IEW Poetry Memorization :: A Curriculum Review

Memorizing poetry is something I have always wanted to do with my children but it just wasn't happening on a regular basis these past few years. I read last year a review of the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW)'s Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization on Curriculum Choice. The review was written by Bar from Harmony Art Mom and after talking with her via e-mail and reading the company's website, I decided to give it a try this year.

So far, all three of my children love this. Here are two videos, Adrienne didn't want me to record her, but she is really enjoying memorizing poetry as well.







The program is divided into five different levels, and we started at level one. We aim to practice all the poems memorized so far every day, but some weeks, it has been less than five days.

The poems in level one are short and fun so far. We are planning on going through each level at our own pace, taking longer with the more challenging poems as needed. My youngest, Celeste, who is only six might not progress as fast as we get through the poems, or maybe she will!

The level five in this program gives recommendations of speeches and passages from some of Shakespeare's plays for memorization instead of poetry.

Level five seems far away right now, since we are only at the beginning, but it has been a great start so far!