Has anyone assigned or read Natural History: General and Particular by Georges Louis Leclerc comte de Buffon? This is on the list of suggested source readings in TWTM 4th edition for the high school Biology year but I can't find a a copy to purchase. There seem to be several volumes and I would only need those that cover life science. I'm having a hard time finding out which volumes cover life science. There is a volume 2 Kindle version on Amazon that looks like it might be the right one but it's hard to tell how readable it is and I'm not super confident it's the correct one. Also, I would prefer a hard copy over a digital version. Thank you.

I guess it would depend on the math program you use. We use Saxon and those manipulatives are used heavily in K-3. The 3-D shapes we used for the 4th or 5th grade level book but the Saxon book provided a template for the shapes that the student cuts out and tapes together.

Thank you for sharing this. It looks great!

My daughter had a little trouble with some of the passages as well. She was ten and in the 5th grade when we used WWS Lv. 1. When she needed it, I read the passages with her and explained as much as necessary. I had no problem doing this because this was a writing assignment not a reading assignment. For us I think it had more to do with some of the non-fiction topics being unfamiliar because, at that point, we had not gone through the entire history and science cycles yet. I recommend helping your student as much as the needs. WWS is an excellent program but it is challenging. If you were to search the WWS threads you'll find many moms posting about the assignments taking longer that expected, the reading passages being challenging at times, and the program taking more than a school year to complete. In my opinion, what you and your student are experiencing with WWS is very normal and it doesn't mean he is not a strong reader nor that you've dropped the ball somewhere. Hang in there. You're doing a great job and you're not alone:)

Roget's International Thesaurus for sure. The seventh edition I believe is the most current one. The pages we were directed to in some of the lessons matched this edition. https://www.amazon.com/Rogets-International-Thesaurus-Barbara-Kipfer/dp/0061715220/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523501694&sr=8-1&keywords=rogets+international+thesaurus&dpID=51DnuY84gmL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

Hi, Sebastian (a lady), I would love to see a sample copy of your transcript if you feel comfortable sharing. My daughter is in the 8th grade and is close to finishing Algebra 1. I've been thinking about how I'll go about including that Algebra class on her transcripts. No pressure :) Lily

Thank you, History Matters. I've been on the hunt for creative writing courses for my student. :hurray:

I don't have an answer for you either :001_smile: because I'm not familiar with the program (It's on my wish list:). I have a couple of thoughts that I hope may be helpful. You may consider starting it from the beginning to familiarize yourself with how the curriculum is set up and how each lesson should look. You can then skip ahead to where you feel your daughter should be. If you decide to skip ahead, you can have her take the test after each section (if there are tests) and then place her according to her results. If she does well on the test for chapter 1, for example, have her take the test for chapter 2 and so on. Once she begins having difficulty you can go back to the first lesson for that chapter. I hope this makes sense. Just an idea.

