IEW vs. Writing Tales

[Guest Shanna]

I know I am full of questions today. ;-)

 

Can someone give me a run down on these two writing programs? All around I hear that IEW is the best out there. But, I really like the "classical" teaching of WT or CW.

[TracyR]

I'm not familiar with IEW . So can't comment . I think the styles are similar .

We just recieved our WT 1 today and I believe we will be very happy with it . WT includes everything you need. The composition and the language arts . Now its been a while since I looked into IEW and I believe those two subjects are seperate components . I think I remember that you had to purchase something seperate for language arts .

Plus the price for us was a factor . IEW is very pricey . The price of Writing Tales is alot less. I was able to buy the manual and 2 student workbooks for around $61 dollars .

PLUS Writing Tales also has a new support board . Where you can get advice from the author and other members and share your child(ren)'s stories . Its new . But I'm sure it will grow very quickly soon .

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/writingtales

 

Anyways Writing Tales seems to take a gentle approach to teaching writing . Which is a good thing for my girls because though they like to write . Their writing still needs ALOT of work .

[rafiki]

.

[PeterPan]

WT and CW have extensive online samples, so you can see what they're like. IEW is trickier because of no online samples, video clips or anything. You should try to see them at a convention. I spent a lot of time looking at it last month at the Cincy convention. I don't think IEW is "the best" or labeled "the best" by anyone. Even Pudewa doesn't market it that way. It's one way of teaching those things and it's going to work really well for certain students or personalities of teachers. By the time you've completed WT2, you'll have covered the sentence openers and dress-ups they cover in levels A and B of IEW, just in a different way. You've have done it only with fiction writing, but you'll have done that with very long models. IEW uses shorter models and carries it over to non-fiction. So you could do WT1, WT2, then jump into IEW A or B to apply those skills to non-fiction writing. It's not like you have to pick *1* thing and do it forever, lol.

 

Since this is the WTM board, you might look at what WTM suggests for writing. It gives several paths, often recommending Writing Strands, which you either seem to love or hate. I have the levels and can't bring myself to use them, go figure. We're completing WT2 next month, and my goal is to do some IEW-style paragraph (non-fiction) writing this summer. Then I'm going to put her in Wordsmith Apprentice in the fall, because it's something I think she can do independently, what with the baby coming. (SWB likes WA and gives some suggested schedules for it online.) A weekly paragraph assignment on top of that will be fine. But how you do all this and how IEW fits you really would depend on the kid. My dd likes having the room for creativity, some extension, getting there a little faster. I think doing IEW straight would fit some kids really well and not others. Now that I've done WT, I can see the overlap (both use imitation, both discuss dress-ups and sentence-openers) but I see a different way to teach the same concepts. So I can apply those things to non-fiction writing, no problem, in a way that will suit her, not just doing IEW straight, if that makes sense. And I've noticed some people who do IEW successfully do that. (applying it sooner, giving more freedom in the assignments, encouraging more research or original writings, etc.)

 

Guess that's really vague. Looking it over at a convention will help you. If you like IEW, do it. If you like WT, do it. Don't feel pressured to go one way or the other, because one is really not BETTER than the other, just different. They're both going to get you to about the same place, and doing the one does not exclude doing the other at some point. Just as an incredibly generic (emphasis on GENERIC) statement, I would recommend WT with a girl and IEW with a boy. But that's not a hard and fast thing and is really a factor of personalities, whether they like the room for creativity, how they deal with the length of assignments, etc. But it's just something general to factor into your thoughts. A boy might like the shorter assignments and perfunctory checklist format of IEW, where a very verbal girl may appreciate the creative prompts, longer narratives, etc. of WT. Remember, I'm speaking very stereo-typically. You could have a checklist loving girl or the next Mark Twain. I'm just generalizing.

 

Have you thought of filling in your sig with more information? It doesn't have to be anything too specific, but if you have background there, then people can make suggestions that fit your situation a little better. :)

[TMarie]

I'm not Shanna... but wanted to say thanks to you gals for these very helpful reviews & suggestions!

[michaeljenn]

I really don't have a recommendation for you, as I am debating between Writing Tales, IEW and Classical Writing myself. However, I wanted to encourage you to buy and listen to SWB Writing without Fear. This really helped me quite a bit!

 

Jen

[kortney in AL]

I'm using WT2 with my youngest and IEW with my other two boys. I love both programs.