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Writing Curriculum - Have you tried more than one?


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I'm curious to hear curriculum comparisons from people who have tried out more than one.  What were each curriculum's strengths and weaknesses?  How were they similar and how were they different?  Which did you like better?  And what ages did you use each?

 

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We started with the Wordsmith series in about 5th, and that was really great for my oldest child who is a natural at organizing his thoughts and didn't need much handholding to get them down on paper. It's not worked well for my 2nd oldest. He is a great creative writer, but needs lots of scaffolding to organize his thoughts and write academically. And I realized that while I am able to write pretty decently myself, it turns out I'm not so great at teaching someone else how to write. :( So we're switching to IEW for him because of it's structure, and I've been so impressed by it that I decided to switch the younger ones over to that as well.

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We started with Writing Strands:  It was good, but not a good fit for my kid.  The slow progression of skills was very nice but at that stage I needed more handholding to learn how to teach writing.

Enter Writing Tales.  Loved this.  Based on the progymnasmata, the handholding was exactly what we needed and the games brightened up our day.  It's only a 2year program, though, and the suggested follow on (Classical Writing) was a dud here.  We did like CW's Harvey's Grammar w/ workbook, so kept that.

Tried out LLATL Tan.  Yuck.  Poorly planned, especially following Writing Tales, and the "literature" portions were not planned at all.  Scrapped that halfway through the year and finished with Moving Beyond The Page lit units.  HELLO!  This was what LLATL should have been!  Fun, structured enough to be a program but flexible enough to fit our life.  Yes!
Writing started to take off.  Did a year of IEW through co-op and while I wasn't brave enough to implement it at home we found WWS the next year.  That, combined with a writing program integrated into our history (Learning Adventures), was nice, steady, and encouraged my kid to write *well*. He joined high school the next year and has aced his writing classes since.

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We did IEW Fables, Myths, Fairy Tales + IEW Narnia.

Afterthat dd started to complain each lesson was the same and she still didn't learn how to write.

 

Then we had required exams and no time for composition.

 

We did Bravewriters Kidswrite Intermediatie and Expository Essay online and that made a click in dd's writing.

 

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LOL, I'm curious if anyone out there who has homeschooled through junior high has stuck with only one!

 

Some we've used:

 

Bravewriter: The Writer's Jungle (love the approach but my kids needed more direction. This is more how I write though).

Also did their monthly subscription (I'm forgetting the name right now...The Arrow I believe) but felt it was a lot of money for what we received.

 

Story Starters by Karen Andreola--love this! I used this for a year or two for some writing units, alternated with grammar units, for my youngest. She really enjoyed it (this one didn't work well for my oldest). There are stories, written up to the climax, with a nice line drawing, and then the student writes the ending. Just a fun resource.

 

Writing Strands--not incremental enough for my oldest, not enough direction. Just "okay."

 

Jump In--again, we needed something more incremental and with more direct instruction. Some interesting assignments though.

 

IEW--my oldest didn't really like the videos--they seemed to drag on for him. He did find that key word outlining was a helpful strategy, but was overwhelmed by the instruction after that point.

 

Essentials in Writing by Matthew Stephens--short, 5 minute videos that focus on one task or one aspect of writing. This series really opened up writing for my oldest, and worked well for my youngest as well. 

 

Here's a post where I did a longer comparision of IEW and Essentials in Writing.

 

Have fun looking at curriculum!

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More than one? More like more than 5! 10!?

 

WWE 1 and 3 - too skill focused, not enough big picture, repetitive,

 

WriteShop Jr D and A - too crafty and teacher intensive, weak spelling and grammar integrated

 

Wordsmith Apprentice - good for dipping the reluctant toe in the water, not very rigorous

 

IEW SWI A - well organized and nice to use DVDs, kids hated rewriting other's stories, a little canned (for the style portion)

 

WWS 1 and 2 - good one to hand off to a 12 year old, very parts focused (the context and significance is not apparent)

 

Write@Home Middle School 1 - good individual feedback (that I didn't have to do!) but very limited instruction

 

PAL- can't even remember, but I know the materials seemed poorly produced/illustrated, and DS didn't like it at all

 

MCT Town and Voyage - great at explaining the big concepts, gives beautiful sample writing, snuggle on the couch goodness, but need to add more skill and direct instruction to be complete

 

W&R 1-4 - love these, varied activities, wonderful model literature, great discussion points, well produced/layed out/illustrated

 

ETA: line breaks for legibility

Edited by Targhee
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I'm curious to hear curriculum comparisons from people who have tried out more than one.  What were each curriculum's strengths and weaknesses?  How were they similar and how were they different?  Which did you like better?  And what ages did you use each?