Below is some information on WWS I have found here on the forum and saved. This was written by someone else but I found it useful and decided to save a copy of it. Not sure if this is what you're looking for (probably not) but I thought it might help. You may want to copy and paste it on a Word document to make it easier to read. Hope this helps. :001_smile: What SWB wrote about WWS1 About Writing with Skill 1 by SWB I mined these from her sticky thread. I keep wading through it and decided it would be easier to have these questions in one spot for my reference. As long as I’m copying to Word, I might as well copy here in case someone else finds it helpful. Her copied words are in red regular type and not bolded. Since this is what I copied for my personal use, I didn't give credit for who asked which questions and it's not pretty, but rather my bullet point reference style. And there might be stuff in that pinned thread someone else needs to know, but this is what I keep going to it for. So that's my disclaimer. If this steps on toes or bothers SWB or mods, then please delete. On Starting In Upper Grades with a 9th Grader IMO these are the basic skills of organization and research that MUST be in place before students can move on to more advanced expository writing. This series is motivated in part by my sense of what my college freshmen missed in high school composition. Ideally, yes, students will move on to do at least SOME rhetoric before graduating, but if I had a freshman student who'd completed the skills WWS covers, I'd certainly feel they were adequately prepared for freshman comp. I'm actually making DS3 (ninth grade) work through the lessons as I finish them, in part because this is a more organized and sequential version of the writing across the curriculum we did in grades 5-8. [Q: share with those of us using this with 7th, 8th or 9th graders, what we should be doing in addition to WWS in order to make sure our students are ready for college level writing since they will not get the full benefit of the high school levels of your writing program.] Response: While it would be ideal for students to have done two or more years of persuasive writing before entering college, I can tell you from experience that most of them haven't, and don't....and that your daughter will be as well-prepared as 90% of her class, and better-prepared than 60%. If you want to boost her percentage here's what I would suggest. In eleventh grade, have her start working through the Oxford Guide to Writing once per week in addition to WWS. [The New Oxford Guide to Writing by Thomas S. Kane ISBN: 0195090594 ] In twelfth grade, have her work on the Oxford Guide to Writing 3x per week. If you want her EXTRAORDINARILY well prepared, add in THEY SAY, I SAY: THE MOVES THAT MATTER IN ACADEMIC WRITING,which is one of the clearest and most useful guides I've found to the peculiarities of university-level composition. (I'll be adding it into future editions of TWTM.) ["They Say / I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing with Readings by Graff, Birkenstein, & Durst ISBN: 0393912752 ] [ Janice in NJ recommended that, if overwhelmed or short on time, skip to Part III: “Part III covers paragraphs and is much easier to handle with smaller chunks of time. I would recommend that you re-read chapter 24 of TWTM; grab Kane, a spiral notebook, and a pencil; and just begin. If you are teaching middle schoolers and are using traditional materials, chances are your kids are attempting to write expository paragraphs; you can probably put your new knowledge to work immediately. Continue on with the sections on the sentence and diction. Just work through the book on your own. If your experience mirrors mine, this book will help you become a better teacher.†] On What to Drop in High School: If you need to drop something, jettison the vocabulary first; she'll get quite a lot of it just from her reading. Second, drop the Elements of Style since it overlaps with Oxford Guide. Third, don't do WWS and the Oxford Guide simultaneously...do one or the other. drop the Material Logic unless he's particularly interested in the subject; it won't do much for his rhetoric skills (although it's good for problem-solving). I'd always do Kane before Corbett. Corbett is difficult...closer to university than high school level. Length of Lessons & General Implementation of Lessons: The lessons are intentionally of different lengths, so that often a difficult assignment is followed by an easy one. They range from 20 to 45 minutes (ideally), although as you mention, mileage varies. I wouldn't have a middle-grade student work for more than 45 minutes without breaking the lesson into two and finishing it the next day, and for many fifth and some sixth graders, 30 minutes of concentrated work is enough. An older student can work for longer periods. The rubrics just assemble in one place all of the instructions the student has been given throughout the lesson. I wouldn't show the rubric to the student because it makes it too easy for them to NOT read the directions carefully and follow them closely--and that's one of the lessons WWS is intended to teach. On History/Science Work The outlining and narration in history combines history comprehension/review with building skills in writing. I've put together WWS, in part, because I hear from parents that they need more guidance and instruction in the "building skills in writing" part. So WWS will fill the skill-building function of your history work, but not the comprehension review. Because of that, I wouldn't drop it entirely. But I would reduce it to once or twice a week, rather than three times, and I would be careful not to overdo the length. What I've laid out, week by week, in WWS, is what *I* would do while having students outline and rewrite in history and science. It's a completely fleshed-out version of