Writing Tales or Classical Writing?

[sassenach]

I have a 5th grader who is a reluctant writer. I'm looking to start her on a formal writing program. I'm debating between WT 2 or CW Aesop. Can anybody compare and contrast the 2 for me? Which would be considered the easier, more user friendly of the 2? Does Aesop teach how to construct an outline?

 

Thanks,

[cajun.classical]

For a fifth grader, you may want to consider Classical Composition: Fable. I'm afraid that Aesop may move too slowly and be boring for a fifth grader. I did Classical Composition: FAble with my fourth grader last year and then went into CW Homer this year with no problems. I really like CC Fable for an older student; I don't care as much for the other levels of CC, which is why I switched to CW. As I recall, the student does outline in the Fable stage; I don't recall how much instruction there was.

[PeterPan]

I'm using WT2 in a co-op class with 3rd-6th graders and I have used some of CW Aesop A. Your dd is going to be able to do WT2 on her own, so I would start with that. The models are very engaging, the instructions written to the student, and it's just right for a struggling 5th or 6th grader. The remedial 6th grader in my class is doing amazing work. When they're older, the dc engage with the material, bringing in more creativity, personality, etc. I see it even in the struggling writers, so I think you will too.

 

As far as outlining, WT has them do outlines first with pictures then quickly moves on to keyword outlines. Some of the models are quite long (two pages typed), so the keyword outlines are very detailed to enable them to capture the details of the story. I'm not sure how this compares to the type of outlining you're looking for. It's not an A, 1, a, type outline like you'd use for paragraphs and research papers, but it suits the material.

 

I'm planning to use CW Aesop B with my dd, who will be 4th grade next year, simply because I don't think she's ready maturity-wise to move on to Homer. Your dd could do WT2 and then go on to CW Homer or the program of your choice the next year. WT tends to be more fun, have more enjoyable models, have instructions and exercises written to the student. My WT2 students have no problem doing their work independently (homework and writing their drafts). I do the editing with them in class. I'm not sure whether a CW student could do the majority of the work on his own or not. There are samples of both online, so I'd just look at them and see what you think. They're both exactly like the samples.

 

BTW, some things I've added this year that I think are beneficial: Take 5 Minutes Daily History Editing, and a study of punctuation. There are lots of editing programs, but I'd definitely recommend doing one. Just a little bit of effort every day will reap big rewards when you can hand her the red pen and tell her to edit her OWN work for basic errors. For the punctuation, we're using Punctuation Puzzlers books (grade 5-8 book I think?), but anything you have handy would work. We did editing first semester and are doing punctuation this semester.