirena and Beatrice. A proper definition of beauty, which directs a healthy culture's growth, takes shape in this contrast.

Dante meets Sirena in Canto 19 of Purgatorio. His introduction, significantly, follows Virgil's lecture on proper and improper love. Sirena first appears to Dante as a misshapen old crone, and it is his looking at her that casts a spell upon her. This recasting of the siren myth exemplifies Dante's main conceit:

I stared at her; and just as the new sun breathes life to night-chilled limbs, just so my look began to free her tongue, and one by one drew straight all her deformities.

Note the simile. Dante likens his look to the sun, describing himself as a source of light. This notion of beauty, so called, is in the eye of the beholder. Sirena morphs to match Dante's sense of pleasure. Her beauty shapes itself to his preference, her growth directed toward his sun. This models one side of our equation, what we will recognize as the dominant contemporary idea of taste. Yet the poet's insight penetrates deeper. In one intricately crafted image, Dante pinpoints the original error in man, for Eve saw the forbidden fruit "was pleasant to the eyes." Sirena illustrates the human condition, prior to the lessons of Purgatory, lost in error as though in a dark wood, the place where Dante's epic begins. Sirena is the shape and form of sin.

It is Virgil, acting as the voice of reason, who releases Dante from his self-inflicted spell:

He seized the witch, and with one rip laid bare all of her front, her loins and her foul belly: I woke sick with the stench that rose from there.

A stench issues from Sirena's womb. Her offspring are corrupt. Dante prescribes reason to counteract falsehood, implying again that beauty is external to human desire. Plain logic denies the free expression of Dante's false love. It stands to reason: The pursuit of false beauty—the love of Sirena—can only result in an eternity with oneself and therefore cannot be a productive union. Bent in crooked growth, the vine will die. So Dante must learn to love the higher beauty, which his initial affection would seem to ignore.

In Canto 30, Dante meets Beatrice. Her whole being looks toward a greater light. Hers is the posture of the blessed. Upon meeting her, Dante finds that Virgil has gone. Beauty replaces reason as Dante's guide. These are her first words to the pilgrim:

"Dante, do not weep yet, though Virgil goes. Do not weep yet, for soon another wound shall make you weep far hotter tears than those!"

Dante, she says, I'll give you something to cry about! Beatrice eclipses Virgil's influence, his instruction, and his light, as our sun overwhelms a distant star. Even so, a young man will leave his boyhood friends to seek the company of beauty. That is beauty's captivating power. It demands that the young man change. Beatrice spends the majority of the next canto chastising Dante's waywardness, playing the role of a jealous lover, forcing guilty tears from his eyes, and even mocking his beard. It is, perhaps, the truest and most delightful moment in Western literature. We laugh because we feel its sting. Yet Dante's tears will turn to laughter when he grows to be a man. Of course, Beatrice's assault on Dante's error places her on the other side of our equation from Sirena. Her beauty is unbending. Preference breaks against it like a wave against a cliff. This is the lesson of Mount Purgatory:

"In any case that you may know your crime truly and with true shame and so be stronger against the Siren's song another time, control your tears and listen with your soul to learn how my departure from the flesh ought to have spurred you to the higher goal. Nothing in Art or Nature could call forth such joy from you, as sight of that fair body which clothed me once and now sifts back to earth. And if my dying turned that highest pleasure to very dust, what joy could still remain in mortal things for you to seek and treasure? At the first blow you took from such vain things your every thought should have been raised to follow my flight above decay."

How can we follow her flight beyond the grave? By finding in the light that her beauty reflects a proper shape for our pleasure.

Dante's pilgrimage is really an allegorical quest for good taste. Both Hell and Purgatory specifically act upon the pilgrim's aesthetic judgment. As a result, his pleasure matures. Not only is this possible, because pleasure has a proper object, but it is necessary. True beauty will not bow to preference. True beauty either uplifts or condemns our pursuit and, in this way, provides both the goal of ClassicalChristian culture and the means by which that goal is reached. Beauty must shape our sense of pleasure, if we are to grow toward the sun.

Kyle Janke teaches upper school literature and art history at Highlands Latin School and is the author of A Classical History of Art. He credits his wife and five sons for his knowledge of beauty and labor, respectively.

Classical Education Resources

Resource Books

CLASSICAL EDUCATION

• Simply Classical: A Beautiful Education for Any Child by Cheryl Swope $26.00

• A Defense of Latin and Classical Education edited by Cheryl Lowe $10.80

• Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin by Tracy Lee Simmons $19.99

• From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics by Louis Markos $28.00

• From Plato to Christ: How Platonic ought Shaped the Christian Faith by Louis Markos $32.00

• e Recovery of Real Education: A selection of articles from e Classical Teacher $10.80

• e Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to Be an Educated Human Being edited by Richard M. Gamble $29.99

• e Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by Susan Wise Bauer $35.00

• e Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise $39.95

• How to Read a Book: e Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren $19.99

• Figures of Speech: 60 Ways to Turn a Phrase by Arthur Quinn $49.99

• Rhetoric by Aristotle $8.00

• Medieval Literacy: A Compendium of Medieval Knowledge with the Guidance of C. S. Lewis by James Grote $29.95

FOR SCHOOLS

• Seven Myths About Education by Daisy Christodoulou $42.95

• Why Knowledge Matters: Rescuing Our Children from Failed Educational eories by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. $33.00

• e Schools We Need: And Why We Don't Have em by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. $17.95

• Why Freshmen Fail and How to Avoid It! by Carol Reynolds, Ph.D. $21.95

CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS & CHURCH HISTORY

• Fundamentals of the Faith: Essays in Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft $17.95

• Handbook of Christian Apologetics: Hundreds of Answers to Crucial Questions by Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli $35.00

• Socrates Meets Jesus by Peter Kreeft $22.00

• Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis $17.99

• e Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis $17.99

• e Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis $17.99

• e Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis $17.99

• A Preface to Paradise Lost by C. S. Lewis $39.99

• Early Christian Writings trans. by Andrew Louth and Maxwell Staniforth $15.00

• e Early Church by Henry Chadwick $18.00

• e History of the Church by Eusebius $19.00 PHONICS

• Teaching Phonics & Word Study in the Intermediate Grades by Wiley Blevins $33.99

• Phonics from A to Z by Wiley Blevins $37.99

$4.95 ea.

Whether you're looking for an elevator pitch for classical education to give a friend, a defense of the place of Latin in classical education, or encouragement in teaching your child to read and write, this series of concise, clear articles in convenient pamphlet format is for you!

What Is Classical Education? What Is Civilization? e Liberating Arts How Latin Develops the Mind Why Literature Matters How to Teach Your Child How to Read Latin: e Next Step After Phonics Christian Studies: How to Have Biblically Literate Children What Is Classical Rhetoric? A Defense of Penmanship How to Teach Logic e Grammar of Our Lives Citizens of a Larger World

S. Lewis: A Critical Essay by Peter Kreeft | $9.30

Classical Studies

D'Aulaires' Greek Myths

$64.30 set (text, student, teacher, flashcards)

Grades 3-8

Text $19.99 | Student $20.50

Teacher $20.50 | Flashcards $14.65

Famous Men of Rome

$64.35 set (text, student, teacher, flashcards)

Grades 4-8

Text $20.05 | eBook $14.00

Student $20.50 | Teacher $20.50

Flashcards $14.65

Myths are everywhere in Western art and literature and are the essential background for a classical education. is is an ideal beginning book regardless of age! Each of the 30 lessons presents facts to know, vocabulary, comprehension questions, and a picture review and activities section.

Find samples and full product descriptions at

Meet Romans like Horatius, Caesar, and Marcus Aurelius—history's great men of action. Younger students especially will be fascinated by the abundant action and drama of the great city of Rome, its trials and tribulations, its rise and eventual fall.

Famous Men of Greece

$64.35 set (text, student, teacher, flashcards)

Grades 5-8

Text $20.05 | eBook $14.00

Student $20.50 | Teacher $20.50

Flashcards $14.65

Classical Studies Suggested Timeline

If you don't begin your classical education until middle or high school, we recommend that you start with Year 5.

Year 1 D'Aulaires' Greek Myths

Year 2 Famous Men of Rome

Year 3 Famous Men of the Middle Ages

Year 4

Famous Men of Greece, e Trojan War, and Horatius at the Bridge

Dive into the lives of the famous Greeks—history's great men of thought. Follow Heracles and Odysseus through journeys of myth, ght with Leonidas and Pericles in legendary wars, deliberate with Aristotle and Socrates. Learn of all those who contributed to the scope of Greek accomplishment that is still known today as " e Greek Miracle."

Famous Men of the Middle Ages

$64.35 set (text, student, teacher, flashcards)

Grades 5-8

Text $20.05 | eBook $14.00

Student $20.50 | Teacher $20.50

Flashcards $14.65

Year 5 Iliad, Odyssey, and e Book of the Ancient Greeks

Year 6 e Aeneid and e Book of the Ancient Romans

Year 7 Greek Tragedies (Euripides, Sophocles, Aeschylus)

Year 8 e Divine Comedy

Famous Men of Modern Times

Wind through the "dark ages" by the lights of Clovis, Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, Joan of Arc, and Gutenberg, among many others, and watch as the world transitions from the end of ancient times to the birth of the modern era.

$51.90 set (text, student, teacher) Grades 6-8

Text $20.05 | eBook $14.00

Student $20.50 | Teacher $20.50

And in the last installment of the series, join Suleiman the Magni cent, Sir Isaac Newton, Peter the Great, George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, and many more as they ght to lead and forge the emerging modern world.

Classical Studies

Dorothy Mills' Histories

Grades 6+ | $48.88 set ea. (text, student, teacher)

Text $20.10 ea. | *eBook $14.00 ea. | Student $20.50 ea. | Teacher $20.50 ea. (*not available for Renaissance & Reformation)

Combine each text with a Memoria Press Student Guide for a yearlong course. Each guide includes facts to know, vocabulary, comprehension questions, mapwork, and timelines, and the Teacher Guides provide thorough answers as well as unit tests.

e Book of the Ancient World

Let Dorothy Mills take your student on an adventure to explore the geography, culture, architecture, and most prominent peoples of Egypt, Persia, Anatolia, Israel, and more. Mills covers not only the valuable history and culture of the ancient peoples, but she also gives students an understanding of the people and neighbors out of which Christianity sprung.

e Book of the Ancient Greeks

The journey continues, starting in Crete and ending in the Hellenistic Age ushered in by Alexander the Great. Your student will learn about the wars and ideas, the art and architecture, the politics and philosophy that have shaped the course of Western civilization since the Greeks laid them out for us.

e Book of the Ancient Romans

Like any good Roman course, this one begins with the she-wolf who nurses in infancy the legendary founders of Rome: Romulus and Remus. e rise and fall of a monarchy, the embrace of a republic with the simultaneous dislike for kings, and nally the rise of the Roman Empire teach unforgettable principles about human nature and society. Includes notes on the Roman culture, political system, and religion.

e Book of the Middle Ages

From the foundation of monasteries to the bell towers of universities, from the crowning of Charlemagne to the execution of Joan of Arc, Mills guides students through the spread of Christendom and the founding of a new civilization on the remnants of the Roman Empire.

Renaissance & Reformation Times

It would be hard to overstate the reverberating e ects of this period on modern history. Politics, philosophy, art, theology—virtually no aspect of Western culture was left unchanged by the Renaissance and Reformation. Mills succeeds marvelously in giving readers a neutral ground on which to base their understanding of this time.

Timeline Program

Events from Ancient to Modern Times Grades 3-7

$49.51 set

(sketchbook, handbook, wall cards, flashcards)

Timeline Composition & Sketchbook $11.85

Timeline Handbook $11.85

Timeline Wall Cards $16.20

Timeline Flashcards $15.10

Students will master a total of 60 events from Greek and Roman history, the Middle Ages, American history, and Christian studies.

Geography & Timeline Review Worksheets

Grade 7

Worksheets

Key $9.25

$9.25

To ensure retention and mastery we have created this cumulative review of Memoria Press' States and Capitals , Geography I & II, and Timeline Program .

Classical Literature

e Trojan War

by Olivia Coolidge | Grades 6-8

Text $9.99 | Student $13.95 | Teacher $13.95 is faithful retelling of the events of the Trojan War is wonderful preparation for reading the Iliad and Odyssey in later years. Your student will become familiar with the main characters, the gods and goddesses, and the storyline of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, presented in simple but captivating prose. Each lesson in the Student Guide has reading notes, vocabulary, comprehension questions, and an enrichment section with discussion topics, writing, art, and mapwork.

e Adventures of Odysseus & e Tale of Troy

by Padraic Colum | Grades 6-8 | $11.90

Padraic Colum introduces young readers to Odysseus, the Greek hero of the Trojan War, who has been away from his home and his family for twenty years.

e Adventures of Odysseus & e Tale of Troy has all the essentials of Homer’s epic: the son, Telemachus, searching for news of his father and learning about the events of the Trojan War; the faithful wife, Penelope, refusing to marry again despite a throng of suitors; and Odysseus himself, struggling against monsters, storms, and the wrath of gods to be reunited with his family and regain his place as king of Ithaka.

e Aeneid for Boys & Girls

by Alfred J. Church | Grades 6-8

$11.90

Alfred Church's retelling of Virgil's Aeneid is a great introduction to the story of Aeneas, who escaped from the burning city of Troy and founded Rome, the New Troy. Reading this rst will help prepare students to tackle the more di cult writing of Virgil.

e Iliad & e Odyssey

Samuel Butler translation | Grades 7+

$97.42 set ea. (text, student, teacher, videos)

$174.34 complete set (Iliad and Odyssey sets)

Text $15.15 ea. | eBook $7.00 ea.

Student $14.05 ea. | Teacher $18.35 ea.

Instructional Videos: DVDs or Streaming $55.00 ea.

Western civilization begins with the two greatest works of the ancient world: the Iliad and the Odyssey . The enormous influence these books have exerted in Western literature and art make them the perfect place to begin your study of Western culture. Samuel Butler's prose translations are both scholarly and easily accessible to students. The reading notes, focus passages, and comprehension and discussion questions in our Student Guides highlight important events, characters, and themes, allowing your student to more deeply understand these seminal works. The Teacher Manuals include additional contextual background information and teaching tips, as well as complete answers to the Student Guides and unit tests.

e Aeneid

David West translation | Grades 8+

$95.21 set (text, student, teacher, videos)

Text $16.00

Student $20.50

Teacher $20.50

Instructional Videos: DVDs or Streaming $55.00

After Homer, the Aeneid is logically your next great book to study. Virgil's epic story of the founding of Rome will come alive when read with the help of our study guide as you continue your quest to master the classics. is is a great preparation for AP Latin also. Our Teacher Manual has inset student pages with teacher notes and background information for each lesson.

