What EXACTLY do I need for IEW Student Intensive A?

[Samiam]

I know there have been alot of posts recently about IEW, and I've read them all. I've had IEW on my mind for the last few months. Thinking it's a "go" for next year for us. I'm going to do Student Intensive A with both DS9 and DS6. DS9 is dyslexic so working on a 1st/2nd grade level in most aspects of LA. DS6 would be a "2nd grader" next year.

 

I'm confused by all the options. I am not probably going with TWSS...unless I find that used for a good deal. I'm getting the level A SICC for sure, but then I see all these things for level A: Student handouts, Notebook and packets, Articles and Stories for units.

 

I want IEW to be as open-and-go for ME as possible to ensure that we do in fact do it.

 

What EXACTLY do I need Level A for two students to make it open-n-go?

[fiddle]

You would start with Student Writing Intensive A. This will come with the DVD and student workbook that goes along with that level (you may want another copy of the student notebook since you're doing it with 2 students). This will have Andrew doing the "teaching" - I would sit with the kids while they watch and then you coach them through the various assignments. At some point, I do recommend that you obtain/watch the Teaching Writing With Structure and Style- it is written to you as the teacher and helps to really explain the methodology, etc. See if you know someone who has it and borrow it to watch it if you need to cut down costs. Or maybe go in on it with another homeschooling mom or two? The resell value is pretty high, so if you can do those things it makes it affordable.

 

The SICC A comes AFTER SWI B. How quickly you get to the SICCA depends on how fast you move through the SWI A. The extra articles and story units are not necessary- those are for if you want your child to have extra practice with the various types of assignments. However, you can just as easily use things that you are studying (history, science) and have them practice their keyword outlining, etc. So, those are "extras"...

 

I hope this helps.

 

Paula

[nukeswife]

Unless you plan to go through SWI-A very quickly I wouldn't get SICC-A.

You dont' need the articles and stories unless you think your kids would need more practice and you don't want to find things on your own. These are just little 1 paragraph blurbs on a subject, I find them pretty easy to find on my own. If you have any sort of history or science encyclopedia they are rife with things you can use.

 

The SICC-A wouldn't be used until after the SWI-A, I know you said you didn't want to get TWSS, but that might be a better choice than SICC-A. I really can not see my 2nd grader(next year) being able to do SWI-A , so I certainly wouldn't expect them to do SICC-A unless you plan to do a lot in the way of scribing etc, or unless you child LOVES to write. The TWSS is the teacher training discs, so if you had them you really wouldn't even need SWI, you could use them to teach you how to teach the IEW method to yourself with paragraphs/source texts you find on your own. If you'd rather have Andrew do the teaching then I would just get SWI-A and either an extra student notebook or the ebook of it so you can print copies for your 2nd student.

[boscopup]

Agree. You don't need SICC yet. I also would recommend waiting a year or two for both of your kids, honestly. I used SWI-A this year for my third grader (who is advanced in general, though writing phobic), and I would not have wanted to do it any earlier. They really need to be ready to write a LONG paragraph on their own (from keyword outline) and also add all the dressups. It gets challenging.

 

As far as what you need for SWI-A... You just need SWI-A (I do recommend TWSS though, and if I could only get one, I'd JUST get TWSS, which is the entire program in one purchase). SWI-A comes with one set of student sheets. You can photocopy them for the second student.

[Samiam]

Okay, great...I think I confused myself...so it's SWI A, not SICC...gotcha! Thanks all! How many student sheets are in SWI-A? I don't mind photocopying (if the curriculum allows) but when it gets to be alot of pages, the cost, the time, the effort to get it done, ends up not being a real savings over just purchasing the workbook, KWIM?

[fourisenough]

Agree. You don't need SICC yet. I also would recommend waiting a year or two for both of your kids, honestly. I used SWI-A this year for my third grader (who is advanced in general, though writing phobic), and I would not have wanted to do it any earlier. They really need to be ready to write a LONG paragraph on their own (from keyword outline) and also add all the dressups. It gets challenging.

 

As far as what you need for SWI-A... You just need SWI-A (I do recommend TWSS though, and if I could only get one, I'd JUST get TWSS, which is the entire program in one purchase). SWI-A comes with one set of student sheets. You can photocopy them for the second student.

 

This is a possible thread hijack, but I have a question about IEW/SWI-A as it compares to WWE. I notice your son is doing both this year. Do they address different writing skills? Are they two different approaches to teach the same 'thing' or are they accomplishing something different? I admit to knowing very little about IEW. My 8 year old is on week 5 of WWE 3 and does very well with it. She has just gotten to the point of writing narrations for other subjects (has been giving oral narrations for some time), so she is definitely progressing. However, a part of me thinks I should also be teaching her how to write different types of paragraphs (descriptive, how-to, etc). Would IEW teach this?

