Starting to wonder if writing from IEW Ancients and writing from History Odyssey is

[helena]

...too much?

 

My 13yo enjoys HO, she's just horribly behind. We have plans to work on it through summer. She'd like to go to Early Modern next year. She has no complaints with IEW. It's the first writing program she's done. She's doing well.

 

I'm wondering if the two programs have created an impossible situation. HO has a lot of writing but little guidance. sigh...

 

I'm going round and round on this and could use a little advice. If you're familiar with these two programs, what do you think?

 

Looking to next year, I could:

1) Finish HO over summer and try the combo again with more help from mom.

2) Keep both, but not have her do all the writing assignments in HO. I suggested this last month and she was not happy about that idea.

3) Drop IEW and find some kind of lectures or something to help guide her in HO writing.

 

What else? My writing is not very good (which is a big motivation not to drop the ball with her). I do have and watch the IEW lectures. I'm always trying to work on it, but honestly she's going to need a more independent curriculum. My FIL is a writer and she's been emailing him her finished IEW papers. He's starting to work with her. That's an exciting possibility for everyone.

 

I told my husband yesterday that this was one of her best academic years, if it wasn't for being so behind in HO. :sad: I really do think it's the amount of writing that's slowing her down. It's stressing me out. I don't want to make everything easy for her, there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to get it all done.

*Just remembered there's also a little writing in Lightning Lit.

 

Thoughts?

:bigear:

[jengjohnson]

My dd12 is using the HO MA2 and IEW history-based middle ages writing combo now. I've had her skip a few of the HO writing assignments especially when the same topic is going to be covered with more guidance in IEW. She is also behind in HO, mostly because of our busy schedule. She really enjoys it though and wants to finish it over the summer if necessary. She also wants to continue on with early modern next year. She does NOT want to use the next history-based IEW course. She says she's tired of writing exclusively about history. I'm torn b/c she does so well with the assignments. I'm considering using HO w/out writing assignments and adding in the IEW history-based writing if she'll go for that.

 

I'm sure I wasn't much help there, just wanted to let you know how we're managing.

[redsquirrel]

So she is in HO Ancients (level 2 I am guessing?) this year, but a bit behind. She wants to jump over HO Medieval History and go right to HO Early Modern History?

 

The HO programs get more difficult as you go along. Each year, as your child gets older, the reading load and writing amount increases. By skipping over HO year 2 and going directly to HO year 3, she is going to have to ramp up quite quickly.

 

You might want to try the 10 week 'try before you buy' sample first before deciding to commit to Early Modern.

 

I would be tempted to do what the previous poster mentioned, use HO as history (keep the reading and everything else..time lines, map work, etc) but leave the writing instruction to the writing program. I think HO is a good history program, but it isn't meant to be a writing program.

[helena]

My dd12 is using the HO MA2 and IEW history-based middle ages writing combo now. I've had her skip a few of the HO writing assignments especially when the same topic is going to be covered with more guidance in IEW. She is also behind in HO, mostly because of our busy schedule. She really enjoys it though and wants to finish it over the summer if necessary. She also wants to continue on with early modern next year. She does NOT want to use the next history-based IEW course. She says she's tired of writing exclusively about history. I'm torn b/c she does so well with the assignments. I'm considering using HO w/out writing assignments and adding in the IEW history-based writing if she'll go for that.

 

I'm sure I wasn't much help there, just wanted to let you know how we're managing.

 

We read your reply together and it was definitely helpful. :001_smile:

We're doing Ancient IEW and Middle Ages HO so there's no overlapping writing subjects. It's nice to hear that someone else is behind but loving it. My daughter really wants to stick with it. When she saw that your daughter was tired of writing about history she had a bit of an ah ha moment. I don't think she feels that way, but it was like it finally dawned on her that there's other subject matters to explore. She doesn't HAVE to stick with IEW history themes. Sometimes they've got to hear it from someone else. :tongue_smilie:

I'm also torn. IEW is giving her a specific format and she likes that.

 

I'm seeing now that she wants to do both. Maybe it all comes down to scheduling.

Thanks for sharing your experience, it helps to hear what others have going on when using the same curricula.

[helena]

So she is in HO Ancients (level 2 I am guessing?) this year, but a bit behind. She wants to jump over HO Medieval History and go right to HO Early Modern History?

 

The HO programs get more difficult as you go along. Each year, as your child gets older, the reading load and writing amount increases. By skipping over HO year 2 and going directly to HO year 3, she is going to have to ramp up quite quickly.

 

You might want to try the 10 week 'try before you buy' sample first before deciding to commit to Early Modern.

 

I would be tempted to do what the previous poster mentioned, use HO as history (keep the reading and everything else..time lines, map work, etc) but leave the writing instruction to the writing program. I think HO is a good history program, but it isn't meant to be a writing program.

No, she'll finish Middle Ages (level 2) before she starts Early Modern (level 2). I'm looking at the website right now, and I can see that they're saying (at level 2) Early Modern and Modern have more difficult writing assignments and lit analysis. Maybe you're right... the bolded (especially for next year), might make the most sense.

Maybe I need to order Early Modern in the summer so I can really sit with it and adjust it.

 

Now I'm wondering what they mean by Lit Analysis. She already does Lightning Lit. and will be moving on to LL8 next year. She likes LL... she likes everything! :glare: Why doesn't that feel like a good thing? :tongue_smilie:

 

Thanks for helping me, I'm going to share all this with kiddo in the morning.