Horatius at the Bridge

by omas Babington Macaulay

| Grades 6+

$37.82 set (text, student, teacher, medal, pin)

Text $9.25 | Student $9.25 | Teacher $11.85

Medal $5.50 | Lapel Pin $3.95

is study of Macaulay's 70-stanza ballad includes vocabulary, maps, character and plot synopses, meter, comprehension questions, teaching guidelines, and quizzes. Send us a recording of your students reciting the poem, and we'll send them a Winston Churchill Award certi cate, medal, and lapel pin.

e Divine Comedy

by Dante Alighieri, John Ciardi translation

Grades 10+

$64.80 set (text, student, teacher, quizzes & tests)

$117.05 complete set (all books + streaming videos)

Text $21.00 | Student $20.50

Teacher $20.50 | Quizzes & Tests $6.20

Streaming Instructional Videos $55.00

e Divine Comedy is one of the crown jewels of both Western and Christian literature. is epic, allegorical poem illustrates Dante's spiritual journey of redemption that takes him through the pit of Hell (the Inferno) to the Beati c Vision of God (the Paradiso).

e Greek Tragedies

Grades 9+

$238.40 complete set (3 texts, 3 student guides, 3 teacher guides, 3 instructional videos)

e Oresteian Trilogy by Aeschylus $13.00

e ree eban Plays by Sophocles $16.00 Medea & Other Plays by Euripides $11.00

Student $20.50 ea. | Teacher $20.50 ea.

Instructional Videos: DVDs or Streaming $45.00 ea.

On Obligations

by Cicero, P. G. Walsh translation

Grades 10+

Text $13.95

Student $20.50

Teacher $20.50

Cicero's work On Obligations played a large role in Western Christendom but is daunting to read alone. Let us accompany your high schooler as he learns the principles of justice, wisdom, bene cence, courage, and propriety.

e Oresteian Trilogy

Aeschylus was the rst of the three great tragic playwrights. Join Orestes as he seeks to avenge his father's murder, but discovers, along with us, that revenge only begets revenge—that mercy and litigation are the better ends of justice.

e Republic and e Laws

by

Cicero,

Niall Rudd translation

Grades 10+

Text $12.95

Student $20.50

Teacher $20.50

e Republic became the blueprint of the U.S. government almost 2,000 years after it was written. In e Laws, Cicero defends his understanding of the upright moral life. His writings became the foundation for the West's philosophical discussion on the natural law.

e ree eban Plays

Here is Sophocles' story of Oedipus, fated to unknowingly kill his father and marry his mother. is is the great myth, in uencing all subsequent literature. Fate, free will, the quest for knowledge and truth—the glory and downfall of Western civilization.

Medea & Other Plays

Euripides further developed the tragedy, instituting the deus ex machina, a prologue, and greater realism. His heroes are less resolute and more psychological, fraught with internal con ict. In them we see the extremes of human nature: cold reason and maniacal passion, nobility and cruelty, triumph and regret, grief and comfort.

Iinherited a set of red-and-white china that belonged to my great-grandmother, each piece showing lovely, detailed prints of the "Castles of England." I inherited the plates, coffee cups, saucers, soup bowls, and pasta bowls, but I have come to learn that the set includes even more pieces, including tea cups (different from the coffee cups), gravy boats, pitchers, and a large, lidded soup tureen. I snagged the water pitcher a few years ago at an auction, and the soup tureen has been spotted at a local Peddler's Mall with a $50 price tag that seems more and more reasonable every time I visit.

In our house, this china is all we use on a daily basis, whether the kids are grabbing a plate of leftover mac and cheese late at night or we are sitting down to a fully set table with friends. We did the whole plastic toddler cup thing when the children were very little, but as soon as they could handle proper dishes we let them use the same nice dishes as the adults. Of course, they've dropped a few over the years (especially my youngest boy who seems to have some kind of curse), but it's easy enough to replace individual plates with just a little work on eBay. The loss is small compared to the gain: raising my children in an environment saturated by beauty, loveliness, culture, dignity, and elegance.

Lots of people inherit china, but most people don't actually use it. It's not exactly polite to psychoanalyze people who think differently than I do, but I suspect most people have a type of phobia around using their nice things—call it kalochreiophobia since we like Greek and Latin roots around here.

I understand one side of this fear. There really is something precious about my greatgrandmother's china. I have no sympathy with the view that "things are just things" if by that we mean that material objects hold no worth or that it doesn't matter what dishes we use. Such a quasi-Gnostic view ignores our nature as embodied beings with a faculty for perceiving beauty, at once sensuous and spiritual, who live in a physical environment and eat physical food off of physical plates—it matters, then, whether the food becomes cuisine and the plates become works of art.

I believe the fear of using the plates, however, goes to the other extreme. In a different sense, then, we should respond, "things are just things." What do the plates

USE YOUR NICE THINGS

BY DR. D. T. SHEFFLER

even exist for if not to be used? Who else should enjoy my great-grandmother's plates besides her great-great-grandchildren? Suppose that I did keep them pristine behind some glass in a china cabinet, or worse, in a cardboard box in some storage unit. What then?

I've seen what happens to such sets. They are auctioned off to strangers, the complete sets often split up into parcels. (That's how I get the replacement plates on eBay.)

Sometimes the thought seems to be that the plates will be used one day—when the occasion is just right. But the right occasion never seems to come. Meanwhile, the years of childhood pass by using ugly plastic alternatives that are more suitable, the thinking goes, for the grubby recklessness of little hands.

It matters more to me, however, what beauty my children experience on a day-to-day basis than what I would hypothetically set before a visiting foreign dignitary. As a parent, I owe it to my children to surround them, to the best of my ability, with everything that elevates and ennobles their souls. In classical education circles, we can sometimes overestimate the role of explicit verbal teaching in this elevating and ennobling process and underestimate the role of simple day-to-day living in the physical environment of the home. The art you put on your walls is just as important as the books you read aloud.

disintegrate in the sun, leaving little black flakes on our clothing whenever we sat down. My older self now knows that $300 can go a very long way with a little intelligent shopping in second-hand markets. I picked up a genuine leather Hancock and Moore reading chair for my office at auction for $50, and believe it or not, my father scored the sofa in our music room for $1 (plus tax).

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More classes at MemoriaCollege.org

For some people, the worry seems to be about money. This is the easiest fear, however, to assuage. As an avid lover of auctions, antique malls, and estate sales, I can assure you that many fine things are really much cheaper than the junk one buys at a big box store. When we were first married, my wife and I thought we were being so responsible and prudent by buying some of our furniture at Ikea and Value City. I am much chagrined and downright horrified to admit to you that we thought we were saving money by purchasing a fake leather sofa for $300. Within two years the strange synthetic membrane posing as leather had begun to

I hope you remember your own pristine china plates, then, the next time you are about to hand your children a stack of plastic in garish colors (made slightly less garish, admittedly, by the whitish rind developing after too many times through the wash). Break out that china, set the table, and clip a few flowers from the garden. Little touches make an enormous difference. Do it on a Thursday evening even when it's just for leftovers. It doesn't have to be haute couture and exhausting. Don't wait for a special occasion. Instead, normalize a day-to-day atmosphere of beauty. If you take this advice, get ready for some chipped plates and stained silk. That's simply the cost of handling beautiful things rather than merely looking at them through glass. With a touch of good humor, however, those chips and stains can hold their own kind of charm. Family objects with imperfections retain a memory of where those imperfections came from; spotless objects are anonymous. (Just try to remember that when your six-year-old drops the third glass in a week.)

Use your nice things. Treat them carefully, by all means, and teach your children to treat them carefully too, but use them all the same. Use them up. Even with the greatest care, they won't last forever, and you can't take them to heaven even if they did. Their whole reason for existing is the little adornment and lovely usefulness they bring to human life for a time.

r. . . he er is a professor with e oria College and e oria cade y and has taught philosophy, logic, atin, and history at the niversity of entucky, eorgetown College, and sbury College.

Upper School Christian Studies

e Story of Christianity by

David Bentley Hart

Grades 8+

Text $16.99

Student $20.50

Teacher $20.50

Hart gives a scholarly but readable portrait of the rich history of the Christian Church, covering 2,000 years of persecution, belief, discord, and faith. Our study guide walks you through Hart's text with additional background and contextual information, comprehension questions, and discussion questions that tie the history to scriptural passages and explore modern-day issues of faith and belief.

Acts of the Apostles: King James Version

Grades 8+

Text $11.90

Student $19.00

Teacher $20.50

e Acts of the Apostles tells the exciting story of the travels, the teachings, and—in many cases—the martyrdoms of the apostles as they take the message of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth in the years immediately following Christ's life, death, and resurrection. is unit study will acquaint students with Christianity's infant stage.

e Wars of the Jews: e Fall of Jerusalem by Josephus | Grades 9+

Text $11.90

Student $19.00

Teacher $21.60

" ere will not be left a stone upon a stone." Our children may know of Christ's prophecy, but do they learn about its ful llment? Josephus is regarded as the most trustworthy source on the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. is follow-up to a study of Scripture is an introduction to the history of Christianity.

Christian Studies

The Story Bible

& Christian Studies Enrichment Grades K-2

e Story Bible $32.99

Christian Studies Enrichment $15.10

e Story Bible is written especially for children who are beginning to read. e enrichment guide helps facilitate oral discussion for each Bible lesson.

Christian Studies I-III Grades 3-6

Christian Studies I: All Major Bible Stories up to the Entry into Canaan

Christian Studies II: e Rise and Fall of Israel and the Period of the Prophets

Christian Studies III: All Major New Testament Stories

$183.88 set

(Christian Studies I-III student & teacher, Golden Children's Bible, New Testament, Old Testament, and Memory Verse Flashcards)

Student $20.50 ea. | Teacher $23.75 ea. | Golden Children's Bible $22.99

Memory Verse Flashcards $18.35 | Old Testament Flashcards $15.10 | New Testament Flashcards $15.10

Biblical literacy is just as important as cultural, moral, and functional literacy, and the material we use to teach children their faith should be just as rigorous and demanding as any other important subject. Our Christian Studies series is a systematic study of the major events and characters in Salvation History, using e Golden Children's Bible. Students work through a Bible timeline from Creation to Christ, memorize Bible geography, the books of the Bible, people and events in order, and discuss vocabulary and basic theological concepts common to all Christian faith traditions. At the end of this course your student will be thoroughly grounded in the knowledge necessary for advanced Christian studies. Each lesson in the Student Guide includes facts to know, a memory verse, comprehension questions, and geography and timeline activities. e Teacher Manual contains thorough answers and additional insights and background information for each lesson, as well as unit tests.

e Golden Children's Bible

Grades 3-6

$22.99

We chose this Bible to use with our Christian Studies I-III series for its simpli ed but poetically appealing King James text and beautiful illustrations. e stories are broken into small, digestible chunks, and written on a third-sixth grade reading level.

Christian Studies IV: A Chronological Overview of the Bible Grades

6-8

Text $14.10

Student $20.50

Teacher $23.75 is course takes students back through the highlights of the Bible, and reviews drill questions, memory passages, and more! It can serve as a review course for Christian Studies I-III or as a survey study of the Bible. Our text gives students an overview and background information for each book of the Bible.

History of the Early Church

Grades 9+

Student $20.50

Teacher $23.75

e Early Church $18.00

e History of the Church $19.00

Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea, wrote the rst book to recount the struggles and victories of the rst followers of Christ. In this year-long course, Chadwick's e Early Church is used as the main text, and students are directed to Eusebius' e History of the Church when ancient testimony is appropriate.

City

God

Text $19.00

Student $20.50

Teacher $21.60

Quizzes & Tests $6.20

City of God , arguably Augustine's greatest book, is the source of some of Western society's greatest and most cherished beliefs. Augustine's book serves as the cultural fountainhead of all that followed, and it is unlikely that it will ever be equaled. e Teacher Guide contains helpful chapter summaries and an answer key for the Student Guide

of

by St. Augustine, Vernon J. Bourke ed. Grades 10+

The Memoria Press YouTube channel is full of video resources for your educational journey—podcasts that tackle the heart of classical learning, deep dives into children's literature, Teaching Guidelines on a variety of subjects, and much more!

The essence of traditional education is the careful, organized and systematic presentation of knowledge and skills to the students—the direct transfer of knowledge from one generation to the next. This is because in Christian traditional education we believe that knowledge really exists and should be handed on from one generation to the next, each generation hopefully adding to that fund of knowledge.

Read-Aloud Programs and Summer Reading

Read-Aloud Sets

K-6th

Reading aloud to your children is one of the best gifts you can give them. e books we have chosen for our supplemental Read-Aloud Programs are beautiful in their art and their prose, and will help your child develop a taste for quality literature from an early age. Kindergarten Read-Aloud Set pictured. For a complete list of books in each set, visit MemoriaPress.com.

To complete the Literature & Enrichment portion of the K-2 curriculum, you will need the weekly read-alouds. You may already own many of these classic books, but you can also gather them at the library or purchase them from us. We schedule Literature ReadAlouds and American Studies Read-Alouds for older students in our 3rd-6th grade Curriculum Manuals. ese grammar school sets are supplemental as time and interest permit.

Summer Reading

Reading quality literature is one of the best ways to spend leisure time this summer!

3rd & 4th e Story of the World, Vol. 1 by Susan Wise Bauer $19.95

5th e Story of the World, Vol. 2 by Susan Wise Bauer $19.95

6th e Story of the World, Vol. 3 by Susan Wise Bauer $21.95

7th

e Story of the World, Vol. 4 by Susan Wise Bauer $21.95

e Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain $10.00

Choose from:

•Jr. Kindergarten Read-Aloud $378.57

•Kindergarten Read-Aloud $397.62

•Kindergarten Science & Enrichment $377.56

•First Grade Read-Aloud $392.54

•First Grade Science & Enrichment $272.56

•Second Grade Read-Aloud $390.55

•Second Grade Science & Enrichment $179.25

• ird Grade Read-Aloud Novels $190.83

• ird Grade Read-Aloud Picture Books $363.61

• ird Grade American $148.74

•Fourth Grade Read-Aloud $144.70

•Fourth Grade American $85.90

•Fifth Grade Read-Aloud $116.79

•Fifth Grade American $70.88

•Sixth Grade Read-Aloud $90.41

•Sixth Grade American $61.90

$3.00 - $16.00 per subject

Memoria Press' lesson plans by subject allow you to tailor the Classical Core Curriculum to your own needs. ese plans retain our week-at-a-glance layout, scheduling the individual subjects of each grade so you can mix and match as you need.

