Tell me more about Phonics Road?

[lovemykids]

Interesting.

Edited February 13, 2013 by lovethislife

[Heather in VA]

I don't see how you (not you but parents with older children) could fit everything in, including writing. :001_huh:

 

It get challenging. This has been my most challenging year because of having 3 kids in 3 different levels of learning - high school, middle school and 1st grade. But we've been doing well by focusing on our foundational subjects, using programs that are well-integrated and eliminating clutter.

 

Heather

[greenmamato3]

wow, ladies, i've really enjoyed your discussion :)

i am now on the PR bandwagon.

carmen, i had purchased VP Phonics Museum when DS was coming along through K {though i used both K and 1st grade levels with him for that in conjunction with Ph Path} and now am thinking that it's a bit wonky for DD who is reading CVC without too much trouble.

so i'm thinking i'm going to buy PR 1 & 2 .... start DD in 1 {letting DS follow along for awhile whilst continuing his FLL2/WWE2} then officially start PR 2 when he hits "second grade" in my mind .... and we'll continue WWE. i'm hearing so many mixed reviews about FLL3& 4 actually being good .... like good retention. i thought about start CW primer .... just don't know with whom. i love the whole-integrated approach as well.

 

am i on the right track, oh great PR, CW, and SWB experts?

[greenmamato3]

oh one more thing ....

the issue of "bridge to latin road"

anybody have thoughts on that and how it would fit into a schematic for LA instruction sandwiched between ___ and Latin Road?

[lovemykids]

It get challenging. This has been my most challenging year because of having 3 kids in 3 different levels of learning - high school, middle school and 1st grade. But we've been doing well by focusing on our foundational subjects, using programs that are well-integrated and eliminating clutter.

 

Heather

 

Heather,

Oh yeah, I could definitely see those three levels being more challenging!

Yes, it’s tough; I am schooling three as well. And we do fit everything in for LA, but never into forty five minutes. LOL. (I was referring to a previous posters statement.)

 

Eliminating clutter, yes, that’s essential. We are trying to do too many things here, but I rotate, so it’s working. Looking ahead to next year, I’d like to streamline a little more. One thing I might do is just use Shurley for grammar instead of trying to add the jingles and Q&A flow onto another program. I think we are going to continue doing several writing programs though, it’s effective, and we love all of them.

 

(I just received the CW core book and I love it! But my thoughts are that we just don’t have the time to spend with CW, especially if we continue with the fun writing programs my girls love. I may consider CW poetry.)

 

Carmen, I hope that PR is everything you want it to be and more!

Edited February 17, 2010 by lovemykids

[lovemykids]

. :hat:

[Homeschooling6]

oh one more thing ....

the issue of "bridge to latin road"

anybody have thoughts on that and how it would fit into a schematic for LA instruction sandwiched between ___ and Latin Road?

 

Mrs. Beers said, if you use PR levels 1-4 you don't need The Bridge.

 

My two oldest will use The Bridge next year but the rest of the children will not need it because they are starting PR from level 1.

 

If you have older dc another idea would be to use only PR levels 1 & 2 at an accelerated pace then use The Bridge. Mrs. Beers said that the first two have all the phonics instruction.

[Lovedtodeath]

Mirandi, that sounds like a great plan. Starting it earlier is certainly smarter than waiting like I have. I still have to determine how it will work.

 

"Originally Posted by johnandtinagilbert

Now, I can finish all language arts in no more than 45 min. and that includes All language arts."

 

 

I don't see how you (not you, Carmen, but parents with older children) could fit everything in, including writing. :001_huh:

That is surprising! I spend that much time with one child in a lower grade.

 

Mrs. Beers said, if you use PR levels 1-4 you don't need The Bridge.

 

My two oldest will use The Bridge next year but the rest of the children will not need it because they are starting PR from level 1.

 

If you have older dc another idea would be to use only PR levels 1 & 2 at an accelerated pace then use The Bridge. Mrs. Beers said that the first two have all the phonics instruction.

So... after PR 2 you are done with spelling altogether? If so, that worries me.

[Homeschooling6]

Mirandi, that sounds like a great plan. Starting it earlier is certainly smarter than waiting like I have. I still have to determine how it will work.