[thessa516]

Okay, great...I think I confused myself...so it's SWI A, not SICC...gotcha! Thanks all! How many student sheets are in SWI-A? I don't mind photocopying (if the curriculum allows) but when it gets to be alot of pages, the cost, the time, the effort to get it done, ends up not being a real savings over just purchasing the workbook, KWIM?

 

I currently have two students working through SWI A. I went ahead and bought another workbook (the $19 binder and pages). It was worth it to me.

 

Okay, I just checked. 98 pages front and back.

[nukeswife]

This is a possible thread hijack, but I have a question about IEW/SWI-A as it compares to WWE. I notice your son is doing both this year. Do they address different writing skills? Are they two different approaches to teach the same 'thing' or are they accomplishing something different? I admit to knowing very little about IEW. My 8 year old is on week 5 of WWE 3 and does very well with it. She has just gotten to the point of writing narrations for other subjects (has been giving oral narrations for some time), so she is definitely progressing. However, a part of me thinks I should also be teaching her how to write different types of paragraphs (descriptive, how-to, etc). Would IEW teach this?

 

 

From what we've done in IEW, this comes later in the program. IEW kind of bounces back and forth between report type writing and creative writing.

 

the student writing intensives start in units 1 and 2 with learning to make a keyword outline from a source paragraph and then learning how to turn that outline into a summary. The next unit teaches them the outline for a story and they use well know fairy tales to outline and then can tweak that outline to make a new story. The 4th unit is working on more of a report type writing and teaches topic and clinchers. Unit 5 is creative again and does writing from pictures. SWI a skips unit 6 which is on how to write a research report from library sources. Unit 7 is about creative writingI don't think units 8 or 9 is taught until you get into the SICC levels . Unit 8 in the SICC-C is the one that teaches the basic, expanded, persuasive, super and personal essay. Through these units the kids will be taught different stylistic techniques, like the who/which clause, adverbial clauses, the super short sentence, various types of sentence openers, how to use strong verbs (some basic verbs will actually be "banned words" like say/said, to help kids use more variety)

 

Now I believe you can get those other essay types in unit 8 from other things they offer if you don't want to use the SICC levels. They offer many theme based writing books. Many actually just get the TWSS (the course geared toward the parent) and a theme book and do all the teaching themselves instead of using the SWI and SICCs where Andrew teaches to the kids via DVD and you are there to help facilitate the lessons.

 

I don't really know if they ever teach a "how-to" paragraph, we're only working through SICC-B.

 

Oh and as for the student pages, I usually just buy the ebook and that way I can quickly print off another copy if we need one.

[boscopup]

This is a possible thread hijack, but I have a question about IEW/SWI-A as it compares to WWE. I notice your son is doing both this year. Do they address different writing skills? Are they two different approaches to teach the same 'thing' or are they accomplishing something different? I admit to knowing very little about IEW. My 8 year old is on week 5 of WWE 3 and does very well with it. She has just gotten to the point of writing narrations for other subjects (has been giving oral narrations for some time), so she is definitely progressing. However, a part of me thinks I should also be teaching her how to write different types of paragraphs (descriptive, how-to, etc). Would IEW teach this?

 

They come at writing from slightly different angles and work on different skills. WWE focuses just on copywork, dictation, and narration. IEW starts having them write from keyword outlines, rewriting stories (they can change characters/setting but keep the plot the same - fun for creative kids), writing reports from multiple sources, etc. I've heard many people say that IEW prepared their kids well for WWS - kind of as a go-between for WWE and WWS.

 

WWS will get into different types of paragraphs, I think. Have you looked at the samples for that? I think it's helpful to see where you're headed. Looking at what WWS teaches, I don't find WWE lacking. I got IEW for my son because he just needed something "different" for a while. He is very pencil phobic, and IEW got him actually putting pen to paper and got him a bit more comfortable about not writing everything *perfect* the first time. You don't write a perfect paper the first time. You do rough drafts, then edit. He was freaking out about writing one original sentence, and sometimes even freaking out about just writing half an original sentence (like filling in the blank for: The teacher said, "_____.") Now he's willing to think of something and write it. It's great! I was using IEW only for the beginning of the year, but I went back to WWE recently after realizing he *really* needed to work on narration again.

 

It sounds like your DD is doing great with WWE though, so I don't think you necessarily need IEW. Just look at those WWS samples and see where you're heading, and you might feel better about it. :) I know public school kids are writing 5 paragraph essays in 3rd grade sometimes, but your DD's one paragraph narration (and yes, that is a paragraph!) is probably much better quality writing, and by high school, she'll be writing research papers just as well as ... or probably better than... those public school kids who were writing 5 paragraph essays in 3rd grade. ;)

[fourisenough]

Thanks for the clarification, Boscopup and Kel! I have the opportunity to put her in an IEW class next school year at our enrichment program (they are currently using All Things Fun and Fascinating and will use that or another theme book next year). I may have her participate in the class in addition to continuing WWE at home, just for fun/variety. She is neither writing-phobic or a lover of writing, so she may choose the IEW class or not. I'll leave it up to her!