I'm actually thinking of trying Spelling Workout next school year. We have done several years of a copywork/dictation spelling program. (Spelling Plus which we have loved) What I find lacking is some rules teaching, some teaching of prefixes, suffixes, syllabication, root words, and even simple skills like abc order. I find myself making or printing up worksheets to make up for these skills and I do feel that they are very valuable. I also really appreciate the little editing exercise in each lesson. I feel after 4 years of teaching spelling with copywork, a few years of a rules based organized program will be beneficial. HTH you make a decision, Dee

I am using AFF with a reluctant writing 5th grader and it is producing wonderful results! I won't say he loves it, but he sees the fruit of his labor and is always happy with the final results! We had so much fun working on Christmas poetry this week! :) Dee :)

Yes, Easy Writing! Teaches all about clauses and complex sentence structures and it's so easy to get to and do! I'm using it now with my highschooler and it has been a great combination to IEW writing! We love it!

I read on the yahoo forums that the same woman who wrote The Elegant Essay is also coming out with one for the research paper in March...very soon! You might want to get into the EE and then right into the Research Paper. Also, as one other poster wrote, WTTW is supposed to be extremely meaty! :) HTH, Dee :) ps There is also Speech Bootcamp and Advanced Communications which teach college style note taking.

We do the timed drill daily, though we don't time them. We don't do the flashcards, but instead use the flashmaster daily.

I believe it was 3/4ths, but he got his answer thanks to these posts! Thank you all so much! He was able to finish the program and send it out for a grade. Wooh, this online virtual course has proved to be very challenging, but in a good way! Thanks again!!!:lol: I'm so appreciative of all of you!

My son is working on a program for his computer science course. He needs help with these questions in order to finish his program: How long is a half note and a quarter note with a dot next to it, supposed to be played? (meaning length of time to be played) Thanks for any help... Dee

Only one of my children write with a cursive slant. All the others were taught with programs that slanted, and they ended up straightening their letters anyway. Don't sweat the slant. Just make sure that it's neat and legible and that he can read other people's slanted cursive. ;) Start him up with only a row a day. This is how I've done it with all of my children and they have all transitioned on their own with absolutely no stress at all. HTH, Dee :) ps Please no tomatoes, but we hated Getty Dubay cursive. My daughter wrote beautifully until she learned with that program and after that her cursive has been a mess. Sorry. I much prefer anything to that. By the way, we used Cursive Connections and loved it! Remember, only one row a day. Make it very non-important and they actually think it's art, or fun! I would circle the neatest letter in the row and tell my son that was my favorite!

9 years old! I'm thoroughly impressed! He did a great job!

Have you seen CQLA? It might be what you are looking for? I don't have the address, but you can do a google search for it...

no, not yet, I'm still trying to make peace with this year's purchases and choices. ;) I'll wait until income tax time, but I'll probably go into full research mode after Christmas time...

We actually do IEW our way! :lol: If a dress up sounds clunky, we remove it. We work more on having a natural flow to our writing. As long as I know that my son can use the dress-up and has practice using it, I'm okay with skipping ones that are not necessary. Actually, I heard Andrew speak in one of the webinars and he said that we shouldn't add in a dress-up unless the student was totally comfortable using it. Once I know my son comprehends how to use it, we then decide based on our writing what stays and what goes. Many times when we read through the final, we are both in agreement that a dress-up just doesn't go where we placed it, or that it has actually damaged the natural flow of the paper. I'd stick with IEW if he was a reluctant writer. I'd just pull back on the dress-ups, and the expectations. If your son is in middle school or early highschool, there is plenty of time to learn about content. And the beauty of IEW is that most of the content is provided. :lol: Just my extremely, very humbly stated, opinion. :lol:

Pam, thank you so much! If I can afford it, I think we are going to go for it. We are also looking at the set the personal finance set that MFW sells, but for some reason I keep looking at this one. Blessings, Dee ;)

Looking for your thoughts on the program? Thank you, Dee :)

thanks, Tammy and Mary... I am still a bit undecided, but if we do end up this route, we will definitely read the sample chapter from book 1 first. :)

We are really enjoying SWI-C (with my 11th grader) and All Things Fun and Fascinating with my writing-reluctant 5th grader! We are also loving Winston Grammar for the second time around and we continue to love Spelling Plus Dictation! Simple and to the point! Best of all, my son's spelling improves daily! (again, this is for my 5th grader) :) Love reading these!

or must they be done in their specific order? My son wants to start with book 3. Thanks for any help! Dee :)

Thank you so much! I now know that I can definitely leave this for his senior year and complete the SWI-C and the Elegant Essay this year. Blessings!!! Dee:lol:

Thank you, Rhonda... one more question...I was reading the description of this in RR and it says it is a ten week course...can it really be done in half a year/semester?

Thank you for responding, Danielle! Okay, so I now know essays are covered in the CC, but is a research paper covered in detail...like a longer college level research paper? I'm trying to figure out what to schedule for the 12th grade and wondering if I should go straight to the continuation course after SWI-C instead of doing the Elegant Essay. I feel we have a short window of time and don't want to waste it, I guess. I wish I had started him in IEW sooner. :( Dee

My son is an 11th grader. We are presently working through SWI-C and will go straight through the Elegant Essay after that. That leaves me only one year, his 12th grade, to tackle the research paper. Will IEW's continuation course prepare him well for writing research papers? If not, what would you recommend? Thanks for the help, Dee

Yes, Yes, and Yes! My eldest son went from reading these to reading every Jules Verne book imaginable. He now prefers unabridged works. He credits the junior and illustrated classics for giving him the desire to read what the real authors wrote. I know this isn't the case for everyone, but it's been for us, twice. Right now my younger 5th grade son is reading the junior classic, Treasure Island. Well, I was at the library and picked up an illustrated unabridged version so he could check out the pictures. He has now set a goal to finish the junior classic and start reading the unabridged version. He tells me that now he's sure he will understand it after reading the junior classic. For my boys, it has just worked out this way. My girls on the other hand only read unabridged original works. HTH, Dee in FL!

Wow Janice, what a post! You've got me reconsidering WWS. :) I'm going to go check it out one more time right now. Dee ps We are loving IEW right now but I'm not sure we will use it longterm for several of the reasons that have already been mentioned, however, it has been great for teaching my eldest son structure; Style he already had.

Honestly, if she did all the writing on her own, I think the content is very good and to the point. In one of the IEW seminars, Andrew Pudewa tells the parent to get their hands off content, and on in the style. My son is in the 5th grade and dictates the story to me first, then copies it from what I write. He is just not ready to come up with it and write it all on his own first. Way to go for your daughter! :) I think she has the makings of a good and precise writer.

I forgot to add that spelling only takes us 10-15 minutes a day, sometimes less. One could very easily use it the way one wants, but for us, I found that having a few exercises to do with the words cemented them in my son's mind. When I'm short on time, or have an easier word list to work from, we may very well skip our regular routine, go over the words orally or on the white board and then test out quickly, but for us the one thing that remains the same is dictation. We have found it such a valuable exercise that it is one thing we will not eliminate. If you could only get one book, I would get the Spelling Dictation because it has the word lists, the spelling dictation sentences, and it has lots of grammar and punctuation extras. :lol: