Comparing writing curriculum...question about outlining

[HeWillSoar]

I have purchased Writing with Skill for my 13 year old son, to begin homeschooling him.  I have read The Writers Jungle as well, and it is a very different approach, much more simplistic.   Does  IEW and Writeshop teach outlining and narration?  I'm not seeing it at all in Bravewriter.  

 

I'm wondering how important it is and if that is the right approach for my child.  I don't remember ever learning that myself in school and I was great at note taking and organizing thoughts.  My husband, on the other hand, said he learned it in school and it helped in organizing ideas. 

 

What are your thoughts on this?  Did your child learn outlining/narration and did you see the benefit?   It's hard for me to see the big picture in WWS and if it's going to give him what he needs throughout high school. 

[lewelma]

I tell my kids that there are at least 3 reasons to outline

 

1) To understand difficult material that is written in paragraph form. This can be done on paper or in the textbook, with numbers, bullet points, etc. Outlining of this type is used when studying for a test.

 

2) To understand how great writers effectively put paragraphs and essays together. This is about learning how to write, and is the purpose behind WWS's outlining.

 

3) To organize your own ideas before you write. Not everyone uses a linear outline; some people prefer mind maps, brainstorming, or free writing to get ideas out before formal writing. Some people organize as they write; other's require an outline to write an organized essay.

 

HTH,

 

Ruth in NZ

[foxbridgeacademy]

IEW teaches Key Word Outlining (KWO) and Topic Word Outlining... you then use the outline to rewrite or write about, depending on your creativity, the sources or documents.  This is great for  research papers.  There are some lessons that go into more creative writing.  I'm a newbie to IEW and I suggest you do an extensive search on here for more specific info, there's also a yahoo group.  I will say one of the best things about IEW is that if you don't like it they will let you return it, no questions asked.

 

FYI a good way to search is to use the advanced search option, type in various forms of what you're looking for and only search titles in the Education sub-section.  Otherwise you get 1000+ returns and 90% of that will be no help at all. 

[Heathermomster]

IEW's KWOs are a different animal than a topical or full sentence outline. Topical and full sentence outlines summarize the main ideas in paragraphs and chapters while IEW uses KWOs to teach a student to restate a paragraph or pull sentences from multiple sources to support a topic. Each KWO line contains three words and symbols to represent sentences to be rephrased. Students must be very careful not to plagiarize.

 

DS outlines science and history using mindmapping software for study purposes. When he writes a narration, DS takes 3-7 interesting facts from whatever he is reading at the time and then jots down a quickie KWO as a basis for the paragraph. My emphasis is upon ensuring DS rewrites material in his own words, using strong verbs. During a free writing exercise, DS does not write out a KWO if he's very familiar with the subject. For a large writing assignment, outlines are very beneficial because they can keep you on track but not all people need or use them.

 

Eta: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/pdf/20081113013048_544.pdf

[HeWillSoar]

Ok, I think it's making more sense now.  I do remember doing the alphanumeric outline in the link that Heathermonster posted.  The method in WWS seems so different that I didn't even realize it was the same thing!