Silver_Kitten Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 My sixth grader hates writing anything. I'm looking at getting something for the next semester of school. Writing With Skill taught her how to summarize and outline, but beyond that she still has problems with sentience structure and paragraph structure. I'm looking for something inexpensive and possibly something for seventh and eighth grade. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Killgallon is, imo, excellent for helping a student learn various sentence structure. Those books are fairly inexpensive. I've found simply working one on one writing many, many paragraphs together has been the most helpful in getting my dc to understand structure. We do very simple paragraphs: An opening sentence that introduces the topic, 3 or more sentences to support the topic, and then a closing sentence to wrap things up. Once they master those we work on different styles of paragraphs: narrative, descriptive, persuasive, etc. There have been recommendations I've seen for workbooks that focus on paragraphs; hopefully someone will be able to recommend some titles. Any reason you don't want to move onto WWS 2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver_Kitten Posted December 14, 2012 Author Share Posted December 14, 2012 My daughter and I are having a hard time getting through WWS, even slowly, so I don't think we will be doing WWS2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 (edited) Many regulars here seem very happy with the Killgallon books. There's also The Art of Styling Sentences by Ann Longknife. For basic paragraph structure with a kid who thinks they're allergic to pencils, what worked best in my house was writing a lot of paragraphs. One a day at a minimum. They had to have clear topic sentences, supporting body, and a good conclusion sentence. The topics were pulled from the material they were already reading in science, history and literature. At first there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but they slowly got over it. When they could write a decent paragraph without a struggle I made sure I pointed out their growth to them. A few well placed, "Remember when one puny paragraph was hard for you? Now look what you can do!" helped turn attitudes around. Edited April 21, 2023 by SilverMoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 Take a look at Essentials in Writing. Only $40, short video lessons (3-5 minutes), and sheets to print out (or you can buy a workbook). The instruction is very incremental & tells the student exactly what to work on. It's worked very well here. Hope you find something! Merry :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProudGrandma Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 this sounds just like my daughter...so I dont' have any advice...but I am certainly listening in, hoping for something too...but I like the idea of just writing paragraphs...practice make perfect, right?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver_Kitten Posted December 16, 2012 Author Share Posted December 16, 2012 We get so frustrated when just writing paragraphs. She keeps telling me, "I don't know what to write." She is a perfectionist and if she gets anything wrong she shuts down. Math has been a blast this year. ~ sarcastic ~ I try to get her to write about things she is interested in, cats, video games, princesses, but it all comes down to the same, not knowing what to write. She is not a creative writer, though she is a creative child. It's the same for writing for science or history, she just doesn't KNOW what to write down. I try to help her by asking questions and writing down her answers, but we both get frustrated after a while when she starts saying "I don't know." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 My DS is exactly the same as you're describing your DD. We finally tried Institute for Excellence in Writing's Student Writing Intensive and it has been a blessing for him. The difference in his attitude, ability and confidence about writing now is a complete turnaround from where he was last year. (SWI provides the topics to write about and gives you a specific framework, so my DS doesn't panic over "WHAT to write about" and "HOW to write about it".) So have you ever considered IEW? http://www.excellenc...iting.com/sid-b I didn't get the teacher's course on Structure and Style, I just watch the SWI DVDs with my son and it works wonderfully for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver_Kitten Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 I've looked at Brave Writer, but I couldn't really get a feel for the program. IEW is really expensive, but if it worked it would be a good thing. I've looked at Essentials in Writing and think I might get it, since the price is reasonable, for 7th grade. I'm looking at Jump In or Wordsmith Apprentice to finish off the year. I just don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Just so you know, if you want to try IEW, they have a very generous return policy if you buy from them and decide it's not for you. Their return policy is "unconditional, no time limit, 100% refund guarantee on everything we sell". Also, check the used market - I got it from someone who had used it with all her children and wanted to pass it on. Best of luck in whatever you decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 We get so frustrated when just writing paragraphs. She keeps telling me, "I don't know what to write." She is a perfectionist and if she gets anything wrong she shuts down. Math has been a blast this year. ~ sarcastic ~ I try to get her to write about things she is interested in, cats, video games, princesses, but it all comes down to the same, not knowing what to write. She is not a creative writer, though she is a creative child. It's the same for writing for science or history, she just doesn't KNOW what to write down. I try to help her by asking questions and writing down her answers, but we both get frustrated after a while when