Analysis paralysis, lol. Love it. That's so me too. You could start with the Outlining workbook. It's deceivingly simple, but shored up the way my daughter structures her writing pretty quickly. And it's short, only a few weeks to do. Then, on the recommendation of the other forum members, I started her reading articles, National Geographic etc, and practicing outlining those. It was very effective. And buys you a bit of time to consider your other options. Hmmm,I think I'll watch the sample lesson on IEW too. I watched one of his videos, but I don't think it was a sample lesson.

Grammar Island/Practice Island and Grammar Town/Practice Town are enough for where my daughter was/is at (Did you do the Practice Island too btw?). And I think she will be nicely prepared in terms of attitude and knowledge for moving into Rod & Staff grammar. I did the over analyzing too...for deciding where to land with grammar. I was between AG, Abeka/ and Rod & Staff. AG seemed a lot, too much, marking for me. Abeka Grammar (God's gift of language) I actually really liked, but the material is very USA focused. We are not American, so my daughter would be clueless about the topics. And then there is a Rod & Staff. After taking the placement tests I got a 'feel' for it and think it will be alright. But we will need to read and/or YouTube the bible stories as we go along, because my daughter will be clueless about those too! But I'm happy to add some religious studies. But to answer your main question, No, I do not think Paragraph town would have been enough for us. I needed more hand-holding for 'teaching' writing. We just started Paragraph Town though....so if my answer changes I'll let you know!

Thanks so much for all this info and the resources! The Mensa reading for excellence seemed a good jumping off point for us. But great to know of other options. Also, appreciate the reminder for audiobooks. We do read-alouds, but audiobooks would be a nice addition 🙂

You totally could. I was just so curious about TC, and thought we could try and zip through it over the summer and then do IEW this term. If it wasn't a good fit, then I figured I would still be able to use TC with my younger daughter in grade 4. So not a waste. We slowed down over the summer, and are still doing TC. But we'll be finished mid- November. Then I would either do Cover Story or IEW...but leaning towards Cover Story. TC is not super intensive. It's my daughters most independent subject right now actually, as we are in the outling/paragraph section. Now that she actually knows HOW TO outline and construct paragraphs...she's good to go on her own. It's definitely 'young' for her, but it's teaching the basics very quickly. And I can constructively guide her now (at this stage at least!). I understand about running two different curriculums! Still trying to find our balance too, but I will say, it's much improved over our first year.

I understand that it has mixed reviews. It's such a unique style of curriculum. I ended up going with the whole MCT Level 2 Town package for 2 main reasons. First, my daughter enjoyed Island (Level 1) soooo much last year and now loves grammar and learning about language (we started with Island because she had zero grammar teaching and was coming out of French immersion). Second, with an older child, Town moves very quick! Grammar only takes a month, if that. We are mostly just reading through Paragraph Town, as it is a really great compliment to the Paragraph section in TC, as well as being a general resource for writing assignments . And Caesars English I and II, as you already know is fantastic, and we are not rushing that. Last year Poetry Hemisphere transformed the way she thinks about writing and the relationships between words and sound, so we just had to continue with Building Poems. The literature books are classics that she would be reading anyways. We will be finished the whole Town Level 2 by January, with the exception of Caesars English. The program is time consuming, on my part, as I read through everything with her. But it's a very pleasant time! Such a beautiful curriculum with every part reinforcing the other. I am planning to move to (gasp!) Rod and Staff (5) for Grammar in the winter....but we will see....I might end up with the MCT Level 3 grammar Voyage homeschool package. Like you say, FOMO!

Yes, I did look into IEW. I had intended to be finished TC over the summer, and then was considering both Cover Story and IEW. I had initially planned on doing this first semester using IEW and then starting Cover Story afterwards. But we are still working through TC (she gets SO into the stories and the writing, it's taking longer than I thought)....soooo I've decided to let her do Cover Story before IEW. Simply because I know she will love it and I want to keep her enjoyment for writing going. And January/February/March is miserable weather where we live and Cover Story just looks fun! Hoping it will off-set some of the winter blues. So between IEW and Cover Story, one was not higher on the list necessarily. I would have been doing IEW now probably, if we were not still on TC. This also gives me more time to purchase and watch the IEW structure and style seminars which I'm kind-of dreading, lol. Also, I just wanted to add that she does really like Fix-it and was learning a lot. We just slowed down over the summer and haven't picked it up again. We were getting too much grammar for a while there.

Thank you, I appreciate the reply! I didn't know about the app.

Well interesting that we both have the same plan for our 3rd grade daughters. I am working through WWE2 with her as well right now. She does not like to 'write', but I think it's because she finds it verrrry tiring. She does love to tell stories and have me write them for her. As for my older daughter. I tried some WWE with her last year (some WWE3 and then 2) and it just didn't go well. She had a difficult time 'getting' the writing, remembering the details in the passages (to answer the questions), and then narrating/summarizing. We were both floundering and frustrated. That was probably due to my unfamiliarity with the WWE method (and homeschooling in general). So WWE went on hold, as I allowed her the time to free-write stories, which she loves. I am now more familiar with WWE after having completed WWE1 and part of 2 (with my youngest), and my older daughter is now more accustomed to the type of literature in WWE, so I think I will try WWE3 again. Honestly, my biggest issue is that every curriculum I choose for both my girls is very teacher involved/intensive and simple run out of energy to 'do it all' well...or I probably would have kept WWE in the mix. Hope that answers your question, and feel free to ask any more.

