I agree with SusanC, there is no fluff in WWS. Also, the time allotted for some lessons/assignments was just not enough. When I go through this program again when my second child I plan to give her as much time as she needs instead of trying to finish a book by the end of the school year.

If he's a STEM kid, I think he would do well with Writing With Skill. WWS teaches expository writing so it should be a good fit. In one of her talks, SWB said that creative writers behave like reluctant writing when asked to do expository writing. Students who don't naturally write creatively seem to do better with expository writing. WWS is a very rigorous and meaty writing curriculum. I think your son would get a lot out of it. I would start with level 1 because you can always skip lesson that you feel he doesn't need. In my opinion, level 1 is foundational. Maybe someone who has used it with a high schooler can chime in. 😊

Wow! Thank you so much for sharing this!

The first half of the book is for the parent/teacher. It has all of the answers. The second half of the book, which begins on page 347, is the Student Study Guide. Here is where the Map Work instructions are. Some chapters have Map Work and some don't. I hope this helps.

According to SWB, logic stage students should practice outlining a variety of history and science texts. My understanding is that the goal is for them to see the many ways a piece of writing can be organized because not every writer organizes their work in the same way. The idea is that, when they reach the rhetoric stage, they will have seen lots of different ways they can organize an essay. For this reason, I have my student outline different resources. I don't have them do all of their outlining from one source. In history, for example, they could outline SOTW, like others have suggested, The Kingfisher encyclopedia (or whatever you happen to use as a spine), and library books. Library books were my favorite to use. Also, I didn't have her outline only from a history text. She alternated. One week she would outline a passage history and the next week she would outline a passage in science. If in your American History study, you have your student(s) read additional books to enhance their study, you can have them outline from one of those resources. My understanding is that the only rule is, you can outline expository writing but you cannot outline fiction. I hope this helps.

I was hoping that looking at the chart would give me more information to possibly help answer your question. I think someone who has used and is familiar with Writing and Rhetoric would have to chime in. My guess is that SWB made the recommendation to use all 6 levels in 2 years because an 11th and 12 grader would be able to work through the lower level books a lot more quickly. I think focusing on forward progress, while acquiring general writing skills, research skills, etc., would be a better goal that trying to complete a set of books. I know this doesn't answer your question. I'm sorry I couldn't offer more help.

Which edition of TWTM is the chart found in and on what page? I'm don't remember seeing a progression chart. Thanks.

Hi Laura, I follow the recommendations in TWTM fairly closely and I can share what I did for literary analysis during the logic stage with my oldest. I used notes I took form listening to the SWB talk on "Writing in the Middle Grades", notes I took from TWTM, as well as points taught in Writing With Skill Level 1. I plan to change things up a little once my next child hits the logic stage but here is an example of what my oldest did. I'm also including rubric I used as a guide. I made the rubric by using one that was included in WWS and adding some details to it. Let me know if you need me to clarify anything in the attachments. Hope this helps. Literary Essay Example - Logic Stage.docx Literary Criticism Essay Rubric.docx

If Christian curriculum is o.k. with you, I highly recommend Rod & Staff's English curriculum. It covers both grammar and writing, it's very affordable, and the texts are hardback so they will hold together very well if you plan to use them with other children. The first level they offer is Englsh 2 (2nd Grade) but you do not have to start there. You can jump right into English 3. They do a lot of review and it's very thorough so it will do a great job of filling in any gaps. A couple of things to know, 1) They offer a lot of practice meaning, if the student is learning to identify the subject or predicate of a sentence, for example, they'll be given 10-15 sentences to copy and then they'll be asked to underline the subject once and the predicate twice. This is waaaay too much writing for a young child. These books are written for classroom use that's why they offer so much practice. What I have my kids do is, depending on what the point of the exercise is, I have them either write only the answer (not the complete sentence) or if it's important for them to write the whole sentence down, I'll have them do just a few: 2-5 sentences, again depending on the point of the lesson. You can see samples here: https://www.milestonebooks.com/item/1-123--/?list=Building_Christian_English_Series Hope this helps.

I don't have a list but I have a few suggestions of where/how you can get some book ideas. If you own the SOTW Activities book, you'll see that for every chapter there is a list of recommended Additional History Reading & Corresponding Literature Suggestions. Most of these books are for elementary level students but sometimes there will be some that are IR 3-5 or IR 6-8, IR meaning Independent Reading. Another thing I've done in the past is search the topics being covered in a particular chapter, in my libraries catalog. Then I sort by by reading level. I also use the reading list provided in TWTM. There is enough there for an entire school year (for most kids:). Finally, there are a few lists already made that I have found on Pinterest. Here's an example: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/139400550952942941/ Hope this helps.

