CAP W&R Chreia sample

[Kuovonne]

Here is my daughter's chreia from lesson 6 of CAP W&R. It is her third chreia. She is 11 years old and in 6rd grade.

 

This piece took her five days to work on. She handwrote the first three paragraphs the first day. The next day she typed those paragraphs and added some examples (my suggestion). She handwrote the last three paragraphs on the third day, and typed them on the fourth day, with a few minor revisions I suggested. On the fifth day I had her correct some gross mechanical errors (typos, missing words, crazy shifts in verb tense, incomplete sentenes, etc.). I still want her to make some revisions but haven't decided how much to have her do before moving on.

 

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How observant and wise of King Alfred to say, "The saddest thing about a man is that he be ignorant, and the most exciting thing is that he knows." Alfred was a wise and holy ruler. His people were his priority, and he always sought more knowledge to help him rule justly. He had desired knowledge from a young age starting when his mother had shown him and his brothers a book full of wonderful stories. She said that she would let the brother who learned to read the fastest own the book. He had convinced a monk to teach him to read so that he could own the book and the stories. Alfred was as wise as a monk and as fierce as a lion, but was humble and used his virtues for the good of his kingdom, not for glory. He created many wise sayings for himself and and his people so they could live good virtuous lives and stay at peace with one another.

 

This saying of his could be rewritten to say, "A man who listens only to his own advice will not accept better advice, but a man who listens to others accepts that he isn't perfect."

 

Alfred's saying is very useful because if you refuse to listen to more experienced people who know better than you, you are almost guaranteed to to learn things the hard way. For example, you are making a poster for school and your mom shows you a way of gluing the paper down so that it doesn't wrinkle and curl. When you ignore her and go right on ahead gluing your way, your poster gets all wrinkly and the class votes your poster out. If you do listen to the better advice, you learn nifty shortcuts and the correct way to do things leading to an easier life. Another example, you are cleaning your room, and being completely overwhelmed by the clutter under your bed. Your older sister shows you that it is easier to sort things into piles, and then put the piles away, making the seemingly impossible task easy.

 

In the story "The Ant and the Grasshopper," the grasshopper was incredibly ignorant. He just danced around instead of listening to the ant who tried to give him advice to gather food for winter. As a result of his ignorance, the grasshopper ended up starving in the middle of the winter begging for food and drink to survive.

 

On the other hand Minli, from "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon," is hardly ignorant at all. She travels to Never Ending Mountain to learn about her fortune and bring honor and wealth back to her parents. She kept asking questions like "How can I find Never Ending Mountain?" and "How can I heal Dragon?" By asking questions she gained more knowledge which helped her through her journey. Minli learns that she must follow the moon north to find the mountain, and that only the leaves of a special tree can heal her friend Dragon. In the end she succeeds in procuring wealth and brings a dragon pearl home so her family could live comfortably.

 

I try to be the least ignorant that I can during daily life. Even if the teacher is boring or doesn't get to the point, I try to learn as much as I can. I also try to stay open to others' (especially adults') advice. If people aren't joking, their advice is probably worth my time to avoid getting into a bad situation like the Grasshopper. I try asking questions like Minli to gain knowledge and read like Alfred to make sure I am not becoming ignorant.

 

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[Chrysalis Academy]

It looks good to me! These are surprisingly challenging assignments, aren't they?  They require a level of thinking, first, and then planning to pull off.  They definitely can't just phone the assignments in.  I guess I have a hard time picturing a 5th grader doing these (or at least my kid as a 5th grader  ;) )

 

I don't know if you saw Shannon's effort on this assignment - it was written at the beginning of the year (7th grade) when she was 11.  It also took a lot of rethinking and rewriting to get to this point.  here is the link:

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/514019-using-cap-wr-with-older-students/  (post 13)

[Roadrunner]

That looks great! We are only on chapter three, so I will see what comes out of my boy's efforts. :)

[Kuovonne]

It looks good to me! These are surprisingly challenging assignments, aren't they? They require a level of thinking, first, and then planning to pull off.

 

Thanks! Yes, the thinking is what makes this a challenge for my DD.

She could spin a decent yarn in Narrative 1 without much effort, but this is different.

She has to actually come up with an answer that makes sense, and then provide

support for it.

