Jensen's Format Writing vs. The Lively Art of Writing

[klmama]

If you've used Jensen's Format Writing or Lucile Vaughan Payne's The Lively Art of Writing, please share your thoughts.  Does the simplicity of Format Writing lead to simplistic essays?  Does the wordiness of The Lively Art of Writing bog students down?

 

 

[Lori D.]

I used parts of Jensen's Format Writing.

 

While it is possible, I don't think that the simplicity of the instruction would necessarily lead to simplistic essays. What I do think is that the instruction in Jensen's is going to be way too scanty if you have a student who needs more instruction than "just the facts ma'am".

 

From the Lit. & Comp. co-op classes I've been doing for the past few years, I've seen a wide variety in writing ability/interest in these students, and those who write simplistic essays tend to do so for one or more of these reasons:

- my assignment was too vague, simplistic, or unclear

- the student had not thought out a thorough argument

- the student didn't have a thesis, so did "wandering writing"

- the student was a struggling writer and just couldn't manage longer essays

 

If you are looking for something that can be used by the student to self-teach essay writing, The Lively Art of Writing, The Elegant Essay, or The Power in Your Hands would probably be a better fit -- unless the student is already a competent writer, and just needs a list/outline type of instruction to guide through essay writing.

 

You might also look at the 4 levels of Essay Writing by Marilyn Groop at the 7 Sisters Homeschooling website to see if that might be a fit (follow the links to find the sample pages/table of contents for each by first clicking on the image of the level you want to look at).

 

There may be more depth of instruction in the accompanying DVD that has come out since I used Jensen's, which might help if your student needed more teaching than what the book provides.

 

In case it helps, WTMer Quark reformatted the Lively Art of Writing workbook and teacher key that WTMers Still Waters and jmbucks1 generously created. The files are pdf downloads:

Lively Art of Writing formatted workbook (google doc link)
Lively Art of Writing formatted teacher guide (google doc link)

 

 

I do like that Jensen's covers business writing/real-life writing that doesn't get covered in most other programs. And if I'd had a solid writer who was a logical thinker and a "just the facts ma'am" type of learner, Jensen's would have been a good possibility. But both my average writer and my struggling writer needed more instruction, and some variety of approaches to come at writing, than what Jensen's provided for us, so I was only able to use bits and pieces and adapt for our needs.

 

BEST of luck finding what is the best fit for your student! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited June 13, 2017 by Lori D.

[klmama]

Thanks, Lori! 

[Lori D.]

You're welcome. :)

 

And, you might try x-posting on the high school board, where you are likely to get more eyeballs on your post of those who have used either of these options (or others). :) A lot of the homeschoolers with older students or graduated students only hang out on the high school and/or college boards. ;)

Edited June 13, 2017 by Lori D.