If you haven't listened to them yet, I highly recommend listening to SWB's audio seminars. There are three I recommend that relate to your questions: What is Literary Analysis? When, Why, and How Should I Teach It? ($ 3.39) https://welltrainedmind.com/p/what-is-literary-analysis-when-why-and-how-should-i-teach-it-mp3/ A Plan for Teaching Writing: Focus on the High School Years ($2.39) https://welltrainedmind.com/p/a-plan-for-teaching-writing-focus-on-the-high-school-years-mp3/ Great Books: History as Literature ($3.39) https://welltrainedmind.com/p/great-books-history-as-literature/ You're already doing a lot of what she recommends but she does give a good idea of what the output should look like. I've listened to these over and over and have taken notes. There are basically 4 components to the Great Books study in high school, according to SWB: 1) (Output 1 - this counts for history and lit.) - The History Foundation - The student reads from the chosen history text (i.e. The History of the Ancient World by SWB, The Penguin History of the World, etc.) and the student takes notes listing important/major events, people, dates. This set the foundation for the great book they are going t read. 2) (Output 2) - Book Context Page - This context page should be a one –page summary of historical information that includes: information about the author (birth date, death date, country of origin, etc. ), when the work was written, and major events occurring at the time. 3) (Output 3) - The Book's Genre - The first time a student encounters a genre, in each year of study, the student should 1) Read about the genre, its history, and the instructions on how to read that genre. 2) Take notes on this reading about a genre. This page is essentially a summary of the definition/description of the genre and the "tips" (from "How to Read a Book" by Adler, for example) for how to read that particular genre. 4) (Output 4) - Book Notes - Read through the text, pencil in hand, and note down the major events in the book. Mark passages that seem significant, troubling, or puzzling. Write a summary of the Notes. These should be brief, 2-3 pages of notes for the entire book should be plenty. 5) (Output 5 - Final Assignment) - Compositions - She recommends two types: 1) Response Paper which is a "personal engagement with the book. The student has to have an opinion about the book. The student can discuss an element, scene, plot, or character that is either interesting or annoying to them personally, they have to explain why, defend it, and include quote(s)." The second type is 2) Analytical Literature Essay and there are 3 kinds: A) Formal - The student takes a literary term, for example, a metaphor, and writes about how the term is used and what it means. B) Biographical - The student draws a parallel between something that happened in the writer's life and something that happened in the literary work. The example she gives is Jane Austen had a mean mother so all of the mothers in her books are mean. C) Historical - The student draws a parallel between something that happened in the writer's lifetime and something that happens in the literary work. The example she gives is Oliver Twist reflecting the condition of orphans during Dicken's day. I'm still very new at homeschooling high school. It has been challenging and scary. We'll be starting our second year of homeschooling high school, next Tuesday, and I don't yet feel confident. The above is a condensed version of the information SWB has put out that I've listened to and read. You are your children's teacher. Use the information you get here or not. It's up to you how you design your homeschool and what your want for your children. Hope this helps.

You might also consider looking at the one Apologia recommends on their site. It seems to be a good quality microscope.

Yes! Saxon is known for being academically rigorous. A lot of people don't like it because it's time consuming. It is a solid math program and many of the private schools in my area use Saxon as their math program. I've also heard of school using a different program for the lower grades and then switching to Saxon beginning with book 5/4. Susan Wise Bauer used it with her kids, I believe. She has recommended it in all four edition of The Well Trained Mind. The strengths of the program is that it is incremental and students practice, practice, practice the skills learned throughout the entire book. Many math programs take a mastery approach when teaching skills. Students work out problems until they master the concept and then they move on. My experience has been that, even if test show you've mastered a concept or anything, but you don't use it again for a while, you tend to forget it. I think Saxon has worked in our home because my kids don't have a chance to forget the new concepts. I also like that Saxon teaches the concepts and has the student apply them across different situations/scenarios. This give the student an understanding of when they're likely to encounter and use their newly acquired math skills. As you can tell, I'm a huge fan, however, the truth is that every child is different and every teacher/parent is different. You'll have to find a program that works well for your child(ren) and that you're comfortable teaching.