Alenee Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 This year, we decided to give dd13 a lighter year. She's had an extremely rigorous couple of years and with the intensity of her extra-curriculars up to this past June, we felt she needed some more down time. That being said, I feel disjointed with her curricula and think I want to find something *more*. I think "English" is where the main issue is. She's reading SWB's History of the Medieval World so for writing, she's done two papers so far: #1 was a paper on how Constantine became the Emperor of Rome. #2 was on crime and punishment in the Middle Ages. So far, so good. She's finishing up season two of Analytical Grammar and will complete season three by the end of the school year. For literature, she's doing a 1x/month discussion class with a varied group of kids. This class is excellent! She reads one book a month for the class but there isn't anything required other than showing up prepared for discussion. It's the composition that I'm concerned with. Dd has done IEW until this year and has a great base. Now it's time to WRITE, original works that is. I *think* I want a curriculum. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Have you looked at Writing With Skill? It's doing a phenomenal job teaching how to write original compositions . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomsintheGarden Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Have you looked at Writing With Skill? It's doing a phenomenal job teaching how to write original compositions . . .:iagree:I have four dc using WWS, and I highly recommend it. It is very straightforward, thorough, and step-by-step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebacabunch Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 I am loving WWS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChicoryChick Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 By original works do you mean creative writing? If so you may want to check out SWB's Creative XWriting book, otherwise I also recommend WWS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 I'm not sure what you mean by original works. If you mean creative writing, the One Year Adventure Novel looks fabulous for a kid bent that way. And the NaNoWriMo site usually has curricula available for free. My 8th grader is using The Lively Art of Writing, which is taking him through the parts and pieces of an essay. It's an inexpensive gem of a curriculum. The writing topics are rather outdated, but substituting one that's more applicable for today's teens has been a cinch. He'll typically have one essay due a week while he works through Lively Art, which won't last a full semester. For the second semester I'll have him do weekly essays based on topics he comes across in his other subjects or literature, using a writing handbook for help as we need it. Here are the rest of his language arts. -homemade Tolkien literature study -vocabulary using vocabulary.com, homemade, and a bit of Rod and Staff's spelling 8 (the latter is root-based vocab) -Rod and Staff's English -Art of Poetry from Classical Academic Press I also own and like WWS, but it seems like the only level currently available would be taking a step backward for a kid with that much IEW already under their belt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 What about doing a unit on writing poetry or fiction writing? I know the publisher Walsh has some good books. You can normally find them on christianbook.com and probably amazon too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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