Writing/Compositon curriculum help

[meltf928]

Hi all, I've lurked around these forums for a while, but have sorta jumped in the past few days. We have 4 children, 3 of which I home school and 1 who currents attends a preschool that we love. My older ones are currently 1st grade, 2nd and 4th.

 

We have been using a hybrid school for the past 3 years that using Write Souce as their writing curriculum, which uses the Writing Process to teach writing. For various reasons, we will not be returning to the school and I need help selecting a writing curriculum. WS has worked fine for my younger 2, but my eldest struggles greatly with this method and tries to avoid writing at all costs.

 

I have looked at WWE and IEW. They are very different than what we are used to and I guess I'm nervous about making the switch. If you use one of these, is that ALL you do for writing? Do you teach the writing process at all? How to write a Friendly Letter or Expository Paragraph, Essay, etc, etc or do you just chug along with it and it all comes together at some point?

 

I am very secure with my other curriculum choices, but I struggle greatly with this one. Any advice or input is GREATLY appreciated!

[momto2blessings]

I just do copywork (Queens Homeschool Pdt.s) and oral narrations of all subjects in first grade (plus Handwriting Without Tears), Primary Language Lessons in 2nd/3rd (and HWT cursive), and Writing Tales in 3rd/4th. Also use Spelling Workout. I love these programs. And we continue with oral narrations all the way through...this is a help with future written composition (organizing thoughts). We also start some written narrations of subjects in 4th. Most of these ideas are ala Charlotte Mason. HTH some:) Gina

[Mrs Twain]

I think if you ask ten people here you will get ten different answers.

 

Some people follow the classical WTM model or Charlotte Mason. Those philospohies about teaching writing are very different than the traditional school philosophy. What philosophy you favor determines which programs you choose.

 

The people following WTM/classical use things like WWE and copywork.

People following a more traditional approach use other sources, such as WWW.

I am not familiar with all of the programs out there, so I can't give you a good list of what fits into what.

 

Personally, I use a mix of resources because I think that variety can give my kids different skills and help them to learn the various forms of writing that they will need in their lives. I use WWE once or twice per week for narration, summarizing, and a little dictation. My main writing program is IEW. I like it because my children are learning how to take notes and rewrite a report or short story. IEW is also strong on teaching style techiniques. I think these are very important my kids to learn and to practice.

 

This year, I added in WWW as a supplement because I wanted to teach my kids using some of a traditional writing approach. They are learning things such as how to structure and write an original paragraph, and will practice other forms of writing such as the friendly letter, using similes and metaphors, book reports, how-to paragraphs, and compare and contrast reports.

 

I think the first thing you should do is read about the different philosphies on teaching writing and see which one suits you. Then look into the writing programs that would meet your goals.