Help choosing a writing program

[busymama7]

Here is a sample of a recent writing assignment from my 12 year old son. I am a mostly CM homeschooler and he has had basically no writing instruction and very little formal grammar. I am starting to panic, LOL, and I am trying to figure out what to do for next year. He hates writing, and all narrations etc are done on the computer. I need something to hold my hand(and his) as I don't even know how to evaluate this sample.

 

I am looking at Writing Strands, IEW, Classical Writing, Igniting Your Writing and I'm not sure what else I have looked at recently. I need something easy to implement and I would prefer just open and go.

Thanks!

 

The Daily Life of the American Indian Boy

When an Indian is born they usually stay in a papoose (a back carrier) until they can walk. Then when they are older they learn to hunt and to fish. To hunt they make a bow using a method like this, they find a strait stick of wood then they shave of the bark and mark the middle. Then they shave from the middle to the ends cutting the thinnest possible shavings until it is about as thin as your finger and as smooth as a animal bone. Then they spread animal fat (preferably bear fat) from one end of the bow to the other and then let it dry. While the wood is drying they make a bow string out of twisted animal sinew. Then to make a arrow they use strait birch wood. To fish they sharpen a long stick, stand in the water and spear a fish. Then when an Indian is about 13 or14 they prove themselves as a man and a hunter of the tribe.

If you are interested in the The Daily Life of the American Indian Boy, read Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare.

[mom31257]

My dd is loving Jump In by Apologia.

http://www.apologia.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=34

 

It starts slowly and builds on itself. The teacher's manual has a good details on grading papers. It contains 2 years worth of material, part of which is 10 minute writing plunges. The idea is to give them the topic and have them write for 10 minutes. At the end of the week, they pick one of the four they wrote that week and work on revising, etc to actually be graded.

 

It is more like a traditional workbook, but my dd doesn't normally like workbooks and does like this.

[Lysa]

I have also been looking for writing ideas. One thing I came across was "Writer's Workshop" . It is by Maggie Hogan the creator of The Mystery of History. She was a speaker at our state convention and she was great. Her website is : www.Brightideaspress.com and the book is called Writer's Workshop.

Hope this helps in some way.

[amtmcm]

Your son's writing sounds exactly like my DD's at the beginning of this year. IEW SWI-B did wonders for her! It got her writing every week and made her think about her word choices and structure. Andrew Pudewa is funny and engages the kids. My DD looked forward to watching him. I'm very happy with how much her writing improved in one semester.

 

My 2 cents,

[busymama7]

Okay, thanks for the suggestions. With IEW, did you just use the student DVD's? Or also the teacher part? It is so expensive...

[keithfamily5]

Sue in St. Pete sent me a review/comparison of Write Shop vs. IEW. I love IEW. It really makes sense, but I need something to hold my hand and my daughter's and walk us through this step by step.

 

I went to FPEA this past weekend in Orlando and was able to look through the program and it looks great. It even includes student samples of each writing assignment, and how those same samples look revised, then the finished product.

 

The student checklist is the same as the parent checklist. In the first lesson they learn about concrete writing and practice changing vague words to specific, vivid words. Then they do a describing an object worksheet, write their paragraph, use their checklist to edit, write their final draft, then mom uses the parent checklist to evaluate final draft.

 

It starts out very easy and builds. They even have a 2 year lesson plan for reluctant writers that need to go a little more slowly. There's a Write Shop 2 and she said by the time we finished both of those there would be a Write Shop 3.

 

Oh, it also has some really cool word lists in the student book.

 

We are really looking forward to using it this year.

 

HTH,

Patty

[amtmcm]

Here's a recent thread about using SWI vs. TWSS:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103200

 

I bought both and only used the SWI. It got us on the right track for writing and next year we're going to use Write with the Best vol. 2 which will coincide nicely with our lit analysis. My DD is not a reluctant writer - she was just unsophisticated and disorganized. IEW kicked her writing up a few notches in a short amount of time and I'm very pleased with the results. I'm not continuing with SICC-B because I think it's too expensive. But $99 for the SWI was worth every penny. It was open & go, fun, painless and effective.

 

Hope this helps,

[gingersmom]

I would check out Write Source. They sell it on Rainbow Resource and if you go to the Write Source webpage you can look at sample pages inside the book. They have a different book for each grade level.

[charlotteb]

I second IEW. My son's writing sounds so good now after finishing it! We did the SWI-B videos at a co-op. If you can't afford the videos (I sure can't!), is there a co-op nearby?

[irizarry4]

I'm surprised nobody suggests WWE. I've never used it, but it is by SWB and I have read great things about it in other threads. Curious to hear why not?

[Marla]

My dd has had very little writing instruction so based on many recommendations, I just purchased Meaningful Composition 4+. The beginning lessons are a grammar review which would work well with a student that has little formal grammar. It is based on IEW but is a consumable book that really seems to hold the students hand step-by-step through the writing process. Just got the book last night so still perusing it but so far so good.

 

We also have IEW and I plan to use a comb of the two.

Edited May 27, 2009 by Marla

[Kimm in WA]

I recommend IEW. We did R&S grammar and writing, up until oldest was in 8th, when we did a co-op class using IEW and the Medieval-based writing lessons. I have been really pleased with the history-based writing lessons, because it ties in with what we are studying in history.

 

I had only watched the TWSS videos, and was able to teach IEW using these lessons. The books are written for the student. If your student hasn't had IEW before, you would need to present the lesson but it wouldn't be time-consuming IMO.

 

After a year of this (again, my ds had it in a co-op class) they have been doing the IEW US history-based writing lessons pretty much independently as 8th and 10th graders. I'm amazed at how their writing has improved!

 

HTH,

Kimm

[Kimm in WA]

By the way, once they started IEW writing, we omitted the writing lessons in R&S.