Do I need writing in addition to Analytical Grammar

[Mosaicmind]

Howdy!!!

 

I've searched the boards to see if maybe I can find an answer to my question but I can't find anything. I bought Analytical Grammar along with reinforcement/review book and all 3 seasons of Beyond the Book Report (BBR).  I've read up on how to use AG, skimmed the books, and looked at the BBR fairly well.  I will have 2 high school boys to teach this coming year, one doing 9th grade work and one doing 10th grade work. They had both gone to public middle school for 2 years before I brought them back home to homeschool them again and I know that they weren't being taught much in the form of grammar and hardly any writing of any kind. I knew I would need a rigorous program to bring them back up to speed on grammar which is why I chose AG and they needed something for literature and I really liked the BBR.

 

The only thing I'm not sure about is writing and if this will be enough to bring them to where they need to be and prepare them for writing in the upper grades of high school and onto college writing. I just finished my master's degree in 2013 and I had completed my bachelor's degree the years prior to that, so I wrote a lot of papers in those 7 years and it wasn't easy for me but I got nothing less than an A- and was also told that I would do well in a doctorate program if I chose to go that route. I want my boys to be prepared for that kind of writing when the time comes. Would you add a writing course to AG and BBR if you were teaching high schoolers? Have you done AG and BBR? What did you think of it?

 

I'm not wanting to spend a lot of money on a writing curriculum but I want one that's solid and teaches all different types of writing. I have Writing Strands books 3 and 4, Understanding Writing (given to me and I just haven't looked at it), and some basic resource texts such as Writer's Inc and a few others. I like the looks of IEW but not sure I want to spend over $200, though I guess it would be a good investment if I'm using it for 2 students over 4 years. There are other programs out there I've looked at, which my tired brain can't think of at 4:30 am.

 

Looking for some solid advice from those who have done AG and BBR or have seen it and know about it. Also, my 9th grade son gets frustrated easily and complains that he can't write and how ugly his handwriting is. He needs something that will be easy to implement and require work done at a manageable pace that's still challenging for him. I know there's got to be something out there that's just right. But, of course, if AG and BBR have enough writing in them and I don't need another program than that will be great also.

[fourisenough]

In short, yes. We did both AG & BBR in a co-op last year and the writing was very light IMHO. I would add something like IEW or WWS.

[Mosaicmind]

Bumping!!

 

Anyone else willing to chime in. You don't need to have done AG, but am curious for suggestions on a solid writing program for high school students, who struggle to write and are not up to speed on the different types of writing.

[Mosaicmind]

In short, yes. We did both AG & BBR in a co-op last year and the writing was very light IMHO. I would add something like IEW or WWS.

Isn't WWS a middle school level writing program? Just curious to know if it would be enough for high school and will it cover all that they will need.

[Mom22ns]

We haven't used BBR, but AG has very little writing. Jump in could be a nice addition because it wouldn't be too much to add, but does go through a variety of writing assignments. Another option would be Sharon Watson's high school program The Power in Your Hands. I would be careful, if you have two components chosen already, to not overload with the addition of a writing program though. Watch the time required to do all 3 and scale back if needed.

[J-rap]

From what I remember, AG concentrates on grammar, but not much actual writing.  Maybe you could also get a simple essay-writing book.  We had a book that walks you through traditional essay-writing.  That carries over to so many things:  the SAT, college applications, college assignments, etc.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Isn't WWS a middle school level writing program? Just curious to know if it would be enough for high school and will it cover all that they will need.

 

I believe level 3 is appropriate for grade 9, but yeah in general it's a middle school program.

[Momto6inIN]

My oldest was a natural at organizing his thoughts and putting them to paper, and he enjoyed Wordsmith Craftsman and did well with it. After that he was ready for literary analysis using Windows to the World and after going through that he's pretty much ready for any essay or paper I assign.

 

2nd oldest struggles more with structuring his thoughts and Wordsmith wasn't working well for him, so we're switching to IEW for him next year because it's more incremental.

[fourisenough]

Isn't WWS a middle school level writing program? Just curious to know if it would be enough for high school and will it cover all that they will need.

Yes, but you have to start somewhere, iykwim? As someone else said, WWS3 is solidly 9th grade, but books 1-2 teach very important, foundational skills that should be mastered at some point.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Yes, but you have to start somewhere, iykwim? As someone else said, WWS3 is solidly 9th grade, but books 1-2 teach very important, foundational skills that should be mastered at some point.