 

That is surprising! I spend that much time with one child in a lower grade.

 

So... after PR 2 you are done with spelling altogether? If so, that worries me.

 

No, don't worry so much ;)

 

I'm talking about an older child who you want to get ready for Latin Road. Sorry, I wasn't thinking when I posted. Nothing to do with the spelling part of the conversations:tongue_smilie:. When I called Mrs. Beers I was talking about my two oldest and getting them ready for The Latin Road. For ME and MY situation. One is a good speller and the other I wanted to make sure he had his Phonics and reading down before starting Latin. Lesson learned for me. Not to post something that was for my situation. Sorry for the confusion. There is still spelling instruction in levels 3 & 4. With my father I will use all four levels because his situation is different than with my two older dc. :leaving:

Edited February 17, 2010 by Homeschooling6

[johnandtinagilbert]

"Originally Posted by johnandtinagilbert

Now, I can finish all language arts in no more than 45 min. and that includes All language arts."

 

 

I don't see how you (not you, Carmen, but parents with older children) could fit everything in, including writing. :001_huh:

 

That is for the K, 1st and 2nd graders (levels 1 and 2). The fourth grader, depending on the dictation for the day is easily finished with spelling in about 15min, grammar in about 30, literature reading 15m. and written literature in about 30. These subjects combine for writing skills, handwriting, dictation, and/or copywork.

[LoveBaby]

This thread is fascinating. I purchased a copy of Level 1 and am anxious to receive it and see if it's what I'm hoping it will be!

 

Part of me thinks I will love it, another part of me wonders if I am capable of following anything for 4 levels! ;) And what about my other pretty curriculums sitting on the shelf, anyway?

 

At any rate, I'm excited to get my hands on it and spending some time figuring it out.

 

Tina, you are a wealth of information and I'm thankful to be able to glean from your wisdom! I believe you accelerated your older students with Phonics Road. I would love to know how you accomplished that!

[johnandtinagilbert]

wow, ladies, i've really enjoyed your discussion :)

 

 

am i on the right track, oh great PR, CW, and SWB experts?

Sounds like a nice plan. Imagine getting rid of all that stuff.

 

oh one more thing ....

the issue of "bridge to latin road"

anybody have thoughts on that and how it would fit into a schematic for LA instruction sandwiched between ___ and Latin Road?

I used it with my older students b4 we started LR. The bonus for this group was adapting to the program style (not that it's really a big deal), it also gave my younger dc a change to grow mentally into the Logic stage. If you use the other PR programs, you do not need the Bridge at all. It is a repeat of those things passed. Having said that, if you had a student that is not grammar strong, it is a good place to pick up. It offers a nice intro. to Latin pre/suffixes. It was boring for my grammar strong dc, though (who were in 6th and 7th at the time).

 

Heather,

Oh yeah, I could definitely see those three levels being more challenging!

Yes, it’s tough; I am schooling three as well. And we do fit everything in for LA, but never into forty five minutes. LOL. (I was referring to a previous posters statement.)

 

Eliminating clutter, yes, that’s essential. We are trying to do too many things here, but I rotate, so it’s working. Looking ahead to next year, I’d like to streamline a little more. One thing I might do is just use Shurley for grammar instead of trying to add the jingles and Q&A flow onto another program. I think we are going to continue doing several writing programs though, it’s effective, and we love all of them.

 

(I just received the CW core book and I love it! But my thoughts are that we just don’t have the time to spend with CW, especially if we continue with the fun writing programs my girls love. I may consider CW poetry.)

 

Carmen, I hope that PR is everything you want it to be and more!

Eliminating the clutter is a serious plus of this program. Even though I'm teaching 3 levels (PR2, PR3, LR1), the similar style makes it very easy to switch gears, especially w/o all the different programs and notebooks, workbooks, and texts to go along with it.

 

I also wanted to add that at first, b/c I'm a die hard academically minded teacher, I thought that wouldn't be enough time to retain. I have been pleasurably surprised at what they remember. I believe the constant reinforcement across subject areas (spelling into grammar into literature into dicatation, etc.) is what makes it stick. I continue to be surprised at what they remember, especially when I don't expect the little guys to remember. I also like to make signs for our classroom, so if we're working on verb phrases, I hang up the definition or write it on the top of the board and leave it there for the week. Reinforcements, reinforcements.

