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Which HS Writing/Creative Writing Curriculum to use?


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lately, with my oldest two girls, we've done online writing tutorials. I found myself more and more uncertain as to whether or not we were "hitting all the bases" with high-school level writing. They've done three online progymnasmata tutorials with Cindy Marsch, and my oldest did one online SAT/ACT essay writing course with Julie Bogart of Bravewriter. All were excellent!

 

Here's the link for Writing Assessment Services---Cindy Marsch's website:

 

http://members.aol.com/cmarsch786/

 

Here's the link for Bravewriter--Julie Bogart's website:

 

http://www.bravewriter.com/

 

I found both courses to be top-notch, the instructors very knowledgeable and helpful. I've also heard good things about Write@Home---I believe Bev in B'Ville may use those workshops.

 

I hope this helps! I guess I'm one of those moms that needed more "hand-holding"!

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I'm not sure if you're asking about writing in general or creative writing specifically. Unless your dd has a bent for creative writing, I would focus on teaching expository writing during high school.

 

Yesterday, I took my oldest dd to register for classes at the public charter high school she will be attending next year. I asked the freshman English teacher what we should focus on in regards to writing between now and when school starts. She said that the schools that feed into their school all focus on creative writing, so she has to start from scratch with teaching academic writing. She teaches the five paragraph essay in 9th grade, but she said that after 9th grade, they won't see the five paragraph essay; it will go to ten and then twenty paragraph essays and then a full blown research paper. From the school's course descriptions, I think most of the writing will be taught in the context of literature analysis and interpretation. Also in the course descriptions, creative writing is not mentioned until English IV (12th grade) other than an elective course in poetry.

 

Before we decided that oldest dd would not be homeschooled for high school, I had purchased Classical Writing-Diogenes and The Lost Tools of Writing for 9th grade. They are the best curricula I've seen for their focus on teaching students to think deeply about a subject rather than following formulaic stylistic techniques.

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My dd is also going into 9th next year and like yours, writing is NOT her favorite subject. We started IEW back in January and it is going very well. It is so simple to implement, especially if you use the Student Intensive portion. Check out their website.

http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/

There are lots of threads on IEW and tons of ladies who have used the program longer than I have that are willing to help. There's also a yahoo group that is a wealth of info on this program and the subject of writing and language arts.

I cannot tell you how glad I am that I made the investment in this program. It is also working well for my younger two, who enjoy writing more than the oldest.

 

HTH,

Kim O.

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I assume by creative writing you're referring to story writing and poetry.

 

A source from IEW is How to Write a Story; An Instructional Guide for Understanding and Teaching Basic Story Writing. This is a straightforward, easy to use guide. I've found studying short story and discussing movie structure concurrently a big help.

 

Wildiris

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