the writing lecture, just like the WWE workbooks are a completely fleshed-out version of the elementary grade recommendations. Yes. [Weekly history/science narrations are basicly summaries.] Yes. [Should I still make my child do one weekly outline/narration in history and one weekly narration/outline in science?] Yes, [The written narration I do in history is based on the outline the child completed first from what he has read.] Once he gets comfortable with outlining. I wouldn't introduce writing from the outline until he finds the outline itself relatively simple--otherwise he's likely to get discouraged. On Scope & Sequence Outcomes: The teaching of the topoi will lead students, by the last year, to doing original research and composition. Even the first level ends with an independent project--topics are suggested for the teacher, in case the kid comes up empty, but by the end of the first year students should already have tools to find topics. WWS1 is the same as "The Complete Writer, Level 5"-- Writing With Ease is four levels, Writing With Skill is four...and far, far down the road, Writing With Style will be four. A student who finishes Writing With Skill should be able to go into freshman composition and do just fine. A student who finishes Writing With Style should be able to skip freshman comp and go straight to upper level writing courses. Yes. [WWS will cover the expository essay but not begin the argumentative/persuasive essay.] It is a full pre-rhetoric course, meaning that it teaches all of the basic organization, research skills, and composition skills that a student needs before going into a full-fledged persuasive writing course. In its final form, it will be three core years plus an optional fourth year for students who need a little more practice. Students who finish Levels 1-3 will be fully equipped to go into rhetoric. Here's the other thing you need to know: Many students graduate high school without studying any rhetoric whatsoever. Ideally (and take "ideally" literally--this is in a perfect world), a student would finish WWS by the end of eighth grade and have a full four years to study rhetoric. However, as a college composition teacher I can tell you that if one of my freshmen came into that first college composition class having ONLY completed the WWS core levels 1-3, that student would be perfectly well prepared to do freshman comp. Not knocking my socks off with brilliance, but completely capable of fulfilling the course requirements. WWE4 is pretty much an optional year as well. It's increasingly clear, as students go through the progression, that by the end of WWE3 most of them are ready to go on to actual composition. WWE4 is a good option for kids who still need practice, or who don't yet have the maturity to go on to a middle-school program. On Difficult Lessons in WWS1: Week 23, Day 3. What I think the Instructor Manual is telling me (at the beginning of Day 3) is that the final product (after step 3?) should be an essay of literary criticism, with two parts: a brief summary of the story and three paragraphs discussing the prot./ant./conflict What I'm not sure of is how you go from Steps 1 and 2 to Step 3 to create that final product. Step 3 of the student book tells the student to take the first sentence or two from the narrative paragraph, and make it/them the first line of the first paragraph of the final product (to tell who the main characters are). But, we are never told how to proceed from there. Are we supposed to copy the rest of the narrative paragraph into the final essay? Leave it out? The Instructor Manual samples for step 3 seem to go right from the first "who" sentence(s) into the analysis, leaving out the rest of the previously written narration. Is the student to go right into the analysis in the first paragraph? ETA: I just read this on p. 307 of the Instructor Manual: "...in literary criticism, a brief overview of the story is given in two or three sentences...and the bulk of the composition is taken up with critical analysis." OK, now I understand this concept. But I still don't see how the student will understand this and practically apply it. I could assume so from the samples, but it seems some instructions to the student are missing. Also, the beginning of the whole lesson states that the essay will have a brief summary of the story and three paragraphs discussing the prot./ant./conflict. Three paragraphs? ETA: I just discovered that the student book says "three," while the Instructor book says "two or three." Step 2 only tells the student to write two analytic paragraphs. We are not seeing how the final essay will have three (or is it four paragraphs - brief summary PLUS three discussion paragraphs). The final essay isn't supposed to contain the full narrative summary because there would be so much repetition between the summary and the analysis--when you write the analysis about Nag, Nagina, and their wants, you end up explaining the action of the story. Putting in the full narrative summary would involve a lot of saying the same thing twice. When you look at the examples of the narrations in Step One, you'll see that what the analysis is missing is just the first part of the narration--the part that says who Rikki-tikki-tavi is and how he got to BE in the bungalow. In the examples of the finished opening given in Step Three, you'll see that each one starts out with the first sentence of one of those narrations. I'm trying to figure out how this could be clearer, but I'm not quite sure--the instructions *do* say to take the sentences because they have information that isn't in the summary. Maybe I should say,[Cosmos suggested wording:] Perhaps instead of saying, "Take that sentence and make it the first line of your first paragraph," the instruction could read, "Take that sentence and add it to the beginning of your first paragraph from Step 2."