 

We have used Writing With Ease, Paragraph Writing, Writing With Skill, School Composition, Writing in English, Writing Skills, Write Shop, and Igniting Your Writing.

 

Writing With Ease: Ages 6-8 Pros: Easy to implement, exposure to a wide variety of sentences; Cons: Did not help my dyslexic son at all (he still can't correctly copy a sentence at age 13), spent too much time working on copywork and dictation (my dd was writing multi-paragraph compositions in her free time while still working on one-sentence dictations in WWE)

 

Paragraph Writing: Age 9 (dd), 10 (ds) Pros: Easy to implement, covered a range of paragraph types, flexible, the kids enjoyed it, covered all the basics of writing a paragraph; Cons: a little too simplistic in terms of style, very formulaic

 

Writing With Skill: Age 10 (dd only) Pros: Ummm ... *crickets chirping*; Cons: Waaaay too wordy, inconsistent pacing of lessons, incredibly dry reading selections--we dropped it after a few months. It made my dd, who loves to write and writes well, hate writing. I never even tried it with my son. His head would have exploded.

 

School Composition: Ages 10-12 (dd only) Pros: FREE, solid instruction, varied exercises, good focus on writing strong sentences and paragraphs, covered a range of topics, more than enough practice exercises, challenging but not overwhelming, interesting reading selections; Cons: This was not a con for me but might be for others--since this is a vintage book, the reading selections or topics for writing can be dated. We easily solved this by substituting other writing topics when dd felt strongly about it. Also, dd felt there was too much work on narrative writing.

 

Writing in English: Ages 12-13 (dd only) Pros: Same as School Composition, but WiE focuses more on paragraphs and entire compositions; Cons: None, as far as I'm concerned

 

Writing Skills: Ages 11-12 (ds only) Pros: Very straightforward, lots of practice, inexpensive Cons: Boring, no instruction in style (at least not at the levels we used)--it's all format instruction

 

Write Shop: Ages 12-13 (ds only) Pros: Detailed instructions for both student and parent, checklists illustrate exactly what is wanted, gradual build-up of skills, parent works with the child, excellent instruction in style; Cons: Expensive, learning curve to using the student and teacher books, lots of steps to complete (can make it feel like lessons take a looong time)

 

Igniting Your Writing: Ages 11-14 (both kids) Pros: Lots of fun! Covers a wide variety of topics, inexpensive, easy to implement, flexible Cons: It's not a full writing program, although I don't see that as a con because for what it is, it's excellent. We have used this for the last two years on Fridays for a "writing workshop." The kids and I do it together. It's creative and style-driven, and it's a lot of fun. Even my ds, who doesn't particularly enjoy writing, looks forward to it. 

 

Currently, ds is still using Write Shop I, and I plan to continue with Write Shop II. I think that this program would be frustrating for good writers, but for struggling writers, it's very helpful. My ds's writing has really improved. DD is not using a writing program right now; she is working on compositions for school subjects, writing her own poetry, and writing short stories.

 

My favorite programs have been School Composition/Writing in English and Write Shop. SC/WiE have the best of the classical writing programs without being overwhelming and difficult to implement. Write Shop has excellent instruction for a struggling writer or a parent who doesn't know how to teach writing. I have found that my son needed explicit instruction in style; my dd did not need that but benefited from SC/WiE's instruction on unity in sentences and paragraphs. What I have found is that the best programs for us are straightforward, don't use complicated terminology, and don't delve too much into the theory of writing. They just get the kids writing.

