I need a writing program! Or do I?

[birchbark]

We are happy HoD users. HoD attacks LA through CM skills in the guide (copywork, dictation, narration and written narration), R&S English gently paced, and once you get to middle grades, an additional writing instruction program. This year, IEW's Medieval History-Based Lessons are scheduled, and I'm just not feeling the love. It seems too technical, too scattered, and I feel that DS is just not getting much out of it for the effort he puts in. HoD schedules the lessons in short bites, and I have been willing to stick with it til now. But I think we're done. I'm ready to take another tack.

 

I know writing programs have been discussed on these boards ad nauseum. But I thought I'd stick my feelers out for some good rec's. Anyone know of something short and sweet and gets the job done? And meshes well with R&S? I'm even considering going out on my own and getting Comprehensive Composition for structure. Does anyone have experience with this book?

 

Another thought is to drop the separate writing program altogether. I've been really happy with the CM skills and R&S. One area I might want to shore up is outlining. I could get a workbook such as this.

 

I've been thinking about writing lately and wondering if we're doing our kids a disservice by dissecting it to death. I read Ruth Beechick last year and remember feeling very inspired. Maybe I should get her out again.

 

Thoughts?

[Another Lynn]

If you use the outlining book, or put together your own writing assingments on the side, instead of finding a full program to replace IEW, I would suggest adding Free Writing once a week (Brave Writer has a list of Friday Freewrite topics available on her blog). Last year when I couldn't find anything we could live with I had ds write one page (or less) per day (three days/week) on a topic of his choice. I had a list of topics for him to choose from if he drew a blank, but he never used mine. I think it helped his writing and his confidence a lot.

 

Btw, are you using DITHOR or doing some other writing for your literature? I could see adding the outlining book and a weekly free write and calling it good :)

[birchbark]

No, we don't do DITHOR. We follow SWB's rec's for lit analysis.

[birchbark]

I'm back! Just wanted to share that I found a writing program I'm really excited about: Understanding Writing. Thanks to thowell for starting a thread on it a couple months ago. I'd never heard of it before that.

I bought it dirt cheap at a used book fair last weekend and I've been reading through it since then. What was interest in the program has turned into enthusiasm. For the first time, I've found a writing program that really clicks for me and articulates the goals I have (and even the ones I didn't even know I had! :D) The intro alone is a treasure trove of information and advice.


What I like about it:

Focuses on writing strong sentences, then strong paragraphs, before longer compositions

Teaches the importance being very specific in your topic and choosing one that interests the student

Has you writing for a real audience

Instructs how to plan before writing

Emphasizes research skills and frequent use of dictionary, thesaurus, and English handbook

Weaves in mechanics and grammar

Emphasizes descriptive nouns and verbs

Has a line-by-line approach to building skills

Teaches editing and revising

Incorporates The Elements of Style (high school levels)

Broken down into daily lessons

No time pressure—you move through at your own pace

Makes the distinction that grammar and diagramming are tools, not skills

Recognizes the value of reading lots of good literature

Teaches that the best way to learn to write is to write—there are lots of assignments

All-inclusive for grades 1-12, non-consumable


I also like that it has a Christian perspective, although I think non-Christians could also use it successfully. If you like Ruth Beechick's or Charlotte Mason's approach to LA but want a curriculum all laid out for you, you will probably like this. It even uses dictation in the first level.

It teaches to a high standard, but doesn't seem as formulaic and dissected as the other writing programs I've tried. We will continue the CM skills in our HoD guide, but UW will replace HoD's writing program rec's.

There is a lot of info on UW on the first page of this old thread. And here is a website for the program. You can see the table of contents (and the dated typeset :tongue_smilie:) on Rainbow's site here.

The author recommends using grades seven and eight for studying grammar. However, since we've done R&S the last couple years, I feel that would be somewhat redundant since my DS knows a lot of grammar already. But after seeing how inclusive UW is, I feel that continuing with R&S would be overkill.

So what I've decided to do for grammar is to switch from R&S to Daily Grammar Practice, a program that I've been eyeing for years. It is short and sweet, yet covers all the bases. I have a post on it here. I do not plan to do a different grammar program for grades seven and eight, but continue with DGP and writing assignments from UW.

I'm looking forward to using this combo come next schoolyear. Maybe I can report back this fall/winter after we've used it awhile. I'm also planning to have DS do all his writing assignments on the computer, which should greatly improve his perspective on writing in general. :001_smile:

So that's the plan! We'll see how it goes.

[Donna T.]

I'm so glad that you have found something that you love! I really like UW. I rarely hear of anyone using it. I think it used to more popular. I purchased a copy many years ago. I ended up never using it but I think it's a very good choice. I keep thinking I should sell it so someone else can benefit from it, but so far I haven't wanted to part with it. I think the main reason I never got going with it is because it seems like it's something you would need to use over the long-term to see the fruit of it and I didn't want to commit to it for the long haul. It's definately a program that you can use for many years.

 

We are going to use IEW Medieval next year with RTR. I just read a thread on the HOD forum about why it was chosen for that particular guide and it inspired me to stick with HOD's recs. Those "why" threads always get me! I like the idea of using IEW's formulaic approach alongside more free-flowing narrations for one year, followed by the creative writing resource used in the next guide. IEW is a good approach for us but not one that I want to do year in and year out.

[Susie in CA]

If you use the outlining book, or put together your own writing assingments on the side, instead of finding a full program to replace IEW, I would suggest adding Free Writing once a week (Brave Writer has a list of Friday Freewrite topics available on her blog). Last year when I couldn't find anything we could live with I had ds write one page (or less) per day (three days/week) on a topic of his choice. I had a list of topics for him to choose from if he drew a blank, but he never used mine. I think it helped his writing and his confidence a lot.

 

Btw, are you using DITHOR or doing some other writing for your literature? I could see adding the outlining book and a weekly free write and calling it good :)

 

 

I love the Friday Freewrite idea! My question is how long should we write when we do this?

[Bloggermom]

What about using Writing With Skill for 5th grade or higher writing?