jibaker103 Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 We start our formal attempt at hs starting on 8/24. Ds came out of ps 1/2 way through 7th grade in Jan. I'm confused on the types of writing I should be concentrating on with my son at this point and if he has missed something from the grammar or early logic stage if I should be going back to pick it up. So far I have heard about: Narration Dictation KWO Outlining Note Taking Essay Research Report Book Reports/Critiques Formal Writing Programs - I chose IEW's Ancient HBWL Should we be doing all of this or just some? If only some which ones? From this list how much should I expect him to do on a daily and/or weekly basis? How many pages of written work should I expect? What should the quality of this written work be like? I figured I would be grading on spelling, grammar & mechanics, whether or not he followed directions, and dress-ups and sentence openers. Am I missing anything? I know in some ways what I'm asking for is highly subjective but I need something to work with! Jennifer Mother to Noah Age 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jibaker103 Posted August 17, 2009 Author Share Posted August 17, 2009 :lurk5:anyone?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Hi Jennifer, If he has not done narration and/or dictation before, I think it is valuable to start even at this level. Just choose a few quality sentences from some literature he is reading, maybe once a week or so, and have him copy them. Then talk about them: parts of speech, word choice, sentence structure, etc. You can also dictate the sentences to him and do the same things with them. The payoff in writing quality is high. Reading quality literature and copying good sentences both help. KWO is a component of several writing programs. IEW is probably the currciulum most learn of it from. I really like IEW, have used it for years, and recommend it. You will teach KWO, essays, book critiques, research reports, and more with it. Working through HBWL in a year is a good pace. The Level C assignments are probably most appropriate for eighth grade, although it will depend on how much writing instruction he had in school. Notetaking and outlining are somewhat related. Many people use outlining to take notes. This can be taught within another subject area. In WTM, the recommendation is to teach it through history. He can do some outlining with each day's reading. You will definitely want to grade for spelling and grammar. I like to pick my battles one at a time, so I will usually choose a student's biggest area of struggle and ignore some other areas until we have worked that one out. If he has struggles with writing at all, this is expecially important. IEW will provide checklists that will increase in the number of items required. As you introduce an opener or dress-up, it can then be required and graded. I hope that helps!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 I chose IEW's Ancient HBWL Should we be doing all of this or just some? If only some which ones? From this list how much should I expect him to do on a daily and/or weekly basis? How many pages of written work should I expect? Do you have IEW Ancient HBWL's? If not, then buy it and you will see that most of your writing list will be covered with this one program including how much to write, when & how to grade each writing assignment. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jibaker103 Posted August 18, 2009 Author Share Posted August 18, 2009 Do you have IEW Ancient HBWL's? If not, then buy it and you will see that most of your writing list will be covered with this one program including how much to write, when & how to grade each writing assignment. :D I do have it and we are half way through it. I guess the problem is that I feel like something is missing since he is flying through it so fast. He has no trouble writing at all!! His only downfall is not paying attention to directions sometimes. He's churning out dress-ups and sentence openers and I'm fumbling with the book :tongue_smilie: How do I enhance this to make it more of a challenge? Will the Medieval HBWL be just as easy? If so maybe I need something else. Suggestions welcome! Jennifer Mother to Noah Age 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 (edited) I do have it and we are half way through it. I guess the problem is that I feel like something is missing since he is flying through it so fast. He has no trouble writing at all!! His only downfall is not paying attention to directions sometimes. He's churning out dress-ups and sentence openers and I'm fumbling with the book :tongue_smilie: How do I enhance this to make it more of a challenge? Will the Medieval HBWL be just as easy? If so maybe I need something else. Suggestions welcome! Jennifer Mother to Noah Age 13 IEW Medieval has 2 levels of writing; so yes it's a bit more challenging. IEW U.S. HBWL's V 1 & 2 are more challenging and age appropriate for 13yo. The U.S. HBWL V1 will and add more depth; V2 will expand writing further. Be happy with your dc success with IEW Ancients and continue the program to the end. Then look at the other IEW programs and chose one that is more age appropriate (THe Elegant Essay, Fix-It!, SWI-C or US HBWL v1&2). HTH! :D Edited August 18, 2009 by MIch elle typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jibaker103 Posted August 18, 2009 Author Share Posted August 18, 2009 IEW Medieval has 2 levels of writing; so yes it's a bit more challenging. IEW U.S. HBWL's V 1 & 2 are more challenging and age appropriate for 13yo. The U.S. HBWL V1 will and add more depth; V2 will expand writing further. Be happy with your dc success with IEW Ancients and continue the program to the end. Then look at the other IEW programs and chose one that is more age appropriate (THe Elegant Essay, Fix-It!, SWI-C or US HBWL v1&2). HTH! :D Here is my sequence for the remainder of school. Please give me your opinion on how to incorporate IEW products! 8th grade Fall 09 - BF Ancient History & IEW Ancient HBWL Spr 10 - BF Medieval History & IEW Medieval HBWL? Sum 10 - Finish BF Medieval History & Lit Lessons from LOTR 9th grade Fall 10 - BF Early American & World History & Elegant Essay Spr 11 - BF Western Expansion? & Windows to the World 10th grade Sum 11 - BF US & World History Part 1 & 2 & IEW US HBWL vol 1 11th grade Sum 12 - BF US & World History Part 3 & 4 & IEW US HBWL vol 2 How does this look? I want to fit in the College Bound Student Package but not sure where. Jennifer Mother to Noah Age 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Here is my sequence for the remainder of school. Please give me your opinion on how to incorporate IEW products! 