You may consider having him take the tests and if he does well on tests 1-3, for example, but struggles with test 4, you can have him go back and complete the 4 lessons preceding test 4. I hope that makes sense. This way he can test through what he already knows and go back and practice what he has yet to master. :001_smile: Just an idea.

Hi there, I agree with Calfornia Dreaming, dropping the outlines and summaries for history may be the way to go. Over the last couple of years, I had my daughter do both and this year it's finally become too much. Like your son, she hasn't complained but I want her to enjoy learning as well as have time for other things. The other thing I recommend is not following the WWS schedule but instead assigning the number of steps you feel is reasonable for your child to complete in a day. Ever since I started doing this, my daughter's work has improved in quality and she finds it more manageable. I don't think I would drop WWS and do all of the writing through history because WWS covers a lot of skills that your son wouldn't learn if he was simply outlining and summarizing through history. One last thing, I still have my daughter write short narrative summaries (1 or 2 paragraphs) of her history readings to round up her history study but we do keep them short. Hope this helps. Lily

The Well Trained Mind recommends the McGuffey Readers primarily for oral reading. In the 3rd edition of the TWTM, p. 62-63, it reads, "Even after your child has completed a phonics program and is reading independently, continue to have him read aloud to you periodically through sixth grade. In this way, you will catch errors before they become a habit, discourage guessing, and help the child practice word attack skill for new words. You can choose a paragraph from your child's history, science, or literature reading, or from a vintage McGuffey Eclectic reader; the McGuffey reading selections are [the] perfect length for oral reading. Begin the oral reading with the Third Eclectic Reader after finishing your phonics program... In addition to preventing errors from becoming habits, oral reading develops fluency, which takes time and practice. Fluency is best developed by repeated reading aloud of the same passage. Once a week is plenty to practice reading fluency." As you can see you can certainly use the McGuffey readers to develop fluency. I think part of the reason it is recommended that oral reading be done on a weekly basis is because once the student reads independently, we are no longer sitting next to them observing their reading habits and behaviors. Oral reading serves as a tool to catch those behaviors before they become habits. That's probably more information that you care to know. Back to your question, it sounds like you can use any book from any subject to develop fluency. The important thing is to have the student read the same passage several times to develop that fluency. I do own the set and actually start using them with my children when they're learning to read. They love the stories but you can certainly use any book you have on hand. One last thing, on p. 63 of TWTM (3rd ed.), she lists a suggestion for a pattern you can follow when doing oral reading with your child. Let me know if you would like me to post that here. Hope this helps. :001_smile:

If you own FLL level 2, lessons 6 & 7 cover state of being and linking verbs. I think whether a verb is a state of being verb or a helping verb depends on context: what is the word doing in the sentence. According to Jessie Wise in FLL Lv. 2 "Linking verbs can connect: *a pronoun and a noun * two nouns *a pronouns and an adjective *a noun and adjective I think think it depends on the context, the word's job in the sentence. The words "live" and "live" are an example. "Where does Susan live?" vs. "We saw the singer live in concert". "Are you in your room?" "I am." (state of being.) "I am tall." (linking verb) There's probably more to it than this. I'm not sure if this is helpful at all. :confused1:

