Writing level for Athena's

[Jackie]

I know a lot of people here have used Athena's. DD really wants to try out one of their literature classes this fall. One of the requirements is to be able to respond to forum questions in 5-6 sentences - so essentially a paragraph. Her output has always been minimal compared to her input and she is struggling with learning paragraph writing. More quantity seems to have a direct negative impact on quality at this point. I wouldn't care (she's young to be writing paragraphs) but I also don't want to sign her up for a class where she can't really fully participate.

 

So I guess my question is, when they say respond in 5-6 sentences, that only tells me quantity. What would people say the minimum quality of those sentences should be?

[Dmmetler]

It varies dramatically. There are kids in most classes who will turn out very detailed, involved writing, and those who write pretty sparse, poorly constructed sentences. In general, I would say that when DD did the 5th and 6th grade Lit classes (in 2nd and 3rd), most of the writing was about on a 2nd-3rd grade level, with only a handful of kids on the 5th grade level and above.

 

I will also say that AAA was one thing that moved her from writing reluctant to willing. Having a reason to write even those short pieces (and, honestly, I think the fact that so many of the other kids obviously struggled in writing) gave her reason to improve her own writing. DD actually signed up to do the writer's workshop/literary journal at AAA for next fall, not as a class, but just because she wanted to do the writing and discussion of writing with other kids and with Professor Suki. It didn't bother her at all that this was on top of having fairly extensive output requirements for other classes.

Edited May 26, 2016 by dmmetler

[Jackie]

I would put her writing currently on a 1st-2nd grade level, but I'm also really bad at determining level when it comes to her. However, I'm usually underestimating her rather than overestimating, so perhaps she will be fine.

[chiguirre]

I agree with dmmetler about the level of many kids' writing. I used the classes as a chance to teach Trinqueta to write a decent paragraph. She'd write a draft, we'd read it together and discuss it. I'd explain any spelling or grammar issues and help her strengthen her topic sentence or make sure her supporting details actually supported her topic sentence, etc. This worked well for us because T wanted to post a solid paragraph and she appreciated my help. If it had just been a mom assignment, I think she would have balked at writing or editing.

[SoCal_Bear]

My kiddo is signed up for the lit class...and he is a reluctant writer. Writing is the one area that he does not enjoy. However, he is motivated when there are other children involved to better/improve himself. So this is my hope that this will be the effect that this class has on him.

Edited May 27, 2016 by calbear

[Dmmetler]

One thing about Athena's-unless it is explicitly a writing class, there will be no guidance or critiques on writing style, quality, etc, unless it comes from other kids. So it's a really, really good idea to do so yourself.

[Jackie]

Thank you both. I had thought about using the class to strengthen her writing, and plan to do offline prep of her writing, but was nervous that if we started out too far below the average she would get discouraged.

 

As a completely separate issue (that I don't need help with), she has been disrespectful a few times to her Homeschool Spanish Academy teacher (not handling her frustration well) and I processed that with her, worked on the issues involved, and told her I need to see more respectful behavior for two weeks before I pay for more online classes. One more week to go, and I will sign her up for the lit class if she continues to manage decently.

[SeaConquest]

My kiddo is signed up for the lit class...and he is a reluctant writer. Writing is the one area that he does not enjoy. However, he is motivated when there are other children involved to better/improve himself. So this is my hope that this will be the effect that this class has on him.

 

Ditto. Sacha is signed up for the fall, and he is a pretty reluctant writer as well. He really enjoyed his Earth Science class this spring, so I am hopeful that he will enjoy Lit and Physics next year. I wouldn't worry too much about the output requirements.