she starts saying "I don't know." She sounds like a perfect candidate for IEW. As Taryn mentioned they have a complete money back guarantee. If you use it for 1 month, 6 months or even the full year and then decide it wasn't effective you can return it for a complete refund, and they even pay the shipping. I've used the IEW methods in a co-op class with dc from 2nd grade up to 8th grade and it was amazing to see students who came in the class saying they hated writing producing papers week after week with ease and confidence. Some of them still didn't "like" to write but they told me that it was so much less "painful" than it had ever been before and they didn't dread it anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver_Kitten Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 The money back guarantee is a great incentive to try the program. Maybe I should try All Things Fun and Fanciful the rest of the year to see how she may respond to the idea and show her the samples on the web site. Who would have thought writing would be so tough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 The money back guarantee is a great incentive to try the program. Maybe I should try All Things Fun and Fanciful the rest of the year to see how she may respond to the idea and show her the samples on the web site. Who would have thought writing would be so tough? To give your dd the best chance of having success with IEW I highly recommend you get the TWSS and watch it before trying ATFF. At the very least purchase the Overview dvd and watch through it so that you understand the method and progression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver_Kitten Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 To give your dd the best chance of having success with IEW I highly recommend you get the TWSS and watch it before trying ATFF. At the very least purchase the Overview dvd and watch through it so that you understand the method and progression. The overview dvd was what I was thinking, I couldn't afford the TWSS before taxes come in, but I could get the overview and ATFF after Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 The overview dvd was what I was thinking, I couldn't afford the TWSS before taxes come in, but I could get the overview and ATFF after Christmas. Yes, do get the Overview dvd then. IF you can afford it later I would consider getting the TWSS...it will help you know how to evaluate her writing effectively, especially considering her perfectionist tendencies. Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom2011 Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 n/m Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver_Kitten Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 I'm stuck between EIW or IEW. I'm going to let my daughter look at the programs and see which she would rather do. If she doesn't like doing it, it isn't going to get done with any real energy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deee Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Killgallon turned my reluctant writer around. And Brave Writer fixed his mother - it made me relax and enjoy the process, rather than worrying about the product. D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Another IEW fan here highly recommending it! If you can't purchase TWSS, do you know another homeschooler that would loan it out. I've not seen the Overview DVD, but this book, Blended Structure and Style is the book that the whole program is based on. You could get it with a theme book. ATFF is geared toward 3rd-5th grade boys. Ancient History or US History Volume 1 would both take you further in the program and are designed for level A or B (A is 3rd-5th, B is 6th-8th). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chirowife Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 We liked Jump In and Wordsmith Apprentice...and Spectrum workbook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 I am lurking in Logic this AM :) , and am not sure this will be helpful but it might (and it's free & you could start immediately): 8FilltheHeart posted her writing strategy here (it continues into the subsequent post, #34) including a lovely section on paragraphs. Hope it is of interest ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Here's another vote for IEW! It is the best thing I could have ever done for ds. I believe I'll be able to try other approaches later, but this is what he needed now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink and Green Mom Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Here's another vote for IEW! It is the best thing I could have ever done for ds. I believe I'll be able to try other approaches later, but this is what he needed now. Same here. We went through WWE and it was fine, but WWS produced many, many tears. We joined CC this year and have been using IEW in the Essentials Program. We're using the Ancient History based writing assignments, and I use the TWSS manual . A friend has loaned me the TWSS DVDs which I've been watching, but honestly, I think it is easy to figure out if you just have the TWSS manual ($35). It has sample schedules, examples of each lesson, etc. That is what I would do (the overview DVD and TWSS workbook). My son HATES to write and could sit for an hour or three if asked to write 2 sentances about topic X (when we just spent days discussing topic X). IEW has been great for him and has given him confidence he never had before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlylocks Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Take a look at Essentials in Writing. Only $40, short video lessons (3-5 minutes), and sheets to print out (or you can buy a workbook). The instruction is very incremental & tells the student exactly what to work on. It's worked very well here. Hope you find something! Merry :-) :iagree: -- we just purchased Level 8 and we are loving it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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