Classical Writing questions....

[Pster]

1. I can use CW-Aesop with a 3rd grader, right? And for the year I would need A & B?

 

-when should I squeeze in Poetry?

 

2. Can you describe what your weekly schedule is like when doing CW-Aesop? I'd really appreciate this! :D I can't get a grasp on how much work we are talking about doing on a daily basis.

 

3. And..... no grammar needed for 3rd grade if using this?

 

4. for what "type" of student would you recommend NOT using this type of program for?

 

hmmm....what else am I missing.....

 

(is it hard to follow thru and teach? :o)

 

thanks for your help!

[Susan in SoCal]

Yes, you can certainly use Aesop with a 3rd grader. Perfect age to begin. You know, I kind of like the pace of doing Aesop A in 3rd and Aesop B in 4th. There's really no reason to rush into Homer level work.

 

I'm enough years away from our daily Aesop work that I can't properly remember what it looked like. Hopefully someone else can fill you in on that part.

 

Don't worry about Poetry until 4th grade, at the earliest.

 

No additional grammar text is *necessary.* Tho, it's certainly not a problem to add one, if you want to. Personally, I think the grammar in Aesop is "enough" for 3rd grade.

 

I can't think of a type of student not to use this with, so I'm not the best to answer that part either.

 

Hard to follow thru and teach? CW, in general, is a curriculum that takes awhile to find one's rhythm, I think. But the student workbooks for Aesop, I think, make the process soooo much easier and faster to learn. Another reason why I like to do level A in one year and level B in another, is that it gives moms & students a little breathing room - time to enjoy the program and the process without getting burnt out trying to fit it all in as quickly as possible.

 

Anyway, that's just my personal opinion on the program. YMMV, of course ;).

 

Susan

[Pster]

Is there copy work and dictation in CW? Or is that something I would add on my own? - maybe that's a dumb question since it is a "writing" program.....

 

ty

[Susan in SoCal]

Yup. Copywork & dictation is included. :-)

[Patricia in WA]

I would recommend A in 3rd and B in 4th. It will give you breathing room and you can add more stories if a concept is not sinking in. You can also write across your curriculum. Use the time to apply CW skills to your Science and History writing lessons. I am finding that with Homer we had less time for that. I am definitely making it a priority in Homer B.

 

Here is the tentative plan for the middle child and then the youngest:

 

Aesop A - 3rd grade

Aesop B - 4th grade

Beg. Poetry A - 5th grade

Homer A - 5th grade

Beg. Poetry B - 6th grade

Homer B - 6th grade

Int. Poetry A- 7th grade

Diogenes Maxim - 7th grade

Int. Poetry B- 8th grade

Diogenes Chreia 8th grade

Herodotus -9th grade

Plutarch - 10th grade

Demosthenes - 11th grade

 

I know they have a Shakespeare book planned but I don't remember for when. When it is published, we will squeeze it in somewhere. This schedule gives me some flex room.

 

 

As for the structure of the lessons, this will depend on your child. I had one child who could do analysis and imitation in the same day. I had another child who needed one week of just analysis and then the next week for imitation. With one child a story took us one week to complete. With the other child, 2 and sometimes 3 weeks were necessary. The workbooks make the planning much easier for you, but it is still a curriculum you have to prep for. The longer I use it the more confortable I get. It is not for the faint of heart. It is also something you must put effort into completing. It can easily become the thing that gets dropped when pressed for time. I had to make it the first thing every day for a long time before it became habit.

 

Now all this may seem daunting and I really don't want to scare you or anyone else off. I would not trade it for anything in the world. I think it is a wonderful writing program that impresses me at every turn. My reluctant writer has become more confident. She still will not chose to write of her own free will but when I assign a writing project she no longer melts into a "I can't write" puddle fuddle noodle poodle mess. :D My very detailed but can't remember a period or a capital letter writer has become my copy editor. He loves finding the mistakes. He can just write without worry because he knows we will go over it and fix all his errors. He doesn't have to be perfect or concise every time. He knows that like the original we will analyze his writing and make it better.

 

As for a separate grammar text....both started out using an outside text on top of CW but I have recently discovered that they did not need it. They are learning so much more from just analyzing great writing. I did use the diagramming book CW recommends and found it to be very good. Other than that, CW is enough for us.

 

HTHs,

[Julie in GA]

But not for every day. For each weekly model, one copywork & dictation activity are given.

[Julie in GA]

I agree w/ Susan. I'm using it now for my 3rd gr. ds, and we'll do B next year. We schedule it like this (following the workbook plan): M - read model & have dc read it aloud & narrate it; discuss new vocab, etc.

T - do the word study activity (vocab/spelling analysis); do outline for writing project

W - look at sentences, and do the grammar lesson provided; write first draft

Th - dictation; revise draft

F - catch up work as needed (finish final draft, etc.)

 

HTH,

[Zelda]

I use CW strictly for the writing and mostly ignore the grammar lesson. Its a nice adaptable program in that way.