Any thoughts on improving writing?

[creekland]

Hubby and I are both science/math people, so perhaps our offspring are genetically 'doomed'... but I thought I'd check anyway.

 

I just had my sophomore take the practice PSAT (from the book they give you when you sign up) and he got a 75 in math (whoo hoo!), a 70 in reading (not bad) and a 57!!! in writing (sigh). This is eerily similar to what his brother did on the SAT for real... so it's either genetic or I'm messin' up somewhere with his schooling. If I'm messing up... I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to improve (much). Such is life with the non-writing brain I suppose.

 

We have a year before he takes the PSAT for NM possibilities. Any suggestions on things to do or places to check out to consider helping his writing skills? Public school classes are not an option in our area - nor are there good private schools around. We're rural. He only becomes eligible for cc classes his senior year - and then we pay full price for anything he takes.

[Hoggirl]

I believe they offer a program that is specifically geared toward writing timed essays such as those on the SAT and ACT. I have not used that specific program because my ds is not to that point age-wise, but we have used two of their writing programs with success. After awhile, the style points start to become unwieldly because there are so many. However, I think their programs offer very concrete ways to improve writing.

 

We are using something different for writing this year, but I do plan to return to IEW in the future for the particular course on timed essay writing.

[HeidiD]

Hubby and I are both science/math people, so perhaps our offspring are genetically 'doomed'... but I thought I'd check anyway.

 

I just had my sophomore take the practice PSAT (from the book they give you when you sign up) and he got a 75 in math (whoo hoo!), a 70 in reading (not bad) and a 57!!! in writing (sigh). This is eerily similar to what his brother did on the SAT for real... so it's either genetic or I'm messin' up somewhere with his schooling. If I'm messing up... I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to improve (much). Such is life with the non-writing brain I suppose.

 

We have a year before he takes the PSAT for NM possibilities. Any suggestions on things to do or places to check out to consider helping his writing skills? Public school classes are not an option in our area - nor are there good private schools around. We're rural. He only becomes eligible for cc classes his senior year - and then we pay full price for anything he takes.

 

Unless things change between now and next year, you won't have to worry about essay writing on the PSAT - only on the SAT. And I noticed when my eldest son was applying to colleges last year that many colleges aren't even considering the writing scores yet because it's a new section (although that might change in the next couple of years).

 

My son prefers math and science and HATES writing, but he got an extremely high score on the SAT writing section once he realized he could actually apply scientific principles to his writing. After that, writing didn't seem so onerous - it was more like a game to him.

 

He used Composition in the Classical Tradition and Reading Critically, Writing Well, and he also wrote essays on vague topics similar to the ones on the SAT.

[Kendall]

The writing section on the PSAT is multiple choice questions not actual writing, The SAT also has multiple choice questions and an actual essay. I'm not sure how the essay is weighted, but you can get an 800 on the writing portion without getting a perfect 12 on the essay. The colleges we have looked at WON'T use the writing portion for scholarship decisions.

 

My dh and I are both math people and I have done a lousy job of teaching writing, yet both of my children who have taken the PSAT have done very well on the writing portion. I think it must be strong grammar and strong reading that have helped them. It sure wasn't strong writing skills!

[mysticamethyst]

I have to say that I have read on this board over and over IEW is the where its at. Finally, after three years I broke down and bought the US History based set and I LOVE IT. I am using it with all my kids but really have seen HUGE improvement in my oldest writing. I think it is just the way it's laid out for me to explain and him to read. Writing is always an area I struggled with teaching and this program is making it as painless for everyone as it can be. :001_smile: Good Luck with your decision.

[homeschoolally]

We have also seen amazing progress with IEW. I only wish I'd been taught this way!

[creekland]

Thanks to all. I'm going to check out IEW... Yes, the part he got the 57 on was the multiple choice part on the PSAT practice test - not an actual essay at this point. However, his older brother only scored 560 on the SAT doing both the multiple choice and essay so there probably won't be much difference between the two.

