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Thoughts on "Classical Writing" curriculum


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Anyone have experience with "Classical Writing" curriculum (by Kathy Weitz)?

 

We have purchased it for my middle and highschooler, (and also the lower grades) and so far, I think I like it, but there's a lot of different reading and steps for each lesson.

 

Has anyone used it with success? or what didn't you like about it?

 

Thanks!

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We've completed Aesop A & B and are now in Homer A. The #1 thing I like about this curriculum is that it gives you flexibility and you are not a slave to workbooks, but you need to read the cores to learn how the program works. It's a little work at the beginning but has the long-term benefits which I just mentioned. I also love the results. My daughter can write about anything now because she has been given not only a framework for writing, but a framework that still allows the child to express themselves in their own voice. I found some of the other writing programs too formulaic and, if you have a child who is a natural writer, they tend handicap them more than help. As you move through it, Classical Writing really breaks down the structure of writing for a child and familiarizes them with it, so they are not intimidated when they have to produce written work. Since we're in Homer A, I can only offer our experience up to there. I've seen many posts regarding Homer B, where moms are wondering what they're doing (I believe it gets harder) but, by the time they hit Diogenes, they are so thrilled with the results. Classical Writing also has online classes for middle school and up.

 

As you can see, I'm a fan!

 

Their message boards might help you further with your question:

http://www.classicalwriting.com/messageboard/

 

HTH a little! :001_smile:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Has anyone found some of the model stories in Homer hard to understand? I think I like the program, but sometimes I think I need a little help with understanding the model and some of the writing assignments. I'm not sure I can get through this.

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Do you mean the biblical stories? If so, we found them difficult too. I would suggest, the night before, read through the model yourself sentence by sentence and try to paraphrase each sentence so you have the meaning clearly in your head, that way you'll be able to help your children if they need it. If I remember clearly, Aesop had around 4 models based on the bible and we only completed 2. I just made sure my dd had a good grasp of the skill we were working on. After all, you don't have to use the models from the book if you don't want to. That said, I found by struggling through the ones we did, we actually learned alot and it was a good exercise in a number of skills, the least of these perseverance! :) CW does have a learning curve, but if you keep plugging away, each day you 'get it' a little more. For us, the initial struggle was worth it!

 

HTH!

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CW worked for us and I think it was worth the effort. FWIW, Homer was the most difficult of any of the CW volumes we used. For whatever reason, the rest of the books seemed easier. Maybe it was just that we'd gotten familiar with the routines. The only downside to CW was that my son didn't have time to wait for all the volumes to be published.

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Loved and still love CW- but I am a CW drop out. We got part way through Homer B. Great program. Very teacher intensive- at least for my family. And I didnt find it easy.

It was the teacher intensive part that made me give up. I have one kid who is already teacher intensive and this was too much for me. I dont regret the time we spent on Aesop and Homer though, and I went back to look at the following books many times before wistfully letting it go.

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Very teacher intensive- at least for my family. And I didnt find it easy.

 

:iagree: Dd didn't find it easy either. I had to search all over both books every day. The directions were hard to follow and I had to spoon feed it all to her and coax her through each exercise. Very time intensive. And she didn't like it (Homer), so she put in minimal effort, so her writing didn't improve.

 

Now that you mention it, we didn't have nearly the problems with Aesop.

 

I'm switching (again) in hopes of finding a more inspiring English program that will actually interest and motivate her.

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:iagree: Dd didn't find it easy either. I had to search all over both books every day. The directions were hard to follow and I had to spoon feed it all to her and coax her through each exercise. Very time intensive. And she didn't like it (Homer), so she put in minimal effort, so her writing didn't improve.

 

Now that you mention it, we didn't have nearly the problems with Aesop.

 

I'm switching (again) in hopes of finding a more inspiring English program that will actually interest and motivate her.

 

 

Oh, I can relate to the spoon-feeding aspect. I bought the original pdf version of Homer--no workbooks or instructor guides and stopped mid-way through and did something else (maybe poetry? don't remember now) because ds got bogged down. We picked it up again the next school year, and the second half went more smoothly. That said, ds preferred CW to what we'd been using before Aesop. He was a pencil-allergic writing phobic kid mostly because he could never think of something to write on his own. Imitation exercises seemed to help "uncork" his own imagination.

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That said, ds preferred CW to what we'd been using before Aesop. He was a pencil-allergic writing phobic kid mostly because he could never think of something to write on his own. Imitation exercises seemed to help "uncork" his own imagination.

 

Amazingly enough, even though dd is a bit pencil phobic also, our most successful writing program has been NANOWRIMO. Maybe I should let her do Homer on the computer? Has anyone tried that?

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We just finished Homer B. It was much more challenging than Aesop or Homer A. I didn't love all of the lessons and it was more work for me, BUT I love the results. Also, by the end of Homer B, dd was starting to work quite independently. I allowed her to type almost everything which cut down on the complaints a lot. I definitely intend to use the entire CW program--I can't wait for Shakespeare!

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Amazingly enough, even though dd is a bit pencil phobic also, our most successful writing program has been NANOWRIMO. Maybe I should let her do Homer on the computer? Has anyone tried that?

 

I'd be curious to know that too. ds didn't use the computer, but I did use Open Office tables to make my own clunky workbook for a lot of the Homer work. IMO, the content is the important part so I'd use whatever method worked best for her.

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