 

Mirandi, that sounds like a great plan. Starting it earlier is certainly smarter than waiting like I have. I still have to determine how it will work.

 

That is surprising! I spend that much time with one child in a lower grade.

 

So... after PR 2 you are done with spelling altogether? If so, that worries me.

No. There continues to be spelling in the PR levels; and if you take the perspective that teaching and learning pre/suffixes and origins of base words, you are also learning spelling, then you will be pleased with LR. I just remember the dc on the National Spelling asking for word origins, etc. and realize spelling can be so much more than it ever was for me in school.

[johnandtinagilbert]

You know, I hate to be negative, and I am sure that PR is a wonderful program in its own right. But, I absolutely do not agree with the PR lady’s presentation. In the first part, she tries to tell us that written English is as unfamiliar to a young child as a Latin paragraph would be to an English speaking adult. Um, nooo, English is our native tongue. Our children have been listening to English since before they were born. (in our wombs) it’s only natural that they will pick up on it much easier than a foreign language. That’s why narrartion and copywork work so well. It’s using our native language and building upon the skills that our children naturally posses. It really doesn’t have to be so complicated.

I'm not sure of the exact reference here, but perhaps her reference is English as a written language? Making sense of the symantics of our written language is certainly aided by our speaking it, yet seems to be a difficult skill for many people to master. Just thinking out loud.

[johnandtinagilbert]

This thread is fascinating. I purchased a copy of Level 1 and am anxious to receive it and see if it's what I'm hoping it will be!

 

Part of me thinks I will love it, another part of me wonders if I am capable of following anything for 4 levels! ;) And what about my other pretty curriculums sitting on the shelf, anyway?

 

At any rate, I'm excited to get my hands on it and spending some time figuring it out.

 

Tina, you are a wealth of information and I'm thankful to be able to glean from your wisdom! I believe you accelerated your older students with Phonics Road. I would love to know how you accomplished that!

So glad to help. I don't know where I'd be without the wisdom of these boards IRL home schooling friends.

 

I will let you know what we did shortly for acceleration. I may have to blog about this so I have a quick reference :)

 

As for one curriculum....I used to have a zillion. Then when I had so many to teach, it became necessary for me to combine where possible (LA, History, Science) so I could specialize where necessary (math, high school science, writing). I enjoy the confidence I get from using this series. I KNOW I'm getting it all in and I appreciate the anxiety it removes from my home each and every day.

[johnandtinagilbert]

"Originally Posted by johnandtinagilbert

Now, I can finish all language arts in no more than 45 min. and that includes All language arts."

 

 

I don't see how you (not you, Carmen, but parents with older children) could fit everything in, including writing. :001_huh:

As for writing, our focus in elementary years is proper sentence construction, paragraph writing, and graphic organizing. By the end of 5th grade, all of my students can successfully write a paper (think 5 paragraph essay or longer), follow the steps in the writing process, complete project boards, newspapers, etc using their summaries for science and history. Project ideas come easily b/c I have the Writing Aids portion of TOG. I don't use it verbatim, but it makes a decent springboard or pool of ideas for me. For time keeping sake, I include narrations and summaries as part of the other subjects b/c they're our main source of topic review. So, when they write about science, it's science class (as opposed to writing class); although I wouldn't have them complete a great deal of writing in more than one subject per day. I.e. (I ramble, I know), we read science, narrate; next day read, experiment; next day write in our notebooks. The LL gets my help in composing sentences. The 4th grader and up notebook solo, I check, we discuss and add if necessary.

I then use middle school to work on style to make great papers that go beyond fact, but actually pull in the reader and also to introduce the many styles of writing. At this point, they really understand the english language so I can get into the nitty gritty of writing (one of my favorite topics as a teacher).

 

Part of my enjoyment of PR is it enforces this objective and makes writing a part of the LA experience while doing such a great job explaining the English language. We then use our grammar stage skills (sentence construction, paragraph writing, and graphic organizing) to narrate, then summarize our science and history as additional writing practice; thus we have no need for an additional writing program. We get a lot of narrative writing in the early years. Once I know they're solid there, then I'll move on to WriteShop. I understand IEW is great too.

