Thank you all so much for your responses. I feel so much better. My son is my oldest so I never know quite what to expect. He is also very bright but with the dysgraphia, has trouble expressing himself. I am so appreciative you took the time to respond.

The assignment was an IEW Unit 9 Critique. The model of the structure is: Paragraph 1: Introduction Paragraph 2: Characters Paragraph 3: Conflict/ Plot Paragraph 4: Climax/Resolution Paragraph 5: Conclusion (opinion) The student was to choose a story and write a critique in this format.

Thanks in advance to all who can answer me! I'm seriously struggling so any advice is welcome! A little background: My son is 14. We have homeschooled since he was 7. He was diagnosed with dysgraphia at that time. He has struggled with writing constantly and since I am not strong in this subject, the experience has been quite difficult. I am using IEW with him and it seems to be less painful than others we have tried. This paper is his first response to literature. There are many obvious things we need to address so my problem is this: Do I address all of them and completely crush him or only a few and let him continue with this level of work? I don't even know where to start. Redwall Did you hear about this book called Redwall? It is really a fabulous book. It does have a few small errors, but they are tiny. It is still a very good book. It is very famous. It was in the New York Times! Most people who read it enjoy it. There are many animals, who act like humans in these books. The main character is a mouse named Matthias. He is initially clumsy but becomes brave and awesome. Some of his friends include Mortimer, the Abbot of Redwall, Methuselah and Cornflower. The majority of good guys are mice. The villains are Cluny, who is the main antagonist and Asmodeus, the giant snake. The majority of the villains are rats. Cluny's army is marching toward the Abbey of Redwall. When he demands the Redwaller surrender, they try to defend themselves. The siege goes back and forth. Cluny's horde attempt to use a tunnel, siege tower and ladders, though not all at the same time. Both sides lose many lives. It does not seem like there is going to be any winners. The Redwallers are stuck. Meanwhile Matthias tries to find the sword of Martin the Warrior, who is awesome. He finds it and has to fight Asmodeus, but he wins. At that time Cluny has a plan to get into Redwall. He uses spies to sneak in at night and capture everyone. He is just about to kill the Abbott when Matthias comes. Matthias recruited a large army of friends who free the Redwallers. Matthias and Cluny have an epic battle and eventually Matthias wins. This is a great story overall. It is the start of a great series which has 22 books! There are some problems, though. It is inconsistent with the rest of the books on a lot of things. It is probably better as a stand-alone book. Still, it is a great book. The whole series has sold over 20 million copies as of 2003. It should be recommended to everyone. So now that you have heard about i, stop by your local library and get it!

I have decided to try the Well-Trained Mind approach to my son's education after several years of buying packaged curriculum and having my son fly through them in half a year. I love the ideas and plans laid out in the book but am struggling because I don't know which supplements to use for each history topic. I have not had any training in classical education and was not well-educated at all, especially in ancient history. My problem is that although she mentions using "original works" to enhance history study, I don't know when to include the original works. I don't even know which original works to include for that matter. Can anyone help please? My son is VERY advanced in his reading and loves history but the is definitely still in the "Logic" stage as far as evaluation of material. The "Rhetoric" stage material is something he can handle reading but I'm not sure that he can evaluate the meaning behind the reading. Does that make sense???? Thanks in advance, Jill