tdeveson Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 I'm shopping for next year's writing program. Currently we're doing CW Aesop B. Next year we either move on to Homer or swap to IEW. Here's my dilemma. Ds and I like CW. He's really learning, and that should be the bottom line for a curriculum. But I hate the amount of time I have to spend preparing lessons. I'm really not willing to spend an hour sorting through three different books so I can put one lesson together. It's awkward and time consuming. (Is it too hard to ask for the instructions for teaching a lesson to be in the same book as the lesson plan that tells you to teach the lesson?) While the material is good, I keep feeling that it was put together in pieces and nobody ever bothered to integrate it. I've heard good things about IEW, but I don't know if it would be more of the same. It's a lot of money and I would only consider it if it saved me considerable time. If you're using IEW, would you tell me how long you spend preparing your lessons for the week? If you've used both, would you compare them for me? Thanks so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 No real advice on choosing, but it drives me nuts not having the student's work in the teacher's book. We did Aesop B in that manner and I was constantly grabbing ds' workbook. So for Homer I bought my own student workbook and use it for teacher notes, it has truly helped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdeveson Posted January 16, 2010 Author Share Posted January 16, 2010 No real advice on choosing, but it drives me nuts not having the student's work in the teacher's book. We did Aesop B in that manner and I was constantly grabbing ds' workbook. It's nuts. And such a good program too. I wonder if they have any plans to fix it. It's such a pity that it's so unnecessarily difficult to teach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 This might sound crazy, but does this mean that the Teacher's Guide doesn't help you teach or schedule the lesson? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemykids Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 IEW per day, (we never do more than one lesson per week) takes only a few minutes to prepare. But that depends on whether you are using the TWSS DVDs. (I am not) There is also a book which has almost the same information as the DVDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdeveson Posted January 16, 2010 Author Share Posted January 16, 2010 This might sound crazy, but does this mean that the Teacher's Guide doesn't help you teach or schedule the lesson? The teacher's guide schedules your lesson, but a) you can't see what's in the student book, so you have to constantly refer to that, and b) the instructions for teaching the actual lessons are in a third book. Lesson planning requires me to clear off the table, lay out three books, and start jumping around between them. It's ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretchen in NJ Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 No real advice on choosing, but it drives me nuts not having the student's work in the teacher's book. We did Aesop B in that manner and I was constantly grabbing ds' workbook. So for Homer I bought my own student workbook and use it for teacher notes, it has truly helped. Yes, I too do not care for how CW is laid out. I started reading Homer. I wasn't getting anywhere so started to read the Homer TM which then in turn told me to read the Homer SW for instructions on how to teach the course.:001_huh: IMO I shouldn't be reading the student workbook for teaching instructions. They should be in the teaching manual.:glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretchen in NJ Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 The teacher's guide schedules your lesson, but a) you can't see what's in the student book, so you have to constantly refer to that, and b) the instructions for teaching the actual lessons are in a third book. Lesson planning requires me to clear off the table, lay out three books, and start jumping around between them. It's ridiculous. :iagree:The amount of post-its that I have used to teach this course is ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Maybe someone should post one lesson to the authors to give them your ideas. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 I read over the lesson before we start the new week and go through the Homer text making sure I understand anything that is new (usually there is only a couple of things that are new). I mark the Instructor's Guide with a bookmark post-it for the week we are on and after that we are ready to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Another option to consider would be Lost Tools of Writing. The website doesn't have a ton of information, but if you do a search there are many good threads about it on the high school board here. I'm considering/planning/contemplating it after we get through Homer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelmorris Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 I'm glad I'm not the only one having these issues with CW.. I was beginning to feel like a moron trying to teach it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 I'm glad I'm not the only one having these issues with CW.. I was beginning to feel like a moron trying to teach it. I think part of the issue with CW is that the core books were written first. The student/teacher books came after to help people implement what was in the core books. It is also more expensive to create a teacher text that has the entire body of the student book. It would be a nice option for those of willing to pay for a better organized teacher book. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Toni, With Homer I mostly use the student workbook. It lists all the pages in the core that you need, and I rarely open the teacher's manual. I did go in and make a spreadsheet when something new is covered, that way I know right off. I then read those pages in the core aloud to my dd, so we both get an idea of what is needed. Then we discuss what I expect her to do with the form/assignment in the student text. After she is done she usually self checks it with the Teacher's Manual. I do look over any of her writing, to make sure she is on track. That includes the Six Sentence Shuffle, the paragraph work and her end writing. I haven't found it to be too difficult to implement, once I gave up and being prepared and instead just started reading the core aloud. Warning: the first week is rough though because everything is new and you do a lot of reading out of the core book. You might want to plan to take two weeks. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 You strike me as a MCT-type gal Toni. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemykids Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Another option to consider would be Lost Tools of Writing. The website doesn't have a ton of information, but if you do a search there are many good threads about it on the high school board here. I'm considering/planning/contemplating it after we get through Homer. :iagree: This looks very good for high school. I'd like to wait until then so that I can teach my dd's together... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdeveson Posted January 17, 2010 Author Share Posted January 17, 2010 You strike me as a MCT-type gal Toni. Bill :w00t: He said it. He said MCT! Just kidding. I'm tempted to take a closer look. Have you used it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 :w00t: He said it. He said MCT! Just kidding. I'm tempted to take a closer look. Have you used it? Not yet. I decided to use this a before it got all "popular", and I'm chomping at the bit now. The samples (especially the poetry series) plus the reviews make me think this is a *dream come true* as far as what *I* want. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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