prairie rose Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 My 5th grader just started Saxon Grammar and Writing. I love the program; he's not thrilled but he doesn't hate it either so I guess it's a good thing. ;) Anyways, I'm wondering what to do about his journal entries. One told him to write about his state or city, he wrote about fishing at a nearby lake but had no mention of the city or state he lives in. Then it told him to tell about a time when he helped someone and he wrote 3 separate, unrelated sentences about things he did to help someone. I've tried to explain to him that he didn't exactly follow the directions but it seems to be falling on deaf ears. :glare: Also he writes 3 sentences, period. I've told him that the directions say "at least 3" meaning that 3 is the minimum but he can write more if he needs or wants to but he insists that he only has to write 3 and leaves off where ever he is, even if he leaves the reader hanging, when he finishes the third sentence. The directions say that journals are not to be graded or even read by the teacher but he's reading them to me when he is finished and I try to be very careful and constructive when I make comments on his journal entries because he is my very reluctant writer and he does the journal assignments with no complaints.....Should I just leave the journal entries alone until we get further into this and he's done a couple of the writing lessons? Not sure how to proceed from here.:confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinMominTX Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I think that original writing is very hard for kids until at least middle school so I'd consider cutting him some slack on the original writing part. Perhaps give him an example of something to use as a model of what you'd like to see. As far as the journal - if he's putting words to paper and writing something - and the directions say not to critique, I'd simply let him write and not critque at all - good or bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairie rose Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 I think that original writing is very hard for kids until at least middle school so I'd consider cutting him some slack on the original writing part. Isn't he in middle school? He's 11yo but in 5th grade, he repeated 3rd grade. He's has a summer birthday so instead of being on the young end of 5th grade (just turned 10yo) he's on the older end (just turned 11yo). I never expected any original writing from him before now (but he did do some on his own and they were better than what he's producing in the journal) so I guess he does need to learn a bit but he does have an example journal entry to follow in the directions.....maybe I should point out some things in the example to him that I would like to see in his entries??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinMominTX Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I guess I consider middle school 6th-7th-8th grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairie rose Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 I guess I consider middle school 6th-7th-8th grade. I see, I've always considered 5/6th to be middle school and 7/8th to be junior high. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrienne Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Both my kids journal, and I've been guilty a time or two of critiquing...although I no longer add my commentary. I just let them free write and save the editing for when we're doing actual 'school work.' If the directions say no grade, I would hold off commenting (other than to offer praise) and save the editing for the actual writing assignments. Those books are meaty and I'm sure there will be plenty of editing in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 My 5th grader just started Saxon Grammar and Writing. I love the program; he's not thrilled but he doesn't hate it either so I guess it's a good thing. ;) Anyways, I'm wondering what to do about his journal entries. One told him to write about his state or city, he wrote about fishing at a nearby lake but had no mention of the city or state he lives in. Then it told him to tell about a time when he helped someone and he wrote 3 separate, unrelated sentences about things he did to help someone. I've tried to explain to him that he didn't exactly follow the directions but it seems to be falling on deaf ears. :glare: Also he writes 3 sentences, period. I've told him that the directions say "at least 3" meaning that 3 is the minimum but he can write more if he needs or wants to but he insists that he only has to write 3 and leaves off where ever he is, even if he leaves the reader hanging, when he finishes the third sentence. The directions say that journals are not to be graded or even read by the teacher but he's reading them to me when he is finished and I try to be very careful and constructive when I make comments on his journal entries because he is my very reluctant writer and he does the journal assignments with no complaints.....Should I just leave the journal entries alone until we get further into this and he's done a couple of the writing lessons? Not sure how to proceed from here.:confused: We're doing this program as well, and we're not doing the journal entries. My personal feeling on journal entries is they serve no purpose, especially for a reluctant writer. We're using the writing portion, but it's not our main writing program (we're using Imitations in Writing, and will transition into Classical Writing at some point in the next year). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyAberlin Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I was taught in my education classes in college that the difference between a middle school and a Junior high is the method of teaching the school subscribes to. Here middle school/jr high age is 6th-8th with sometimes a separate 5th grade building for transitioning into middle school if the school district is large. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildiris Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I think one of the ideas behind journal writing is to get the student into the habit of writing. I skipped over the journal writing in Hake grammar because DD did not like the topics. I replace the journal prompts with Unjournaling, Daily writing exercises that are NOT personal, NOT introspective, and NOT boring. This is book of 200 prompts such as: # 170. Carlos is a poet. Write a message for his answering machine that reflects his personality. These prompts seem genuinely fun. There is an answer key at the back of the book providing a possible entry to the topic given. We discuss these possibilities after DD does a journal entry so we can understand another approach to the same topic. Good Luck, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairie rose Posted September 10, 2009 Author Share Posted September 10, 2009 I was taught in my education classes in college that the difference between a middle school and a Junior high is the method of teaching the school subscribes to. Here middle school/jr high age is 6th-8th with sometimes a separate 5th grade building for transitioning into middle school if the school district is large. I went to K-8 elementary schools all the way through 8th grade, never went to middle school or Jr High. ;) I always just assumed it had to do with the number of students in the district (would the school be too large if 9 grade levels attended one school?) and how the district decided to break things up (There would be over 3000 students if they all attended one school so they break it up in to elementary and middle schools). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2abcd Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 BTW, what's the "theme" for 5th? 8th is all about the American Constitution and government stuff. Every sentence is about that. It's getting old. Does the 5th grade use one theme over and over? I would love to know the focus topics for each level in Hake Grammar 5-8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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