 

The reading level of the selections is pretty meaty so no worries there.  But I think I might skip to book 2.  The exercises in book 1 might not be challenging enough.

[Mosaicmind]

I do know AG teaches grammar but, as noted in my opinion, I also bought all 3 seasons of Beyond the Book Report. The 3 seasons teach basic report writing, pamphlet report, journal report, paraphrase, summary, news articles, poetry, drama, sonnet, haiku, narrative poem, limericks, essays, oral reports, and research papers. That sounds like a lot and it's geared for middle school but, since both Moe and Curly were in public school for ms, I saw them do nothing for writing so we are catching up.

[Julie of KY]

At some point you need to focus more on writing, but it doesn't have to be all the time. Sometimes less is better - depends on the child.

 

My struggling writer did very well with Brave Writer online courses - had done several things ineffectively before that time.

[Mosaicmind]

At some point you need to focus more on writing, but it doesn't have to be all the time. Sometimes less is better - depends on the child.

 

My struggling writer did very well with Brave Writer online courses - had done several things ineffectively before that time.

I've actually considered Brave Writer, but not their online courses. Have you looked at their parent taught courses that you can download or buy hard copies of? What would you get that would cover everything that they will need. Moe doesn't like online course work so doing online courses probably would be a struggle, though at some point I think he's going to have to get over that dislike.

[Julie of KY]

I've actually considered Brave Writer, but not their online courses. Have you looked at their parent taught courses that you can download or buy hard copies of? What would you get that would cover everything that they will need. Moe doesn't like online course work so doing online courses probably would be a struggle, though at some point I think he's going to have to get over that dislike.

 

Yes, I've looked at their pdfs.

 

I started with buying The Writer's Jungle - I loved the concept, but in reality I couldn't implement it myself. In Kidswriter Basic - I was the student. The teacher would give assignments, I would tell me kids what to do, I would summit the kid's work and then the teacher would give comments and I'd pick and choose what to pass on. All the rest of the classes, my child has been the student.

 

My struggling writer says he still doesn't like to write, but he likes the "Brave Writer" way better than anything else. It's also turned him into a very capable (though continues to be very slow) writer.

 

For the online class, an assignment is posted to the classroom and generally you have 2-3 days to finish it. Usually 2-3 short assignments are done weekly. The student submits all their work and the teacher gives comments. You can also read the comments on all the other student's work. The teacher always finds things to praise as well as things to ask questions geared to making the student improve their work.

 

Getting back to your question - I've also bought Help for High School. It is written to the student with lots of samples as well as how to self-critique. This is almost exactly the assignments for Kidswriter Intermediate and Expository Essay. I bought it thinking I could assign it to my son and then grade his assignments myself. NOPE! I cannot give feedback that he responds to. Some of it is that he doesn't want mom to critique the writing and some of it is that the BW teachers give way better critiques. I enrolled my struggling writer in both Kidswriter Intermediate followed by Expository Essay and they were wonderful (he's since taken some other classes as well). I then thought I could teach my second son from the pdf - NOPE! For me the Brave Writer teacher feedback is invaluable. I can not give anywhere near this level of feedback. They draw out words from my kids that I cannot do, but they don't "tell" them what to write. Their writing is unmistakably theirs. My natural writer (12yo) has taken several fiction writing classes as well.

 

I feel crazy that I bought the pdfs and then turned around and enrolled them in the classes. Oh well, live and learn. I learned that the classes are expensive and worth every penny to me.

[Mosaicmind]

I can't afford online classes for the stooges so I will have to look at the other teacher daughter materials.

[Denise in IN]

Analytical Grammar does not have any writing. I am not familiar with Beyond the Book Report.

 

A suggestion for a low cost writing program is Meaningful Composition.  I would start with Book 9-1, Writing for High School.  You can download sizable samples at their website:  characterinkblog.com.  It can also be purchased from Rainbow Resource.

[Lori D.]

I do know AG teaches grammar but, as noted in my opinion, I also bought all 3 seasons of Beyond the Book Report. The 3 seasons teach basic report writing, pamphlet report, journal report, paraphrase, summary, news articles, poetry, drama, sonnet, haiku, narrative poem, limericks, essays, oral reports, and research papers. That sounds like a lot and it's geared for middle school but, since both Moe and Curly were in public school for ms, I saw them do nothing for writing so we are catching up.