 

Fortunately, colleges for my oldest don't care about the writing and he did quite well on math and critical reading. My main concern for my youngest is financial... he has a couple of colleges on his list (future medical researcher wannabe) that will offer a free ride if he gets National Merit status... his math and cr are within range - esp if he improves this coming year. The writing at this point will definitely keep him out of it. Hence... I want to see if I can provide him with other resources.

[Tullia]

...which might might help. Two of the most fruitful language arts reviews my son used for the multiple choice parts of testing were to read The Elements of Style (Strunk & White), in the final couple of weeks before the test, and he also worked through chapters 1-16 of English Handbook for Christian Schools published by BJUP. Each section has a brief presentation followed by exercises which have answers in the back of the book. Strunk & White is fairly short and you can use it for a quick review. The BJU handbook review, IMO, is better suited to a longer schedule in which the student does a few pages each day.

 

Our experience on what it takes to get a good essay score is to be comfortable with a persuasive essay outline, to be able to generate interesting and appropriate supporting details, and to remember to incorporate at least a brief refutation section. It's possible to get a decent score with a perfunctory 5-paragraph essay. My son has trouble writing on topics he hasn't seen before, so lots of practice was essential for him. He also watched and liked the IEW dvd on persuasive writing.

 

I give credit to Classical Writing for his good critical reading/comprehension scores, but we had to drop it after Diogenes because Ds was ahead of their publishing schedule. We used Lost Tools of Writing for the next step in essay writing after CW Diogenes.

 

HTH,

Martha

[Cedarmom]

Since it is the PSAT, I think you are referring more to grammar and usage rules. I reccommend Anaylitical Grammar. It is a one year course designed to teache grammar and usage.Even if he doesn't have time to do all the assignments before the PSAT he would benefit from reading the book.

[creekland]

...which might might help. Two of the most fruitful language arts reviews my son used for the multiple choice parts of testing were to read The Elements of Style (Strunk & White), in the final couple of weeks before the test, and he also worked through chapters 1-16 of English Handbook for Christian Schools published by BJUP. Each section has a brief presentation followed by exercises which have answers in the back of the book. Strunk & White is fairly short and you can use it for a quick review. The BJU handbook review, IMO, is better suited to a longer schedule in which the student does a few pages each day.

 

Our experience on what it takes to get a good essay score is to be comfortable with a persuasive essay outline, to be able to generate interesting and appropriate supporting details, and to remember to incorporate at least a brief refutation section. It's possible to get a decent score with a perfunctory 5-paragraph essay. My son has trouble writing on topics he hasn't seen before, so lots of practice was essential for him. He also watched and liked the IEW dvd on persuasive writing.

 

I give credit to Classical Writing for his good critical reading/comprehension scores, but we had to drop it after Diogenes because Ds was ahead of their publishing schedule. We used Lost Tools of Writing for the next step in essay writing after CW Diogenes.

 

HTH,

Martha

 

Thanks. The Elements of Style book was quite inexpensive so I just ordered one. It had really good reviews and he's a very quick reader, so he should be able to get through it before Oct's test. Who knows? It might help with the multiple choice and still give him thoughts for future essays.

 

We'll start tackling essays more once he has this test out of the way. I'm glad he can do this 10th grade PSAT for practice.

[creekland]

Since it is the PSAT, I think you are referring more to grammar and usage rules. I reccommend Anaylitical Grammar. It is a one year course designed to teache grammar and usage.Even if he doesn't have time to do all the assignments before the PSAT he would benefit from reading the book.

 

Thanks. I think that one might be at our library... We'll have a look at it on our next visit.

[creekland]

...The Elements of Style (Strunk & White)

 

Thank you SO MUCH for the referral to that book. It was a quick read for him - and has helped him boost his writing score on practice tests by over 100 points (SAT scale). It helped him tremendously to have the rules in a concise manner/list with a quick example.

[Tullia]

Thank you SO MUCH for the referral to that book. It was a quick read for him - and has helped him boost his writing score on practice tests by over 100 points (SAT scale). It helped him tremendously to have the rules in a concise manner/list with a quick example.

 

I'm glad to know that it's been helpful to your son! It's the only last-minute review for language arts we use. My son says it's quick, effective, and low-stress.