 

ETA: I forgot that my dd also used The Creative Writer, but we used it informally and mainly for the poetry section. She didn't care for it because she does not like her creative writing and poetry to be constrained in any way, but I do feel she derived benefit from it (especially in her poetry). Since we used it so informally, I don't feel like I can give a decent review of it.

 

ETA2: The Argument Builder, by Classical Academic Press, has been a good resource for writing persuasive essays. It's the second in the CAP trilogy of logic books. Unfortunately, it has a different author than Art of Argument and Discovery of Deduction, and The Argument Builder is much less engaging than the other two books. The author has really, really pushed a Christian perspective and chosen really boring reading selections that make it difficult to tease out the concept she's trying to teach. Even so, dd has learned the conventions of writing persuasively and is using what she learned in other areas of her academic writing. The Argument Builder is not a writing curriculum, but it has enhanced dd's writing.

Edited by TaraTheLiberator
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I have used and taught WWE/WWS in group settings. LOVE WWE as it's THE best, gentle intro to good writing on the market, imho. WWS is excellent for more academic writing, but doesn't hammar home some basics (like topic sentence). Not a big deal if you know what you are doing. Does an excellent job of teaching kids how to think critically about readind and writing. 

 

Add in FLL to WWE and your k-4th graders will have an excellent foundation for good writing and good thinking. 

 

IEW-great teacher training if you are not sure about what good writing is- watch the TWSS, take notes and you are set for life. I don't like videos to teach writing, but the theme books are quite fun (though they need a good history fact checker to edit some of them). 

 

Lost Tools of Writing- excllent structure for essay writing and strong critical thinking. LOVE this! 

 

EIW- I reviewed it here

 

Grammar of Poetry- excellent foundational study of the ryhme and meter of word crafting. I reviewed it here and will be teaching it live, on-line here.

Edited by laughing lioness
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We use WWE in early elementary, and we have done a few exercises in Shurley English. Now we use CAP and MCT. Love them both, esp. CAP. I think CAP is a perfect transition from WWE in third or fourth grade. My only complaint with any of these is that they move a little slow in the nonfiction traditional essay. We are entering fifth and want to do some reports that he doesn't have full skills for. Some of this is intentional in the progymnasmata, which I have faith in for the long run, but I am supplementing a bit on the side with some outlining skills and five paragraph essays for a state history notebook, for example. Also our state testing with Common Core measures this. If that is not a concern for you, no worries. I know it will all even out, and we are focusing more on language and writing good sentences, summaries and narrative right now. But this is a con for some.

 

I really have loved CAP, and I feel it is a nice complement with MCT without being overkill.

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Thanks so much for this.   Do you mind if I ask a few more questions about three you mentioned.   I'm looking for my son who will be joining us for one year of homeschool in 6th grade, then returning to school in 7th. 

 

He is not a fan of writing.  He sounds a lot like your "STEM kid who would prefer to never do anything resembling creative writing" (loves math, likes science, loves history)...he's a straight A/B student (mostly As) but has cried in the past about coming up with ideas for quick writes, and something to do with poetry he couldn't explain to me, and he's frustrated about the 16 sentences he has to come up with for writing. 

 

BUT, he has a lot of creativity underneath I'd like to bring to the surface.  Like, that thing about crying over poetry...that same year I found a poem in his writing book that was amazing for his age. 

 

He was like this with art.  He was my kiddo who didn't do anything but scribbles (and only if I would scribble with him) and then when he was four decided to draw his dad a card, drew a great stick man (after drawing literally nothing but scribbles), crumpled it because he didn't like it, and drew another even better.  He'll watch and watch and watch before he'll do.  Art frustrated him, and he'd even ask what was the right color to color on coloring pages, until one day I told him that there was no wrong way to color and no wrong way to draw...and then he started coming home with these coloring pages filled with beautiful intricate patterns...and several years later he was doing art that his art teacher was writing home to me about and making a poster of to frame on her wall.  He still doesn't think it's very good.  He's very self-judgemental, and so I'm looking for something that will be the writing equivalent to "there's no wrong way to color."  Only, there are rules to writing and I can't just throw it all out the window.