This is what my logic stage student does for science. I do follow the recommendations for science pretty closely. However, we were doing something different our first year of homeschool so we our science study is kind of "out of order". Other than that, we follow TWTM recommendations. Our science study is experiment focused. SWB says, "In the middle grades, your goal is to teach the young student to think critically about doing science. He'll learn how scientists in each field...use experimentation to confirm their theories. And through experimentation, he'll practice using the scientific method himself. This experiment-focused study will help the student learn the basics of each scientific field." (TWTM, 3rd ed., p. 358) Our study looks like this: Day 1: *Experiment following the scientific method *Proper documentation of the experiment--My 7th grader uses a lab book. *Draw, color, and label related sketches Day 2: *Additional reading (from a science encyclopedia or library book) *Write an outline or summary. I alternate with our history study. If she writes a summary for history then she'll write an outline for science. We switch the following week. To document the science experiment I bought a science journal for her. This is the one we've used in the past https://www.amazon.c...science journal The one I purchased for our physics study this year is: https://www.amazon.c...cience notebook The second one is prettier but it doesn't have a table of contents. You definitely need a table of contents so I'm either going to add it myself or purchase something else. Hope this helps. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/622237-logic-stage-science-as-described-in-the-new-edition-of-twtm/

I posted this on another thread about history output for the logic stage. I'll include the link so that you can see what other families are doing too. Monday Medieval – early Renaissance (400-1600) â–¡ SOTW Vol. 2: Chap. 30, “India Under the Moghuls†pp. 272-280. (She reads the SOTW chapter, in addition to the spine, because she didn't go through it in the grammar stage. In TWTM, SWB says, if you're doing history with multiple age children, read the SOTW together, then ask the older student to 1) read the pages from the more difficult core text that correspond to the topic in SOTW, and 2) complete the other work described. I follow these recommendation for my student who didn't go through SOTW, in the grammar stage). â–¡ Kingfisher History Encyclopedia: “India: The Moguls 1504-1605â€, pp. 218-219. â–¡ Facts: Write down 6-8 of the most important facts in complete sentences. â–¡ Additional Reading: Sometimes I'll assign a library book. It's depends on what her work load looks like for the day. Tuesday â–¡ Time Line: Mark important dates along with accompanying caption. I have her choose the most important dates in the Kingfisher encyclopedia. Sometimes I have her add all the dates. â–¡ Map Work: I give her a blank map, in a sheet protector, of the area under study and I have her label it with a dry erase marker. She does this first, without referring to an atlas to see what she knows. Then I have her look at an atlas, compare, and label and color the map. Finally, she is to locate the area under study on a wall map and globe. â–¡ Outline: Write a two-level outline on what you read in the Kingfisher encyclopedia, “India: The Moguls 1504-1605â€, pp. 218-219. â–¡ Additional Reading: If I assigned reading on Monday, she can finish that or she can start a new book, or I assign nothing (again, depending on her work load for the day) Wednesday â–¡ Additional Reading: Choose a topic to do additional reading on (or choose a topic from a book she read Monday or Tuesday). â–¡ Summary: Prepare a written summary, 1/2 to 1 page (200-400 words), in length, on the chosen topic Another thing I consider when assigning outlines and summaries is, how much writing she has to do for her writing program (Writing With Skill) that day. I also try to remind myself of what SWB says about logic stage history study, that the goal is not to do an exhaustive survey of all possible history topics, but to teach the student how to study history. Hope this helps :001_smile: . Lily http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/614225-history-output-for-a-6th-grader/

I just realized I have several messages on my gmail account requesting access to this file. I'm new to google drive and I don't really use my gmail account so I apologize for not making this accessible sooner. Here is my second attempt to make these files public. The link to view images of my daughter's Language Arts binder is below. Hope this works. :confused1: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B202MA6Iys6yaVJzZ2VreFpiSEE

Got it. Thanks.

How can I ensure I get a copy of the digital sample? I went on the welltrainedmind.com website but couldn't find any info. I pretty sure I'm registered and should be receiving emails. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks. Lily

