Ibbygirl Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 I'm starting to buy my curricula for next year's school and I want to add some books to help dd develop her creative writing skills. So far I've been looking at Wordsmith and Great Explorations in Editing, http://commonsensepress.com/langarts.htm but there aren't many sample pages to look at and I wish I could see more of it before committing to buy it. Has anyone used either of these that can offer some feedback on them or can anyone recommend another source to develop creative writing skills?? DD will be in 8th next year. Thank you to all who reply. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 No ideas here, but since you're back on page 5, I thought I'd give you a nice bump back up. :D Hoping someone answers for you... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibbygirl Posted April 7, 2010 Author Share Posted April 7, 2010 No ideas here, but since you're back on page 5, I thought I'd give you a nice bump back up. :D Hoping someone answers for you... :) Thanks. lol Things get buried quickly round here. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon in TN Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Giving you another bump because I just found Wordsmith Apprentice and almost bought it used because I liked what I saw as I was flipping through. I didn't buy it though because I wasn't familiar with it or remembered any reviews. Anyone? Anyone?? :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 We didn't like Wordsmith Apprentice very much. It was okay. Since we have Wordsmith and have just started it, it's working out better, so far. :001_smile: We're loving Apologia Jump In so far and that's working out very nicely. They have sample pages. Very appealing to reluctant writers. Fun and engaging program. Some of the notes I gathered about it before ordering. Open-and-go format Workbook For 5th-8th grades, junior high, or even reluctant high school student Appealing to reluctant writers Assignments are short and not overwhelming Very easy to use, one assignment a day or however long you want to use it Incremental approach Covers all types of writing – including essays and research papers Student learns a little each day by doing a "skill" Breaking down into steps – easy to use Student-led – instructions are simple enough for student to read on own There is a lot of leeway as far as what to write about Very little teaching required other than answering a few questions and checking work The student can work very independently and do each of the skill areas on his own The parent just coaches them through writing their assignments When you get to the actual writing assignment, you can, if you need to, take longer than the author suggests. You can have the student work on 1-2 paragraphs a day and then you can work on revision together. That way you can ask him questions like "So what is the main point of your paragraph?" and "What is another way you could say that so it would be clearer to your reader?" Jump In has enough material for 2-3 years if you include the "Writing Plunges" in the Teacher's book. After that, it could be used as a reference and you could use different topics for the different formats. I love this site for reviews as well as Cathy Duffy's reviews. We have Hands-on Essays to use after Jump In. I've heard great things about it. I'm also considering this for later ... but am not sure, since I really did not care for JAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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