Kidswrite Basic opinions

[swimmermom3]

I am considering enrolling my ds (11) in Julie Bogarts' online Kidswrite Basic class. Does anyone here have experience with the course? If so, what are your opinions about the format?

[swimmermom3]

:lurk5:Anyone?

[lisabees]

I really didn't want to answer this, because I know people have great experiences with this. I tried this with my 13 year old. I was really shocked at how little we had to do. Maybe it's intended to use alongside the Writer's Jungle or maybe I misunderstood the expectations.

 

For most of the weeks, we just did an observation or quick brainstorming activity or simple freewrite. Each student posted a few sentences and that's it. DS and I had already been down the road using all five senses to describe an orange, so it wasn't anything new. The instructor would write a sentence or two saying good job or expand on that, please. I don't know. For $200, I expected more homework, more teacher responses, more direction than "list all the things you like about...", then narrow it down and ask a question about it.

 

Like I said, I may have completed misunderstood what I was supposed to do. Hopefully, others can help you out more.

[Capt_Uhura]

I think for me, since I already owned The Writer's Jungle and had done the observation and drawing exercises, I felt like the first 2 weeks weren't that important for us. The other 4 weeks were helpful and really showed me how to help DS in his writing. I liked the feedback from the teacher and other posters. I felt the Hand Holder's class would have been sufficient which from the sounds of it, just cuts out the first 2 weeks of observation/drawing exercises and gets to the meat of writing and a lot cheaper. My son did however, really enjoy the class, finished up with a great writing piece which he was happy to share w/ his family. It so sparked his interest in writing that he begged his dad to take another course. So we took Just So Stories. We both LOVED LOVEd that one. I think we may take it again some time with my younger son. I just finished up Dynamic Expansion and Revision and learned a lot and came away with a 20page word document of information to use in our HSing. There was a lot of meat to that class.

 

Was KWB worth the money? I don't know. But it certainly sparked an interest in writing for my DS and I guess that is priceless.

 

If you have any other specific questions I'd be happy to answer.

 

Capt_Uhura

[Carol in Cal.]

I did it when DD was 10 or maybe 11 at the most.

 

She was a good composer, but hated to revise. So if her first draft had flaws, it was always a battle, and the end result was never as well written as the first draft, even if it was more accurate or more complete.

 

KWB walked me through the entire Writer's Jungle process from start to finish. If you have already been using WJ a lot, I don't know that I would start with KWB. There is nothing in KWB that is not in WJ, but I had not done all of the steps to getting to a final paper as successfully as I thought I could, and so I indulged in KWB intending it to give DD some input from someone else, and also wanting to see if I was missing something in the process.

 

I though that having the deadlines come from someone else might be helpful to DD, which indeed it was. Also, the descriptive language exercises were good to redo and have been good to refer to ever since--I was not expecting them to be beneficial, but they were.

 

But the main helpful thing from the class was the revisions. This class got DD over the revising hump completely. I can't tell you why, exactly, but I think it's because there was someone else telling her to do it, with a deadline, and telling her exactly how and giving her feedback on her writing. So once she revised her piece, she never had that block again. The whole class was worth that!

 

I also liked being walked through the process of assisting with editing...starting with content, moving to organization, and then getting around to final grammar and spelling issues. I had always tried to do it that way, but being able to articulate that that was the order and that we were not going to concern ourselves with one thing until we had done the prior one was really good for me as a teacher.

 

We did not participate in any subsequent Bravewriter classes, but will start the class on the Expository Essay shortly. DD is now 13 and will probably be attending a brick and mortar high school next year. I believe that the EE class will be just the thing to hone those writing skills that she will need in high school. And Julie herself is teaching it, so that's great.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

I loved it and can't thank Capt Uhura enough for the recommendation!

 

Here is my take on it for what it's worth: It really wasn't a class for my daughter. It was a class for me to learn how to teach my daughter how to write.

 

I read the book. The things that really reached out and grabbed me were the "promise" of getting to know my daughter's writing voice and becoming her writing ally. After years of IEW I had despaired of ever doing either!

 

In the Kidswrite Basic class you learn the steps to writing with your child and you put her through the work. You will post them and the teacher will make comments but really the focus is on teaching you to teach . . . which is why I loved it. I love to write and felt that I could teach my daughter but something was in our way.

 

I don't think the teacher's comments were all that insightful but my daughter couldn't wait to get them.

 

My daughter loved as much as I. We both feel that it was so empowering. I feel that I actually learned techniques for doing it myself and she is the beneficiary of a completely new writing program and one that let's her experiment with her own style.

 

We won't take the hand-holding class just now but maybe later just to see if we gain more insights. I know we'll take poetry and we might do just so stories just for fun.

 

Just to comment to a pp: when I'm looking for reviews on a curriculum/program, I want comments from everyone! I want to know the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between! I'm sure your review was more than welcome!

[Capt_Uhura]

We're mainly doing Hand HOlders b/c my friend signed up for it. :001_smile: And DS started freewriting opening hooks for a new story. Since we're in the middle of getting the house ready to put on the market, I figure, taking Hand Holders would be the only way writing would get done over the next month.

 

LOL I'm having a horrid homeschool day so not a good day for me to be posting lol. Now that I think more about it, for us, KWB was definitely worth it. My DS9 loved getting the feedback from the teacher. And for me, seeing how something is done, is much better than just reading about it. Yes, it's a chunk of change, but I now know how to approach writing with all my kids.