Not sure if you own a copy of The Well Trained Mind that you can refer to so I'll write a brief description of what is said in TWTM about each resource. Listed in order of difficulty, from simplest to most complex: (TWTM, p. 398, 4th ed.) 1) History Year By Year - "Good for slower readers or students who have difficulty absorbing large amounts of written information." 2) Kingfisher History Encyclopedia - 5th to lower 7th grade reading level; long standing, highly regarded reference work. 3) National Geographic Visual History of the World - Moves away from brief encyclopedic entries toward narrative text, with one-page summaries on most topics. Grades 6 and 7. 4) National Geographic Almanac of World History - Narrative style text; two- to three-page summary essays. Best for grades 7 and up. TWTM, p. 273. 3rd ed. 1) The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of the World - The simplest of the four resources. Written on an advanced elementary level and is appropriate for the average 5th grader reader or older student who struggles with reading. 2) The Dorling Kindersley History of the World - Written on a 6th- to 8th-grade level; also recommended as a simple supplement for high school study. 3) National Geographic Almanac of the World History - Instead of being organized as a series of short paragraphs, the Almanac provides short essays; strong 7th- to 8th grade level; chronological survey of history begins with the second section, "Major Eras". 4) History: The Definitive Visual Guide - Visually beautiful but the reading level is quite difficult; for advanced students only. "Unless you decide to use the History: The Definitive Visual Guide (the most complete of the four volumes), you may want to supplement the core text with a time line that provides additional information on more obscure cultures, times, and people. We recommend either the simpler Timelines of World History (DK) ... or the more complex National Geographic Concise History of the World: An Illustrated Time Line." Whatever you choose, I recommend having at least to sources so that your student can refer to the second source if the first one doesn't provide the information he/she needs. Hope this helps. Lily

Yes, exactly as the person above described. The WWS lesson where this is covered is Week 3, Day 2, Steps 1 & 2 but specifically, Step 2. 1) Look up "masterful" in the back of the thesaurus. 2) Under "masterful" the following words are listed: lordly skillful imperious perfected 3)The student then chooses the word closest in meaning to the original word. In this case it would be "skillful". 4) The word "skillful" has the number 413.22 next to it. "Masterful" is an adjective. If were looking to replace it with another adjective, you would go to the number 413.22 But because the instructions say, "Turn the descriptive adjectives into nouns..." the student will instead go to 413. 5) The heading 413 is for the word "skill". The list of words related in meaning to the word skill are divided into: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Find the section where nouns are listed and find the noun form of the word "masterful" (these are the words in bold). The words that are listed are "mastery" and "masterful". Like you said, "mastery" is the best fit. Great question. Hope this helps. Lily

I think of writing outlines and summaries for history and science as part of the "Writing" block. The list of important facts, timeline, map work, additional reading, and 3-4 sentence narrations as part of "History" block. Here's an example: History - China and the Rest of the World Day 1: â–¡ SOTW: Chapter 28 – Section 1: “The Kingdom at the Center of the World†( I have grammar stage students as well so we read this together) â–¡ Kingfisher History Encyclopedia: “Trade With Chinaâ€, pp. 304-305. â–¡ Facts: Write a list of the most important facts, in your own words, and in complete sentences. â–¡ Additional Reading: Confucius by ... â–¡ Narrative Summary: China: The Middle Kingdom (this is 3-5 sentences long so it shouldn't be too much writing when combined with the writing she does during the "Writing Block" Day 2: â–¡ SOTW: Chapter 28 – Section 2: “The Rise of the Opium Trade†□ Read: Read about the poppy flower and opium in the World Book encyclopedia â–¡ Narrative Summary: Write a short summary on poppies (3-5 sentences - some times I assign a topic sometimes she chooses) â–¡ Narrative Summary: Write a short summary on opium â–¡ Art Project: Make a clay vase from Chi’en-lung Period. â–¡ Additional Reading: Confucius by ... (she'll continue reading the book if she didn't finish the first day or I'll assign a different book or she works on the other projects) Day 3: â–¡ Map Work: Student page 105. Follow the directions on your map work page (She gets a blank map and labels all areas without referring to an atlas. Once she's done, she checks her work using an atlas. We do other things for map work as well, but I won't go into that here :001_smile: ) â–¡ Art Project: Poppy water color painting â–¡ Art Project: Paint the clay vase â–¡ Additional Reading: Confucius by ... (she'll continue reading the book if she didn't finish the first day or I'll assign a different book or she works on the other projects) My daughter will be in the 8th grade this upcoming school year. I'll be trying a "loop schedule" with her writing block. Her "Writing Block" will looks something list this: Day 1: Writing With Skill Level 2 Assignment Day 2: Choose 3-4 pages from a non-fiction history text your read, and write a three-level outline. Day 3: Writing With Skill Level 2 Assignment Day 4: Rewrite: After making an outline of the history passage, the student will put the original away and then rewrite the passage using only the outline. Then she’ll compare her assignment with the original. (This is the "summary" ) Day 5: Writing With Skill Level 2 Assignment Day 6: Choose 3-4 pages from a non-fiction science text your read and write a three-level outline. Day 7: Writing With Skill Level 2 Assignment Day 8: Rewrite: After making an outline of the science passage, the student will put the original away and then rewrite the passage using only the outline. Then she’ll compare her assignment with the original. (This is the "summary" ) Day 9: Writing With Skill Level 2 Assignment Day 10: Creative writing (we'll likely work through "The Creative Writer) Then the cycle will begin again. A couple of things to note: * The goal is for her to work on writing an hour a day. * She won't be doing every "type" every writing every week, and that's o.k. with us so long as she practices each type of writing several times in the course of the school year. We prioritize WWS. * Since the main objective of the outlining and rewriting from the outline is a "writing objective" and covering a certain amount history or science material is a secondary goal (for this activity) then, it's o.k. if she moves on to another topic during her science and history blocks. I apologize for the long response. We just completed our 5th year of homeschool and it has taken me every bit of those 5 years to figure out how to put the TWTM recommendations into practice :001_smile: . Hope this helps. Lily

