Diogense Writing Projects

[hiddenjewel]

From the Website:

The writing projects begin with a familiar maxim as the subject. The students write to demonstrate the wisdom of the maxim, using the paragraph types learned in the theory lessons.
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So are the writing projects in Diogenes from scratch or are they rewriting material as they did in Homer? I am assuming from the above quote that they will be writing from their own thoughts using the paragraph form they are learning.

Thanks.

[hiddenjewel]

I just reread the Diogenes:Maxim sample and this time it made sense. I was totally lost the first time through. I think I understand better how the writing process is approached.

[Lene Mahler Jaqua]

Good.

The hardest part of working the the classical method is that the thinking and the approach is different. It has to be a slow patient learning process. That is difficult and frustrating when homeschooling because we all want to know where we're going and how to get there, but you do well to read and reread, and let it sink in slowly.

Lene

[Lene Mahler Jaqua]

The writing projects in Diogenes are essays. These essays are modeled on ancient essay types. That is we take examples of how the ancients wrote the Maxim essay and study it.

1. we study the outline and learn how to write each type of paragraph (introduction , paraphrase, cause, opposite, analogy, and testimony paragraphs)

2. we study specific essays (in translation) written by ancients, to see how each paragraph is written

3. we write our own essays, using the ancient outline

4. we write modern 5 paragraph essays, using the paragraph skills we learned from the ancients.

Lene

[hiddenjewel]

Sounds good. I'm excited now that I understand it a little bit better. I didn't think it was going to work for us which bummed me out after seeing the good in Homer.