 

Sorry if I wasn't explicit enough. I don't want to mislead in my haste. PR does teach writing skills, but for those of us who lean heavily on writing, we do more, we just incorporate it into other subject areas. Those in LR do have Latin and Writing as separate subject areas.

[lovemykids]

I'm not sure of the exact reference here, but perhaps her reference is English as a written language? Making sense of the symantics of our written language is certainly aided by our speaking it, yet seems to be a difficult skill for many people to master. Just thinking out loud.

 

Yes, I believe she is referring to English as a written language. She implies though, that it would look as hard as a foreign language would look to any one of us.

 

But I am very happy for you all, and I hope it works out well for you. :)

[lovemykids]

=

[johnandtinagilbert]

I only have one student this age so far, but she does very well with all of these skills. She can write longer reports and shorter summaries. We have followed WTM and CM suggestions and I am very pleased with the progression.

 

I am go glad you have found something you love. HSing can be completely wonderful at times, huh? :tongue_smilie:

I've enjoyed so many of your posts b/c you always bring me back to CM, an important place for my younger ones. I prefer to start CM, then head WTM-ecclectic in the end.

 

I am so glad to finally find *my* golden ticket. What a difference in everything -- attitude, particularly :D

[lovemykids]

I've enjoyed so many of your posts b/c you always bring me back to CM, an important place for my younger ones. I prefer to start CM, then head WTM-ecclectic in the end.

 

I am so glad to finally find *my* golden ticket. What a difference in everything -- attitude, particularly :D

:iagree: ;)

[lovemykids]

Tina, I absolutely enjoy reading your posts as well!! :D

[Honey Bee]

Tina, I have a question...

 

Can you compare PR writing to say...CW or the classical method of writing? I've been trying to compare, and even called Mrs. Beers, but could not get a clear answer. You give great answers, I know you can clarify. I've got to make a decision for next year with my 1st grader. Thanks for all the advise you give on PR it is sooooo helpful.

 

Thank You, Melissa

[johnandtinagilbert]

You're welcome. Glad to help.

 

I can kind of lay out the writing for you b/c I'm afraid I would compare poorly. Keep in mind, from the beginning of spelling list, your dc will dictate sentences, you write them, they copy. That's the first step...very CM :)

 

 

I need to feed my brood...and finish my LA :) Too much time online is not conducive to finishing LA you know.....how 'bout that! I will outline the writing skills for you sometime today. I have a light afternoon!

[lovemykids]

.

[lovinmomma]

Sounds very WTM as well. *Please keep in mind that I am not saying that PR is not a wonderful program. I am only disagreeing with her analogy in the sample DVD I viewed. I have not used PR, so therefore I can not comment on the program itself.

Carry on, ignore me. (yes, too much time online amounts to not accomplishing much of anything)

;)

 

I'm glad that you're sharing your opinion, but for what it's worth the analogy used in the sample she has nothing to do with why I chose PR. You can rest easy. :)

[Heather in VA]

Yes, I believe she is referring to English as a written language. She implies though, that it would look as hard as a foreign language would look to any one of us. I do not believe that to be true. I am all for phonics study as opposed to a complete whole language approach, which I think she is alluding to in her example, but we can’t extract the fact that English is the language that our children speak and have been immersed in for so long. Naturally, they absolutely would pick up on so much through copywork; they would make many, many connections without having to have everything spelled out for them as would be the case with a foreign language. I am a firm believer in the power of copywork and narration when it comes to writing, reading, and basic functions of our language.

I am not interested in PR because I am happily set in my ways of teaching these early skills to my children. But I am very happy for you all, and I hope it works out well for you. :)

 

FWIW, I don't agree with Mrs. Beers on this either. I plan to use PR with my youngest but I do lots of copywork and narration as well. In the case of my youngest, she needs the systematic approach along side copywork/narration for things like spelling and structure. I don't intend PR to replace those things as we do them in relation to our other subjects and I fully plan on continuing my CW path with all of my kids as I know from experience that as they get older, narration is not sufficient for high school and college academic writing. At least it isn't for us. Ms. Mason could probably do it right, but not me.