✓ Latin Forms Series

✓ Literature

✓ Classical Studies

✓ Kindergarten Phonics

✓ Christian Studies

✓ Geography

e Call of the Wild by Jack London $3.99

8th Little Women by Louisa May Alcott $16.50

Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C. S. Forester $17.99

9th All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot $18.00

10th Great Expectations by Charles Dickens $11.95

11th e Man Who Was ursday by G. K. Chesterton $11.99

12th e Lord of the Rings: e Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien $17.99

✓ Math & Science

✓ AND MORE! OR

e Classical Core Curriculum is a complete classical Christian curriculum that emphasizes the traditional liberal arts of language and mathematics and the cultural heritage of the Christian West as expressed in the great works of history and literature. e curriculum has an early focus on the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic, and a special emphasis on Latin. Latin is the best way to gain an academic vocabulary and to learn the formal system of grammar, and is, along with math, the best early critical thinking skills training. e study of the cultures of Athens and Rome, as well as biblical and Church history, is designed to provide a basis for a proper understanding of European and American history.

Classical Core Curriculum PRESCHOOL

$234.54 Full Set (all books + Curriculum Manual)

$30 Curriculum Manual Only

• Preschool Curriculum Manual

• e Very Busy Spider

• Prayers for Children

• Good Night, Gorilla

• Jesus Is With Me

• e Tale of Peter Rabbit

• Jesus Hears Me

• Jesus Knows Me

• Big Red Barn

• e Best Mouse Cookie

• Little Fur Family

• Bunny's Noisy Book

• From Head to Toe

• Goodnight Moon

• Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

• Numbers, Colors, Shapes

Classical Core Curriculum JR.

KINDERGARTEN

• Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings

• My Very First Book of Shapes

• ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book!

• Put Me in the Zoo

• Hand, Hand, Fingers, umb

• Cars and Trucks From A to Z

• My First Counting Book

• e Animals' Christmas Eve

• Big Dog ... Little Dog

• Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?

• A Children's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes

• 1 Is One

$156.93 Full Set (all books + 2-Day Curriculum Manual)

$70.50 Consumable Books Set (for additional students)

$30 Curriculum Manual Only

$378.57 Supplemental Read-Aloud Program

Character Building Supplements:

Myself & Others Book I Core Set $60.38

Myself & Others Book II Core Set $23.93

• Jr. Kindergarten Curriculum Manual

• Counting With Numbers

• Numbers & Colors

• Prayers for Children

• Alphabet Books 1 & 2

• Numbers Coloring Book

• Alphabet Coloring Book

• Alphabet Flashcards

• Richard Scarry's Best Mother Goose Ever

• Big oughts for Little People (Devotional)

• Hailstones and Halibut Bones (Poetry)

• e Book of Crafts: Jr. Kindergarten

• Alphabet Manuscript Wall Charts 5-Day Junior Kindergarten Curriculum now available! | $228.29 Check out the book list: MemoriaPress.com/JK-5

• My Very Own Scissors Book

Prices subject to change.

Curriculum Manual Only $30

Consumables Only $176.78

Supplemental Read-Aloud Sets also available!

ENRICHMENT

Kindergarten Enrichment; Kindergarten Book of Crafts; Kindergarten Art Cards; Animals, Animals; A Child's Book of Poems; Music Enrichment

Numbers Book set; Rod & Sta Arithmetic 1 Student (Part 1), Teacher, and Practice Sheets; Arithmetic Flashcards: Addition & Subtraction; Memoria Math Challenge A

PHONICS & SPELLING

CURRICULUM MANUAL

Lesson Plans for One Year

e Story Bible; Christian Studies Enrichment

100 Days of Summer Reading Book I;Classical Phonics; Phonics Flashcards; First Start ReadingA-D; First Start Reading Storybooks A-D; Phonics & Reading Streaming Instructional Videos; Christian Liberty Nature Reader, Book K; Scamp and Tramp; Soft and White; Fun in the Sun; Animal Alphabet Coloring Book; Kindergarten Phonics Supplemental Workbook; Manuscript Practice Sheets; Cut & Paste Book

MORNING WORK

Kindergarten Morning Work; Manner of the Week Wall Charts and Flashcards

PENMANSHIP

Copybook I; Composition & Sketchbook I

OPTIONAL For extra practice as needed. Primary Phonics Readers, Set 1 RETAIL $681.42 PACKAGE PRICE $512.70

NEED TO CUSTOMIZE? Go to MemoriaPress.com or call 502-966-9115.

CHRISTIAN

MATH

Classical Core Curriculum GRADE 1

LITERATURE

StoryTime Treasures set; More StoryTime Treasures set; Winter on the Farm; Christmas in the Big Woods; Little House Christmas Treasury; 100 Days of Summer Reading Book II

PHONICS & SPELLING

First Start Reading Book E; First Start Reading Storybook E; Traditional Spelling I set

PENMANSHIP

New American Cursive 1; Copybook II; Composition & Sketchbook II; Cursive Practice Sheets I; Alphabet Wall Poster; Summer Cursive; Penmanship Tablet

MATH

Rod & Sta Arithmetic 1 Student (Part 2); Rod & Sta Arithmetic 2 Student (Unit 1), Teacher (Part 1), and Practice Sheets Book 1; Memoria Math Challenge B

Lesson Plans for One Year Curriculum Manual Only $30 Consumables Only $192.84 Supplemental Read-Aloud Sets also available! Primary Phonics Readers, Sets 2-6 American Language Series

ENRICHMENT

First Grade Book of Crafts; First Grade Enrichment; First Grade Art Cards

For extra practice as needed. NEW USER ADD-ON SET $159.90

Classical Phonics; Phonics Flashcards; A Child's Book of Poems; Animals, Animals; e Story Bible; Christian Studies Enrichment; Rod & Sta Arithmetic 1 Teacher Manualand Practice Sheets; Arithmetic Flashcards: Addition & Subtraction; Music Enrichment OR NEED TO CUSTOMIZE? Go to MemoriaPress.com or call 502-966-9115.

New to Memoria Press? You need these items from prior years.

Curriculum Manual Only $30

Consumables Only $268.53

Supplemental Read-Aloud Sets also available!

CURRICULUM

MANUAL

Lesson Plans for One Year

SCIENCE

Rod & Sta Patterns of Nature set

PENMANSHIP

New American Cursive 2; Copybook Cursive I; Composition & Sketchbook II; Prima Latina Copybook; Penmanship Tablet

Classical Core Curriculum GRADE 2

AMERICAN/ MODERN

Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans

LATIN & GRAMMAR

Prima Latina complete set; Introduction to English Grammar

MATH

LITERATURE

Second Grade Literature set; Second Grade Literature Dictionary; 100 Days of Summer Reading Book III

NEW USER ADD-ON SET $148.20

New to Memoria Press? You need these items from prior years.

Classical Phonics; Phonics Flashcards; A Child's Book of Poems; Animals, Animals; Music Enrichment; e Story Bible; Christian Studies Enrichment; Arithmetic Flashcards: Addition & Subtraction; Rod & Sta Arithmetic 2 Student (Unit 1), Practice Sheets Book 1, and Teacher (Part 1)

OPTIONAL: ACCELERATED MATH

Rod & Sta Arithmetic 3 Student, Teacher (Part 1), Tests

Rod & Sta Arithmetic 2 Student (Units 2-4), Teacher (Part 2), Practice Sheets Book 2, Supplemental Pack; Memoria Math Challenge C; Memoria Math Supplemental Workbook: Review of First Grade Math

Instructional Videos available as Streaming or DVDs!

MORNING WORK

English Grammar Practice

PHONICS & SPELLING

Traditional Spelling II set

ENRICHMENT

Second Grade Enrichment; Second Grade Book of Crafts; Second Grade Art Cards

Classical Core Curriculum GRADE 3

Rod & Sta Arithmetic 3 Student, Teacher (Parts 1-2), Practice Sheets, Tests; Memoria Math Notebook; Multiplication Flashcards: 0 to 12; Division Flashcards: 0 to 12

D'Aulaires' Greek Myths set; Timeline Program

Grammar Recitation Handbook and English Grammar Recitation Workbook I set and Flashcards; Core Skills Language Arts 3

Curriculum Manual Only $30 Consumables Only $150.46

Classical Core Curriculum

Supplemental Read-Aloud Sets also available! RETAIL $549.36

MATH

Rod & Sta Arithmetic 4 Student, Teacher (Parts 1-2), Tests, Speed Drills, Speed Drill Packet

SPELLING

Traditional Spelling IV

LITERATURE

Lesson Plans for One Year

PACKAGE PRICE $388.89

Fourth Grade Literature set; Papa Panov's Special Christmas; Twelve Days of Christmas; A Promise Kept: e Story of Christmas; Good King Wenceslas

WRITING

Classical Composition I: Fable Student, Teacher, Videos

SCIENCE

Transitioning to the Classical Core Curriculum in Grade 4?

Copybook Cursive II

e Book of Astronomy set PENMANSHIP

GRAMMAR

English Grammar RecitationWorkbook II set; Core Skills Language Arts 4

In our third grade package, students complete half of D'Aulaires' Greek Myths, Latina Christiana, Christian Studies I, and States and Capitals, as well as parts of Poetry for the Grammar Stage, which they will continue to use through seventh grade. e purchase of this package assumes that you have the books that are in our third grade package and have completed the rst half of them.

If you are starting the Classical Core Curriculumin fourth grade, we have a discounted transitional package for you: $729.49 Grade 4 for New Users Visit MemoriaPress.com for a complete book list and more information.

NEED TO CUSTOMIZE?

Go to MemoriaPress.com or call 502-966-9115.

Instructional Videos available as Streaming or DVDs!

Literature, Phonics, & Spelling

Jr. K K 1st 2nd

Alphabet Books; Alphabet Flashcards; Alphabet Coloring Book (p. 73); My Very Own Scissors Book (p. 71); Manuscript Charts (p. 79)

Kindergarten Phonics Supplemental Workbook; Classical Phonics; First Start Reading A-D; 100 Days of Summer Reading I; Phonics Flashcards (p. 74); Animal Alphabet Coloring Book; American Language Readers; Nature Reader K

Traditional Spelling I (p. 75); StoryTime and More StoryTime Treasures Literature Sets (p. 14); 100 Days of Summer Reading II; First Start Reading Book E (p. 74)

Counting With Numbers; Numbers Coloring Book; Numbers & Colors (p. 73)

& Staff Arithmetic 1, Part 2; Rod & Staff Arithmetic 2, Unit 1; Memoria Math Challenge B (pp. 72-73)

Traditional Spelling II (p. 75); 100 Days of Summer Reading III (p. 74); Second Grade Literature Set (p. 14)

Prima Latina (p. 4)

Prayers for Children; Big Thoughts for Little People

The Story Bible; Christian Studies Enrichment (p. 37)

The Story Bible; Christian Studies Enrichment (p. 37)

The Story Bible; Christian Studies Enrichment (p. 37)

Numbers Books; Memoria Math Challenge A; Rod & Staff Arithmetic 1, Part 1 (pp. 72-73)

Rod

Rod & Staff Arithmetic 2, Units 2-4; Memoria Math Challenge C (pp. 72-73)

The Alphabet Books and Numbers & Colors are used for Penmanship practice.

Copybook I; Composition & Sketchbook I (p. 79)

Copybook II; Composition & Sketchbook II; New American Cursive 1; Penmanship Tablet; Alphabet Wall Poster; Cursive Practice Sheets; Summer Cursive (pp. 78-79)

New American Cursive 2 (p. 78); Copybook Cursive I; Composition & Sketchbook II (p. 79); Prima Latina Copybook (p. 8); Penmanship Tablet

Book of Crafts, Jr. K (p. 70); Richard Scarry's Mother Goose; Hailstones and Halibut Bones

Kindergarten Art Cards (p. 67); Kindergarten Enrichment; Book of Crafts, K; Music Enrichment (p. 70); Animals, Animals; A Child's Book of Poems

First Grade Art Cards (p. 67); First Grade Enrichment; First Grade Book of Crafts; Music Enrichment (p. 70); Animals, Animals; A Child's Book of Poems

Second Grade Enrichment; Second Grade Book of Crafts; Music Enrichment (p. 70); Second Grade Art Cards (p. 67); Patterns of Nature; Animals, Animals; A Child's Book of Poems

English Grammar Practice (p. 84); Introduction to English Grammar (p. 4)

Kindergarten Enrichment is used for American/Modern Studies.

First Grade Enrichment is used for American/Modern Studies.

Traditional Spelling III (p. 75); Third Grade Literature Set (p. 14); Poetry for the Grammar Stage (p. 22)

Traditional Spelling IV (p. 75); Fourth Grade Literature Set (p. 14); Poetry for the Grammar Stage (p. 22)

Traditional Spelling V (p. 75); Fifth Grade Literature Set (p. 16); Poetry for the Grammar Stage (p. 22)

Spelling Workout G; Sixth Grade Literature Set (p. 16); Poetry for the Grammar Stage (p. 22)

Latina Christiana; Latina Christiana Review Worksheets (p. 4)

First Form Latin (p. 7); Lingua Angelica I (p. 9)

Second Form Latin (p. 7)

D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths (p. 28); Timeline Program (p. 31); Golden Children's Bible; Christian Studies I (p. 37)

Famous Men of Rome (p. 28); Golden Children's Bible; Christian Studies II (p. 37)

Famous Men of the Middle Ages (p. 28); Golden Children's Bible; Christian Studies III (p. 37)

Rod & Staff Arithmetic 3 (p. 73) Rod & Staff Arithmetic 4 (p. 73)

& Staff Arithmetic 5 (p. 73)

& Staff Mathematics 6 (p. 73)

Adventures in Writing (p. 84); New American Cursive 3 (p. 78)

Classical Composition: Fable (p. 84); Copybook Cursive II (p. 79)

Classical Composition: Narrative (p. 84); Copybook Cursive III (p. 79)

Classical Composition: Chreia & Maxim (p. 84); Copybook Cursive IV (p. 79)

Mammals (p. 91)

Book of Astronomy (p. 91)

Book of Insects (p. 91)

Book of Birds (p. 91); Exploring the History of Medicine (p. 92)

Core Skills Language Arts 3; English Grammar Recitation I (p. 84) Core Skills Language Arts 4

Grammar Recitation II (p. 84)

English Grammar Recitation III (p. 84); Core Skills Language Arts 6

Spelling Workout H; Seventh Grade Literature Set (p. 16); Poetry for the Grammar Stage (p. 22)

Eighth Grade Literature Set (p. 16); Poetry & Short Stories for the Logic Stage (p. 22)

Ninth Grade Literature Set (p. 17); The British Tradition I (p. 22); Book of the Middle Ages (p. 31)

Tenth Grade Literature Set (p. 17); The British Tradition II (p. 22)

Third Form Latin (p. 7); Greek Alphabet (p. 64)

Fourth Form Latin (p. 7); Henle I (p. 10); First Form Greek (p. 65) (optional) Henle Latin II (p. 10); Latin Grammar for the Grammar Stage (p. 9); Second Form Greek (p. 65) (optional)

Mueller's Caesar (De Bello Gallico) (p. 10)

Famous Men of Greece (p. 28); Horatius at the Bridge (p. 33); Christian Studies IV (p. 37)

Book of the Ancient World & Ancient Greeks (p. 30); Iliad & Odyssey (p. 32)

Book of the Ancient Romans (p. 30); Aeneid (p. 32); Story of Christianity (p. 36)

Greek Tragedies (p. 33); History of the Early Church (p. 37)

Memoria Pre-Algebra (p. 72)

Memoria Algebra I (p. 72)

VideoText Algebra, Year Two

VideoText Geometry

Classical Composition: Refutation & Confirmation (p. 84)

Classical Composition: Common Topic (p. 84)

Classical Composition: Encomium, Invective, & Comparison (p. 84)

Classical Composition: Characterization and Description (p. 84)

Book of Trees (p. 91); Exploring the World of Biology (p. 92)

Physical Science (p. 92)

General Biology (p. 92)

General Chemistry (p. 92)

English Grammar Recitation IV (p. 84); Core Skills Language Arts 7

English Grammar Recitation V (p. 84); Core Skills Language Arts 8

Traditional Logic I & II (p. 87)

Material Logic (p. 87)

The Divine Comedy (p. 17)

Twelfth Grade Literature Set (p. 17); The British Tradition III (p. 22)

Henle Latin III (p. 10)

AP Vergil (p. 11)

The Republic and the Laws & On Obligations (p. 33); City of God (p. 37)

Christian Apologetics and Introduction to Philosophy

Classical Core Curriculum GRADE

Curriculum Manual Only $30

Second Form Latin complete set

Rod & Sta Mathematics 6 Student, Teacher (Parts 1-2), Quizzes & Speed Tests, Tests

Geography II set, including Geography I Review set

Classical Composition III: Chreia & Maxim Student, Teacher, Videos

Consumables Only $249.01 Supplemental Read-Aloud Sets also available! NEED TO CUSTOMIZE? Go to MemoriaPress.com or call 502-966-9115.

