SWB has the student doing what I would consider an actual research paper in her first WWS level (Writing With Skill). My dd11 is finishing up week 35 and she has taken notes on Marie Antoinette from resources provided by SWB, organized them into a workable outline, included footnotes and a works cited page. The last project of this first level of WWS will have her researching her own topic.

Sorry .. I didn't get back to you. I also downloaded and converted them to pdf files.

Here is an overview of how I got started in case this would help shukriyya - I went here - http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/kiss/wb/PBooks/index.htm Because I had students who had previous grammar experience, I estimated that we could handle the 6th grade level 1 (you are supposed to go through all of the levels at whatever grade you are in .. or perhaps you go through level 1 & 2 as a 2nd and 3rd grader .. then bump up to 6th grade level for 4th & 5th .. etc.) I arrowed down to KISS Level 1 (Basic Concepts) and I went to 'For Students in Sixth Grade' and downloaded the 'doc' and the 'AK' (Answer Key) and that was it!! There are also workbooks for the 2nd and 3rd grade Level 1 .. but I quickly determined that we could handle the 6th grade level 1 just fine and so far it has been good.

I should add KISS grammar as well. We are using that this year with the Level 1 - Grade 6 workbooks.

It has been working well for us. We are working our way through the 6th grade Level 1 and it has offered up a lot of practice ... perhaps similar to MCTs 4 part analysis so far, but with more indepth grammar instruction than what he provides in his book. I suspect it will get increasingly more difficult with each level. I loaded the pdfs on each of our laptops and the AK on mine. I do end up printing the main lessons for them though. I also was able to load it into my ipad and they can do the lessons in Notability, however I only have one ipad and two students .. so .. yeah. ;-) We end up doing the paper version mostly. It is super simple to teach though when you use the workbooks.

I can't imagine any of the above suggestions throwing her for a loop, they would all be used to incorporate more of a fun aspect into grammar. So it then becomes a matter of what you have time for. I can't say about FLL 4, but I imagine that it would be an interactive and interesting way to learn grammar based on the ALL sample we worked through. I don't know a thing about MFW so hopefully we keep this bumped for you so that someone else can chime in with more knowledge than I have. ;-)

For the life of me I could not think of a particular curriculum to suggest. That is a good idea redsquirrel! I would think that having done ALL with my dc that FLL 4 would be a good option. We really enjoyed the ALL sample. I was also wondering if something like "Grammar with a Giggle" or "The Great Editing Adventure" would be a nice place to move to for a year or so. I seem to remember Editing Adventure having grammar rules included in the editing process.

I am not an expert in the field of grammar, but I would say to back up and see if there is a way to incorporate the grammar instruction into writing. Using something like Sentence Composing or Image Grammar by Noden might help get the ball rolling again. I don't know what specific topics in grammar that she is struggling with, but often times it helps my dc to be able to actually USE the grammar in their writing. They know enough that I can use the language of grammar when explaining what I am looking for in their essays. Honestly, sometimes that is enough for a while. ;-) There might be other options out there like the above, but if something is not working and you have repeatedly tried it the same way then it is time to move in a different direction in my opinion.

O.K.... O.K... I am starting to feel like the ugly step child already. ;-( But.. I will be patient!! ;-)

Hmmm.... I didn't hear anything yet. I hope I hear from her soon though!

WWS Week 15, Day 4 (Hydrothermal Vents) .. for those who haven't gotten there yet, this would be a great video to add to the Alvin youtube footage that I suggested. It's a TED Talk and extremely interesting!

Thanks Matroyshka! My other question was about how teachers other than Richard have been? I see that he is doing a summer pre-alg, but I wasn't sure if he would be doing one of the fall ones. I love his videos, and would probably go with his class first. I would like to hear reviews of the other teachers though and whether it is going well with them.

Melissa ... you are about to talk me into the online class, except that I am a bit concerned that the pace of the class might be too quick. Can you tell me a bit about what was expected each week? How many hours of work? How many pages of work?

I can join you at that forum ;-) We are headed in this coming school year as well with dd11.

And here I was complaining that it wasn't going to get up to 80 degrees this weekend. ;-)

I haven't been on the boards much today .. but I was alarmed to say the least when I saw your post. It is just a huge sigh of relief that everyone is alright .. but I would imagine the adrenaline response from all involved will take some time to come down from.

Halycon .. so sorry to hear about this but I am happy to hear that he is fine. I know you are so thankful for that .. now it's time to take a deep breath!

I don't have an opinion on the Evan Moore workbooks! Hopefully someone else can chime in with that. ;-) Good luck with the coming year though! I honestly think both CC/CW and WWS are great programs.

I think of us less as 'minions' and more like we are forging a new frontier. ;-) Only adventurers need apply. ;-) I am wondering if there are more excerpts to be had in WWS2. My dc read more new books than ever this year because of those short segments.

Well no one is really there when it comes to WWS until you dive in. ;-) He would enjoy most of the summarizing as it is quite interesting. Lots of neat excerpts that he probably hasn't read. I think the skills taught in WWS are really good and we are finishing up on our last month with ds9 and dd11. When you say CC do you mean Classical Composition like I mentioned above? Have you tried that? Fable & Narrative are really quite neat when it comes to teaching descriptive writing and figures of description for style along with retelling 'creative' stories as opposed to historical or science writing that WWS primarily uses. We liked both of them so for the first 6 months of WWS I did both and then had to set down CC as the WWS work really picked up in the last half of the year.

Catherine I just wanted to say that I thought he did a great job. You said he completed it on his own, and was able to tell the story from beginning to end without losing his way. That is great! What are your plans for his writing this coming year? I would say he is doing a WWE higher level summarizing above and so he would be ready for narrative work. If he likes this type of fictional work then something like CC Fabl/Narrative or CW Aesop/Home would be great. If he would rather work on scientific & historical narratives then WWS would be the way to go.

Michelle, Thank you so much for sharing this!

I did not get a response either, but I am hoping we are on the list!

Thank you very much!! I will msg you my email address.

Does anyone know how to reach Still Waters? Or do you have the pdf of her Lively Art of Writing workbook by chance that you could email me?? Thanks!