For the past few weeks, we have all been working on poetry memorization with Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization from Institute for Excellence in Writing. We are new to IEW products and have been blown away by this program. 
Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization
What comes in the set?
Spiral bound teacher’s book
Contains an abundance of information on why this course is so important as well as how to use it. It also includes copies of all the poems in all five levels of the program, along with three appendices that include: lesson enhancement suggestions, biographies and bibliographies.
PDF version of the student book
Includes ninety-six poems and speeches in total, and includes images for coloring while listening to the poems. This PDF can easily be printed out for the entire family to use.
5 Disc CD
That comes packed in a beautiful case. On each disc, Andrew Pudewa reads the poems for the students. Also included in the 5 Disc CD set, you’ll receive a bonus DVD of Andrew Pudewa’s conference talk Nurturing Competent Communicators. This is an amazing talk and one I highly recommend anyone watch.
7 audio mp3s
Bring Learning, On Listening, On Reading, On Writing, On Speaking, Ten Thousand Times and Then Begins Understanding, Nurturing Competent Communicators, and Mastery Learning, Ability Development, and individualized Education.
I also received a spiral bound student book as part of this review. This isn’t included in the original set, but it can be purchased at an additional price. This is a great option for those that prefer not to print the entire student book.
What is Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization and how does it work?
Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization is written by Andrew Pudewa and brings you five levels of poetry memorization in a way that helps students not only memorize but retain what they learn over the course. The first four levels contain poems that will gradually get harder as the student goes along, and the fifth level has speeches.
With this being a mastery program, the students only move on when they have mastered the material. There isn’t a set amount of days to stay on one poem and each child may progress at different speeds. We started at the recommended level 1 and as we have worked out way through, my boys are on different levels.
If you listen to Mr. Pudewa speak on this program, he mentions that the basis of this memorization program to help one become a good writer and communicator.
Overall Thoughts
I whole heartily agree with his statement and can see how a student can learn vocabulary and word usage by memorizing poetry, which in turn, will improve their speaking and writing skills. While this is a new program for our homeschool, my youngest daughter (now 20) has always loved poetry. She not only would read it but would memorize it. She chose to do this on her own and as a young adult she is an amazing writer and speaker.
I started at level one with my five and nine-year-old. Every morning before we start school we recite the poem we are on. I have impressed by how much they look forward to it. Seeing it as a challenge, I always ask them to try to recite the poem they were currently on. They are always eager to give it a try, and for the most part, they get it correct. As we have worked our way through the program, the boys are starting to be on different poems. At first, the thought of them being on different poems seemed a little daunting, but as we continue on, I realize it isn’t so bad after all.
Here are my boys reciting two of the poems. My little guy got very camera shy, so I apologize in advance that he’s very hard to hear. Normally, he’s the one that’s always in front of the camera.
Purchasing
The Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization is available for $65.00 and is recommended for grades K-12. The printed student book can be purchased for $19. You can download samples of this program by visiting HERE.
CONNECT:
Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Pinterest ~ YouTube