Lesson Plans for One Year

Famous Men of the Middle Ages set

English Grammar Recitation Workbook III set; Core Skills Language Arts 6 SCIENCE e Book of Birds set; Exploring the History of Medicine set

Workout G set

Studies III set; New Testament Flashcards; Copybook Cursive IV GRAMMAR

Sixth Grade Literature set

Classical Core Curriculum GRADE

Spelling Workout H set

Classical Composition IV: Refutation & Con rmation Student, Teacher, Videos

Famous Men of Greece set; Horatius at the Bridge set; e Greek Alphabet set

Classical Core Curriculum GRADE

Classical Composition V: Common Topic Student, Teacher, Videos

AMERICAN/MODERN

Geography III Text, Student, Teacher, and Classroom Atlas

Classical Core Curriculum GRADE 9

Plans for One Year Curriculum Manual Only $30 Consumables Only $192.95

e Book of the Ancient Romans set; e Aeneid set

Traditional Logic I & II complete sets

LITERATURE/POETRY

Classical Composition VI: Encomium, Invective, & Comparison Student, Teacher, Videos AMERICAN/MODERN

Ninth Grade Literature set; e British Tradition I: Poetry, Prose, & Drama set; e Book of the Middle Ages

Renaissance & Reformation Times set

Curriculum Manual Only $30 Consumables Only $225.39

CURRICULUM MANUAL

Lesson Plans for One Year

Mueller's Caesar (De Bello Gallico) Text, Teacher's Guide, and Lesson Plans

CHRISTIAN

History of the Early Church set

Tenth Grade Literature set; e British Tradition II: Poetry & Prose set LATIN

Classical Composition VII: Characterization and Classical Composition VIII: Description Student, Teacher, Videos

SCIENCE

Novare General Chemistry Text, Digital Resources, Complete Solutions Manual, Student Lab Report Handbook, and Experiments for High School at Home

LITERATURE/POETRY

Videos available as Streaming or DVDs!

Emerson was moved to pronounce this about beauty: "Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting—a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God, for it is a cup of blessing." Ancient Christian writers describe beauty as the splendor of the Good, the very radiance of the divine life, which is reflected in creatures that come from and rest in the hands of God. All of Creation participates in this transcendental beauty. Christ exhorts His followers to "be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). The Gospels invite us to conform ourselves to that image, that form of beauty, that is revealed in the person of Christ, the express Image of the Father, who "made the worlds … [and is] the brightness of His [the Father's] glory" (Heb. 1:2-3). St. Basil the Great reckons that "from nature itself, we strive after the beautiful. All things, then, yearn for God."

I shall not enter into the much too often exercised argument over whether beauty is objective or subjective, absolute or relative. This is a false path. Beauty is in the eye or ear or nose of the beholder. But this alone does not account for beauty or explain how we come to recognize it. There is a light, not a corporeal light, but an intelligible or spiritual light, through which beauty reveals itself, in which beauty is; for God is "dwelling in unapproachable light" (1 Tim. 6:16). The experience of beauty is an illumination, an enlightenment. Much as time is an analogate of eternity, so corporeal light is an analogate of beauty. Beauty is light. Beauty is grace. Beauty is glory. The glory of God shines from and is reflected in the beauty, order, and harmony of His creation. "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork" (Psalm 19:1). Or as Augustine exclaims: "How beautiful is everything, since you made it, but how ineffably more beautiful are you."

Whether beauty be in an object, such as a sculpture, or communicated directly through the emotions in the rhythm of a poem without the intermediary of an object, beauty is a transcendental. It always surprises. Beauty is not just the product of desire or the quality of an emotion. No degree of conditioning or preparation avails it to us. Whether or not we desire beauty, beauty reaches us from a beyond, which persons of belief know to be God.

In Genesis, the word tov was selected to indicate God's delight in that which He created. Our English Bibles translate this word as "good": "God saw the light, that it was good" (Gen. 1:4). "Then God saw everything that He had made; and indeed it was very good" (Gen. 1:31). However, tov is

r. igen uroian is eritus rofessor of eligious tudies in rthodo Christianity at the niversity of irginia. e is the author of Tending the Heart of Virtue and Rallying the Really Human Things, as well as nu erous other books and articles on arriage and fa ily, children s literature, ecology, gardening, r enian history, and edical ethics. his article is e cerpted fro his forthco ing book of essays fro e oria College ress.

not the literal equivalent of agathon, the usual Greek word for "good." Thus, when the Hellenic Jews translated the Hebrew Scripture into Greek, known to us as the Septuagint—which was the Bible of the early Church—they translated tov with kalon, which means "beautiful." They recognized that tov connotes that which is fitting or appropriate, that which harmonizes, and to which one responds with pleasure and approval. This choice of kalon rather than agathon represents the profound intuition that the goodness of God, His glory and His beauty, are one and the same in being. In other words, perfect Goodness, Beauty, and Truth transcend the aesthetical categories and moral distinctions we turn to in a fallen and disharmonious world.

Our experience of good and evil as moral categories is a consequence of the Fall. The same can be said of our aesthetic perceptions of beauty and ugliness. In the kingdom of heaven there is neither evil nor ugliness. Even when art confronts us with ugliness, decay, discord, wickedness, and death, genuine art, the best art there is, does not abandon us to these but rather proffers possibilities for redemption and transfiguration. Jacques Maritain writes: "Art struggles to surmount the distinction between aesthetic beauty and transcendental beauty. And to absorb aesthetic beauty into transcendental beauty."

In other words, the dyad of the beautiful and the ugly that belongs to a fallen creation is not attributable to the divine life. In the realm of pure Spirit, it makes no sense to speak of ugliness. Every existent thing in its pristine form without complexity or ambiguity is Good and Beautiful within God's eternity. Those things that, according to an aesthetic measure, impress us as ugly, and those that, according to a moral measure, we judge evil, share the same negative characteristics. They lack integrity and wholeness, they communicate or cause dissonance and discord, and they are dark, which is to say, they are opaque: They lack radiance and limpidity.

BEAUTY IS LIGHT & LIFE

darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6). Christ is Himself the uncreated beauty of God that has been revealed and been made visible for us in human form. " Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2:5-7).

The Spirit gives form to everything that exists. It hovered over the abyss and brought form out of the void and chaos. The Spirit came upon Mary and formed in her womb the man who is God. The Spirit reforms the believer into the image of Christ. The Spirit inspires the artist, the poet, and the musician to create. The artist does not make Beauty; rather, Beauty takes form in the painting, the poem, or the song. We can no more make Beauty than we can make Goodness or Truth. Beauty does not issue from the hand of the artist but moves the artist's hand to paint or compose beautifully, or, rather, Beauty is the milieu in which the artist paints and the musician composes. Beauty transcends that in which or through which it is manifested. And when we permit the Spirit to enter our lives, scales fall from our eyes and all of our senses are opened once again to Beauty and immortal life as they were in the Garden.

On the Mount, the Spirit revealed Christ's own hidden beauty to His disciples when they were themselves bathed in the intelligible light of the divine glory, and for one kairos moment the scales of the ancestral sin fell from their eyes and Beauty overcame them. They were bathed in Beauty; not Christ alone, but they also were transfigured by and in the Taboric light.

These qualities of radiance and limpidity are especially significant for an understanding of beauty. In the Gospel of John, Christ announces, "I am the light of the world" (8:12). The same Gospel also proclaims: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (1:5). In other words, beauty is light and life. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (1:4). Beauty resurrects us into the light, into eternal life. "For it is God who commanded light to shine out of

Yet they did not cry, for they experienced Beauty in its fullness. Until such time, however, that our world and we are transfigured, the tears that we shed when we behold Beauty are blessed by God. Blessed were the emperor's tears, and equally blessed were the kitchen maid's. Our tears in this misshapen world are as beads of a prayer for Beauty to reveal herself fully in all of her splendor. And with the seer of Revelation we exclaim: "Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20).

Preschool Through 12th Grade

Everything you need for one year, including lesson plans, guides, videos, and more!

Geography

States and Capitals

$43.33 set

(text, student, teacher, flashcards)

Grades 3-6

Text $11.99

Student $15.10

Teacher $15.10

Flashcards $5.95

By the end of this course students will be able to map all 50 states and capitals. We recommend that this guide be used with Don't Know Much About the 50 States

Geography I: e Middle East, North Africa, & Europe

Grades 4+

$80.38 set

(text, student, teacher, and flashcards + U.S. Review student and teacher)

Geography I Text $18.35 | Geography I Student $16.20

Geography I Teacher $17.30 | U.S. Review Student $6.20

U.S. Review Teacher $9.25 | Geography Flashcards $22.00

A unique geography program designed for students pursuing a classical Christian education, this course covers the area that constituted the ancient Roman Empire and the geography relevant to the Bible. Each region is explored in its historical context, providing interesting and thought-provoking facts, but the main goal of this course is for students to learn to map the countries and their capitals.

Geography III: Exploring & Mapping the World

Grades 7+

$89.07 set

(text, student, teacher, classroom atlas, flashcards*)

Text $20.05 | Student $20.95

Teacher $20.95 | Atlas $15.00

*Geography Flashcards $22.00

*same as flashcards in Geography I set

Geography II:

Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Oceania, & the Americas

Grades 5+

$60.58 set

(text, student, teacher +

Geography I Review student & teacher)

Geography II Text $18.35

Geography II Student $16.20

Geography II Teacher $17.30

Geography I Review Student $6.20

Geography I Review Teacher $9.25

is more advanced geography course solidi es the mapping skills learned in Geography I-II but adds a study of the landforms, topography, famous landmarks, climate, culture, and religion of each continent. is is a perfect prelude to high school history.

Students continue to deepen their understanding of past and present as they learn to map the rest of the countries and capitals not covered in Geography I. At the end of this course, students will have mapped the entire world.

Practice Map Pad: United States notepad of 50 two-sided sheets (11" x 17") | $11.85

e Story of the irteen Colonies & the Great Republic

$58.01 set (text, student, teacher)

Grades 5-8

Text $20.05 | Student $20.50 | Teacher $20.50

We have combined Guerber's e Story of the irteen Colonies and e Story of the Great Republic into one edited volume that makes for a perfect one-year survey of American history in the middle school years. e guide includes important facts, vocabulary, and comprehension questions, as well as enrichment activities such as mapwork, drawings, research, writing assignments, and more!

American History Outline

Grades 5-8

Student $9.25 | Teacher $6.20 is is a valuable tool for helping students learn to study well. Use this in conjunction with e Story of the irteen Colonies & the Great Republic and e Story of the World, Vol. 4 to teach students how to recognize, organize, and retain key pieces of information from what they read.

200 Questions About American History

Grades 5-8

Student $11.85 | Teacher $6.20

Flashcards $14.65

Compiled from e Story of the irteen Colonies & the Great Republic and e Story of the World, Vol. 4. e Flashcards are based on our study guide, but can be used with any good American history course.

A Concise History of the American Republic

Year I: $272.65 set (text, student, teacher) | Year II: $37.00 set (student, teacher)

Grades 9+

Text $249.99 (used for Year I and Year II)

Year I Student $18.50

is two-year course is designed to give students a good understanding of the period of history from pre-1615 life in North America to the post-Civil War Reconstruction years (Year One) and the period between the end of Reconstruction to the Reagan years (Year Two). Our guides provide reading notes for each chapter, as well as comprehension questions that help students focus on the most important information from each chapter.

A History of Europe in the Modern World:

Volume I (to 1815) & Volume II (since 1815)

$51.21 guide set (student, teacher, quizzes & tests)

Grades 10+

Student $22.70 | Teacher $28.00

Quizzes & Tests $6.20

Text (12th Ed.) $179.79 is course covers the political, societal, and religious upheavals, particularly in Western Europe, that have shaped and reshaped the continent in the last seven hundred years. Students will study events leading to the rise of Europe through the formation of contemporary Europe, including the French Revolution, Napoleonic Europe, World War I & II, and the Cold War. e texts include helpful maps, timelines, and illustrations. e Student Guide requires students to note Key Terms, Key Figures, Key Dates, and Key Structures, in addition to comprehension questions, short essay questions, and timeline and map activities. e Teacher Manual has answers to the Student Guide plus background information for the teacher, and an overview, summary, and conclusion for each lesson, focusing on the material students need to master.

A History of Medieval Europe:

From Constantine to Saint Louis

$113.05 set (text, student, teacher, quizzes & tests) Grades 10+

Text $71.95 | Student $22.70 | Teacher $24.75

Quizzes & Tests $6.20

is course covers the tumultuous transformation of Europe in the Dark Ages and the High Middle Ages, from the barbarian invasions and the conversion of Constantine to the Crusades and the rise of feudalism. e study guide helps the student pull out key terms, gures, and events, and provides comprehension and short answer essay questions.

by Edward Eggleston

e Greek Alphabet by Cheryl Lowe | Grades 3+

$25.29 set (student and teacher)

Student $17.90 | Teacher $11.85

Master the Greek alphabet, letter by letter, before tackling First Form Greek

Greek

Alphabet Charts

Wall Charts (left) 22" x 34" (2 charts) $15.10

Desk Charts (right) 8.5" x 11" (2 charts) $10.30

Chart 1: the Greek alphabet

Chart 2: diphthongs, accent marks, pronunciation helps, and syllable names

Elementary Greek by Christine

Gatchell

An introduction to Greek grammar for younger students.

