Help me find a writing program......PLEASE!! I beg you!!!

[ProudGrandma]

My kids are 11 (12 in Sept), 10 and will be 8 by fall. We have tried writing Strands...the kids thought it was boring and we have tried WWW, but it was too much of the same since we are doing GWG. My kid's writing is pretty much nothing and I know that needs to change. With 3 kids, the less I have to be involved, the better. My oldest doesn't like to writie about things that she imagines in her head...for example: If you could be a bird, what kind of bird would you be and why? we like reality here, I guess. Price is an object, but if it's a good program, I will still consider it. PLEASE help me out!!!!!!

 

Kathy

[imhim]

Both my 3rd and first grader like WWE. Have you looked at this one?

[boscopup]

Writing With Ease/Writing With Skill

Institute for Excellence in Writing

 

I think the classical stuff like Classical Writing, Classical Composition, and Writing Tales all use imitation to begin with also?

 

I personally ruled out those last 3 for my son because he just can't write that quantity yet. We've used WWE for the last 2 years and love it. I'm going to try out IEW next year alongside WWE3, as I suspect Mr. Pudewa's teaching on the DVD will help motivate my son a bit more. ;)

 

You might also want to listen to SWB's lectures on teaching writing in the elementary years and middle grades. She would not have your children ever writing, "Imagine you were a bird..." ;)

[diaperjoys]

We also start our kids with Writing With Ease - after that we're eyeing Writing Tales.

[Hunter]

I've resorted to using CGE here, for better and for worse.

 

Composition focuses on writing reports, friendly letters and directions.

 

It's Amish, not mennonite, so leaves scripture out, as they believe scripture and religion are too sacred to include in school books and are better taught at home and in the church.

[ProudGrandma]

oh thank you, thank you, thank you. I will look at each and every one of these.!!!!!!!

[Hunter]

The CGE workbooks are cheap enough to skip all the rest of the language arts and just use the composition. Grade 4 has less variety of compositions, as it prioritizes preparing a student for the combined teaching of grades 5 and 6 of a one room school house. I have all the TMs and grades 2-4 student workbooks, if you need more information.

 

I'm tired, really tired the past couple weeks, and was looking for a PRACTICAL good enough 2-8 composition program, written directly to the student. I think I have found it.

 

I adore the integrated language arts of Spalding, but it just isn't happening here right now. The progym is well the progym, and not happening here either. Understanding Writing is good too, but not getting done.

 

Another resource you might like is Susan Anker's junior college remedial texts. They are often available for pennies at Amazon. There are TONS of free student resources for the books at the publisher's website. http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/realessays2e/default.asp?s=&n=&i=&v=&o=&ns=0&uid=0&rau=0. I've been using these books for over a decade.

 

But right now I'm exhausted with piecing and thinking and planning. For now CGE is good enough. And I think maybe I have been overanalyzing and complicating the writing process. CGE has more relaxed models that seem to actually resemble the writing I see more in everyday life.

 

Susan Anker is very tight and précis, like math, and that appeals to me, until I have to start writing and teaching, and then...the tight model can feel silly and forced. The CGE never feels that way, but at the same time I don't feel unsupported and left out there to figure it out myself.

 

I started some CGE almost a year ago and dropped it, because I got really busy tutoring am ESL student prepping for a test. I've resumed working my way through large volumes of CGE again, at a higher level with myself, and at a lower level with a friend.

 

I need to put in an order for more workbooks. I've actually completed most of 3 levels without tossing it aside. I've been doing the lessons at 3:00 in the morning when I can't sleep.

[bethben]

IEW - If you buy the student intensive courses, you don't even have to teach and can learn along with your kids. Andrew Pudewa will even give them assignments. The sets have a fairly decent resale market also.

 

Beth

[Hunter]

A couple years ago I read Write Like Hemingway and it reinforced my philosophy on writing. If your writing philosophy is leaning towards lean mean reality writing, you might like skimming through this book. It gave me the confidence to totally ignore some of the more popular writing curricula, and helped me prioritize what I think is most important to cover.

[Mrs Twain]

Another positive about the IEW Student Writing Intensives is that the student doesn't have to think of something to write about. The subject matter is given to them, and the kids mostly work on writing technique. That may be a plus in your situation.

 

I would recommend watching the TWSS (the DVD instruction to the parent) before teaching IEW. It will take up some of your time, so consider that if you are looking at IEW.