 

I guess I have a hard time picturing a 5th grader doing these (or at least my kid as a 5th grader ;) )

I really struggle with this. I keep looking at the number on the back of the book

and thinking that she is two years behind (in 6th grade, but using a 4th grade book).

I keep looking at the suggested schedule in the front of the book that says the

entire "Writing Time" section could be completed in 1-2 days, and it takes my

DD 6 days.

 

I don't know if you saw Shannon's effort on this assignment - it was written at the beginning of the year (7th grade) when she was 11. It also took a lot of rethinking and rewriting to get to this point.

Thank you for the link. Shannon did a lovely job. How funny that it is the exact same assignment. I think that your daughter understood the saying better than mine did. The beginning of her last paragraph is quite poetic.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, but she really didn't understand it at first - she read the lesson and she wasn't clear what exactly the chreia meant.  We had to talk about it for awhile before she could even start writing.  And the third paragraph took quite a bit of work to get it even that coherent, and she changed her examples a couple of times before she came up with two that actually supported the point of the essay.  It was quite an effort.  I think your dd is doing just fine.  It's the thinking work that is the most valuable, I'm finding - my dd can also whip out a story, easy peasy, or any kind of an explanatory narrative, but once she has a thesis that she has to stick to, she really has to work hard to stay focused on that.

 

Thanks for praising her final paragraph - I always wonder if she's waxing too poetic! It is pretty writing, though.

[sbgrace]

She did a nice job! My boys (5th) are really struggling with Chreia. The rest of CAP has been easy for us, so I feel something is "off" in terms of progression of skills.  The thinking is challenging for both, and one has a particularly hard time sticking to his thesis. I think it's going to be good for us, but it's a bit painful. I'm doing a lot of guiding/handholding.

[Chrysalis Academy]

It's a big jump in difficulty, no doubt.  It's good that the word is getting out now - I think it helps people to realize that, and that there isn't anything wrong if their kid struggles with it, and that it's ok to put it off till a later grade.  Like I said, my dd was working on this at the beginning of 7th grade.  It just happened that way because that's when it came out, but I would have hesitated to use it with her before 6th grade, I think.  Or if I did it in 5th, I would expect to do a ton of hand-holding! So your situation sounds just right to me.

[sbgrace]

It's a big jump in difficulty, no doubt.  It's good that the word is getting out now - I think it helps people to realize that, and that there isn't anything wrong if their kid struggles with it, and that it's ok to put it off till a later grade.  Like I said, my dd was working on this at the beginning of 7th grade.  It just happened that way because that's when it came out, but I would have hesitated to use it with her before 6th grade, I think.  Or if I did it in 5th, I would expect to do a ton of hand-holding! So your situation sounds just right to me.

 

I've actually been relieved to read your posts about it. I agree that the word getting out is good. I don't think mine are quite ready for it honestly, but I can't figure out what I would do instead! I'm open to thoughts if you have any. Would you just keep working with them? I'm almost co-writing with one child because he needs so much help to do the assignments.

 

As an aside, I purchased the Writing with a Thesis book after reading a post that I think you made about it. I know we're not ready for that yet, but it helped me see the bigger picture I think.

 

OP, I'm sorry I took this off track!

[Chrysalis Academy]

5th grade is tough, isn't it? They are often ready to go beyond simple narratives, but not yet ready for thesis-driven essays.  We flailed around a lot in 5th and 6th grade - we did most of WWS in 5th, but it wasn't a good fit style wise.  6th grade was mostly reports in history.   I think 5th and 6th grades are a good time to work on reports - starting to gather information from multiple sources, etc, learning to research and outline/organize the info,  and write intros & conclusions.  If that stuff is really solid, it makes learning to write essays easier I think.

 

As far as whether to continue or not - how do they feel about it? Are they ok with it, or do they seem really overhwelmed? If they are feeling good about it, they are probably learning a lot by working with you on the Chreias.  But if they feel tearful/resistant/overhwelmed, maybe put it aside for a couple of months and then try again.  In the big picture of things, there is no requirement that a 5th grader should be able to write a Chreia essay.  It's the kind of thing that will come more quickly and easily later, really. 