Grades 4-8

$78.77 Year One set (text, workbook, CD, flashcards, tests, teacher key)

Year I Text $16.25 | Year I Workbook $17.90 | Year I Tests $6.20

Year I Teacher Key $17.90 | Audio $10.00 | Flashcards $14.65

$77.35 Year Two set (text, workbook, audio, flashcards, tests, teacher key)

Year II Text $16.25 | Year II Workbook $17.90 | Year II Tests $6.20

Year II Teacher Key $17.90 Streaming Audio $8.50 | Flashcards $14.65

$65.80 Year ree set (text, workbook, audio, flashcards, tests)

Year III Text $20.50 | Year III Workbook $17.90 | Year III Tests $6.20

Audio $10.00 | Flashcards $14.65

French

First Start French I: Introduction to the French Language by Danielle

Grades 5-8

Schultz

$52.30 set

(student, teacher, audio)

Student $21.15

Teacher $21.15

Audio $10.00

First Start French II: Introduction to the French Language by Danielle Schultz

Grades 5-8

$52.30 set

(student, teacher, audio)

Student $21.15

Teacher $21.15

Audio $10.00

samples and full product

First & Second Form Greek: Introduction to Hellenistic Greek, Years 1 & 2

Grades 7+

$138.69 complete set ea. (all 5 books, CD, videos, flashcards)

$77.11 basic set ea. (all 5 books + CD)

Text $16.25 ea. | Workbook $17.90 ea. | Teacher Manual $14.05 ea. | Teacher Key $17.90ea. Quizzes & Tests $6.20 ea. | Audio $10.00 ea. | Flashcards $17.30 ea. | Instructional Videos $55.00 ea.

e Greek Forms Series is written for parents and teachers with or without a Greek background. e grammar is presented logically and systematically so that anyone can learn it. Based on the Latin Forms Series, this series has been adapted to account for the di erences between Greek and Latin, such as the new alphabet, overlapping sounds, more variation within paradigms, and less regularity. e Greek Forms Series overcomes these challenges with the addition of weekly vocabulary reviews, more frequent recitation, and an "expanded" dictionary entry for Greek verbs. First and Second Form Greek are the rst two years of our three-part series, which will cover all of the Greek grammar. Begin your systematic study of Greek grammar with our clear, concise Student Texts and ample practice exercises in the Student Workbook, including substantial translation exercises in Second Form. Weekly Quizzes & Tests ensure retention of the material, and the Teacher Manuals and Teacher Keys provide lesson plans, additional notes, and a comprehensive answer key. e Pronunciation CD and Flashcards allow students to practice quick recall for mastery. Instructional Videos are also available.

Art & Music

Discovering Music: 300 Years of Interaction in Western Music, Arts, History, and Culture (Second Edition)

with Dr. Carol Reynolds | Grades 8+

$170 set

(Textbook, Student Workbook, DVDs, Teacher Manual download)

Textbook $39.95 | Student Workbook $29.95 | DVDs $106.10

Join Professor Carol as she travels the world using music as the window into political and cultural history. e expanded second edition includes a separate Textbook—now including art and additional information—and a Student Workbook—with more activities, questions, and timelines—which both still correspond perfectly to the rst edition DVDs.

Exploring America's Musical Heritage: rough Art, Literature, and Culture

with Dr. Carol Reynolds Grades 5+

$49.95 set (2 DVDs totaling more than 4 hours)

In this course, Professor Carol—along with 38 other historians, scholars, and artists—takes you on a journey through America's musical history. When we sing the songs our greatgrandparents learned around a camp re, read the poems they recited, and study the paintings or quilts they created, we visit the past in a tangible way.

Early Sacred Music: From the Temple through the Middle Ages

with Dr. Carol Reynolds | Grades 8+

$119 set (text, workbook, DVDs)

Text $24.95 | Assignments & Quizzes $22.95

Here you will nd a description and explanation of how Christians have worshiped God in song for over a millennium. In addition to the sheer beauty of the songs themselves, you will learn how musical notation developed, who the great Christian composers were, and how historical circumstances a ected the musical worship of the Church. DVDs include musical performances and Professor Carol's unparalleled commentary.

Reading Music: Introduction to Music eory

by Patrick Fata | Grades

2+

$62.00 set

(text, student, teacher, streaming audio)

Text $17.50 | Student $17.50

Teacher $18.50 | Streaming Audio $8.50

NEW

Open the door for your students into a new, melodic world. is course introduces the concepts of rhythm, meter, and musical notation in short, straightforward lessons in the Student Text and ample practice of concepts in the Student Workbook. e streaming audio tracks provide short clips of all concepts and examples, and the two-color Teacher Guide provides answers and tests.

Art Cards & Posters

Grades K-2

Art Cards K-2 (5" x 7")

$11.85 ea.

Art Posters K-2 (11" x 17")

$36.05 ea.

Music Appreciation

by

Patrick

Fata | Grades 3+

Student Book $17.90

Audio Companion $10.00

is course aims to deepen your student's appreciation of music by grounding the greatest pieces in the canon of Western classical music in their historical context, and by introducing the foundational musical concepts of notation, rhythm, pitch, form, and melody to give a fuller understanding of the inner workings of the pieces and of music in general.

Creating Art: Lessons & Projects for the Grammar Stage

Grades 3-4

$23.75

Enrich your child's primary education with beautiful pieces of art from the most in uential artistic movements in history, including the Renaissance, Romanticism, Impressionism, and more! ese supplements are coordinated with our primary Classical Core Curriculum sets.

A Classical History of Art

by Kyle M. Janke

Grades 9+

$99.41 set

(student, teacher, flashcards, instructional videos)

Student $20.50 | Teacher $20.50

Flashcards $14.45

Streaming Instructional Videos $55.00

In A Classical History of Art, the timeless qualities of Greek expression inform a succinct and cohesive survey of 5,000 years of Western art. From the prehistoric period to the beginning of modern art, this study demonstrates the signi cance of classical values in the development of the sculpture, architecture, and painting of the West. Focused on cultivating fruitful and revelatory discussion, this curriculum presents the features, terms, and pertinent discussion questions of each major period, supplemented by close analysis of major works, lessons in visual composition, master copy drawing assignments, and 80 color ashcards. In the instructional videos, Kyle Janke walks your student through the course in twelve lessons, with lectures and thoughtful discussion points that complement and supplement the student text. For the educator, student, or curious individual, this course will produce the ardent and enlightening dialogue necessary to direct our interactions with great art.

Students will begin with color theory and basic art techniques. They will create projects that relate to literature, science, Mesopotamian and Egyptian art, portraits, landscapes, still life, and much more!

Start with the Gift Shop

by Dr. Carol Reynolds

Onthe surface, the titular recommendation seems absurd. How can a gift shop provide an optimal avenue for encountering the beauty and meaning of art? Once the pedagogy of its design and the nature of its offerings are considered, the advice to start a trip to a museum with the gift shop will make more sense. But first, a bit of history.

Gift shops are not as newfangled as they seem. The idea of making and selling commemorative items in response to something important is an impulse older than the written record. Commemorative items (coins, medals) celebrating the prowess of emperors and heroes appeared in Roman times and earlier. In the United States, the practice of selling commemorative items in museums took a specific form when Charles Willson Peale, who opened his own scientific and patriotic museum in Philadelphia in 1788, commissioned Moses Williams, a former slave of the Peale family and expert silhouettist, to fashion commemorative silhouettes in 1802 that were bought by a large percentage of the museum's visitors. By the 1800s, it was common for galleries to have boxes of cheap reproductions of major artworks displayed for purchase along the paths followed by those visiting an exhibit.

The concept behind today's museum shops, of course, has expanded vastly, not just commercially but in terms of logistics and educational psychology. The same staff who curate exhibits in the galleries may be designing areas in the gift shops to correspond with the collection, including color schemes, decorative details, and an atmosphere created by lighting, music, or other means.

While museum visitors traditionally entered gift shops after seeing the artworks contained therein, the items in today's facilities have the potential to connect with viewers in advance of seeing the actual works. How? By emphasizing the value of certain works in the collection: A painting important enough to be replicated on magnets, posters, t-shirts, mugs, and scarves must have some significance. Otherwise, why would all this merchandise sport its image?

It is tempting to chalk up all of this to unabated commercialism. But stepping back, recall that these items recognize and respond to a human desire to form relationships to meaningful objects. Sporting an umbrella with the design of Gustav Klimt's The Kiss says, at the very least, that the person carrying it knows who Klimt is, or at least knows this painting. The umbrella could have been a gift, but it may evidence the fact that the bearer had an opportunity to travel to Belvedere Palace in Vienna and experience the painting's opulence in person. As an aside, items procured for museum gift shops tend to be of high

quality (with corresponding prices, of course): An umbrella that falls apart two weeks after the trip fails to perpetuate the message museums want to send!

Increasingly, museum gift shops are open to "ticket-less" visitors—those who have not yet paid the entrance to the museum but still can peruse the shop directly from the entry lobby area or from pedestrian traffic on the streets. This accessibility is all the more delightful when a café adjoins the retail space. In fact, these open-access shops serve as a front-line force in the campaign to bring the public into a museum.

Speaking of "force," another critical force is generated by museum gift shops: funding. In some countries, art museums are subsidized by the government. In others, like the United States, such institutions are dependent on ticket sales or private patronage. The money flowing through the shop's cash register accounts for as much as twenty-five percent of a museum's budget. This money pays for the physical facilities, staff, acquisitions and restorations, and public educational programs. Consequently, whoever leaves the shop with a Klimt umbrella or a mug printed with Van Gogh's The Starry Night is, in fact, serving as a patron of the arts.

Best of all, it is not necessary to buy anything to learn a great deal. The inevitable array of luxurious art folios for individual artists may gleam too expensively on the shelves (or be too heavy for tourists to carry home). Still, the process of seeing such books, realizing their beauty, enjoying the quality of illustrations and the touch of their elegant paper can be a revelation, particularly for people unaware of this type of resource. It may lead them to scour for similar volumes in used book shops, thrift stores, rescue missions, and, most poignantly, estate sales where once-loved art folios sometimes are found for pennies, hopefully to enter the hands of someone eager to cherish them.

Seeing the array of calendars, jigsaw puzzles, and journals filled with vivid artworks can stimulate ideas for making similar projects at home or at school. Some gift shops have caches of professionallevel art supplies. Just seeing these materials (for example, the types and quality of brushes and knives) is impressive, particularly to those not ordinarily in the world of studio art. Such tools, displayed, can lend understanding as to how the masterworks in the galleries came to be created.

The fun, admittedly, increases when a full complement of retail items depicts an artwork. These displays most certainly illustrate the desire to form relationships to meaningful objects! In the shop in Amsterdam's renowned Rijksmuseum, a whole counter is given over to items reflecting Vermeer's masterpiece, Milkmaid. In addition to the expected postcards, magnets, posters, and mugs, there are

crocheted dolls of the little maid holding a crocheted milk jug, brightly colored Playmobile "little maids" waiting to be assembled, delicate replicas as glass ornaments, and even a plush Hello-Kitty Milkmaid

Do these items replace traditional methods of learning about art? Absolutely not. But especially for those new to art, these kinds of offerings meet them where they stand: curious, wondering where to begin, or stymied by the need to sort out the numbing quantity of art that fills the museum's corridors. A valid comparison could be made to the utility of the guidebook that alerts a tourist to the principal sights ahead.

So, here are strategies for teaching the beauty of art from the premises of a museum's gift shop.

1. First, survey the entire shop, especially if it is large. Ask older children to do the same and analyze the layout, appearance, and prominent offerings, evaluating the reasons for the way the shop is designed.

2. Head to the back where the more serious displays are likely to be. If there is an area for books, go through it, noting whether the books reflect the museum's permanent exhibits (the artworks ordinarily housed there), the temporary exhibits (which often require a separate ticket), or art outside the scope of the museum. For students old enough to handle bigger volumes, look through selected perusal copies of the beautiful folios.

3. Stand before the racks that hold postcard-sized reproductions of works of art. These usually reflect the collection of that museum, particularly the most popular works. See what attracts the eye. Pull (carefully) a selection of the cards that seem intriguing. Take note of titles and artists in anticipation of finding these works in the museum's rooms. (This can be lively fun for children.)

4. Visit the children's section and see what is presented. While the "toy" items are likely to draw younger children, locate the books that are offered. Some will be coloring books dedicated to single artists or artistic styles. Others will give general introductions. Still others will be charming storybooks based on specific paintings.

5. After the visit, encourage children to evaluate the information they gained from the shop, especially noting which items made them more interested in the actual art. Encourage them to recreate something they saw.

Finally, remember that the Fine Arts were created by adults, primarily for adults. There may be items, or topics, that require some curating for your students. On the other hand, an art museum can be an ideal place to take on difficult topics, particularly these that recur in the creative expressions of each new generation. Delighting in the beauty of art involves a lifelong process of encountering, absorbing, and questioning— an adventure that can begin anywhere from the glories of a mountaintop to a tabletop in a museum gift shop.

Dr. Carol Reynolds is a widely acclaimed author, speaker, and educator. She regularly leads arts tours throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, recently in partnership with the Smithsonian Institute.

Primary Enrichment

Enrichment Guides

Classical Core Curriculum supplement

Grades K-2

$22.70 ea.

ese supplemental guides coordinate with our Classical Core Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade programs. Each guide includes an overview of each read-aloud book, author and illustrator biographies, oral reading questions, and a simple language lesson, as well as resources for the history, culture, and science lessons, biographies of the artists, and poetry lessons. Lessons from Music Enrichment are scheduled here as well.

Character Building

e Book of Crafts

Classical Core Curriculum supplement

Grades Jr. K-2 | $20.05 ea.

e creative arts are an essential part of primary school education. ese activities reinforce number and letter recognition, strengthen ne-motor skills, and foster creativity and con dence. ere is a craft project for each read-aloud in Memoria Press' Jr. K-2 curriculum packages, and additional crafts that focus on art concepts. Enjoy each of your creations and the time spent together making them.

Manner of the Week Wall Charts & Flashcards

Grades K+

Wall Charts (11" x 8 ½")

$17.90 | Flashcards (5 ½" × 4 ¼") $11.85

Be respectful, listen carefully, look for opportunities to include others, chew with your mouth closed—these simple, thoughtful guidelines for good manners are a great aid for your classroom or homeschool. ere are 36 manners, one for each week of your school year. Each week, hang up the wall chart as a helpful visual aid and use the short explanations and examples on the ashcards to discuss proper behavior at the dinner table, around the home, and out in public.

Myself & Others

Lessons for Social Understanding, Habits, & Manners by Cheryl

Swope

Ages 4-13

Guide Books $21.60 ea.