 

The majority of high school writing is usually geared around prep for writing required in college. So high school Writing tends to focus on:

- essay writing of various types

- research paper with citations

- science lab reports

- writing for study skills -- various types of note-taking from lectures; possible outlining/note-taking from textbooks

- specialized essay writing -- timed SAT/ACT essays from prompts; college admission essays; scholarship application

 

Very helpful in high school Writing is also exposure to real life writing:

- writing for public speaking and presentations (esp. with power-point/slideshow aspect)

- resume and cover letter

- business letters

 

I do not know of any one writing program that covers ALL of that, plus walks the student through the process of writing (brainstorming, organizing, rough draft, revision, proof-editing, final version). Various programs are strong with different aspects of the writing process and/or with different types of writing.

 

Unless your student has a love/interest in creative writing, by high school that component is usually dropped. So, from your BtBR materials, you can drop: poetry, drama, sonnet, haiku, narrative poem, and limerick. And high school Writing does not focus on personal writing, so you could likely drop the journal report portion. (If your students are VERY behind in Writing -- i.e., struggle to write a complete paragraph, have not written multi-paragraph essays or several-page papers, then you may want to use something detailed/foundational before BtBR.)

 

That leaves the following units in BtBR which would be helpful towards high school Writing:

- paraphrase, summary, basic report writing, research paper = all of which contribute towards research paper with citations

- essays = which would contribute towards writing various types of essays

- oral reports = which would contribute towards future prep of presentations for college classes or jobs

- pamphlet report, news articles = optional; could contribute towards possible jobs

 

 

If the units in BtBR that I just outlined in the paragraph above help get you from the ground floor to high school level of writing by the end of a year, in an orderly, detailed way that "clicks" for both of your students, then pull it off the shelf and use what you have.

 

Otherwise, JMO, but Writing is an absolutely critical/foundational skill for virtually all future types of jobs (whether college is in the picture or not), that if BtBR was only going to do a spotty job at getting my students up to speed, then I'd put it back on the shelf and buy whatever WOULD get the students up to speed. Momto2Ns suggestion of Power in Your Hands is a great one for covering most of what you need in one year.

 

Or, if your students need to start with how to think of what to say and how to organize their thoughts and how to write multi-paragraph essays and reports, then start first with Jump In -- skip the "free write prompts" -- in fact, you can just get one student book, skip the teacher book, and have both DSs do their writing on loose leaf paper or a notebook -- or better yet, typed and printed out. That way you only need 1 book. Also, you can go through it at a pretty quick pace with older students -- and if you skip the "free writes" (trust me, the prompts are very lame and very repetitive) and also the last two units on creative writing (narrative and poetry), you will likely be ready for Power in Your Hands (the high school level) by about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through next year, and you'll have a very solid writing foundation established. Both programs can be largely done by the student, and are each relatively inexpensive. Both do a good job of helping the student with the process of writing, organizing, supporting your points, and in covering a variety of types of writing.

 

If you have limited time and have to choose between instruction in Grammar and Writing, go for the Writing. By high school, that is how Grammar actually shows up anyways -- in the student's writing, and in their speaking. Also, as an aid in foreign language study (word placement, verb tense, first/second/third person, pronouns, direct and indirect objects, etc.). If your student(s) need some Grammar in high school, a light Grammar review/remediation can be folded in on the side and practiced with the student's actual Writing. Sounds like you already own Analytical Grammar? You can use either the 2-year or 3-year schedule to lighten up how much time you need to spend on Grammar each week to give you more time to focus on Writing.  

 

Killgallon's paragraph writing for Middle School or for High School would work as a remedial kick-starter for Writing, and they include just a bit of Grammar.

 

For future years, once you get your "writing feet" under you this next year:

 

For Business Writing, you might look at Jensen's Format Writing. It does have an *extremely* bare bones instruction for the basic writing process, so I do not recommend it for that aspect esp. if you have struggling writers or new/behind writers. But it has useful   examples of Business Writing that most other programs do not have.

 

For writing a literary analysis essay, you might look at Windows to the World, a 1-semester Literature program, but that also includes Writing, and one of the best, straight-forward, step-by-step explanations of how to write a literary analysis essay that I've seen.

 

For essay writing, you might look at the Elegant Essay, and for research paper writing, you might look at Writing Research Papers: The Essential Tools, from IEW.