 

Heather

[lovemykids]

.

[LoveBaby]

FWIW, I don't agree with Mrs. Beers on this either. I plan to use PR with my youngest but I do lots of copywork and narration as well. In the case of my youngest, she needs the systematic approach along side copywork/narration for things like spelling and structure. I don't intend PR to replace those things as we do them in relation to our other subjects and I fully plan on continuing my CW path with all of my kids as I know from experience that as they get older, narration is not sufficient for high school and college academic writing. At least it isn't for us. Ms. Mason could probably do it right, but not me.

 

Heather

 

:iagree:

 

I do really love narration/copywork as well, but for my oldest especially, that has not translated into a good working knowledge of spelling and structure. I think she will especially benefit from the systematic approach of PR. At least I hope so!! :D I think I'll continue with her copywork book/cursive practice and we will always do narration of our content subjects, but I'll feel better knowing these are getting backed up, so to speak, with some solid instruction.

 

I'm really looking forward to receiving the PR level 1 and becoming more familiar with it. Hopefully it will do what I want it to!

[Lovedtodeath]

I am starting to get annoyed that there are no printed samples of anything. There is no proof that I need to start with level one, only assurances that it is essential. I would really like to see what I would be missing. :glare:

[lovemykids]

I found that annoying too. "Just trust us" you need to spend all your hard earned money because we say so. ;) Ugh.

[johnandtinagilbert]

Oh yeah, thanks for the reassurance, resting easy here. Hehe. I was just called an honorary skeptic through private email and so I wanted to clarify. ;) (I think that was uncalled for, don’t you?)

LOL.

I'm glad too. I appreciate the honorary skeptic (not that you really were)...at least I'm glad for someone to post cuz I'm sure every one here is sick of hearing me sing about PR :D

 

I found that annoying too. "Just trust us" you need to spend all your hard earned money because we say so. ;) Ugh.

I hear you. I didn't make the decision until I went to a convention and spent Considerable time reviewing everything. The DVD did nothing for me. The little class at convention bored me to death too. I am so thankful to have looked through it for a long time...and talked to Mrs. Beers 'til I probably drove her crazy!

If only we were neighbors....sigh. You could see Levels 1-3, The Bridge and LR 1&2....darn state borders!

[johnandtinagilbert]

I blogged today to kinda clear some space on the forums (thanks for understanding SWB and faithful staff). Feel free to holla if you need to :D

[Lovedtodeath]

Thanks Tina! I will definitely check that out. Now the forums have more room for MCT. :lol:

 

Just so everyone is clear... I am wanting to use level 2 with an 8 year old 3rd grader... not a 7 year old. I plan to start next school year. ;)

Edited February 18, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[Heather in VA]

I am starting to get annoyed that there are no printed samples of anything. There is no proof that I need to start with level one, only assurances that it is essential. I would really like to see what I would be missing. :glare:

 

Yea this bugged me too. If I was considering starting with an older child that would probably be enough to keep me away. Since my dd is 6 1/2, even though I'm sure we'll be going through Level 1 pretty quickly, it doesn't bother me as much because I am pretty sure Level 1 is the right choice. But I sure wish the samples were better so it was easier to make our own decisions.

 

Heather

[johnandtinagilbert]

Thanks Tina! I will definitely check that out. Now the forums have more room for MCT. :lol:

 

Just so everyone is clear... I am wanting to use level 2 with an 8 year old 3rd grader... not a 7 year old. I plan to start next school year. ;)

:lol: maybe we could rehash TT and MUS...:lol: sorry, it's late. Sarcastic Tina emerges after the kids go to bed!

 

I can't recall anything....LR does have a lot of Christian readings for Latin reading practice, but PR.....well the literature selections are Christian families...I can't think of a single thing in any of the lessons that has anything to do with religion, faith....

[Lovedtodeath]

Thanks. Could you tell me what sort of Christian readings are in LR?

 

I finally got the video to work. loved the video, though it was more of an advertisement than a sample. Why are they afraid to show samples?

 

Emily would have loved level one. Making your own books! She makes her own books now about a dog and I am blown away by her illustrations.