 

I was looking at Jump In as something that might be that...but wondering if maybe it was too loose?  It does say for struggling writers, and seems like a lot of people said their kids enjoy it, which is what I'm looking for.  I have one year with him and I would really love to help him find that joy in writing.   He struggles most with choices really.  And as much as I love to write and am good at helping others edit and improve their writing... I don't know how to help him fill that blank page to begin with, and that's what he needs.

 

So I was wondering about Wordsmith Apprentice and STEM to story too.   After hearing about my son, do you think you would lean towards one of those more than the others?

 

 

 

...

 

Jump In!: DD used this book in 8th grade. She really, really enjoyed this book and thinks of it fondly. It was a great fit for her and exposed her to different forms of writing than she was getting in CW.

 

Wordsmith Apprentice: Kiddo #3 would have drowned in CW. He's a STEM kid who would prefer to never do anything resembling creative writing. In 5th grade he used Wordsmith Apprentice, and somewhere in that simple little book he found his writing voice.

 

...

 

STEM to Story: This has gone over VERY well with my middle two this year. It's written for classroom use and not a full curriculum. It has twelve writing projects of various sizes that were a blast to distribute around the school year. Like writing clear, detailed instructions for a paper airplane they designed and tested. One of them we completed in a day. Some last a couple weeks. The zombie apocalypse one could easily be fleshed out to last a month if you were so inclined. 

 

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Hi.  Sorry, I'm not familiar with all the acrynums.  What are WWE, PAL, MCT and W&R and ETA?  Thanks. 

 

More than one? More like more than 5! 10!?

WWE 1 and 3 - too skill focused, not enough big picture, repetitive,

WriteShop Jr D and A - too crafty and teacher intensive, weak spelling and grammar integrated

Wordsmith Apprentice - good for dipping the reluctant toe in the water, not very rigorous

IEW SWI A - well organized and nice to use DVDs, kids hated rewriting other's stories, a little canned (for the style portion)

WWS 1 and 2 - good one to hand off to a 12 year old, very parts focused (the context and significance is not apparent)

[email protected]<script data-cfhash='f9e31' type="text/javascript">/* */</script> Middle School 1 - good individual feedback (that I didn't have to do!) but very limited instruction

PAL- can't even remember, but I know the materials seemed poorly produced/illustrated, and DS didn't like it at all

MCT Town and Voyage - great at explaining the big concepts, gives beautiful sample writing, snuggle on the couch goodness, but need to add more skill and direct instruction to be complete

W&R 1-4 - love these, varied activities, wonderful model literature, great discussion points, well produced/layed out/illustrated

ETA: line breaks for legibility

 

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WWE = Writing With Ease (1st-4th)

WWS = Writing With Skill (5th+)

 

PAL - I don't know this one.

 

MCT = Michael Clay Thompson

 

W&R = Writing & Rhetoric from Classical Academic Press

 

ETA = edited to add = In other words someone already posted, then edited the post to add more information rather than posting again.

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... The zombie apocalypse one could easily be fleshed out to last a month if you were so inclined. 

 

That seems strangely apropos!

 

**

 

We started homeschooling when my daughter was in 7th grade.

 

She worked through Wordsmith which I found rather ho hum.

 

In 8th grade, she used The Lively Art of Writing which I/we found valuable despite the dated examples.

 

We also had on hand WriteSource that made a useful reference.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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LOL, I'm curious if anyone out there who has homeschooled through junior high has stuck with only one!

 

 

 

Kids in middle school here, and I haven't tried a lot of writing curric.  :) We have done R&S English and used their writing instructions.   We've followed the WTM's examples across the curric doing copywork, narration, dictation, summarizing, outlining, writing from outlines, over the course of 1-8.  We've worked partly through WWS and enjoyed what we've gained from it.  For 2 yrs we followed CHOLL which assigned dictation and summaries for me, but that was free. We've taken a co=op class that required lots of writing and introduced the 5 para essay and had them write speeches.  But as far as buying actual writing curric and trying them out, I just haven't.  We just write, using what we have, and about the things we are learning in all of our subjects.

