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Lost Tools of Writing and Meaningful Composition????


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I would like to get some feedback on whether these programs will fit my goals - pros and cons please!

 

My daughter (just starting her 10th grade year and planning on finishing school early so we have about 2 and 1/2 years, maybe 3) has done some IEW, Sonlight essays, and One Year Adventure Novel. She is a great creative writer, has the basic steps of writing essays down. Theoretically can do a 5 paragraph essay with a thesis statement but I feel she is relatively week.

 

Being able to think through and lay out an essay is very important to my husband and I. But equally important is the mechanics etc of doing a research paper. He has taught some at the college level and has been horrified at how some homeschoolers don't have a clue how to do a research paper. We want it to become second nature for her.

 

My thoughts after lots of reading is to do Lost Tools of Writing for two years and then Meaningful Composition for one or trading off between the two. My reasoning is the importance of thinking and laying it all out that Lost Tools seems to teach. I want to add Meaningful Composition because it seems to lay out the steps to do a research paper and all the technical stuff involved very clearly.

 

Please, any feedback on whether this is overkill, any weaknesses you see in either program, and of course if another program can do it cheaper or better (wow Lost Tools is expensive!).

 

Thanks for your time

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I'm not familiar with Meaningful Composition. How long do you expect to allow to work through it? You should be able to finish two levels of Lost Tools easily in two years with a high school student; maybe faster since she's a good writer. I agree that LT is expensive, but the fact that it includes rhetorical theory makes it worth the money, IMO. It's far more than just a set of instructions with rubric for learning how to write essays from a template.

 

HTH,

Martha

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Am I correct though in thinking that LT doesn't really walk you through a research paper? That is why I'm thinking I need to add to it. Thanks for your thoughts!

 

I know that level 1 of LT teaches theory useful for persuasive and beginning comparison essays. Level 2 continues comparison and adds deliberative essays along with more rhetorical theory. What they're teaching are foundational skills, but as far as I know LT doesn't put those skills into a research paper arrangement scheme. They may have plans to do that at some time in the future, but I'm just guessing.

 

You may not have time to see what LT might have planned for research papers, though. Does IEW have a research paper curriculum? I know, too, that several years ago I downloaded SWB's multi-part series on writing research papers. They were excellent! I don't know if the files are still available for download since the website has changed so much since then.

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