HOD Preparing and Writing

[MrsMe]

Preparing has once a week writing. I'm not real hung up and learning writing right away, so can I safely say that between what HOD uses, R&S English and and HOD's once a week writing that that'll suffice and I can skip any writing that comes up in my current LA program? Does it walk you through it? Or does is lack in that area?

 

I'm just thinking using HOD as written this upcoming year. We were using CLE LA and I dislike the writing portion and don't use the spelling. I feel like I'm floundering even with the writing book and I looked at BJU English, and it walks you through it, but it looks to be more writing than we need at this point. I actually have all 3 programs of various levels, BJU/CLE/R&S. Switching to R&S I'd not have to buy anything this year. BJU, dd says is confusing because of all the color and boxes. CLE worked well, but it got really boring as we use the same for reading. I felt like I'd just give it to her to do and there was no interaction.

 

But I want to make sure that doing the writing in HOD as written really does "do it" or if it lacks in teaching how.

[blessedmom3]

:lurk5:

[Sue G in PA]

I actually asked this question on the HOD board re: my 5th grader. Not sure the age of your dc. The response was that the writing in Preparing coupled with the writing instruction in R&S would be sufficient. I tend to agree. I am adding writing for my 7th grader, though. HOD recommends Igniting Your Writing, but I'm not certain on that one.

[Donna T.]

In Preparing, the child writes a history narration once a week. They aren't just given the assignment but are actually guided through the process, so there is writing instruction involved with that. Rod & Staff is scheduled everyday. The writing instruction with that will vary depending on what level of R&S your child is using. You can decide how much of the writing in R&S you want your child to do. And, you can set your own pace with R&S or you can stick right to the schedule. So, the amount of writing instruction given through that varies but it does require some daily writing to complete those assignments. Then, once a week there is a creative writing assignment that also includes writing instruction. Those go along with the week's poetry selection. Of course, there is other writing to complete their assignments but that is the bulk of the instruction.

 

If you decide it's not enough or you want to challenge your child in the area of writing, HOD recommends Igniting Your Writing. But, that is only if your child is doing well with the other writing and truly needs more. It just depends on the child and what you want to do. I consider R&S, at this level, along with all the other writing in Preparing, to be enough for my 5th grader. We are focusing on writing strong narrations and the creative writing is just to add a little fun and provide some experience with descriptive writing since R&S is more technically-oriented and doesn't include any of that on its own.

 

My son also does the one level outlines as described in The Well-Trained Mind. This is easy to do alongside Preparing. We have used the Usborne Internet-Linked Ancient History book (as scheduled in the Preparing guide) for this. Now, we are using the Usborne Medieval Encyclopedia. I had to schedule that one in myself but it is very easy to do. The topics match up well. I think we have about seven weeks to cover that one. We may not do every page but it's a "good enough" choice right now for his simple outlining.

[MrsMe]

So it sounds fine in my opinion. It's the creative writing I was inquiring about, not necessarily copywork-ish writing. But I needed to know that HOD walks you through it and doesn't throw it out there.

 

I know R&S starts with sentences then paragraphs and I like that. Baby steps. And in actuality, I never thought about narrations would be suitable as well for creative writing. Especially since it gives kid a starting point for writing instead of doing something from scratch.

 

I'm just to the point where I'm tired of adding or being indecisive. I just want to do it and quit thinking that it's not enough, or it's not right or one is better than the other. You know, like dictation. I'm not sold on the way it's done in HOD, but I am sold on dictation itself. I put dd's R&S spelling words in a sentence that requires punctuation and use it that way instead of doing list tests. But that's another milestone I need to get through.

Edited May 11, 2010 by alilac

[Donna T.]

So it sounds fine in my opinion. It's the creative writing I was inquiring about, not necessarily copywork-ish writing. But I needed to know that HOD walks you through it and doesn't throw it out there.

 

 

 

Oh, yes, it is completely directed. It is instructional.

 

We do R&S Spelling but I usually forget to do the tests. I figure between the studied dictation in Preparing, plus all the copywork he is doing, plus just working through the R&S lessons, he is doing fine for spelling.