8th grade Fall 09 - BF Ancient History & IEW Ancient HBWL Spr 10 - BF Medieval History & IEW Medieval HBWL? Sum 10 - Finish BF Medieval History & Lit Lessons from LOTR 9th grade Fall 10 - BF Early American & World History & Elegant Essay Spr 11 - BF Western Expansion? & Windows to the World 10th grade Sum 11 - BF US & World History Part 1 & 2 & IEW US HBWL vol 1 11th grade Sum 12 - BF US & World History Part 3 & 4 & IEW US HBWL vol 2 How does this look? I want to fit in the College Bound Student Package but not sure where. Jennifer Mother to Noah Age 13 Yes, it looks really good! IEW US HBWL v1 will be easy for 10th grade but you could quickly go through some of the lessons and then add in your own essays/research papers from what was learned from The Elegant Essay. I have BF World/US history and there are essay and research writing assignments you could have your dc do in addition to or instead of the IEW US HBWL's (but using the IEW US HBWL writing guidelines). I bet the other BF guides have writing/research assignments too. Do you belong to the IEW families yahoo group? Jill Pike has a Literary Analysis syllabus in the files (lessonshare) that looks good. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jibaker103 Posted August 18, 2009 Author Share Posted August 18, 2009 Yes, it looks really good! IEW US HBWL v1 will be easy for 10th grade but you could quickly go through some of the lessons and then add in your own essays/research papers from what was learned from The Elegant Essay. Jill Pike suggested I skip Vol. 1 and I probably should I'm just a little nervous about going out on my own! Maybe in 2 years I will be an old pro. What do you think? Should I skip it? I have BF World/US history and there are essay and research writing assignments you could have your dc do in addition to or instead of the IEW US HBWL's (but using the IEW US HBWL writing guidelines). I bet the other BF guides have writing/research assignments too. I also plan to use Speilvogel's Human Odyssey as a spine and planed to use the guiding questions as timed essays to practice for the SAT as someone on this fabulous board suggested. In regards to BF World/US History is there a new update that now covers current history instead of stopping at Vietnam. If so what is the copyright date. I do believed I might have been jipped on this...my copyright date is 1997! Do you belong to the IEW families yahoo group? Jill Pike has a Literary Analysis syllabus in the files (lessonshare) that looks good. Yes, I belong to the group and I have already eyed her lesson plan. It looks wonderful!! :D Thanks so much for your help on all of this! Jennifer Mother to Noah Age 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Personally, I would skip US History 1, it is not a high school level course. I consider US 1 to be easier than Ancients which I believe you said your child was already finding too easy? We do US History 1 in 4th/5th grade. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they have more theme-based options to choose from two years from now, especially at the high school level and could have a higher level US history 1 or something similar that would work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jibaker103 Posted August 18, 2009 Author Share Posted August 18, 2009 Personally, I would skip US History 1, it is not a high school level course. I consider US 1 to be easier than Ancients which I believe you said your child was already finding too easy? We do US History 1 in 4th/5th grade. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they have more theme-based options to choose from two years from now, especially at the high school level and could have a higher level US history 1 or something similar that would work. Thank you Melissa...I'm pretty sure your right about this! I guess I will create my own assignments from BF and HO. Do you feel that the Medieval HBWL is necessary? I've been debating whether or not Noah will learn more from it or if I should go off on my own. Another option would be to stop the ancients and move into medieval now for more of a challenge. I'm just so conflicted on this part of my schedule!!! Jennifer Mother to Noah Age 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Thank you Melissa...I'm pretty sure your right about this! I guess I will create my own assignments from BF and HO. Do you feel that the Medieval HBWL is necessary? I've been debating whether or not Noah will learn more from it or if I should go off on my own. Another option would be to stop the ancients and move into medieval now for more of a challenge. I'm just so conflicted on this part of my schedule!!! Jennifer Mother to Noah Age 13 I like having the assignments there for me rather than trying to put together my own, and since you plan to study medieval times this year anyway, in your shoes I would skip to the medieval book. I haven't seen it, but it is a B rated book (rather than the A,B of ancients) so it should be more difficult. I might call IEW or post a new thread to be sure the medieval book is in fact a step up, but I have seen most of the books in the theme program and IEW is really good about labeling the levels correctly. We are currently using the Ancients book as well. My plan for next year is to move on to the Elegant Essay at the beginning of the year and then use Character-Based lessons (level B,C) for the second half of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 My older ds used US HBWL v1 in grades 7 & 8 (I started IEW late w/ him); I bought both V1 & 2 but we never got to V2 (due to studying for the exam to enter high school & then I got REALLY sick). I'll be using US HBWL v1 for gr.7 for my younger ds this year and plan to use US HBWL v2 and The Elegant Essay for gr. 8 next yr. (not all lessons in each program). What's great about IEW HBWL's is that there is a plan & schedule in place which makes homeschool writing SO much easier (even if you follow the US HBWL plan and use your own writing assigns from BF or other sources). I'm sure as each year progresses you'll get a better understanding IF the next IEW product will work for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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