 

So I am no help for OP, lol.  But I think my kids are prepared for high school writing.

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Up until this past year, we just did narrations, outlines, re-writing outlines, etc. as per WTM. This year with my 8th grader, I tried a number of different programs because he was terribly sick of outlining and I thought he could move on to essays.

 

First, I tried The Lively Art of Writing. I LOVE this book but he hated it and it just didn't click with him.

 

Then we tried Jump In, which also didn't work at all, but I'm not really sure why. It's like it stifled his writing instead of expanding his skills. I wish I could better describe why it didn't work, but I can't.

 

Then we tried and stuck with School Composition by Maxwell. I gave up on the idea of him learning how to write essays because my efforts thus far had been a complete failure. Perhaps he just wasn't ready. Instead, I used this to get him writing some original compositions. It worked very well. He actually did write a couple essays as assignments (the structure was there but the voice was silly and not academic at all, but still, it's a start).

 

We are going to try essays again this fall.

 

I personally feel like the reason we as homeschoolers go through so many programs with middle school kids is because, especially when it comes to writing, one size doesn't fit all, and we all need to find something that clicks with our kid. Having finally found something that worked with my oldest doesn't really give me much confidence in using the same thing with my next one because he'll probably be totally different.

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I've used alot of the same materials as Silvermoon. I used Wordsmith Apprentice with my creative writer in the summer between 4th and 5th grade. She whizzed through it in 8 weeks. It is a great concept. It's a slim workbook, all written to the student, if I recall correctly. I agree with Silvermoon that you would finish it quickly and could go on the Wordsmith if Wordsmith Apprentice had gone well.

 

Perhaps take a look at Cover Story. It's a one year middle school course. I'm currently using it with my 6th grader, and this second time around still really appreciating how engaging and specific the lessons are. All the instruction is in the dvds and student workbook, and everything is broken down into bite sized chunks for the student, which makes it very doable. You end up with a cool keepsake of the year's writing in the magazine they create, filled with examples of different types of writing. Previously, my then unmotivated 7th grader used it and liked it. Cover Story was good preparation for 8th grade public school writing, because she did the same sorts of writing (mix of poems, letters, essays and creative projects) at a good level.

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We tried a LOT of different programs in elementary and middle school, and nothing worked for my oldest three!! (List of some of the fails: WWE, Writing Strands, IEW SWE A.)  (We tried at least 2 programs a year...probably more.)  The first program we actually completed was WWS 1 (my boys were in 8th/9th grades.)   One boy did Creative Writer on top of it (the 8th grader), and the other took long enough doing WWS that  it was enough.  I think for a lot of boys (gifted/STEM kids especially), the writing just isn't there in the younger ages.  Its like trying to pull teeth with no success.  My boys started writing around 13-14yo...that's just when they developmentally were ready to write.  I think if we had tried WWS in 6th grade, it would have flopped like everything else. I had an experienced homeschooler tell me early on just to wait.  I didn't listen, but I sure see the wisdom in it looking back!  I do wish we'd at least done grammar orally, and spent more time discussing literature when they were younger (I think they would have enjoyed that), and that would have freed more time for writing once they were ready. 

 

My older daughter did one session with WriteAtHome, and I think it helped her get over the hurdle of "I can't."  I think positive comments from someone other than Mom help a lot. (That was right before she went to public school...so no other experience of  anything that worked.)  I bought Lightning Lit for her this next year, but with this thread I'm watching for other ideas!!

 

dd10 likes to write, but I've honestly not had much better luck finding writing curriculum, surprisingly.  She bores with writing curriculum very quickly.  She liked Bravewriter Partnership Writing when we tried that (age 7?), and I think we lasted with that because the projects were always something new and different.  CAP W&R failed because the pattern of the lessons was exactly the same each time.   I'm hopeful Apologia Writer's in Residence will work this year.

 

Writing is the one area I have not felt success with as a homeschooler.  (Though I was told by public school my oldest would NEVER write, and he did! I guess I shouldn't beat myself up too hard.)  I love this thread because it tells me I'm not the only one on a never ending search for good writing curriculum!!