[Chelli]

I purposely have slowed WAYYYYY down with Grace so that we hit Chirea in 6th. When it came out I knew that she would not be ready for it this year in 5th. I would be pretty astounded if there were 4th/5th graders who didn't struggle with it.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I agree, Chelli, I've done the same thing with Morgan.  I'll be perfectly happy if she does Narrative 1 in 4th and Narrative 2 in 5th.  We have plenty of other writing stuff to fill in the exta time!  

[Roadrunner]

Please don't scare me. I just got my copy today and we will tackle chapter 4 on Monday (did the other four chapters with an online sample). Looking over I do question if this format is the right introduction for an essay. I don't know. I am attempting this with a fourth grader who isn't shy about writing, but prefers creative freedom. These assignments are so spectacularly specific. Writing program options seem so limited. 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, Roadrunner, I think your sons are super advanced writers, so they may be ok, but I definitely won't have Morgan trying this is 4th grade.  Shannon handled it fine - but didn't find it easy - in the beginning of 7th.  Just don't be surprised if he has a hard time with it - and don't think it means there is anything wrong with his writing abilities! Or your teaching abilities!

 

I can see an argument for introducing essays in this very controlled, specific way - you get the idea that each paragraph needs to have a specific purpose.  You are given the thesis, and it's your job to come up with arguments in support of it, but you are given tons of guidance to do so.  In that sense it is a better introduction to essays than just throwing them into the deep end.  However, my biggest bone is that some of these Chreias and proverbs are fairly opaque.  Their meanings are not at all obvious, and with a child's limited experience, it could be difficult to come up with specific examples that illustrate them.  So I think it's reasonable to expect that a kid will need a lot of help with these, and may move more slowly than they have with the program thus far.

 

I agree that there aren't a lot of great options for that in-between stage.  Shannon is enjoying LIvely Art of Writing as in introduction to essay writing, but it's certainly not appropriate for a 4th grader.  I'm thinking that with Morgan, we'll use the W&R books slowly and write lots and lots of reports.

[Aloha2U]

My little man finished his third chreia in Lesson 6 of W&R (Book 4) this past week. He's 10 years old and in 5th grade.

 

King Alfred the Great

 

     King Alfred was most likely England's wisest king. Even when he was a young child, he strove for knowledge despite his brothers making fun of him. As he grew, his knowledge increased. He even wrote a saying that stated, "The saddest thing about any man is that he be ignorant, the most exciting thing is that he knows." Alfred's learning made him a a challenging enemy in battle and a good ruler. He made learning important in a land that neglected it, gave the weak laws force, helped the debased church, and saved his country from vikings, all because he took the time to learn. We should praise Alfred and let him be a role model for us.

         

     Another way of wording Alfred's intelligent saying is, "The first step to becoming wise is knowing you still have many more to go."

         

     This saying tells us that even though learning can seem quite boring, it's really quite important. Knowledge can actually be quite exciting. For example, chemistry explains why materials have different reactions with each other, and history tells how Columbus got to America. It would be sorrowful if everyone just sat around and never tried to learn anything. Let us be like Alfred, and try to seek knowledge instead of postponing it until it's too late.

         

     The first two pigs, in ''The Three Little Pigs," provide a great example of ignorance in people. They had no drive to learn. If they would have just taken the time to learn how to build a sturdy house like their brother, the wolf might not have eaten them. As shown by these pigs, laziness and ignorance often go hand-in-hand down the path of destruction. If we learn diligently, then our future may be different than our unfortunate little friends.

           

     If anyone had a desire to learn, it was Benjamin Franklin. When he was still a poor young man, he would save his money to buy books instead of good food. He craved the knowledge that these priceless books contained, and reading was one of his favorite subjects. Later on when he lived in Philadelphia, he experimented to discover things he didn't know. Once, he wondered whether or not lightning was electricity, so he tied a key to a kite and flew it in a storm. Thanks to this knowledge, he invented the lightning rod, which saved many lives. He tried to share his knowledge with the people in his newspaper called the Pennsylvania Gazzette. Clearly, he agreed with Alfred's wise saying.

           

     Many a day I would rather be outside or playing video games than doing schoolwork, but I must remember that this knowledge will help me, both in the present and in the future. This knowledge is what is going to get me a job, and I might as well take the knowledge now instead of having to re-learn it later. Remember, God knows what's best, so if He's got you learning something, it's for a good reason.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Nicely done!  I love his examples.  It's not too often you get The Three Little Pigs and Benjamin Franklin in the same essay!  ;)