I just purchased "Grammar of Poetry" for my daughter for the upcoming school year. We haven't used it yet but it looks very good. There are some videos on You Tube of sample lessons. There are DVD's you can purchase but I only have the book. I'm not looking for a full course I just wanted something that would serve as a guide to aid me in teaching her. It's written from a Christian perspective, I believe. I have to look through it again to be sure. You can find more info and a sample here: http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/001924

I don't know if you care to see it but, here is an example of the history work I have my daughter do on a typical week: Monday Late Renaissance – early Modern (1600-1850) Chapter 8: The Middle of the East â–¡ SOTW Vol. 3 – Section 1: “The Persian Puzzleâ€, pp. 81-84. (I have grammar stage students as well so we read this together then my 7th grader goes off and does her assigned work) â–¡ KIHW: Safavid Persia, pp. 346-347 (This is the Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World. We have several history encyclopedias and I'll assign reading from the one I think provides the best information. If they're all pretty close to the same on a given topic, we'll use the Kingfisher History of the World) â–¡ Facts: List 6-8 of the most important facts, in your own words and in complete sentences. (Facts from the Kingfisher encyclopedia pages she read) â–¡ Summary Write a ½-1 page long summary on the Safavid Dynasty (some times I assign topics and some times I let her choose) â–¡ Map Work: Complete the map activity for student map p. 23 (She does the same map work activities assigned in the SOTW activity guide that my grammar stage students do but I give her a blank map to label. She does this without referring to an atlas. When she's done, she compares her map to the an atlas or a map that I've labeled and then makes any necessary corrections. I also have her label additional locations that I think are important. Finally, she locates the area under study on a wall map, globe, and atlas. Tuesday â–¡ SOTW Vol. 3 – Section 2: “The Ottoman Turksâ€, pp. 84-88. â–¡ Additional Reading: The Ottoman Empire by Adriane Ruggiero (she could choose to write about "Ottoman Cities and Towns" or "The Decline of the Ottoman Empire", etc.) â–¡ Brief Summary: Write a summary on the Ottoman Empire (whichever topic she chose above) Wednesday â–¡ Time Line: Add important dates to your time line along with the accompanying caption (we get these dates from the SOTW or the Kngfisher Encyclopedia) â–¡ Additional Reading: Countries of the World: Iran â–¡ Outline: Select two pages from your reading and write a three-level outline â–¡ Additional Activities: Sometimes we'll watch a YouTube video, do an an activity/craft for the SOTW activity guide, cook, watch a movie, dress up, field trip, etc. I apologize for the lengthy post. Hope it helps.

