alligator
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Posts posted by alligator
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You are looking for something that is "heavy in writing." What are you picturing in your mind? There are different types of writing: book report, topic report, persuasive essay, creative writing, etc. What does the phrase "heavy in writing" mean to you?
We are using the Institute for Excellence in Writing, but I find their website horribly confusing. Some people buy the whole shebang for lots of money, but I just bought the theme based writing books and am working through those on my own. It took me a few months to feel that I understood how to follow the curriculum, but once the light went off for me it was pretty easy. http://iew.com/taxonomy/term/18/?f%5B0%5D=im_field_category%3A18
These books teach a few different types of writing and teach the nuts and bolts to make your writing more interesting and strong. Like, they teach how to have an opening sentence and a closing sentence that ties your piece together. They teach how to use things like adjectives and "strong erbs." Ie: instead of "He went away," they learn to do things like "He slunk away," "He skipped away," He stumbled away," etc. The books methodically teach how to add these things to their writings, week by week. My kids needed that nuts and bolts training.
How they teach this is by showing the child a piece of writing, maybe a story about knights, and then having the child outline the piece and then turn around and re-write the piece in their own words. It's been very effective for my boys would couldn't come up with a starting point in their writing. By having them read the piece, outline it and then write it for themselves they've become confident and aren't terrible at writing anymore.
Is that the sort of thing you need?
That's pretty nifty. I like that there is a Robot themed one - she would love that. It looks like it would be good with my 4th grader too - for after schooling.
Essentially her writing at this point is just stream of consciousness - whatever she thinks comes out with little thought to organization or using complex vocabulary.
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What would be the goal of writing one essay per week? I would be a little shy about making things overly strenuous during the transition from public school to home school. If you want her to have practice writing, you might consider weekly journal writing, nature journaling, letter writing to distant friends/relatives, short story writing, poetry writing, movie reviews, book reports, etc. I think it is really important to develop an understanding and appreciation for the essay and the various purposes for writing one. If you end up going with Saxon, it should lead your dc through the writing process and build up to essay writing.
The reason I am taking her out of school is because they aren't doing an adequate job of teaching the writing process. They focus too much on free write and the teacher never goes through the draft/re-write process and therefore she is not learning good writing skills. Although she has the requirement of 2 reports a year, both are done completely at home.
I like the idea of movie reviews and book reviews. I will definitely add that. But again, she will go through the word web/pre-write then draft then final draft process.
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If I was in your situation, I would probably shoot for using two curricula--one for grammar and writing and one for reading. My suggestions along these lines would be Saxon Grammar and Writing and McGuffey's Eclectic Readers (these are public domain and free for e-readers). Good luck to you!
Thanks. I like the Saxon Grammar. It seems like it will be easy for us to pick up and finish mid-year.
Are there any websites or resources for "write an essay a week" with a variety of topics I can pick and choose from?
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I was looking at Writing Tales, but it only looks like it goes to grade 2. Is that right? http://www.olsenbooks.com/order.html
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Sorry for not being clear. I haven't actually met with the principal yet, but my daughter and I are thinking that I will do only language and PE at home. She will go to school for math and science (both of those teachers challenge her) and maybe history. I am a former classroom teacher so teaching itself is not all that foreign, but in the past I never had a curriculum choice - that decision was made by the district.
I am looking for literature that makes use of short stories since she doesn't enjoy long novels. I need something that is heavy in writing (Maybe a separate program). Also, she will need to do some of the work on her own (as the eldest of 5 kids and a mom who is already committed).
Thanks for any help you can give us.
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In 3rd grade my daughter stopped receiving adequate composition and language arts instruction. Her 5th grade year also saw no language curriculum - just packets of suffixes and prefixes, no writing. She is currently in the 6th grade. Due to a variety of circumstances I will be homeschooling for language for the remainder of the year. I need a ready to go curriculum that relies heavily on composition. I would prefer a non-religious text, but am not opposed to a good Christian based curriculum.
Thanks.
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My 9 year old (5th grade) daughter just received her STAR test results. Some of her scores were low:
Literary Response and Analysis 67%
Written Conventions 56%
Writing Strategies 73%
Writing Applications Score 75%
These scores have gotten lower and lower over the last few years and we need to reverse that.
I am looking for curriculum/workbook/online program that will help her become more proficient and score in the 85th percentile next testing period (spring). I don't care if its religious or secular. My biggest concern is how much time is required for me to do it. I have 5 children and am short on time. I would prefer a program that would allow her to do the work on her own. I am thinking of getting something at grade 4 level since she clearly hasn't succeeded in that area yet.
Any suggestions?
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We are afterschooling. Would you recommend just the worksheets as a supplement to her education?
Help! I'm pulling my child from public school mid-year
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
At our school the children have specific times for each subject and they rotate teachers. I am pleased with her math and science teacher and will leave her in those classes. PE is T and TH in the morning, so she will just go late on those days. The school is only 3 blocks from home so it will be easy enough for me to pick her up or send her to school late. For PE she could even sit in the office and do her homeschooling work if I were unable to go get her.
She is heavily involved in sports 4 nights a week plus weekend games which is the reason for her not taking PE. We will do the same for middle school too. (MS is 7-8 in our area).