How much harder is Classical Writing Older Beginners compared to Homer?

[Cynful]

We've been through most of CW Aesop, though not all of B. I happen to have all of Aesop, all of Homer and all of Older Beginners, but I'm not sure which one to choose. OB looks like it moves pretty fast. This is mostly for my 7th grader who is finishing WWE 2 and almost into 3. I'd also tag along my LD son who needs slow and steady (and me transcribing). If we do Homer, is there anything in Aesop B I should "finish up" first? or should we just jump into Homer or OB?

 

Thanks,

[Cynful]

Anyone?

[RootAnn]

I always feel bad about people who don't get a reply, so I reply (really knowing only enough to get me into trouble) and it seems sometimes to spur others to correct my mistake assumptions. So, here I go (in an attempt to get you a REAL reply)!

 

OB goes through Aesop & Homer both VERY quickly and obviously doesn't cover everything. I don't think there is anything you need to "finish up" in Aesop B before starting OB. It'll cover the things from Aesop that are necessary to know.

 

You can always start OB and do it *slower* than they want you to (taking a couple of days where it says to only take one, taking a couple of weeks to do something when it only takes a week). I can't tell you which one would be better - Homer or OB. I don't know enough about either. You could also do Homer at a faster pace (different options are in the back of the Core book, I think).

 

Oldest dd & I are slogging through Homer A and I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it or make it through B. I really want to, but *I* am struggling with implementing it.

 

Good luck!

[Cynful]

Thank you RootAnn :)

 

Can you tell me why you're having a hard time implementing Homer? That might help me as well. Do you know what else you might consider using if Homer bombs for you?

 

My inclination is to go with Homer and finish it faster - both A and B in one year or just over. I have a feeling OB would take us just as long because we'd need to slow down in places. I don't know if we could honestly go as fast as OB wants us to but I don't want to dawdle with Homer either.

[RootAnn]

Darn, no takers yet? Bummer. I'll go at it again. My ability to be (easily) proven wrong usually brings out even the lurkers!

 

Can you tell me why you're having a hard time implementing Homer? That might help me as well. Do you know what else you might consider using if Homer bombs for you?

 

I have the student workbook, but I'm combining some lessons (a la Homer A/B for older kids but not Older Beginners) so that I could get through Homer A in a semester or so. However, it is SO CLUNKY teaching from the Core book even when I'm using the workbook to help me understand how I should be doing the lesson(s). Oldest dd is a reluctant writer, although she'd really done well with Writing Tales 1 & 2 (the 'fun' rough equivalent to CW Aesop A & B). It is taking us forever to get the models rewritten and get through each model. Partly it is me and partly it is her not sitting down & cranking out the story. Then, she fights revisions at every.single.turn. So, writing the model can usually get done the same week as the week's lesson, but editing takes a whole 'nother week. I don't want to move onto the next lesson when we're still working on last week's editing -- because we should be working on the next model writing. Slow. Painful.

 

After the Christmas break, I'll be using Gail Carson Levine's Writing Magic with both older girls to switch things up a bit. It is 'creative writing' and more geared for my dd#2 (as she's the writer of the two), but oldest will enjoy something different, I think. After that, I'm not sure if we'll try to go back to Homer A and keep gutting it out or flirt with SWB's Writing with Skill.

[TGHEALTHYMOM]

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/348864-my-evaluation-of-numerous-writing-curricula/

 

This may help!

[Cleopatra]

I own Homer A & B (my dd has completed both) and I have previewed Older Beginners. If I remember correctly, OB covers the exact same skills as Homer A/B it just does it in half the time (two models for each skill as opposed to four in A & B. Why not try OB and see how it goes? It helps if you don't think of the books as curriculum that you have to get through, rather think of them as tools to guide you. Just focus on each skill as you move through OB. If you find that your dc understand the skill after two lessons/models move on; it you feel that they don't understand the skill, you can pull extra models from Homer A/B for more practice.

 

CW is a great curriculum because of the way it is set up; you are able to move ahead faster or slow down, depending on the child. We actually skipped the last half of Homer (concision, credibility and clarity) because I felt my dd had an understanding already of these concepts and, in any case, she would get practice with these skills in her future writing projects. It was a good decision and she moved into Diogenes easily.

 

Just to encourage you, we find Diogenes much easier to implement than Homer. The lessons take less time and are presented in a way that is easy to follow. I also find that the progression that they expect from the student is very reasonable. The models are challenging though so, for the first half of the year, I read them through with her to make sure she understood them completely. Now she is fine with reading them on her own.

 

@ RootAnn ~~~ When we were doing Homer, sometimes I wanted to bang my head against the wall but now, I really see the benefit of the work my dd did in it. It was while doing Homer that I learned to make the program work for me. One adjustment I implemented was to make one lesson spread over two weeks. That way my dd only had to do a writing project every two weeks and it wasn't so overwhelming.

 

One last comment because of the link that was posted .................. I know there was talk in it that CW doesn't cover, or doesn't focus on "modern writing". CW teaches the student to WRITE WELL. Just because it doesn't follow a format (ie. five paragraph essay), doesn't mean that when the child is faced with that format he/she is confused. On the contrary ................ my dd is doing quite a long section on the Five Paragraph Essay in Diogenes and she absolutely nailed it the first time. She said at first she had to think a little because she was having to group her paragraphs differently but after a few minutes she'd got it. "Modern Writing" as far as I can tell, is simply presenting your ideas in a different structure ......... but those ideas still have to be communicated/written well.

 

Well, I hope that helps you a little. Please feel free to ask any more questions that you might have!

[Cynful]

Thank you Cleopatra. I hadn't thought of working OB like that and pulling on regular Homer only if needed for extra practice. My daughter usually picks things up well so this may work. Great suggestion.

[Cleopatra]

Thank you Cleopatra. I hadn't thought of working OB like that and pulling on regular Homer only if needed for extra practice. My daughter usually picks things up well so this may work. Great suggestion.

 

You're welcome. So glad I could help!

[1Togo]

Not an answer to your question, but we also use CW. Homer covers a lot of ground, so it's a commitment to get through it, but I am glad we didn't give up. We began with Aesop/Homer-in-a-Month last year, and we are finishing Diogenes Maxim next week. Like Cleopatra, moving from the ancient essay form to modern writing in the last unit of Maxim has been smooth for us. In fact, dd easily understands how to use all of the paragraph types she learned in the maxim essay in her 5-paragraph essays, and the instructions for developing a modern thesis, intro and conclusion are excellent.

[Cynful]

We've tried other programs but we keep coming back to CW (even for my learning delayed, dyslexic - he just works further behind). I wish we had just kept with it instead of trying others. Although I may try some of WWS, we'll be sticking with CW from here out, even if we don't finish the entire series by the time she graduates.

 

Thank you everyone for the encouragement.

[TerriMI]

Older Beginners is not harder than Homer.  In fact, it might just be easier for some folks. It goes faster because it leaves out much repetition.  Therefore OB is just the ticket for those who have older students.  For youngsters, the ones that Homer was written for, OB would be more difficult.  The presumptions are that you can teach younger students the concepts if you go at a slower pace and have more practice and that older students can handle the concepts at a quicker pace and without much repetition.