I agree with Zoo Keeper. Those are all fine ideas but they are all creative writing. SWB says in her talk on Middle School Writing that, in her opinion, all students need to learn expository writing but they don't all have to learn creative writing. She also says that when a student writes a summary or outline of a history or science topic, they learn the material well. There is no need for other types of output (answering questions, worksheets, etc.) In the 4th edition of TWTM, SWB says that the focus of logic stage writing is to order ideas. "Students need to continue to practice narrative summaries, learn how to write brief critical responses to literature, and--above all--learn to outline." (p. 450). This means that a logic stage student should be writing narrative summaries and outlines in grades 5th-8th. I have my daughter write one outline once a week and we alternate between history and science. If she is writing an outline for history this week, then she won't write one for science. The following week she'll write an outline for science but not for history. This ensures that she writes at least one outline every week. The outlining progression SWB recommends is the following: 5th Grade • 1-Level Outline of one page (or 5-6 paragraph section ) of text 6th Grade • 2-Level Outline of 1-2 pages (or 5-10 paragraphs) of text 7th Grade • 3-Level Outline of 3 pages of text 8th Grade • 3-Level Outline of 3-4 pages of text This is simply to show the progression. A student may be ready to write two-level outlines in the 5th grade. You, as the teacher, move them to the next level when you think they are ready. In addition to outlining we are working through the WWS Level 2, writing narrative summaries for history, and short reports for science. This coming school year I plan to have her do some creative writing as well. I highly recommend listening SWB's audio workshop "A Plan for Teaching Writing: Focus on the Middle Grades" . You can find it here https://welltrainedmind.com/p/a-plan-for-teaching-writing-focus-on-the-middle-grades-mp3/ The MP3 is only $3.99 and you can listen to it right away. Hope this helps.

First of all, I want to encourage you, you have not failed your child(ren). The fear that we're failing our children plagues us all from time to time. It's comes with the territory when we choose to home school. After all, there's no one else to blame, right? The truth is that children are resilient and they are little sponges that absorb so many things even when we're not actively teaching them. So take courage. It sounds like your son is very bright and a great writer already. I also want to encourage you by sharing that in the 3rd edition of TWTM, Susan Wise Bauer says, "If you choose to use Rod & Staff, the composition exercises provided can fulfill the middle-grade student's need for a writing program." You mentioned that he completed most of the writing assignments in Rod & Staff which means, he's in a great place. Finally, I recommend you listen to SWB's talks called "A Plan for Teaching Writing: Focus On the Middle Grades" as well as "What Is Literary Analysis: When, Why, and How Should I Teach It?" You can find both audio workshops here https://welltrainedmind.com/c/resources-for-parents/workshops-seminars/ The MP3's are only $3.99 each and you can download and listen to them right away. In the talk on writing in the middle grades she distinguishes writing in the grammar stage as "writing with ease" because students do copywork, narrations, and dictation. They don't have to worry about coming up with original content. She describes the middle grades as "writing with skill" because the student is still not trying to come up with original content but rather focusing on developing the skills he'll need for writing original compositions later: narrative summaries, outlining, writing from an outline, short literary essays, sentence diagramming, and spelling. We use Writing With Skill but we've taken our time with it because some of the assignments require more than a day to complete, You should know, since you mentioned your son is a natural creative writer, that she says creative writers sometimes behave like reluctant writers when they try to work through WWS. WWS teaches expository writing not creative writing. It is, SWB's opinion that all students need to learn expository writing but not all need to learn creative writing. I recommend you listen to her talk and decide for yourself what is best for your son. My daughter, who will be going into the 8th grade, is a creative writer. She has done very well with WWS and, even though she hasn't loved it, she is now glad she's worked through it. I'm also having her work, very slowly, through the Creative Writer. I hope this encouraged you and helped a little. I'm sure you're going to have a great year. Lily