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Just stopping by to leave this link to an immense thread on writing programs started by level a a few years back. It's one of those threads I read over bit by bit when I'm trying to get a better sense of the "big picture" of language arts and writing. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/348864-my-evaluation-of-numerous-writing-curricula/

Edited by Jackie
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  • 3 weeks later...

Was wondering, do you write in the actual book in STEM to Story or is the writing done outside the book (found new and used on Amazon and wondering whether new is necessary).

 

 

I would not do Jump In with a struggling kid until 7th or 8th grade unless you plan on only doing half the book for 6th grade. A reluctant but pretty good writer could probably do it in 6th. I don't see it working with my methodical STEM boy at all, but he doesn't have the creative bent you're describing. If you think it'd work well and you're only homeschooling for one year, I'd just take it at whatever pace he can handle well and not worry about finishing the book. Mine's idea of creativity is engineering, coding, and Minecraft. LOL He's all science, strong in math, generally enjoys history, good at literature (but he'd never read it on his own if it wasn't assigned).

 

Wordsmith Apprentice could work. A 6th grader could probably finish it in a semester and move right along to Wordsmith. WA has a cub reporter approach. At the beginning a newspaper "hires" the student and they start at the bottom of the employee chain doing menial tasks like editing (grammar). As they progress they do various writing forms and move up the chain until they have their own column (basic essays) by the end of the book. Wordsmith isn't as "fun" and doesn't do the cub reporter thing. The feel is more mature but similar.

 

STEM to Story is a fun extra writing book and won't work as a main curricula. I cherry picked specific projects out of it and inserted them around our school year. My middle two (the boy mentioned above and younger sister barely a step behind him) LOVED the projects from this book. They're going to be sad to finish it.

 

With these choices and your situation, I'd consider between how well I think he'd take to Jump In or the Wordsmith series, and perhaps sprinkle some STEM to Story units around just for fun. You can see samples on writingwithsharonwatson.com and commonsensepress.com and "look inside" STEM to Story on Amazon.

 

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I own many writing curricula that I decided not to use or used for a short time and and stopped for various reasons:

 

School Composition (kids not engaged)

Lively Art of Writing (too formulaic for me at the time; might look with different eyes now.)

Treasured Conversations (I liked this, and used bits. We were just too old/mostly beyond it when it was released.)

Writing With Skill (too "trees for the forest" for us)

BraveWriter (not enough direction for me/I took what I liked) I also have Help For High School and may use that some day.  

WordSmith Apprentice (too simple for us at the time)

Empowering Writers (I liked parts of this actually. I just was doing too much tweaking of the formulaic expository instruction. I did like aspects of even the expository and loved the narrative instruction)

Writing Skills (I used parts of this, but it was too simplistic compared to what we were already writing; formulaic)

Common Threads (too complex to use as written at the age I purchased it; I used it for self education) 

Writing with a Thesis (same as Common Threads)

100 Writing Lessons (I just didn't dive into this enough to even pick the parts that might have worked).

Writing Extraordinary Essays (I needed more explicit instruction)

 

 

Those are the ones still on my shelf anyway.

 

What we did use for an extended time:

 

WWE--I do like this for early grades. One of my really struggled with narrations and I saw improvement over the books (1-3) we used. I like that it's gentle and easy to scaffold.

 

Most Wonderful Writing Lessons Ever--I love this book! It provides really specific narrative writing instruction. I saw my kids doing things in narrative writing that were problematic, but I didn't know how to teach them to do otherwise. This book covered every single one of the problem areas I had noted and more, and it was engaging as well.

 

CAP Writing and Rhetoric--pro: engaging, I like using existing writing as a building point for developing skills, and the opportunity to write with some creativity was really appreciated after WWE. It was a nice follow up. cons: it doesn't have a lot of specific instruction in areas I feel were needed. We stopped Fable and did the Most Wonderful book. Then we were able to use those narrative skills to go on in CAP. But CAP was quite inferior in narrative instruction compared to Most Wonderful, and the instruction it did contain wasn't enough for me. I also had to teach outlining on my own, as there was practically no instruction in the Narrative book. I was most disappointed with Chreia--no instruction, repetitive assignments, and a mis-match for the intended grade between the thinking/analysis expected (quite high), and actual writing output expected (low) imo. We finally left CAP at that level. 