Book One Core Set $60.38

Book One Read-Aloud Set $110.90

Book Two Core Set $23.93

Book Two Read-Aloud Set $109.83

Book ree Core Set $61.17

Book Four Core Set $54.69

Music Enrichment

Classical Core Curriculum supplement

Grades K-2

$15.10

Music Enrichment goes into more detail about each song studied in our Enrichment Guides, including a short backstory on each song and its composer, as well as a few interesting facts and discussion questions. Purchase of this book also includes links to playlists so you can listen to good recordings of each piece.

Kindergarten Morning Work

Grade K

$17.35

Kindergarten Morning Work is designed to practice quick recall of concepts already taught in the Kindergarten Curriculum. It purposefully does not introduce new concepts, but allows young students to build con dence and gives teachers the opportunity to gauge mastery. Two days a week students will review penmanship, phonics, color words, number awareness, and the manner of the week.

Cut & Paste Book

Grade K

$7.10

Fine-motor skills are critical for primary students to master. We have paired this Cut & Paste Book with our kindergarten phonics and reading program so that students can practice their scissors skills, using glue, and tracing letters while working on mastery of beginning phonics sounds. e pages are in the same order that students study the alphabet in First Start Reading, with additional pages for the h-consonant teams of sh, th, ch, and wh as they are introduced.

Scissors Books

Recommended for Ages 3-5

My Very First Scissors Book $7.10

My Very Own Scissors Book $7.10

Help your student develop hand strength, ne-motor skills, and independence with one or both of these books.

Memoria Math Challenge

Levels A-C | Grades K-2 | Student $19.35-$19.95 ea. | Teacher $6.20 ea. With daily timed drills, Memoria Math Challenge is designed to give students the necessary practice to master basic math facts. We start with addition, subtraction, and number dictation in kindergarten, and ramp up to 200 daily problems by the end of rst grade. If students are able to master their math facts in the primary years, they can devote more time to complex math operations in grammar school and upper school. Student Drills are on 3-hole-punched loose-leaf paper to make it easy for you to store and copy.

Arithmetic Flashcards

Addition & Subtraction,

0 to 18 | (4.25" x 5.5")

$11.85

Memoria Pre-Algebra and Algebra I

Grades 7+

Multiplication Flashcards

0 to 12

(4.25" x 5.5") $11.85

$140.00 Memoria Pre-Algebra set (text, teacher, solutions key, quizzes & tests, instructional videos) Student Text $35.00 | Teacher Manual $35.00 | Solutions Key (Student Text, Quizzes, & Tests) $30.00 Quizzes & Tests $20.00 | Instructional Videos $55.00

$164.00 Memoria Algebra I set (text, teacher, solutions key, quizzes & tests, instructional videos) Student Text $45.00 | Teacher Manual $45.00 | Solutions Key (Student Text, Quizzes, & Tests) $40.00 Quizzes & Tests $20.00 | Instructional Videos $55.00

Division Flashcards

0 to 12

(4.25" x 5.5")

$11.85

e Memoria Algebra Series covers the mathematical discipline of algebra in three books, beginning with Memoria Pre-Algebra. Transition seamlessly from arithmetic to the rst principles of algebra in this exhaustive and logically sequenced program that fosters mastery rather than frustration. Memoria Algebra I picks up right where Pre-Algebra leaves o , starting with rst-degree relations with two and three variables and moving on to higher-degree and rational relations. Based on the beloved VideoText program, this updated and expanded series features a comprehensive Student Text and optional Instructional Videos that guide students step by step through each lesson and provide abundant exercises for mastery. e Teacher Manual and complete Solutions Key make the content accessible for those without an advanced background in mathematics. e Quizzes & Tests include two versions of each assessment for practice and repeated attempts.

Coming Soon: Memoria Algebra II!

Still need original VideoText? Buy at MemoriaPress.com!

Rod & Sta Arithmetic

Rod & Sta Math books teach your student number facts and arithmetic skills to mastery using clear, uncluttered lessons and plenty of drill practice.

Grade 1 Arithmetic (3rd Ed.)

Student Part 1

$7.50 | Student Part 2 $7.50

Practice Sheets $18.50

Teacher Manual $22.95

Speed Drills $5.50

Grade 2 Arithmetic (3rd Ed.)

Student Unit 1 $7.50 | Student Unit 2 $7.50

Student Unit 3 $7.50 | Student Unit 4 $7.50

Practice Sheets 1 $8.50 | Practice Sheets 2 $8.50

Supplemental Pack $1.95 | Teacher Manual Units 1-2 $13.75

Teacher Manual Units 3-4 $13.75

Grade 3 Arithmetic (3rd Ed.)

Student $14.50

Teacher Manual Part 1 $13.75

Teacher Manual Part 2 $13.75

Practice Sheets $4.50

Tests $2.50

Alphabet, Numbers, & Coloring

Alphabet Flashcards

(4¼'' x 5½")

$11.85

Alphabet Book Part One & Part Two

by Leigh Lowe

Recommended for Ages 4-5

$34.70 set (2 books)

Teaches letter recognition, letter formation, and pencil grip. is is a gentle introduction to phonics.

Numbers Book Part One & Part Two

by Leigh Lowe

Recommended for Kindergarten

$34.70 set (2 books)

Continued practice with numbers, counting, and patterns for the kindergarten student who is ready to move beyond simple tracing. is a nice supplement to any kindergarten math program.

Grade 4 Arithmetic

Student $16.50 | Speed Drill Packet $9.50

Teacher Manual Part 1 $13.25

Teacher Manual Part 2 $13.25

Tests $2.75 | Speed Drills $5.50

Grade 5 Arithmetic

Student $16.50

Teacher Manual Part 1 $13.25

Teacher Manual Part 2 $13.25

Tests $2.75 | Speed Drills $5.50

Grade 6 Mathematics

Student $15.95

Teacher Manual Part 1 $13.25

Teacher Manual Part 2 $13.25

Tests $2.50 | Quizzes and Speed Tests $4.75

Deck contains one card for each letter of the alphabet. Each card has the upper- and lowercase letter on one side and a simple illustration on the ip side that allows practice with the beginning letter sound.

Numbers & Colors

Recommended for Ages 4-5

$17.35

is book introduces each number through 15 and color words with tracing and coloring activities.

Coloring Books

Recommended for Ages 4-5

Alphabet $7.10

Numbers $7.10

Practice number and letter recognition while developing ne-motor and coloring skills.

See also: Alphabet Wall Charts and Alphabet Wall Poster (p. 79)

Phonics & Reading

First Start Reading: Phonics, Reading, & Printing

by Cheryl Lowe | Grade K

$54.20 set (Books A-D + Teacher Guide)

Student Books (A-D) $8.15 ea.

Teacher Guide for Books A-D $21.60

FSR is a balanced, age-appropriate approach to phonics and reading, with a serious focus on correct pencil grip and letter formation. e program uses the traditional (vowel-consonant) approach to phonics combined with word families. e FSR kindergarten program consists of 4 student books with artist-drawn pictures to color, drawing pages for each letter or phonogram, and over 40 stories. e Teacher Guide leads you through the program and provides helpful assessments and teaching tips.

Kindergarten Phonics & Reading Set

Grade K | $273.40 set

Everything you need to teach your student to read uently, including lesson plans!

Classical Phonics

by Cheryl Lowe

Grades K-2 | $20.05

ese phonetically arranged word lists require students to rely on their mastery of letter sounds. Coordinates with First Start Reading, or is a good supplement to any phonics program.

100 Days of Summer Reading Books I-III

Grades K-2 | $9.25 ea.

Reading is a subject that should continue through the summer to avoid regression.

Kindergarten Phonics Supplemental Workbook

by Amber Wheat | Grade K | $17.35

Designed to be used in conjunction with First Start Reading to reinforce the phonetic concepts learned each week.

Manuscript Practice Sheets

by Amber Wheat | Grade K | $16.80

Provides the extra practice needed to master manuscript printing. Correlates with the letter students are working on in First Start Reading.

Kindergarten Phonics & Reading Streaming Instructional Videos

$55.00

Let primary specialist Michelle Tefertiller teach your students how to read! ese streaming videos use all the books in the Kindergarten Phonics & Reading Set.

First Start Reading Storybooks A-E

by Cheryl Lowe

Grades K-1

$8.15-$10.85 ea.

ese Storybooks feature the same targeted phonetic stories found in First Start Reading, with beautifully illustrated black and white pictures to help students stay engaged as they read.

ese summer reading journals are a perfect way to encourage young children to continue working on reading uency. e font size gets smaller for each journal, and each page is divided in half for drawing and writing small summaries. Kindergarten has the unique goal of reading a book a day for 100 days!

Easy Reader Classics

Grades K-2

$67.50 set (18 books) | $3.95 ea.

Classic stories from e Jungle Book, e Wind in the Willows, Tom Sawyer, and Doctor Dolittle have been adapted in these early readers so young children can read good stories on their level.

First

Start Reading, Book E by Michelle Tefertiller | Grade 1

Student Book E $8.15

Teacher Guide for Book E $11.85

We complete our phonics for reading program at the beginning of rst grade with First Start Reading Book E, which includes long vowel teams, sounds of soft c and g, and the three sounds of y

Phonics Flashcards

Grades K-2

(4¼'' x 5½")

$27.00

Flashcards for the nearly 200 phonograms used to spell the 44 sounds of the English language.

Phonics from A to Z

$37.99

A manual for teachers who want to go deeper into the subject of phonics and reading.

Teaching Phonics & Word Study

$33.99

An excellent phonics resource for grammar school teachers.

Traditional Spelling I-V

by Cheryl Lowe | Grades 1-5

$105.90 I & II set

(student, teacher, practice sheets, instructional videos, supplemental workbook, supplemental workbook key)

$41.95 III set (student, teacher, practice sheets)

$36.06 IV & V set ea. (student, teacher)

Student $17.90 ea. | Teacher $20.05 ea. Practice Sheets (I-III only) $6.20 ea.

Supplemental Workbook (I & II only) $9.25 ea.

Supplemental Workbook Key (I & II only) $9.25 ea.

Instructional Videos (I & II only) $55.00 ea.

is comprehensive, phonetic approach to teaching spelling is the culmination of our phonics program. Once students have mastered reading "consonant-vowelconsonant" words with short vowels in kindergarten they are ready to begin a spelling program. Traditional Spelling is the perfect next step toward reading uency. Traditional Spelling provides students with an extensive mastery-based study of phonics.

Lessons feature a variety of phonetic activities that utilize each week's spelling words, including writing and oral dictation practice, crossword puzzles, color-coded phonogram activities, short stories or riddles on the student's reading level, and Greek and Latin root word exercises.

Traditional Spelling I & II Instructional Videos

Grades 1-2

Traditional Spelling I, Instructor Julia Lasoi

Traditional Spelling II, Instructor Michelle Tefertiller

$55.00 ea.

Join master primary school teachers Julia Lasoi and Michelle Tefertiller for Traditional Spelling! Clear explanations and gentle encouragement will keep your students engaged and give them con dence as they master their spelling words each week.We suggest you watch these interactive lessons alongside your student to prepare for the parent-led activities in the second half of the week, which are scheduled out in each Teacher Manual

BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAINS

by Cheryl Swope

Some days, the cares of this world press hard upon us and our children. Frailties become undeniable as our minds crave rest, our bodies need healing, or loved ones need our immediate care. Isolation, loneliness, financial or work pressures, and world unrest can tumble us into suffocating torrents that threaten to take our breath away. We begin to lose heart.

If we or our children were without fault, we might stand unmoved in any circumstance, but our own temptations and transgressions often compound our sorrows. In the beginning of the fairy tale The Little Lame Prince, a young boy of royal birth with crippled legs depicts our common plight:

He settled himself down in the center of the cloak, feeling quite sad and lonely. "I think I ' ll go home, " said he … with a rather heavy heart …. It is not always one can have everything one wants—at least, at the exact minute one craves for it; not even though one is a prince and has a powerful and beneficent godmother.

He did not like to vex her by calling for her and telling her how unhappy he was, in spite of all her goodness; so he just kept his trouble to himself, went back to his lonely tower, and spent three days in silent melancholy, without even attempting another journey on his travelling cloak.

Later in the tale, the prince is placed on the throne by his people, who are unhappy under the regent and have learned that the prince still lives. Dolor moves to the castle and as he matures he begins to love the little upper room that had been his mother's room, "from the window of which, as people remembered now, she had used to sit for hours watching the Beautiful Mountains." He gazes upon the mountains through the very window his mother once looked out of and, laying his head on his godmother's shoulder, finds calm and rest.

Thereafter throughout his long, enduring reign, the king would sooner have lost his crown than ever again have lost sight of the Beautiful Mountains.

Dante calls nature the child of God and art the grandchild of God in the sublime transcendence, delight, and hope that beauty brings to us. Yet created beauty only takes us so far. Beauty alone cannot save us. Saving beauty comes in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (Isaiah 52:7)

Prince Dolor, aptly named, has been ousted from his rightful place as prince and trapped in Hopeless Tower (also aptly named), his magical travelling cloak providing his only access to the outside world. Forlorn and lonely, he recalls a proverb his nurse taught him: For every evil under the sun There is a remedy, or there's none. f there is one, try to find it. If there isn't, never mind it.

"I wonder, is there a remedy now, and could I find it?"

We might hear in this an echo of our own desperate desire for hope.

We frail creatures need first to be met by One who was tempted in all ways as we are, yet who is without fault—fully man and fully God, equally able to save and willing to bring us the Good News in the midst of our need. The little lame prince finds hope by gazing through his window onto the beauty of creation greater than himself. How much more, then, do we find hope by gazing beyond ourselves to the One who created all, the One who has already loved and saved us? "Worship the L in the beauty of holiness" (I Chronicles 16:29).

In a recent visit to one of our Simply Classical schools, I beheld the saving beauty of Christ in the peace that passes all understanding. Seven children beset by varied and numerous a ictions had gathered for the morning opening, arranged with sufficient space from each other.

A few vocalizations by some and reluctant foot shu ing by others created initial noise, but when the young teacher began singing and simultaneously signing the familiar hymn the children sing every day, the room became transported heavenward.

All of the children quieted. Calm and restful singing filled this unlikely space with the gentlest, loveliest rendition of the hymn I have ever heard. With a transcendent beauty that brought tears to my eyes, the words calmed my soul as I beheld these seven children bathed in words of praise:

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee; Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!

God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Barely five months into the school year, the children with autism, Down syndrome, and other challenges had learned all four stanzas of this hymn. They recited a poem. They prayed a prayer. I stood in humbled awe and gratitude.

One of the children, a little boy with autism, had started the year with only echolalic (repetitive) speech, but was now singing, speaking in sentences, and learning to read side by side with his classmates and friends. When anyone in the room errs against another, the offender is stopped to say that he is sorry. Then he is forgiven. No longer relegated only to a merely remedial, sterile, or secular education, the little boy and his classmates are surrounded every day by the warmth of Christian love, mercy, and forgiveness.

