I'm not a prophet, but I do predict that we will be hearing a lot of good things from these folks in the days ahead. This is classical writing at its purest. Taken straight from the Greek model, or progymnasmata, Classical Writing takes the student step-by-step through the writing process. The goal is to assist students in "putting their thoughts together and arranging them for a given rhetorical purpose."

Sounds quite lofty, but it really isn't at all. This program is a fun, structured, method for taking a new reader and helping him learn to think for himself, and to put his own thoughts down on paper. Tracy and Lene do this by taking models from great classical literature and using those models to instill in the children a process that they can use for life. Once the student has the process interned, he can take any piece of writing, analyze it, and restate the important information in his own words.

The method used for teaching this is based on the classical Greek preliminary exercises. This set of exercises was used faithfully in ancient education and, based on history, it seems to work. There are three parts to the process at this early level. Classical Writing -Aesop is designed for students who are reading on their own and ready to begin some grammar and writing lessons. Although it seems quite a busy way to teach, I have seen the results of this program and they are impressive. Children seem able to take pieces of literature and make them their own. Days later they can repeat what they have read and do so in their own words.

The steps are Theory, Analysis and Imitation, and Practice in that order. Using the methods of dictation and narration, the child is introduced to a working model. In this first volume, the authors use Aesop's fables for the models. In volumes to come, the books will follow traditional models. These are all listed in the complete and comprehensive teachers pages.

And now for the nuts and bolts of Classical Writing. Theory comes first. That means grammar and what little grammar is needed at this stage is included. The authors strongly encourage a complete grammar program to coincide with future volumes. The learning curve becomes quite steep and the authors even encourage the teacher to take the grammar course along with the student, just to be on top of your game!

Along with the theory comes Analysis and Imitation. This is where things get interesting for me. Having used an early-school program called Five In a Row in my students' first home school years, we were familiar with the idea of using one piece of literature over a period of time. So it is with Classical Writing. You will be using the same model for a week at a time. Each day's lessons are broken into two sections. First, you need a 20 to 30 minute period early in the day for analysis and imitation work and another, similar time period later in the day for the (re) writing project.

Analysis simply involves basic word and sentence skills. These include phonics, spelling, and vocabulary. The parent/teacher reads the model on Day 1. The goal here is to just enjoy the story. On days 2 and 3, you will analyze any tricky spellings as well as become comfortable with new words. A good phonics based spelling program is recommended and again, in this volume, the authors teach you everything you need to know. They use the phonics marking system created by Romalda Spalding in The Writing Road to Reading. This system has been updated and improved by Wanda Sanseri and her Spell to Write and Read program. I use it and highly recommend it. The idea is to take apart new/unknown words phonetically and mark the phonograms to identify and thus learn them. Day 4 is for dictation or copy work where the student practices handwriting using sections from the week's model. That's the Imitation. Day-by-day breakdowns are given for each skill. One thing that is particularly excellent about this program is how it builds up the instructor's knowledge every step of the way so you are thoroughly equipped and can appreciate what you are trying to help your students achieve. This is a parent participation program. By that I mean that you will be involved with each step of the instruction. You will have an incredible amount of joy as you learn together - it's really fun!

After the skill exercises are completed the students will come back later in the day and practice rewriting what they have heard. Again, thorough schedules and lesson helps are given and by the end of the week each student will have a complete version of the week's model written in his or her own words. Quite an accomplishment!

To be honest, when I first flipped through the Aesop volume, I thought - too fussy. But then I sat down to really read it and I have totally changed my opinion. Although there is a lot of theoretical information in the first chapter, once I got into the meat and potatoes of how and what to do each day, the light bulb came on. Step-by-step, skill-by-skill, this program thoroughly covers all your grammar stage students need to know and it does it in an interesting and engaging manner. The authors have included schedules and pointers for four different skill levels from beginning early reader to independent readers. The instructions are so detailed you can easily use Classical Writing together with children of different ages and stages. Simply read the model for the week and then break into skill levels for seatwork. The older kids can work on their own with mom helping the younger ones. You will be building a writer, exactly the way they did in ancient times. The students will really own what they have learned and they will be using these skills in day-to-day life throughout their school years. I can see for the first time that it will be possible to have an independent writer with his own thoughts and the ability to express them well. I am excited!

Classical Writing comes with lots of sample schedules, blank planning forms, and all kinds of encouragement. The only thing I can think of that would help me would be a one page synopsis of each days tasks. Once the main features are practiced and there is a plan in place for each day, it would be beneficial to refresh my memory by having the main points all in one place.

One really neat idea these ladies have is the ability to purchase the program online. Once purchased via pay pal or credit card, the authors will e-mail you a downloadable version and you can start immediately!

The other beautiful aspect to this method is that you can choose your own model. It doesn't really matter whether you use the versions supplied in the book or your own off the shelf or from the Internet. The idea is to use great, classical literature and implement it in a consistent specific manner. I think it's safe to say you will be pleased with the results.