 

IEW--I never thought I would use this program. I wanted to avoid formulaic writing, and it's certainly that. But now I see why it's loved. My kids enjoy the theme book we're doing and I do think we're developing some skills. Even my natural writer is doing it without losing his own voice.  I don't want us to be "borrowing" another author's words--even 1 or 2--once we leave IEW, but it's making the development of the writing process less intimidating for my weaker writer.  I don't want to plant here long, but it's been good for a season, and I'm looking at it as a step toward where I eventually want us to be.

 

My tentative plan for the remainder of middle school: finish IEW theme book in 7th, Lost Tools of Writing, maybe try to fit  BraveWriter Help for High School if we have time.

Edited by sbgrace
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  • 2 weeks later...

Did you start with Wordwmith Apprentice or regular Wordsmith (with your 2nd oldest).  Just curious.  Looking at that one myself. 

 

We started with the Wordsmith series in about 5th, and that was really great for my oldest child who is a natural at organizing his thoughts and didn't need much handholding to get them down on paper. It's not worked well for my 2nd oldest. He is a great creative writer, but needs lots of scaffolding to organize his thoughts and write academically. And I realized that while I am able to write pretty decently myself, it turns out I'm not so great at teaching someone else how to write. :( So we're switching to IEW for him because of it's structure, and I've been so impressed by it that I decided to switch the younger ones over to that as well.

 

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What IEW theme book did you use.  Did you use the videos too? 

 

 

 

 

IEW--I never thought I would use this program. I wanted to avoid formulaic writing, and it's certainly that. But now I see why it's loved. My kids enjoy the theme book we're doing and I do think we're developing some skills. Even my natural writer is doing it without losing his own voice.  I don't want us to be "borrowing" another author's words--even 1 or 2--once we leave IEW, but it's making the development of the writing process less intimidating for my weaker writer.  I don't want to plant here long, but it's been good for a season, and I'm looking at it as a step toward where I eventually want us to be.

 

My tentative plan for the remainder of middle school: finish IEW theme book in 7th, Lost Tools of Writing, maybe try to fit  BraveWriter Help for High School if we have time.

 

 

 

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We tried :
Calvert
WWE
abeka
BJU

 

I forgot- we also tried CAP W&R  I think if you have kids 3rd grade and under who can grow with the series, this is one of the best.  Unfortunately it's not being published at a rate that is keeping up with my kids, and we already just moved back to BJU, and now she is taking an outside class with a teacher.  But CAP W&R has a lot of strengths- creativity, not boring, interesting and well chosen literature to work with, it's fairly fun, and it has many levels to choose from to get the proper fit.  You can write inside the student book and there is usually enough space on the lines.  Downside would be that it is very teacher-intensive even at the middle school years (not sure about high yet as I think they're not even published yet) and that it doesn't follow a traditional scope and sequence of course.  

Of them all, Calvert grade 6 was good and BJU was the best. The BJU writing is awesome, step by step, clear and precise. There is usually one page of workbook for each step of the writing process and it guides the student through almost on its own. The colorful pages are cheerful and the examples are reasonable yet still inspiring. Usually the first draft doesn't have its own workbook page but the prompt to do it is on the bottom of a page- so therefore you do not need the TM.

I used grading rubrics from
The internet which I printed out and put in page protectors and saved. My daughter loved it that I graded her papers as objectively as possible.

The 3rd grade is very advanced and not all students are ready for it but you can jump in in fourth grade if that's the case.

Highly recommended.

(It's includes grammar and it was ok for me as I didn't expect memorization of grammar. Just exposure - so for is the grammar was ok too but for 22.00 for the workbook for the entire year of writing you could easily just skip the grammar chapters and use something else if that floats your boat.)

:)

Edited by Calming Tea
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