 

 

Two free supplemental resources that might be helpful: the OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue, with articles on every writing and grammar subject, and Essay Wizard for info on writing a variety of different types of 5-paragraph essays, with some samples and some suggested writing assignment ideas.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Lori D.

[Mosaicmind]

Analytical Grammar does not have any writing. I am not familiar with Beyond the Book Report.

 

A suggestion for a low cost writing program is Meaningful Composition. I would start with Book 9-1, Writing for High School. You can download sizable samples at their website: characterinkblog.com. It can also be purchased from Rainbow Resource.

I know AG doesn't have writing but Beyond the Book Report does and is the Literature/Writing portion of the AG program. I listed what BBR teaches in a post above and wondered what others thought; is it enough? On the website it states that Analytical Grammar is meant to be paired with Beyond the Book Report and by adding your own vocab program you have a meaty middle school language arts program. BUT...I have read that BBR is fairly challenging and can be used through 10th grade for literature and writing, since my son's need to catch up I figured this would be good to use after what I have heard.

 

If you look at my post above I listed the BBR writing genres that are covered. I'm concerned that I may need to add a different writing program that's more for high school level and still use BBR for its literature since they need it for credits. Since AG and BBR were meant to be used in 3 years during 6th-8th grade, there's a schedule for speeding it up and using both over 2yrs, 8 & 9 or 9 & 10, or they have a 1 year schedule to use in 9th or 10th.

 

I guess I could get a low cost program like Meaningful Composition so I have it in case I find out that BBR is missing some writing components they will need to be ready for college when they choose to attend. If BBR is complete enough then I could keep the other writing program and use it for 11th and 12th (thinking out loud here as I type so bear with me).

 

Thoughts anyone after I've written out what BBR teaches? For those of you who might remember, Robin Finley authored Teaching the Research Paper and Teaching the Essay. These have now been combined as Beyond the Book Report. Here's where it talks about Beyond the Book Report:

 

 

http://www.analyticalgrammar.com/our-products/beyond-the-book-report/

 

Thanks for all of the curriculum suggestions.

[Lori D.]

Unless your student has a love/interest in creative writing, by high school that component is usually dropped. So, from your BtBR materials, you can drop: poetry, drama, sonnet, haiku, narrative poem, and limerick. And high school Writing does not focus on personal writing, so you could likely drop the journal report portion….

 

...Here's where it talks about Beyond the Book Report:

http://www.analyticalgrammar.com/our-products/beyond-the-book-report/

 

Looks like we were cross-posting. ;)

 

The link you provided helps, as I can now see that BtBR is not necessarily spending a lot of time teaching creative writing, but teaches some very beginning literary analysis/literary elements in different types of creative writing (fiction, poetry, drama), and writing about that in different formats: report, news article, dramatization, essay, power point presentation, research paper.

 

Since there are no sample pages of the actual program, it's really hard to tell how in-depth BtBR is. But since this is Writing instruction geared for grades 6-9, I'd guess it's fairly simple material and I would guess you would be able to fly through it at a pretty quick rate. I feel confirmed with that assessment after looking at the 1-page pdf linked on the page you linked above, it looks like there are 8 units.

 

From the website, here's a quick summary of the useful writing assignments (i.e., I've dropped out the "busy work" assignments of reading log, study questions, crossword, worksheets):

 

1. Basic Book Report = a plot summary, a paraphrase of a scene

2. Pamphlet Book Report = pamphlet about a book

3. News Article = news article of a scene, opposite bias news article of same scene

4. poetry = write four types of poems: haiku, limerick, narrative, sonnet

5. drama = dramatization of favorite scene

6. essay = essay on a book

7. oral report = power point presentation of a book

8. research paper = research paper on the book

 

If your students are not interested in creative writing, I'd drop unit #4, and possibly #5 as well, in order to focus on basic writing. I would think you'd be able to get through each unit in about 2 weeks, so a total of 12-16 weeks (depending on if you drop any units or not). That would give you the rest of the year to focus on a good overall writing program to develop a solid foundation for the rest of high school, and to really work on lots of regular writing to practice, practice, practice...

 

Just my 2 cents worth! :) BEST of luck in finding what works best for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Lori D.

