The Rhythm

Rome broke the making of a speech into five moves. We gave your student a month to make them — twice.

Once out loud, once in ink — a month apart. Four lesson days a week, then Friday for composition. Your formation course carries the speech; a second course carries the essay.

Every day opens the same way.

Read for about fifteen minutes — a lesson built from primary sources, not a textbook. Then give it back in a block of about twenty: narration, spoken or written, alternating by day. What was claimed. What backed it. What it connects to. No worksheets, no blanks to fill. Your student reconstructs the argument in their own words because that is how a mind takes possession of an idea.

In the back half of the month that same block turns to composition. The day does not get longer — what fills it changes.

A course day runs roughly 25 to 40 minutes of reading and writing, depending on the lesson. The evening Bookshelf — optional, and as long as you like — is where the rest of the hours come from.

Monday · 5 minutes

Six questions on last week's reading.

At the kitchen table, five minutes. Graded the moment the last one is tapped, in the gradebook by breakfast — and nobody graded anything. Your student walks into the week knowing exactly what held and what didn't.

Two arcs, one ladder.

Rome named the moves two thousand years ago — inventio, dispositio, elocutio, memoria, actio. Your kid will just call it the month.

THE SPEECH

Four weeks in your formation course. On the last Friday it is delivered to the household.

THE ESSAY

The same four weeks, in ink. A second course — same shape, argued on the page.

ONE MONTH · 16 LESSON DAYS
WEEK ONEinventiothe question
Mon–Thu, each day
Read · 15m
Narrate · 20m
FRIThe questionOne paragraph — first instinct, undefended
WEEK TWOdispositiogather
Mon–Thu, each day
Read · 15m
Narrate · 20m
FRIGatherThree pieces of evidence, each tagged to the lesson it came from
WEEK THREEelocutiodraft
Mon–Thu, each day
Read · 15m
Compose · 20m
FRIDraft doneSort, claim, draft
WEEK FOURmemoria · actiothe other side, then deliver
Mon–Thu, each day
Read · 15m
Compose · 20m
FRIDeliverThe speech, to the household — or the essay, handed in

Monday of week four is the other-side day. Your student writes the best version of the case they do not hold — before they finish arguing the one they do.

IN THE EVENING
BookshelfWhole books, not excerpts. On the American History shelf: Franklin's Autobiography, The Federalist, Douglass's Narrative, Grant's Memoirsoptional, any evening, as long as you like
LAST FRIDECLAMATIOForum night, once a month — the speech, delivered to the household

One speech, four weeks in the making — not one thrown together every Friday.

What you're holding at the end of the month.

One speech, delivered to the household.
One essay, argued in ink.
Four graded checks, each in the book by breakfast Monday.
Sixteen lessons, each given back in your student's own words.
Evening reading hours, already logged.
Get the free planner

Planner is free for every family — no card required.