You are most welcome, We have been using the whole curriculum, except for the writing portion. For the writing portion (Sentence Island, Paragraph Town, etc) we have mostly been reading through the books and discussing the material. As I mentioned, we are moving through at a bit of quicker pace due to her age. The poetry and vocabulary books (both exceptional and enjoyed immensely) already have some writing assignments, and I don't want to overload her with writing.

Hi! So here is where we are at right now. We have been using the 'Outlining' workbook by Remedia publications (very helpful, straightforward exercises for outline skills). We started working through Treasured Conversations (TC) at an accelerated pace, and will be finished before Christmas. TC focus' on precise word choice, paragraph structure and then basic report writing. While it is a bit below her grade level, its shoring up her foundation skills and it is definitely helping ME with understanding how to teach writing (and she loves the story writing!). Then we plan to do 'Cover Story'. Alongside that, we will be doing Killgallon Sentence composing for Elementary school (A worktext to build better sentences). She also gets an opportunity to practice her new writing skills through our history curriculum, History Odyssey (Ancients). In terms of broader Language Arts, we have continued with the Michael Clay Thompson, because she enjoys it so much. We started Fix-it Grammar last term, but have not finished it because we were getting too much overlap with grammar instruction (between MCT, TC and Fix-it). MOST importantly, I did a major overhaul on her literature. Last year I boxed up all our books that were not really high quality literature. I started introducing books from the Mensa reading list for grade 5/6. Hands down, that has had the most significant impact on her own writing. I was inspired to do this by watching THIS clip from The Good and the Beautiful book blog about how books have changed in the last century. I watched the first 4 minutes of this clip, and it was HUGE wake-up call for me...you are what you read. https://goodandbeautifulbooklist.com/howbookshavechanged/ Oh, and I also got her a MadLibs book (grammar, parts of speech), which the kids find hysterical and do for fun in the car! Let me know if you have any questions at all. I'm happy to share our journey! D

Oh gosh...clearly I need to explore the program more. I didn't get past the TWSS or SSS and thought you *had* to do those first.

Thank-you for bringing up psych evals. When my daughter was in Montessori preschool/kindergarten her teacher noticed a few *red flags*. The psychologist said she was a bit young for a PsychEd test, but the school offered to use some funding to pay for it so we went ahead. I just found some of my scribblings of her results. Everything was high-average (working memory, processing speed, visual/spatial, fluid reasoning)....everything *except* verbal comprehension (50%) and they said specifically 'verbally expressing concepts.' Their recommendations are very much in line with some of yours (like her getting concepts better in isolation, keeping things simpler/shorter, keeping learning visual and/or written). Oh, and they said she had some 'Emotional-Attention disregulation', but not ADHD. When my daughter went on to French PS for grades 1 to 4 the teachers said she was doing just fine and that she had been too young for the PsychEd results to be meaningful 🤔. And honestly, I was totally overwhelmed by the report... and since the public school disregarded it, I kinda did too! Soooo....I guess now I'm going to find her report and pop on over to the LC board to do some sleuthing! Hoping I can glean some more tips for maximizing her success in all learning. Really glad you brought up that *something* might be going here! Thank-you...this was very helpful! I'm considering the program... just a bit apprehensive due to the combined cost of the Structure and Style for teaching AND student. It's a bit of a leap!

I just want to say a big THANK-YOU to everyone who replied to my post. There are some great options for curriculum here 😀 ...and you've all helped broaden my understanding of how to *think* about our writing journey in homeschooling. I've appreciated all the comments, perspectives, advice and support!

This is nice to hear. I needed that! Thank you!

The WTMA is a sort-of goal. It's only a goal if it works for her. I guess I just want her to be in a place where she *can* take online courses for her age level. And yes, some "going over" writing strategies would help me out 😄 Good advice for determining what her skill is using a straightforward dictation. To be honest, from what I have observed, she doesn't knows any rules. I think she is just guessing from her experience with reading. I'm *getting* that she needs extra support and structure. Thank-you for the variety of strategies to help with that structure. And I love the M&M rewards. She would love that. We DO have Ticket to Ride Europe, but haven't played it. We can try it....it looks just as painful as you described, but we will give it a go! 😄 Interesting what you are saying about ADHD. Sounds like your daughter could really compensate well enough that the issues were tough to detect. I'm glad to hear how well she's doing and that the meds helped so much. Nice to hear positive stories about medications! Good info! Hahah! Yes! I am having to learn so much about myself and my children! It's crazy. But so worth it. I'm making the plan 😄