The preparation of the teachers begins before the children arrive. Honored to be part of teacher devotionals prior to the opening of the school day, I heard one of the teachers pray aloud, " Let us exude the peace of Christ to our students. " With admiration I witnessed her countenance refl ecting this prayer in one diffi cult moment after another, as she shone the love of Christ into the faces of even her most troubled young students. The children love her for it. So do their parents.

Sharing God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with our children in Truth, Beauty, and Goodness remains our highest calling in Christian classical education. As we face every trial with a view to the Beautiful Mountains that lie before us, and with salvation from the One who leads us home, we can remember this hope with certainty and promise:

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the L , that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the L all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the L , and to enquire in his temple.

And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the L . (Psalm 27:3-6)

Cheryl Swope is the author of Simply Classical: A Beautiful Education for Any Child and Memoria Press' Simply Classical Curriculum, as well

Learn more and take a free readiness assessment today at:

Choose from:

New American Cursive 1

New American Cursive 2: Scripture & Famous Quotations

New American Cursive 2: Quotations from Famous Americans

New American Cursive 3: Scripture & Lessons on Manners

New American Cursive 3: Famous Quotes & Lessons on Manners

New American Cursive by Iris Hat eld

Grades 1+ | $25.75 ea.

e New American Cursive (NAC) penmanship program is an easy-to-follow resource for learning cursive. Simpli ed letter forms and clear instructions teach your student to write in a fast, legible script. Developed by Iris Hat eld, an educator with 35 years of experience in the handwriting eld, the workbooks improve the process of teaching handwriting and allow students to start at a younger age.

In NAC 1, learn how to form each letter, step by step, with clear starting dots and direction arrows. Correct pencil grip, paper position, and posture are illustrated throughout. Fifteen minutes of workbook practice a day is all it takes! NAC 2 will continue to teach correct letter forms and how to easily connect each letter. Proper size, spacing, and slant are emphasized in 125 instructional exercises. In NAC 3 you will further enhance cursive skills by practicing your best handwriting while learning about manners and correspondence protocol.

Teach Yourself Cursive

by Iris Hat

eld

Grade 5-Adult | $25.75

Whether you are a beginning older student or are ne-tuning your penmanship later in life, these self-guided lessons make learning cursive a pleasure. Practice just 15 minutes a day to get remarkable results.

Penmanship Practice with Wisdom Scriptures

by Iris Hat eld

Grades 3+

$14.05

Startwrite CD

$29.95

Create customizable worksheets in the New American Cursive font to integrate handwriting practice with any subject. Digital download also available. (Windows only)

is easy-to-use supplemental resource for mastering a legible, attractive cursive enhances the pleasure of writing by practicing a di erent, inspiring wisdom Scripture verse each day. It also includes 50 helpful penmanship tips to improve cursive skills.

New American Cursive Teaching Charts

by Iris Hat eld and Tara Luse

Grades 1+ | $17.90

e New American Cursive Teaching Charts make great visual aids for the home or classroom. e charts feature letter illustrations for the entire cursive alphabet along with copy words. ese charts make an excellent supplement to the New American Cursive program.

Copybooks I-III

by Cheryl & Leigh Lowe Grades K-2

$45.36 set (Copybooks I-III)

$16.80 ea.

Copybooks include memory passages, copybook exercises, and drawing pages, incorporating Scripture from the King James Bible and classic children's poems.

Copybook Cursive I-IV

(New American Cursive font)

Grades 1-6 | $16.80 ea.

Copybook Cursive I is perfect for second graders alongside NAC 2 or older students needing more practice.

Copybook Cursive II includes Scripture passages from Christian Studies I, the 15 brightest stars from Astronomy, and the major gods from D'Aulaires' Greek Myths. In Copybook Cursive III, students practice their penmanship with beautiful memory passages from Christian Studies II e college-ruled lines of Copybook Cursive IV are perfect for older students honing their penmanship with the Scripture passages from Christian Studies III

Cursive

Ages 6+

$16.80 ea.

Composition & Sketchbooks I-III

Grades K-6

$9.75 ea.

I: 5/8" Ruled for Younger Students

II: 1/2" Ruled for 1st-2nd Grade Students

III: College-Ruled for Older Students

Our Composition & Sketchbooks allow each student to write and illustrate compositions.

Summer Cursive

Grades 1-2

$16.80

is workbook is designed as summer practice for rising second graders who have completed New American Cursive 1. It is arranged in lessons to be completed three times a week during the summer.

Practice Sheets I-III (New American Cursive font)

Our Cursive Practice Sheets include pages for practicing each cursive letter, Scripture copywork, and blank practice sheets. Book I is a good companion to NAC 1, Book II is extra practice for NAC 2, and Book III is wide-ruled for any older student who needs more practice.

Penmanship Supplements

Alphabet Wall Charts

Available in Manuscript (blue) or Cursive (green) (11'' x 17'') | $17.90 ea.

ese visual aids reinforce each letter of the alphabet while young students learn to read and write or practice their penmanship. Each illustration is hand-drawn. e cursive charts use the New American Cursive font.

My ankfulness Journals

(New American Cursive font) by Cheryl Swope

Ages 6-12 (chronological age or skill level)

Beginner or Intermediate $9.75 ea. ese journals let students practice cursive while thinking about God's daily blessings in their lives. e Intermediate Journal has a smaller font size and less tracing.

My Nature Journal by Cheryl Swope

Ages 4-11

$10.30

Savor small moments of wonder with your child as he learns the simple beauty of nature. is book can stand alone as a delightful supplement to any program.

Aesop Copybooks

by Cheryl Swope

Ages 9+

Aesop Copybook, Cursive $10.30

Aesop Copybook, Manuscript $10.30

Aesop's Fables $14.99

e Aesop Copybook is a lovely companion to Aesop’s Fables . It will strengthen your student's writing and composition skills while giving the opportunity to contemplate the timeless wisdom of Aesop's fables and learn from the gentle moral instruction they provide.

Alphabet Wall Poster

Manuscript and New American Cursive (22'' x 34'') | $8.15 is poster lists the entire alphabet in manuscript and cursive. It is the perfect resource if you don't have the space for our Alphabet Wall Charts

The Country and the Cosmos

by Martin Cothran

From before most of us can remember we are soaked and steeped in the distinction between the town and the country. And a s far back as Aesop we have been told that the ways of the city are not the ways of the country, and that, in fact, there is something about the country that is more grounded and authentic.

When Aesop's Town Mouse visits the Country Mouse's home, he finds the lifestyle too quiet and the cuisine too plain. He convinces the Country Mouse to return with him to the city, where there are "sweetmeats and jellies, pastries, delicious cheeses, indeed, the most tempting foods that a Mouse can imagine." The Country Mouse is at first dazzled; the city offers luxuries unattainable in the country. But as soon as he has availed himself of these delights he is confronted with the servants, the dog, and, worst of all, the cat.

"You may have luxuries and dainties that I have not," says the Country Mouse as he picks up his bag and umbrella, "but I prefer my plain food and simple life in the country with the peace and security that go with it." And off he scampers.

I think I understand the Town Mouse's impatience with the country. Two years after we were married, my pregnant wife and I moved from the suburbs of southern California to the rustic environs of small-town Kentucky. When we had first visited we'd been charmed by the old-fashioned main street with the bandstand in the park in front of the courthouse, and with the classic beauty of the little college in town—not to mention the lush green of the fields and the horse farms that seemed to go on forever. But it wasn't long after we moved that the things this new land did not have began to loom large: There was little in the way of restaurants, fewer choices at the grocery store, and if you wanted to shop for clothes you had to drive an hour to do it. Everything closed at 5:00 p.m. On Sunday nothing was open and you were on your own.

We traveled back to California frequently with our two, three, and then four children. And, for a time, we thought we might move back to "civilization." We missed the luxuries and dainties that we had not.

But the years began to work on our way of looking at things. The trips back to California became less frequent and less gratifying. The polluted air, the crowded roads, the endless asphalt—I don't remember noticing them much when I grew up there, but on our visits they sometimes seemed the chief features of the landscape. Where were the cows? Where were the corn fields? Where were the patches of woods and

the occasional deer crossing the road? Why did no one wave to you when you drove by?

Our three boys had by then spent a good part of their childhood tromping through the creek that ran through our backyard (or fishing in it), and our daughter had already taken to horseback riding (which eventually became her profession). We left California as unwitting town mice, but every successive trip back contributed to our transformation into country mice. Convenience became less of a factor; the genuine, close-knit community in our little town seemed a fair tradeoff. There was something about the country that seemed more solid, satisfying, and safe—and there was something about the city that was artificial, anxious, and threatening.

This was not only our judgment but, as I later discovered, was the judgment of time and civilization. Literature, too, joins its testimony to these values. Aesop's story of The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse is echoed by innumerable others in the case for the country. Children's literature in particular is full of it. It is hard to imagine Laura falling asleep to the sweet strains of Pa's fiddle in Midtown Manhattan. Wilbur was "some pig," but would not have been so "terrific" in a place other than the rural barn in which he lived. And good luck finding blueberries for Sal in the cement jungles where many of us spend our days.

In fact, it is striking when you consider how few children's stories take place in a city. The lessons we are admonished to learn (or are, more frequently, taught implicitly) are country lessons. When Almanzo's father in Farmer Boy is showing him how to plant a wheat field, Father tells the story of a "lazy, worthless boy" who was sent to sow a field but who instead poured the seeds in a mound on the ground and went swimming, thinking no one would ever know. "But the seeds knew, and the earth knew," and in time, when the seeds finally grew, they would tell of his wickedness when even the boy had forgotten it.

It is hard to imagine what urban analogy could be employed to similar effect. There is something about the fields and forests that allow the moral imagination to run free, and something too particular and too synthetic about the things of the city to allow what happens there to be universalized. What F. Scott Fi gerald ironically called the "urban distaste for the concrete" seems to militate against the poetic. For some reason we seem to know ourselves better when we are closer to the soil—that from which, according to the Book of Genesis, we are made.

Our modern lives are spent more and more in the company of man-made things. We build our houses in man-made subdivisions and eat our increasingly man-made food, enabling us to lead our man-made lives and think our man-made thoughts. The country life is a life closer to the things that God made.

There is a distinction made in the old material logic of the medievals between man-made artifacts, whose pattern and purpose are imposed on them by man from without, and natural objects, whose pattern and purpose inform them from within. The wood of a tree has its formal and final causes buried within its very being, whereas, say, a bed has its pattern and purpose imposed on it from the outside by man. This is why, said Aristotle, if you were to bury a wooden bed in the ground and it sprouted, it would sprout a tree and not a bed.

In the old classical conception of the cosmos, natural things not only seem more real but really are more real. When we surround ourselves with unnatural things we should not be surprised when we find that we have been distanced from our natural selves.

The nihilist adult stories that make up so much of modern literature are set almost exclusively in the city. The modern tales of alienation and despair—Gogol's Overcoat , Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment , Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Ka a's Metamorphosis, Sartre's Nausea, Camus' The Stranger —all take place in an urban setting, far away from the Hundred Acre Wood.

mountain home, where she once again sleeps "soundly all night long, satisfied through and through." Later, after visiting Heidi and her grandfather, the same doctor ends up recommending that Clara, too, be taken to Heidi's mountains to improve her health. There are children's stories set in small towns, but seldom big ones. Small towns are towns in which humans not only live, but, being human-sized towns, they are towns into which they can comfortably fit.

Margaret Wise Brown's Mike Mulligan, Eleanor Estes' "middle Moffat," Robert McCloskey's Homer Price—all live in the kind of small, rural towns that still dot the American landscape.

When we surround ourselves with unnatural things we should not be surprised when we nd that we have been distanced from our natural selves.

In Johanna Spyri's Heidi on the other hand, little Heidi thrives when she is sent to live with her grandfather in the mountains. She gets used to going out first thing in the morning "to see whether the sky was blue and the sun shining, and to say good morning to the trees and flowers," and is sorely unhappy when she is taken by her aunt to the city to be a companion to a frail young lady named Clara. Heidi's very health deteriorates. She is "like a wild bird in a cage, seeking a way through the bars to freedom." Clara's doctor recommends returning Heidi to her

There are exceptions to this thesis of course, even amongst children's books. Curious George , Mary Poppins , Peter Pan , and Trumpet of the Swan are all set in the city, although even in these the country is often a retreat, a moral refuge and a place of spiritual relief. And in many cities there are still communities in which you know the butcher at the market and the waitress at the local coffee shop, and where you are on a firstname basis with your doctor, your mechanic, and the barber who cut your hair when you were a kid. One can find a little bit of the country even in the city, and there are even good things the city has that the country doesn't. But when Heidi's grandfather is asked what will become of Heidi if she never goes to school, he responds, "She'll grow up with the goats and the birds. They won't teach her any bad ideas and she'll be very happy." Most of us wouldn't go that far. Still, some of us are sympathetic to the judgment of Beatrix Potter, who, after telling of Timmy Willie, the country mouse in The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse, remarks, "One place suits one person, another place suits another person. For my part, I prefer to live in the country, like Timmy Willie."

Martin Cothran is editor of The Classical Teacher, author of Traditional Logic Books I II, Material Logic, and Classical Rhetoric, and provost of Memoria College.

We seek to educate students to the highest standards of the classical tradition.

Writing

Bible Heroes: Writing Lessons in Structure and Style

Grades 1-2

$35.00

Get to know the heroes of the Bible while working through writing exercises that include key word outlining, paraphrasing, and summarizing stories. Teacher's Manual eBook is included.

Introduction to Composition

Grades 3-4

Student $11.85

Key $11.85

Classical Composition

by James A. Selby | Grades 4-12

$96.22 set ea. (student, teacher, videos)

Student $21.95 ea. | Teacher $29.95 ea. Instructional Videos: DVDs or Streaming $55.00 ea. (available for I-VIII)

Adventures in Writing: Implementing the "Structure and Style" Method

Grades 3-5 | $35.00 is theme-based writing curriculum will help young students enjoy learning to take notes, summarize narrative stories, write from pictures, and compose creative essays.

is introductory program focuses on narration, outlining, dictation, and copywork to help students become more pro cient in listening and writing skills, a great preparation for Classical Composition . is yearlong writing course uses focus passages from Charlotte's Web , Farmer Boy , A Bear Called Paddington , Mr. Popper's Penguins , and e Mo ats

Classical Composition is our study in the progymnasmata ("the before exercises"), a combination writing and pre-rhetoric program that teaches students the fundamental writing skills of style, arrangement, and invention in clear and systematic lessons. e nine stages of Classical Composition will not only teach the art of communication, but are designed to produce what Quintilian once called "the good man, speaking well." e structured lessons in the Student Guides help students become con dent writers as they thoroughly master the incremental skills of each stage. e Teacher Guides provide sample answers for every exercise as well as scripted Chalk Talk. Optional Instructional Videos are also available if you'd like the support of a master teacher to help guide you and your students through the lessons.