[Mosaicmind]

The majority of high school writing is usually geared around prep for writing required in college. So high school Writing tends to focus on:

- essay writing of various types

- research paper with citations

- science lab reports

- writing for study skills -- various types of note-taking from lectures; possible outlining/note-taking from textbooks

- specialized essay writing -- timed SAT/ACT essays from prompts; college admission essays; scholarship application

 

Very helpful in high school Writing is also exposure to real life writing:

- writing for public speaking and presentations (esp. with power-point/slideshow aspect)

- resume and cover letter

- business letters

 

I do not know of any one writing program that covers ALL of that, plus walks the student through the process of writing (brainstorming, organizing, rough draft, revision, proof-editing, final version). Various programs are strong with different aspects of the writing process and/or with different types of writing.

 

Unless your student has a love/interest in creative writing, by high school that component is usually dropped. So, from your BtBR materials, you can drop: poetry, drama, sonnet, haiku, narrative poem, and limerick. And high school Writing does not focus on personal writing, so you could likely drop the journal report portion. (If your students are VERY behind in Writing -- i.e., struggle to write a complete paragraph, have not written multi-paragraph essays or several-page papers, then you may want to use something detailed/foundational before BtBR.)

 

That leaves the following units in BtBR which would be helpful towards high school Writing:

- paraphrase, summary, basic report writing, research paper = all of which contribute towards research paper with citations

- essays = which would contribute towards writing various types of essays

- oral reports = which would contribute towards future prep of presentations for college classes or jobs

- pamphlet report, news articles = optional; could contribute towards possible jobs

 

 

If the units in BtBR that I just outlined in the paragraph above help get you from the ground floor to high school level of writing by the end of a year, in an orderly, detailed way that "clicks" for both of your students, then pull it off the shelf and use what you have.

 

Otherwise, JMO, but Writing is an absolutely critical/foundational skill for virtually all future types of jobs (whether college is in the picture or not), that if BtBR was only going to do a spotty job at getting my students up to speed, then I'd put it back on the shelf and buy whatever WOULD get the students up to speed. Momto2Ns suggestion of Power in Your Hands is a great one for covering most of what you need in one year.

 

Or, if your students need to start with how to think of what to say and how to organize their thoughts and how to write multi-paragraph essays and reports, then start first with Jump In -- skip the "free write prompts" -- in fact, you can just get one student book, skip the teacher book, and have both DSs do their writing on loose leaf paper or a notebook -- or better yet, typed and printed out. That way you only need 1 book. Also, you can go through it at a pretty quick pace with older students -- and if you skip the "free writes" (trust me, the prompts are very lame and very repetitive) and also the last two units on creative writing (narrative and poetry), you will likely be ready for Power in Your Hands (the high school level) by about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through next year, and you'll have a very solid writing foundation established. Both programs can be largely done by the student, and are each relatively inexpensive. Both do a good job of helping the student with the process of writing, organizing, supporting your points, and in covering a variety of types of writing.

 

If you have limited time and have to choose between instruction in Grammar and Writing, go for the Writing. By high school, that is how Grammar actually shows up anyways -- in the student's writing, and in their speaking. Also, as an aid in foreign language study (word placement, verb tense, first/second/third person, pronouns, direct and indirect objects, etc.). If your student(s) need some Grammar in high school, a light Grammar review/remediation can be folded in on the side and practiced with the student's actual Writing. Sounds like you already own Analytical Grammar? You can use either the 2-year or 3-year schedule to lighten up how much time you need to spend on Grammar each week to give you more time to focus on Writing.

 

Killgallon's paragraph writing for Middle School or for High School would work as a remedial kick-starter for Writing, and they include just a bit of Grammar.

 

For future years, once you get your "writing feet" under you this next year:

 

For Business Writing, you might look at Jensen's Format Writing. It does have an *extremely* bare bones instruction for the basic writing process, so I do not recommend it for that aspect esp. if you have struggling writers or new/behind writers. But it has useful examples of Business Writing that most other programs do not have.

 

For writing a literary analysis essay, you might look at Windows to the World, a 1-semester Literature program, but that also includes Writing, and one of the best, straight-forward, step-by-step explanations of how to write a literary analysis essay that I've seen.

 

For essay writing, you might look at the Elegant Essay, and for research paper writing, you might look at Writing Research Papers: The Essential Tools, from IEW.

 

 

Two free supplemental resources that might be helpful: the OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue, with articles on every writing and grammar subject, and Essay Wizard for info on writing a variety of different types of 5-paragraph essays, with some samples and some suggested writing assignment ideas.

