thowell Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I feel so blessed right now. I have struggled over writing with my girls. At our last co-op meeting there was a box of give away stuff. I picked up this binder titled Understanding Writing not even knowing what it was. 3 days of reading later and I am blown away. I love what she has to say and can totally see her POV when it comes to writing. I am excited to try this with my girls. Anyone else have any experience with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heart_Mom Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I don't have any experience with it yet, but I've been tempted by it for a while. Right now we are using HOD, but if I decide sometime in the future do do something less structured, I'd love to use it. Does it look like it will be easy to implement?:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 I don't have any experience with it yet, but I've been tempted by it for a while. Right now we are using HOD, but if I decide sometime in the future do do something less structured, I'd love to use it. Does it look like it will be easy to implement?:001_smile: Yes it does and I'm not sure I would say it was unstructured either. The one things I love about it is the way she presents the grammar portion right in line with the writing. I spoke with her husband this morning, GREAT GUY!!, and he stated that by the time the child has reached the 7th level, where grammar is to be formally studied, it will be a breeze to them because they have already applied most of the concepts to their writings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 A good friend of mine recommended it, and I found it for $10 at a local consignment store. So we used it in the early grades, and then went to IEW because I felt like my oldest would benefit from a male video teacher. And we've used IEW ever since, but not because I didn't like Understanding Writing. It is a very solid way of teaching writing, and has many common elements with the popular programs that you hear about here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 We are using it right now with my 3rd grader. Yes, it is easy to implement, at least to me anyway. We are still using level 1 because we didn't begin it until after Christmas and we don't do it every week. I do a grammar week and a writing week, that way the small amount of grammar in UW will reenforce what we're doing in our English for the Thoughtful Child Lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heart_Mom Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Yes it does and I'm not sure I would say it was unstructured either. The one things I love about it is the way she presents the grammar portion right in line with the writing. I spoke with her husband this morning, GREAT GUY!!, and he stated that by the time the child has reached the 7th level, where grammar is to be formally studied, it will be a breeze to them because they have already applied most of the concepts to their writings. Thanks! :001_smile: When I said unstructured, I didn't mean that I wanted a loose writing program; but that I'm thinking of having our overall curriculum not-structured by a big curriculum (like HOD), but instead chosen by me. I like how it combines grammar and writing. We're spending more time each day than we need on grammar, I think... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heart_Mom Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Does anyone know which grammar program UW recommends for the 7th & 8th grade years? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Does anyone know which grammar program UW recommends for the 7th & 8th grade years? I believe it was Easy Grammar plus, but i'll have to check Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 I believe it was Easy Grammar plus, but i'll have to check Yep that is what mine says. She like it because it is easy for the parent to implement and uses the same language that she uses. However, you are constantly teaching the students grammar through use of the Rod and Staff English handbook and the Abeka Grammar handbook. It also incorporates alot of games to teach grammar skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River notes Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I am still trying to decide on a writing program for the coming year. Does this cover highschool essays as well? I looked it up and states grades 1 to 12 and everyone seems to be using for the younger years though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heart_Mom Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 (edited) Yep that is what mine says. She like it because it is easy for the parent to implement and uses the same language that she uses. However, you are constantly teaching the students grammar through use of the Rod and Staff English handbook and the Abeka Grammar handbook. It also incorporates alot of games to teach grammar skills. Thanks! :001_smile: I wonder if there would be other options, since I tried Easy Grammar 4 earlier this year with my son and didn't like it. Maybe Easy Grammar Plus is different ... I'll check it out! Edited February 22, 2012 by Heart_Mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama25angels Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Thanks! :001_smile: I wonder if there would be other options, since I tried Easy Grammar 4 earlier this year with my son and didn't like it. Maybe Easy Grammar Plus is different ... I check it out! I believe you can use any program you want, just make sure it's only grammar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heart_Mom Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I believe you can use any program you want, just make sure it's only grammar. Thanks! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Understanding Writing By whom? I saw more than one book with that title. What is it, and what is the concept of it that blew you away? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchbark Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I'm looking at various writing programs myself so this thread has interested me in UW. I found this old thread which has lots of info on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 I'm looking at various writing programs myself so this thread has interested me in UW. I found this old thread which has lots of info on it. You can also call them directly in Washington. I spoke with her husband for over an hour and he was really nice. He gave me alot of pointers and shared their testimony with me. He was extremely helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchbark Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Thowell, have you used this curriculum yet? I found it at a used book fair this past weekend for a song. I've been looking through it and reading and I'm also wowed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 I'm just pulling this off the shelf again to supplement the letter writing lessons in CGE. It's good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thowell Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 Thowell, have you used this curriculum yet? I found it at a used book fair this past weekend for a song. I've been looking through it and reading and I'm also wowed. No, not yet. I plan to implement it this coming year. I will be using it for dd8 but I decided to go with EIW for d11. When I look it over good I realized that she has alot of the skills in there already up through level 7. Since she just did a year of Grammar this year and I'm not sure she is ready for the highschool level I decided to go another route with her. I will still have her listen in to dd8's lesson and possibly even help teach her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewgirlie Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I bought this this year too! We played around with it a little. I really liked the emphasis on writing as a form of service. I have a very verbal dd and I was able to point out that the same rules apply to speaking. I haven't decided if we'll continue using it or not... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 By whom? I saw more than one book with that title. Susan Bradrick. I had a friend who has used this to teach her sons to write. I have only seen the work of her eldest. He writes beautifully. For grammar, we like Rod and Staff. I did not like Easy Grammar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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