Edited February 18, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[johnandtinagilbert]

Thanks. Could you tell me what sort of Christian readings are in LR?

 

I finally got the video to work. loved the video, though it was more of an advertisement than a sample. Why are they afraid to show samples?

In the Latin Road there is a reading practice, The Pledge of Allegiance or the Lord's Prayer, O Come All Ye Faithful, America, The Christmas Story as it appears in Luke, etc. written in Latin. Not even meant for translating (at least so far, we're still in year 1), but Christian in theme.

 

There is a CD with pronunciation practice for this reading. We read it daily by listening to the CD the first couple of times, then we just read it.

[johnandtinagilbert]

I don't know about not showing samples. The one thing I think is if you just looked at the black and white pages in the notebook, you really won't understand the fullness of the program. It would look boring and might not make sense b/c the carpentry theme?

 

I don't know why else. :001_huh:

[lovemykids]

:)

[AngelBee]

This may be exactly what I am looking for. Can you reuse most of it for additional children?

 

Thanks Lovedtodeath for the recommendation :)

[johnandtinagilbert]

That would be fabulous. I’d love to have the chance to look over some of the curricula you use, but then I would probably walk away feeling like I need to purchase all of the expensive programs you use. ;) Just having coffee or tea and chatting would be ideal though. In nice sunny Florida! Oh, how I miss the sunshine I used to enjoy down south. mmm tea and coffee... It's funny how I ended up on the high cost end! Admittedly, I am a used curric. queen. :thumbup: I continue to think recycle, recycle, recycle. I sold 7 years of RS grammar last year...7 years sniff, sniff. Just when I thought I wasn't going to buy a thing! Good news is I don't have to buy any more Grammar Stage science (except for Apologia's new Anatomy- woo hoo!), only student notebooks for the Little League using PR. I already bought up all the math I could (Singapore) for the Ax Man (worried that in their transition my TM will end up useless), and of course, TOG only costs me copies of Student Pages now :) High stuff...that's might cost me another small fortune, just in math and science. WOO SAAAA I'm trying not to think about high school this week. FOCUS, Tina...8th grade thoughts only!

 

I enjoyed your blog post. Very entertaining, and it seems like you are having a good time while your children learn a ton. (and you have so many children!!) Way to go Mom! :)

 

Thank you very much. I am having a great time. I love teaching and I love my kids. Who could ask for a better life?!

[johnandtinagilbert]

This may be exactly what I am looking for. Can you reuse most of it for additional children?

 

Thanks Lovedtodeath for the recommendation :)

You'll need a new student notebook. The TM will carry over year after year.

[johnandtinagilbert]

Ds asked me last evening why I had been on the computer so much. I told him I was a part of a PR Revolution! :D Go, PR! Go, PR! Go, PR!

[Annabel Lee]

Yea this bugged me too. If I was considering starting with an older child that would probably be enough to keep me away. Since my dd is 6 1/2, even though I'm sure we'll be going through Level 1 pretty quickly, it doesn't bother me as much because I am pretty sure Level 1 is the right choice. But I sure wish the samples were better so it was easier to make our own decisions.

 

Heather

 

Bingo. My son is turning almost 9 and in 3rd grade. My other son is 6 and in 1st - when I try to do Abeka 1st grade LA w/ him he asks "Why do I have to do all this baby work?". I think OPG and lots of reading ruined him for the backtracking to marking up words phonetically.

 

If I had known about PR in the beginning, and if the samples showed more than what you all describe, it would have been a huge contender. My 3rd grader is too far down another path to jump sideways into this right now. We need to move forward, not start yet another new program. It's taken awhile to come to that realization, with help from many of you (thanks!).

[Lovedtodeath]

 

My 3rd grader is too far down another path to jump sideways into this right now. We need to move forward, not start yet another new program. It's taken awhile to come to that realization, with help from many of you (thanks!).

That's how I feel about Emily. We are starting to make progress again. I don't want to mess that up. Third grade would be a transition for us anyway, so I am thinking it will be a good time for it.

