So disappointed in Writing Strands...(x-post)

[DivaMommy]

This is my first year to homeschool, and my son is in 7th and also has Asperger's (high functioning autism). He doesn't like writing (does most of it on his laptop when he does it..he's a great typist!), and so I was worried about getting a writing curriculum for him that would be fun and not too difficult. So, on the advice of WTM, I purchased a Writing Strands book (started with Book 3 since he is behind in writing). Boy, did he hate it, and so do I now. Our problem? The directions are confusing, the little sarcastic jokes don't work for a kid who doesn't get them, and the whole book seems very low on actual work/practice involved. I am so disappointed, and am now trying to find something else instead.

 

We use Saxon Math (which we both love), so I'm thinking of getting the Saxon Grammar/Writing. Does anyone here have opinions on this curriculum? I'm sure Writing Strands works for some families, but it totally did not for us.

 

Thanks in advance for any opinions on Saxon Grammar/Writing,

 

Andrea

[JennW in SoCal]

Have you considered skipping a writing curriculum altogether?

 

I didn't start working on writing with my aspie until he was in 6th or 7th grade, and I always let him type every assignment. He worked on his handwriting through his teen years through copy work in handwriting workbooks, but his handwriting is still fairly abysmal.

 

I pretty much followed the WTM style writing assignments but condensed it over a couple of years. My 7th grader did many a narration until he was comfortable with that. I had him write these on chapters from Story of the World or had him do mini-research projects on the internet and write up his findings. He wrote about whatever we were doing in history, literature and science, so it was a mixture of topics and reinforced whatever he was learning at the time.

 

I used The Lively Art of Writing as a resource for teaching the essay starting in 9th grade, but I never used any of the assignments.

 

Check out the Index of Articles here on the WTM site, or purchase and download the lectures on teaching writing that are available from Peace Hill Press. These are the resources that inspired and reassured me that I was doing the right things.

[NCW]

We didn't prefer Writing Strands either. My children have both enjoyed Julie Bogart's suggestions in her Bravewriter program. We plan to use it again this year. I have also been using WTM's writing program modified - ds does need help summarizing succintly, but I don't want him to even see the workbook pages - he does all of his work in a regular notebook. We've been at it almost a week now, but are starting Week 4 in the book, as it goes much more quickly at his age.

 

People also love IEW's program. Haven't used it, but often hear rave reviews.

[AngieW in Texas]

My Aspie does very well with IEW. It is the ideal writing program for her.

 

She did SWI level B in 6th grade and then we just used the IEW methodology for 7th grade. She did US History-based writing lessons volume 1 in 8th grade. She did US history-based writing lessons volume 2 in 9th grade along with Windows to the World (literary analysis).

 

Writing Strands was a huge flop here.

[jenn&charles]

You may want to take a look at Writing Trails. My son also bombed with Writing Strands. Writing Trails is really working for him though. It's based on the IEW style of outlining/writing but it's all self-contained and easy to accomplish. I hand him the book, he does the work and I help make corrections on his rough draft and then he writes a final draft. It's been a huge success and he's actually enjoying writing, probably for the first time. We had so much success with the first book I used from that series, that I recently went out and bought all the rest (after several failures with other programs).

The site has free samples. That's what sold me in the first place. We tried a sample and writing was fairly painless!!

Edited August 19, 2010 by jenn&charles

[elise1mds]

I just looked at Writing Trails, but I can't find the samples. Do you have a link? I tried looked at the PDF files, but it said the links were broken. My son is nowhere near this age yet, but I am *very* curious about these because he's writing-resistant, too. I have Writing Strands book 1 and have done the first lesson with him, and he was already struggling to come up with things that they were asking for. I'm not sure how much use we'll get out of it, either. I was hoping it'd work out because it's such a short book and they only want you to do it every other week, but... dunno. Anyway, I'd love to learn more about Writing Trails.

[DivaMommy]

Thanks for all of these good suggestions! I will investigate...

 

Andrea

[jenn&charles]

I just looked at Writing Trails, but I can't find the samples. Do you have a link? I tried looked at the PDF files, but it said the links were broken. My son is nowhere near this age yet, but I am *very* curious about these because he's writing-resistant, too. I have Writing Strands book 1 and have done the first lesson with him, and he was already struggling to come up with things that they were asking for. I'm not sure how much use we'll get out of it, either. I was hoping it'd work out because it's such a short book and they only want you to do it every other week, but... dunno. Anyway, I'd love to learn more about Writing Trails.

 

Here's a link to a sample from CBD:

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product_slideshow?sku=5473119&actual_sku=5473119&slide=4&action=Previous

(no answers on the sample)

 

Here's another link sample:

http://articles.logospressonline.com/pdf/C116WRIT.PDF

The sample above has the answers, but it's easy enough to just give the assignment without that part to try it all out.

 

At any rate, I asked my son what he thinks about the program(s) today and he said it's the only thing he has really liked so far.

 

Also, just a tip - if you try to open a PDF and it doesn't work, try using a different browser or coming back later. Sometimes that will work. :-)

Edited August 19, 2010 by jenn&charles

[elise1mds]

Thanks! I love how it's outlined and goes through everything step-by-step. Very nice. I went back and the first link worked today, of course. :) C'est la vie.