[Harriet Vane]

My son has been thriving with Writing With Ease. I highly recommend it. It's also not as teacher-intensive as IEW or some others.

[nukeswife]

I've tried WWE and WWS which I think are both awesome programs but after a few weeks my kids were burnt out and things just weren't clicking. They love IEW. My oldest is he only one that is officially using it, but my 10 year old dd watches along and will start it next year. They love Andrew and I have to say he's great to watch. It is a bit of an investment, but they do have great resale value and if you look around a bit you can get a decent price on a used set as as well.

[Walking-Iris]

I have the angst with writing programs. We also tried Writing Strands but it never got done. Even when I combined days and lessons. So mid-way through this year I got the WWE text. I think it could work but I still feel like it needs more. So I'm going to keep on keeping on with WS until I figure out the alternative. Maybe it gets better in the upper level books? I don't know of anyone personally who has stuck with it that long.

 

IEW is too expensive and I ruled that out a long time ago. I also really gave Classical Writing a hard look. I think I've ruled that out as well as Writing Tales. Winning With Writing looked interesting to me.

 

I have also thought about giving BraveWriter another look.

 

Then there's the WriteSource books. Which I don't hear too much about, but I like the look of them.

 

But my stress at getting the writing nailed down before my ds is middle school age is sort of stressing me.

[fiddle]

IEW - If you buy the student intensive courses, you don't even have to teach and can learn along with your kids. Andrew Pudewa will even give them assignments. The sets have a fairly decent resale market also.

 

 

 

:iagree:

 

We're using Student Intensive B with my 11 year old who came out of ps this year and would have a meltdown if she had to write any kind of report or creative writing. We're a few lessons into it and there are no tears and she's *learning*..... Totally worth the investment in our household. And it lightens my load (I also work outside the home)- we watch the videos together on Sunday nights and then I grade her assignments throughout the week.

 

Good luck deciding. I had a lot of stress deciding what to use for writing, also, because she was so behind in writing and i know I need to catch her up for middle school. At least for this next year and a half, we will complete the IEW level and then reassess.

 

Paula

[Crimson Wife]

What about one of the EPS series? I really like The Paragraph Book but have also heard good things about Writing Skills.

[mytwomonkeys]

my daughter is using (and loving) IEW SWI-A. i am involved in helping her though, so for us, it is not an independent program (although it isn't as though a lot is required of me either). we really love it though.

 

another thought is essentials in writing. we've never used it, but it was a top contender when looking at a writing program. it seems fairly independent too, as it has a teaching dvd lesson first. it also is affordable. hth.

[5LittleMonkeys]

I use a combination of IEW TWSS and SWB's writing methods as outlined in her writing lectures on the Peace Hill Press Website. They are very similar in that they have the student learning how to outline (although they both use different outlining formats - IEW a key word outline and SWB a traditional outline), organize, and summarize from information that the student reads. IEW is wonderful for getting the student to build a tool box of stylistic techniques that they will become so familiar with as to be able to write with style fluently. SWB's method is wonderful for getting the student to be able to quickly weed out unimportant information and create a succinct summary of information, or be able to pull out specific information to create a summary focused on one specific aspect\topic.

 

The big thing for me is making sure that we are writing across the curricula and not isolating writing as its own unrelated subject. IEW and SWB's methods (not the workbooks) allow me to do that.

 

If you do not feel comfortable pulling assignments from your content subjects and literature then IEW offers programs in which the teaching and assignments are done for you. SWB's published program, WWE, provides scripted workbooks with assignments for everyday for the lower grades and WWS for grade 5 or 6 and up are written to the student.

 

I feel that these two programs are enough on their own. There are aspects of each that I like though and so have chosen to combine the methods into my own program.

[Trish]

For independent, short but consistent writing lessons, Winning With Writing. For a fun, inspirational and incremental writing program (fairly independent) we love Apologia's Jump In. (For Apologia you could buy one book and have them do the exercises in a notebook rather than in the book)

[justLisa]

Writing With Ease/Writing With Skill

Institute for Excellence in Writing

I'm going to try out IEW next year alongside WWE3, as I suspect Mr. Pudewa's teaching on the DVD will help motivate my son a bit more. ;)

 

You might also want to listen to SWB's lectures on teaching writing in the elementary years and middle grades. She would not have your children ever writing, "Imagine you were a bird..." ;)

 

We are doing the same thing. We used WWE last year and it went really well. I used it across the curriculum and we have really benefited from it.