Thanks! Yes, I know very well just what kind of writing and how much they will be doing if they choose to go to college; they are both wanting to go into the military like their older brothers did. I got my bachelor's degree in 2010, started in 2006, and began my master's degree right after and finished it in 2013. I love English and writing, was an honor's student in English all 4 years of high school and got all A's on every paper I had to turn in for college, but I was so very relieved when I had turned in my last college paper.

 

Moe and Curly didn't inherit my love for writing or the gift of it flowing so easily and neither my aptitude for English/Language arts.

 

They may not use some of those other forms of writing in college, but I believe that they should be well educated in all areas of writing. I have plenty of time to teach them all that they need; I'm recently (2 1/2yrs) disabled and pretty much bedridden and they are my last 2 kiddos to get thru high school.

 

I'm not sure they need to go as remedial as Jump In but Power in Your Hands sounds good so I will check that out. I've gotten some really good information and love all of the suggestions for additional writing instruction. I guess I need to get out the schedule suggestions for pairing AG and BBR and doing them over the course of 1 year or 2 years. I will check out one of the other low cost writing programs to mid in there and hopefully get the first several weeks of lesson plans scheduled out since we will be starting up again in July.

 

Thanks!!

[Liza Q]

 ITA with Lori's advice above in #19.

[elegantlion]

I used Essentials in Writing (EIW) with ds, who was not a strong writer. There are some reviews here about it. It can easily be confused with IEW (institute for excellence in writing). 

 

It was a no frills program - we used it for one year - and it has a student workbook and a teacher book along with DVD teaching. 

[Pistachio mom]

I have used AG and bits and pieces of BBR and before that used Robin Finley's Essay and Research paper units. All of these were helpful and good. They  were a wonderful help for middle school era and allowed me to pick my own literature and apply their writing  concepts.

 

I am planning to use Sharon Watson's Power in Your Hands to strengthen my 10th grader's expos writing skills. I think the AG, and Robin's other writing resources were good for middle school, but I like the detailed ideas presented in Power in Your Hands. Sharon Watson has a few chapter PDF's on her website free for anyone interested.

 

 

[Excelsior! Academy]

I haven't read the thread in its entirety.

 

We did IEW in addition to AG.

[wehave8]

The majority of high school writing is usually geared around prep for writing required in college. So high school Writing tends to focus on:

- essay writing of various types

- research paper with citations

- science lab reports

- writing for study skills -- various types of note-taking from lectures; possible outlining/note-taking from textbooks

- specialized essay writing -- timed SAT/ACT essays from prompts; college admission essays; scholarship application

 

Very helpful in high school Writing is also exposure to real life writing:

- writing for public speaking and presentations (esp. with power-point/slideshow aspect)

- resume and cover letter

- business letters

 

I do not know of any one writing program that covers ALL of that, plus walks the student through the process of writing (brainstorming, organizing, rough draft, revision, proof-editing, final version). Various programs are strong with different aspects of the writing process and/or with different types of writing.

 

Unless your student has a love/interest in creative writing, by high school that component is usually dropped. So, from your BtBR materials, you can drop: poetry, drama, sonnet, haiku, narrative poem, and limerick. And high school Writing does not focus on personal writing, so you could likely drop the journal report portion. (If your students are VERY behind in Writing -- i.e., struggle to write a complete paragraph, have not written multi-paragraph essays or several-page papers, then you may want to use something detailed/foundational before BtBR.)

 

That leaves the following units in BtBR which would be helpful towards high school Writing:

- paraphrase, summary, basic report writing, research paper = all of which contribute towards research paper with citations

- essays = which would contribute towards writing various types of essays

- oral reports = which would contribute towards future prep of presentations for college classes or jobs

- pamphlet report, news articles = optional; could contribute towards possible jobs

 

 

If the units in BtBR that I just outlined in the paragraph above help get you from the ground floor to high school level of writing by the end of a year, in an orderly, detailed way that "clicks" for both of your students, then pull it off the shelf and use what you have.

 

Otherwise, JMO, but Writing is an absolutely critical/foundational skill for virtually all future types of jobs (whether college is in the picture or not), that if BtBR was only going to do a spotty job at getting my students up to speed, then I'd put it back on the shelf and buy whatever WOULD get the students up to speed. Momto2Ns suggestion of Power in Your Hands is a great one for covering most of what you need in one year.