Grammar

English Grammar Practice

Grade 2

Student $9.25 | Teacher $11.85

Designed for the nal year of primary school, this program is used as morning work or oral practice of many basic aspects of language arts, from capitalization and punctuation to language and reading skills.

English Grammar Recitation I-V

Grades 3-8

English Grammar Recitation Handbook $11.85 Flashcards $14.65 | Student $14.05 ea. | Teacher $15.10 ea. Memoria Press' English Grammar Recitation is perfect for the student who needs an English grammar program that coordinates with his study of Latin. 150 grammar questions with answers and examples, designed to be studied and memorized much like a catechism, are compiled in the English Grammar RecitationHandbook. ese questions are learned over the course of six years in just thirty minutes a week. Students are given practice exercises in the Student Workbook and the opportunity to practice immediate recall with the Flashcards. e Teacher Guide provides answers to all exercises.

See also: Introduction to English Grammar (p. 4)

Starting late? No problem! Complete Fable and Narrative in one year and get a reduced package price of $138.98 for both sets of Student and Teacher Guides and videos.

CLASSICAL COMPOSITION STAGES:

I: Fable (pictured)

II: Narrative

III: Chreia & Maxim

IV: Refutation & Con rmation

V: Common Topic

VI: Encomium, Invective, & Comparison

VII: Characterization (1 semester)

VIII: Description (1 semester)

IX: esis & Law

Logic & Rhetoric

Traditional Logic I: Introduction to Formal Logic & Traditional Logic II: Advanced Formal Logic

by Martin Cothran | Grades 7+

$81.23 complete set ea. (text, workbook, key, quizzes, videos)

$45.14 basic set ea. (text, workbook, key, quizzes)

Text $16.25 ea. | Workbook $19.00 ea. | Key $11.85 ea.

Videos $55.00 ea. | Quizzes & Tests $6.20 ea.

Material Logic: A Course in How to ink by

Martin Cothran

| Grades 9+

$97.48 complete set (text, workbook, key, quizzes, videos)

$47.98 basic set (text, workbook, key, quizzes)

Text $16.25 | Workbook $19.00 Key $11.85 | Quizzes & Test $6.20 Videos $55.00

Material Logic is a course in how to think. It covers the branch of logic called "informal logic" that deals with the content of argumentation. It can be used as a follow-up to Traditional Logic or simply as an introduction to the rudiments of classical philosophy for high school students. e program covers the ten ways something can exist, the ves ways of saying something about something else, de nition, and division.

Logic Supplements

Handbook of Christian Apologetics: Hundreds of Answers to Crucial Questions by

Peter Kreeft & Ronald K. Tacelli

$35.00 (optional supplement)

Traditional Logic I and II cover the branch of logic called "formal logic," which is concerned with the form and structure of reasoning. It focuses on the procedural aspect of reasoning, its mechanics, how we properly get from two premises or assumptions to a conclusion. e program is designed to teach students a practical mastery of the art of argument.

Traditional Logic I presents the four kinds of logical statements, the four ways propositions can be opposed, the three ways in which they can be equivalent, and the seven rules for the validity of syllogisms. In Traditional Logic II students will master the use of the nineteen valid categorical argument forms through the memorization of a medieval mnemonic device, and learn the three kinds of hypothetical arguments. Students will study examples of arguments from history and literature.

e Texts explain challenging concepts in clear, concise language. e accompanying Student Workbooks include enough exercises to ensure that the student masters the material before moving on. e Teacher Keys include answers to the workbooks, quizzes, and tests. Instructional Videos are also available if you would like a little help from the author teaching the material.

Classical Rhetoric:

Aristotle's Principles of Persuasion

by Martin Cothran | Grades 9+

$156.37 complete set

(basic set + How to Read a Book & Figures of Speech)

$100.45 basic set

(student, teacher, Q&T, videos, Aristotle's Rhetoric)

Student $29.95 | Teacher $11.85

Quizzes & Tests

$6.20

Videos $55.00 | Aristotle's Rhetoric $8.00 How to Read a Book $19.99 Figures of Speech

$49.99

Classical Rhetoric is a guided tour through the rst part of the single greatest book on communication ever written: Aristotle's Rhetoric. is course involves a study of the fundamental principles of political philosophy, ethics, and traditional psychology. Your student will not only learn the basics of political speech, but also the elements of good character, the seven reasons people act, and what elicits speci c emotions under particular circumstances and why.

Rhetoric Supplements

Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren

Kreeft

Quinn

Aristotle's Rhetoric

Rhys Roberts

Beauty Is not Just in

the eye of the Beholder

By Mark Milke

“Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder,” we are told by fellow citizens who may, when they offer that familiar clich , be justifying a preference for mud wrestling over Monet. Or they may be academics engaged in the familiar, boring project of deconstructing and subjecting every last bit of beauty to the philosophical equivalent of petri dish analysis.

Plenty of moderns offer the excuse of beauty as relative because the notion that a painting, picture, or sculpture could be objectively assessed is thought a hangover of some past age. So the possibility of objectively beautiful art is dismissed much in the same manner as is any notion of objective morality.

The English philosopher Roger Scruton dissents and takes on this laissez-faire approach—essentially a democratizing dumbed-down approach—in his book, Beauty. In a slim, small volume that spans natural, artistic, everyday, and human beauty, Scruton zeroes in on the question of whether beauty can ever be judged with a standard that comes from anything other than our own personal preference.

To answer that query, Scruton first notes that the appeal of beauty as in possession of its own standard goes back to Plato and Plotinus, and later became incorporated into Christian theological thinking:

According to this idea beauty is an ultimate value— something that we pursue for its own sake, and for the pursuit of which no further reason need be given. Beauty should therefore be compared to truth and goodness, one

member of a trio of ultimate values which justify our rational inclinations. Why believe p? Because it is true. Why want x? Because it is good. Why look at y? Because it is beautiful.

The author reminds us, perhaps especially those with a more classic orientation, that beauty can also possess a subversive nature. Scruton doesn't give this following example, but it illustrates the point: Much like a man in love with a physically beautiful woman who possesses a mean disposition, to believe the unspoken myth that outside beauty is alone worth devotion is an infatuation that will lead to later misery. Still, if foolishness occasionally results from an overindulgence in the beatification of the personally pretty, the opposite mistake made most often these days is the reverse: not incorporating everyday beauty into our lives.

Much that is said about beauty and its importance in our lives ignores the minimal beauty of an unpretentious street, a nice pair of shoes or a tasteful piece of wrapping paper, as though these things belonged to a different order of value from a church by Bramante or a Shakespeare sonnet.

Scruton points out that while the pursuit of absolute beauty may have its place—think of Michelangelo intent on creating a magnificent work—such pursuits may distract us from the more urgent business of getting things right in our everyday existence. "For most of us," writes Scruton, "it is far more important to achieve order in the things surrounding us, and to ensure that the eyes, the ears, and the sense of fittingness are not repeatedly offended."

The author is on to something, and we need look no further than many of the homes and neighborhoods created post-World War II in North America, or "urban renewal" projects that occurred in the same time frame. But if architectural beauty is rarely pondered these days, it is because beauty in general is under attack from at least two corners.

First, as Scruton writes, "many people seem to live in an aesthetic vacuum, filling their days with utilitarian calculations, and with no sense that they are missing out on the higher life." That's in part due to a lack of awareness of the importance of beauty to our lives; it's also the result of our scientific bent. "Scientists appreciate the intricacies of the natural world. But science is not sufficient—nor is it necessary—to generate the moments of transfiguration," writes the author in a discussion of how natural beauty affects us.

That's one reason. The other reason for beauty's decline comes from those who, whether in art, architecture, or in the universities, reject beauty as an illusion. They instead assert that "the old invocations of home, peace, love and contentment are lies, and that art must henceforth devote itself to the real and unpleasant truth of our condition." But such "realism" is incomplete, and ugly. It leads to a world of replica Brillo boxes, signed urinals, and crucifixes in urine. Those are just three examples given by Scruton on the tendency to treat art as a joke or as a narcissistic "look at me" phenomenon. It is not that art must be nothing but flowers and pastels, the fake Thomas Kinkade approach to still and home life. That's an overdone idealization of beauty infused with enough saccharine to make one sick. Scruton doesn't assert that art must be all sweetness and light, only that the prevalent tendency to downgrade beauty is its own flight from reality. In short, he argues, the portrayal of reality is not at all incompatible with beauty:

Look at any picture of the great landscape painters— Poussin, Guardi, Turner, Corot, Cézanne—and you will see that idea of beauty celebrated and fixed in images. Those painters do not turn a blind eye to suffering, or to the vastness and threateningness of the universe, of which we occupy a small corner. Far from it. Landscape painters show us death and decay in the very heart of things: the walls of their houses are patched and crumbling like the stucco on the villages of Guardi. But their images point to the joy that lies incipient in decay, and to the eternal that is implied in the transient.

Thus, we need transfiguration, which comes from art and is both honest and a reminder there is more to us and the world than the merely rational, the merely obvious, and in the worst-case scenarios, more than even the ugliness that humans can and do create for themselves and others. Beauty is as necessary as truth. In fact, we need such transfiguration, such a possibility for beauty, precisely because the world is not always

kind. We need an occasional escape from ugliness lest we assume that is all there is. That assumption would then allow darkness to cover the whole earth.

It is fair to assert on behalf of Scruton's approach that reality exists beyond evil and tragedy. Whether it is the appreciation of the perfect wildflower or the blended feathers of a bird, Scruton argues these experiences give us an enhanced sense of belonging: "A world that makes room for such things makes room for you." In other words, somehow we grasp that even though life isn't perfect, beauty can on occasion be found and that "something" draws us in.

Scruton's work is not, the reader should be warned, an initial easy read. Early on, he delves into obscure debates over art and philosophy, necessary perhaps for the philosopher and as a base for his later arguments and observations, but numbing to a reader who might pick up Beauty for a summer beach read. However, for the reader who can stick with it, the later chapters finally flower into more accessible observations.

The voyage is worth the price of admission, especially when Scruton delves into the difference between the type of art that draws us in and makes us feel that our existence is not a fraud, versus the uglyfor-reality's-sake art on display on more than a few museum walls. The latter is why non-propagandized art patrons rightly reject such narcissistic art as a grand fraud. Scruton observes that the distinction between art that draws and that which repels is akin to that between a love that venerates (at the heart of tasteful art) and scorn that desecrates. In the latter category is pornography and the profane, and the difference between the two types of art is also akin to the difference between taste and addiction:

Lovers of beauty direct their attention outwards, in search of meaning and order that brings sense to their lives … addiction, as the psychologists point out, is a function of easy rewards. The addict is someone who presses again and again on the pleasure switch, whose pleasures bypass thought and judgment to settle in the realm of need.

As Scruton notes, art, properly understood, is at war with "effect addiction" as he calls it, "in which the need for stimulation and routinized excitement has blocked the path to beauty by putting acts of desecration center stage."

It's a useful insight. Expressed another way, such "effect addiction"—such "art" if one insists on calling it such—is the art of the narcissist-addict. And it explains why in a world that too often worships self, the art produced by that world is anything but sublime.

Mark Milke is the founder and president of the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy. He is the author of several books and works as a public policy analyst and columnist.

science & nature

Mammals

Grades 3+

$74.39 set

(student, teacher, The World of Mammals, What Is a Mammal?, What Is the Animal Kingdom?)

Student $17.30

Teacher $19.45

e World of Mammals $21.65

What Is a Mammal? $9.95

What Is the Animal Kingdom? $9.95

e young student's natural fascination with animals makes this in-depth study of the habitats, behaviors, and classi cation of mammals a wonderful grammar school course. Lessons draw from e World of Mammals, What Is the Animal Kingdom?, and What Is a Mammal? and include comprehension questions, drawing exercises, and observation pages.

e Book of Astronomy

Grades 3+

Student $17.30 | Teacher $20.50

Teach your student the story of the sky! is guide covers stars, constellations, the solar system, and the zodiac.

e Book of Insects

Grades 4+

$72.27 set (text, student, teacher, field guide, flashcards)

Text $17.90 | Student $17.90

Teacher $20.05 | eBook $12.00

Flashcards $14.45 | Peterson Guide $9.99

A narrative approach to the life of insects that takes your student through classi cation, anatomy, and more!

e Book of Birds

by Sarah Jo Davis and Kalee Miller | Grades 5+

$85.40 set (text, student, teacher, field guide, coloring book, flashcards)

Text $20.50 | Student $17.90 | Teacher $20.05

Peterson Guide $9.99 | Coloring Book $11.99 | Flashcards $14.45

e Book of Birds is a thorough introduction to a fascinating avian world, covering everything from anatomy and the physics of ight to social habits and habitats.

e Book of Trees

by Sean Brooks | Grades 6+

$69.53 set (text, student, teacher, field guide, Tree Book)

Text $17.90 | Student $17.90 | Teacher $20.05

Peterson Guide $9.99

e Tree Book for Kids and eir Grown-Ups $15.95

Do you know that the very gift of breath is the result of the oxygen that trees and plants produce? Or that trees and plants provide the means of sustenance for all life on Earth? e Book of Trees , along with the Student Workbook and Teacher Guide , will teach your student both plant morphology and taxonomy (the di erent parts and di erent kinds of plants), as well as photosynthesis and respiration. Other chapters cover owers and fruits. e second half of the course is dedicated to tree observation and classi cation.

science & nature

John H. Tiner's Science

Grades 5-9

Text $18.99 ea.

Supplemental Student Questions

Teacher Key & Tests

$9.25 ea.

$6.20ea.

J. H. Tiner's illustrated science books for middle school students are written from a biblical perspective and have won numerous awards. Each includes review questions and activities for every chapter, and Memoria Press has written supplemental questions, unit reviews, and tests for each book.

Choose From:

Exploring the History of Medicine

Exploring Planet Earth

Exploring the World of Mathematics

Exploring the World of Chemistry

Nature's Beautiful Order

by Christopher O. Blum & John A. Cuddeback

Grades 6+

Text $21.95 | Student $14.05

Teacher $15.10

Exploring the World of Physics

Exploring the World of Biology

Exploring the World of Astronomy

Novare Science

Grades 6+

See full book and price lists on MemoriaPress.com!

Novare is committed to a mastery-learning paradigm. Accurate explanations and a thorough treatment of the subject matter characterize these courses from start to nish. e Digital Resources download includes quizzes and exams, a teacher key, weekly review guides, and more.

Physical Science

Earth Science

Introductory Physics

General Chemistry

Choose From:

Accelerated Chemistry

Physics: Modeling Nature General Biology

is introduction to natural history instills in the beginning student of biology a love for the beauty and order of the animal kingdom through the eyes of the classical naturalists. Students will be led from the invertebrate animals through the ve great vertebrate classes to the culmination of the natural order, a consideration of man as the knowing animal and as a steward of Creation.