[Mabeline]

As for writing, our focus in elementary years is proper sentence construction, paragraph writing, and graphic organizing. By the end of 5th grade, all of my students can successfully write a paper (think 5 paragraph essay or longer), follow the steps in the writing process, complete project boards, newspapers, etc using their summaries for science and history. Project ideas come easily b/c I have the Writing Aids portion of TOG. I don't use it verbatim, but it makes a decent springboard or pool of ideas for me. For time keeping sake, I include narrations and summaries as part of the other subjects b/c they're our main source of topic review. So, when they write about science, it's science class (as opposed to writing class); although I wouldn't have them complete a great deal of writing in more than one subject per day. I.e. (I ramble, I know), we read science, narrate; next day read, experiment; next day write in our notebooks. The LL gets my help in composing sentences. The 4th grader and up notebook solo, I check, we discuss and add if necessary.

I then use middle school to work on style to make great papers that go beyond fact, but actually pull in the reader and also to introduce the many styles of writing. At this point, they really understand the english language so I can get into the nitty gritty of writing (one of my favorite topics as a teacher).

 

Part of my enjoyment of PR is it enforces this objective and makes writing a part of the LA experience while doing such a great job explaining the English language. We then use our grammar stage skills (sentence construction, paragraph writing, and graphic organizing) to narrate, then summarize our science and history as additional writing practice; thus we have no need for an additional writing program. We get a lot of narrative writing in the early years. Once I know they're solid there, then I'll move on to WriteShop. I understand IEW is great too.

 

Sorry if I wasn't explicit enough. I don't want to mislead in my haste. PR does teach writing skills, but for those of us who lean heavily on writing, we do more, we just incorporate it into other subject areas. Those in LR do have Latin and Writing as separate subject areas.

 

So, if we did PR, would we still need to do a separate writing program like WWE?

[LoveBaby]

So, if we did PR, would we still need to do a separate writing program like WWE?

 

 

I don't believe so. Especially not in level 1 & 2. You may want to add more writing to level's 3 and 4, however I haven't seen them so I can't say for sure. It depends on your writing philosophy I think!

[johnandtinagilbert]

So, if we did PR, would we still need to do a separate writing program like WWE?

No. PR teaches all the skills you need for writing. You will get plenty dictation, copywork, narration, outlining, paraphrasing, summarizing, sentence building...plenty.

 

My method of narration, copywork, outlining, and extra writing in science and history are a part of the Classical and CM philosophies I follow. PR fits right into that b/c the program gives a very natural flow in facilitating each of those skills. I expound on what my students learn by giving more practice with writing skills b/c I want to drive those skills home (for good measure) AND b/c that's how I'd do science & history anyways. PR has made this part of our schooling much easier b/c my student already write well (sentence and paragraph structure, mechanically) from their lessons in PR. I don't need another writing program. PR teaches it, allows for practice, and the other subjects give us a chance for more practice and mastery.

 

In 3rd we really hit outlining and single paragraphs. In 4th they start writing, on their own, several paragraphs for assignments. There is no class work involved, we just evolve from original sentence, to paragraph, to paragraphs. PR gives us the tools to do this, we just practice using other areas of study. We then transfer our writing into the projects I mentioned. So, I don't teach another class for writing, we apply our skills in other subject areas. That is also part of the point of our philosophy of education. Reading and writing make all the communication possible...why PR is complete....why I love it...

 

An example, "So, now that you're writing paragraphs well, let's try and write three paragraphs about tigers. The first paragraph should tell me about how they look. The next about their environment and the third about their diet and eating habits. You'll write one paragraph on Monday, W, and F." PR has taught them all about how to write, now we'll apply it.

 

Read. Think. Write. (KUDOS to TOG for outlining our motto so nicely).

 

My project ideas come from the history or science programs I use (TOG, Apologia).

 

I hope I clarified well. PR will take care of your writing.

Edited February 18, 2010 by johnandtinagilbert

[Lovedtodeath]

Just to clarify my position: The only reason I want to continue WWE is that I love having the literature selections for reading, since DD can't seem to finish books even though she has a high reading level. I want her exposed to the variety of rich literature.

[AngelBee]

Tina...if I take the plunge, I may need you as cruise director. :D

[Lovedtodeath]

Tina, I didn't see vocabulary on your blog?