 

Or, if your students need to start with how to think of what to say and how to organize their thoughts and how to write multi-paragraph essays and reports, then start first with Jump In -- skip the "free write prompts" -- in fact, you can just get one student book, skip the teacher book, and have both DSs do their writing on loose leaf paper or a notebook -- or better yet, typed and printed out. That way you only need 1 book. Also, you can go through it at a pretty quick pace with older students -- and if you skip the "free writes" (trust me, the prompts are very lame and very repetitive) and also the last two units on creative writing (narrative and poetry), you will likely be ready for Power in Your Hands (the high school level) by about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through next year, and you'll have a very solid writing foundation established. Both programs can be largely done by the student, and are each relatively inexpensive. Both do a good job of helping the student with the process of writing, organizing, supporting your points, and in covering a variety of types of writing.

 

If you have limited time and have to choose between instruction in Grammar and Writing, go for the Writing. By high school, that is how Grammar actually shows up anyways -- in the student's writing, and in their speaking. Also, as an aid in foreign language study (word placement, verb tense, first/second/third person, pronouns, direct and indirect objects, etc.). If your student(s) need some Grammar in high school, a light Grammar review/remediation can be folded in on the side and practiced with the student's actual Writing. Sounds like you already own Analytical Grammar? You can use either the 2-year or 3-year schedule to lighten up how much time you need to spend on Grammar each week to give you more time to focus on Writing.  

 

Killgallon's paragraph writing for Middle School or for High School would work as a remedial kick-starter for Writing, and they include just a bit of Grammar.

 

For future years, once you get your "writing feet" under you this next year:

 

For Business Writing, you might look at Jensen's Format Writing. It does have an *extremely* bare bones instruction for the basic writing process, so I do not recommend it for that aspect esp. if you have struggling writers or new/behind writers. But it has useful   examples of Business Writing that most other programs do not have.

 

For writing a literary analysis essay, you might look at Windows to the World, a 1-semester Literature program, but that also includes Writing, and one of the best, straight-forward, step-by-step explanations of how to write a literary analysis essay that I've seen.

 

For essay writing, you might look at the Elegant Essay, and for research paper writing, you might look at Writing Research Papers: The Essential Tools, from IEW.

 

 

Two free supplemental resources that might be helpful: the OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue, with articles on every writing and grammar subject, and Essay Wizard for info on writing a variety of different types of 5-paragraph essays, with some samples and some suggested writing assignment ideas.

This has a wealth of information in it for mapping out a writing plan!  This should be x-posted on the K-8 board for those looking ahead.  :)  I'm glad I found it.

Thank you, Lori D.!!!

 

Pam

[Mona]

I've have used Teaching the Essay and have Teaching the Research Paper on Hand as well as BtBR 1-3. TTE and TTRP are both included in BtBR3 along with How to give Oral Presentations and Power Point Presentations. TTE was easy to implement had plenty of structure and the rubrics made it very simple to be objective when grading your student's work. Teaching how to use the rubric is another skill they will acquire. Once they get comfortable writing essays and research papers, you can just have them write across the curriculum. There's plenty there for a year of composition. 

[Pistachio mom]

This post is a year after my last one. After doing the AG on a 2 year cycle, and the Essay package, as well as the research package - both from AG authors. Then, they came out with the Beyond the book report series which I also used. We did a year in Sharon Watson's Power in Your Hands this last school year. I was also teaching Jump In to my 5th grader.

 

I recommend what Lori says except to skip Jump In altogether and go straight to Power in Your Hands. They are very similar in the foundational stages. Jump in does have a great section on research writing, but you will get that in your BBR anyway. In my opinion, I would focus on the BBR 5 paragraph essay and research paper in the BBO for basic literary essay and basics in expository writing.  Then switch over to Power in Your Hands to go deeper. You do not have to teach the whole book in one year. You could implement whatever seems appropriate for the lit you are studying, and other writing assignments across the content areas. Even if you do not use Power for anything but the opinion paper, basic persuasive essay,  and examples of MLA documentation; you can build on that foundation the next year. You can make the Power assignments relate to your literature. I paired ours with Veritas omnibus 2, biology topics, and topics of my daughter's choice. Power in Your Hands is easy to follow and really a help in learning to have solid writing skills.

 

Doing AG on a one year schedule will be very busy, depending on how much your students remember from their elementary years.

 

Best of Luck as you construct a plan for your year. :)