 

We are also doing IEW next year. However, if I were just starting out, I would use WWE for a year and THEN do IEW. And you really should listen to the lecture, it's good.

 

My ONLY intention with writing, is to prepare for the writing my kids will need to do in college, and nothing else unless they choose. There is just simply no reason for "If you were a bird....." unless they like that kind of thing. Writing with Skill comes after WWE and I hope to use that around 5th grade, but I need something in between. I think IEW will inspire a little creativity to my rather uncreative writing DS. ;)

Edited April 19, 2012 by 425lisamarie

[ProudGrandma]

can I use WWE with my older kids? Will it seem really babish to them? They have had relly no formal writing instruction. My middle child (boy) hates to physically write a lot, so that is an additional struggle. Maybe if I would combine handwriting and writing, that would help too. I like how WWE uses literature as it's base. That is a nice addition.

[Colleen in NS]

can I use WWE with my older kids? Will it seem really babish to them?

 

Use the WWE Instructor Guide instead of the workbooks - that way you can have them writing about reading they are interested in.

[txhomemom]

Here are some other writing programs to consider:

 

Razzle Dazzle Writing

http://www.rdlco.com/

 

Complete Writing Program

http://www.createbetterwriters.com/The_Complete_Writing_Pro.html

 

From the same website, Homeschool Writing Action Plan

http://www.createbetterwriters.com/Writing-Action-Plan.html

 

Igniting Your Writing

http://www.homeschoolwriting.com/

 

Advanced Writing Resources (this is for 5th grade and up)

http://www.advanced-writing-resources.com/video-communication1

[isitnaptime]

I have just started reading the book Writers Jungle from Bravewriter. I think I am really going to like it! So far it is an easy, well written and enjoyable book to read.

Before, Bravewriter just confused me. I think reading this book will help with the ideas behind it.

 

http://www.bravewriter.com/program/home-study-courses/the-writers-jungle/

[ProudGrandma]

thank you everyone. I think it is between WWE and Jump In...but I am not sure yet.

[2boysmom]

I highly recommend Writer's Workshop with the Potter's School. Yes, it is expensive, but oh, so worth every penny. It's nice for mom too.

[ProudGrandma]

I highly recommend Writer's Workshop with the Potter's School. Yes, it is expensive, but oh, so worth every penny. It's nice for mom too.

 

 

PLEASE tell me why this is the best program. I am really struggling with this decision.

[ProudGrandma]

never mind....no matter how great it is $400 is way too steep for us.

[Deee]

My son (11yo, grade 6) used to hate writing - the whinging any time I mentioned writing was quite fantastic!. This year he's really turned a corner. In part this is due to his increasing maturity, and in part its due to a big change in my attitude thanks to reading The Writer's Jungle. Julie Bogart is right: you have to create a "safe space" for writing. I was too caught up in the mechanics.

D

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

I strongly recommend WWE/WWS:)

 

However, if you want something fairly inexpensive and has video lessons along with a workbook, then try Essentials in Writing:D

 

I just ordered a set of EIW so I have not used it yet but the samples seemed great.

 

http://www.essentialsinwriting.com/

[Clear Creek]

Wordsmith Apprentice is another option. It is designed to be used independently, the lessons can be as long or short as your child needs, it does not have open-ended assignments (it is very specific, sometimes even prescribing the number of sentences and what they should include), it includes a bit of grammar, it is very inexpensive, and best of all...it made my writing-hating child actually enjoy writing! It is one of the first subjects she wants to do every morning!

 

Before this we tried CW Aesop (monotonous and convoluted), and WWE (monotonous, and I have no idea why it should take four years for a child to learn what can be taught in a matter of weeks). We have Jump In lined up for 5th-6th grade, and it looks like it will (hopefully) be a good follow-up to Wordsmith Apprentice.

[birchbark]

You might want to look at the Writing Trails books (not Writing Tales) for your older two. They share some features with IEW but are cheaper and laid out more simply.

 

For your youngest I would stick with copywork and dictation. You can use WWE for this or go out on your own.

 

I just discovered Understanding Writing and think it looks like a wonderful, solid, easy-to-use program. It includes all levels. However it is more teacher involved.

 

Good luck!

[ProudGrandma]

I have never even heard of Writing Trails...I will check them out. thanks