All Things Fun and Fascinating (IEW) vs. Serl's ILL

[Amy Jo]

For my 10yo. I was going to use ILL, but I like the looks of ATFF - and I think he could do well with it. He is about 1/2 way through Dancing Bears, and learns well by doing/writing (programs like FFL & SWR work well). He sometimes writes little stories, but we haven't done much formal writing beyond oral narration, copywork and a bit of dictation. Thoughts?

[Amy Jo]

Anyone? I know someone out there has used it. :p

[MyLittleWonders]

We used ATFF when ds11 was 9, if I remember correctly. Ds7 (at the time he was 7), joined in. They enjoyed it, and it was pretty easy to implement (though we didn't use the rubrics/checklists). This year they are both using Serl's ILL (now ds11 and ds9). We are only about 8 lessons in to it (I don't like waiting to start something new until the new year begins :lol: ). I am really liking it. I've read through almost the whole book (I bought the hardback on Amazon but then bought the PDF workbooks). So far they have done a written narration based on a story about the baby Moses (I changed that lesson ever so slightly), made up a couple of their own stories based on a prompt, written statements, questions, and commands, and worked a bit with the dictionary (I realized they have never learned that Ä is "long a"). I introduce the lesson, we've talked about outlining (planning their stories), we've discussed the use of time words (first, next, after that, etc.), and I've introduced the idea of transitioning between paragraphs (in their stories). It is definitely a well-rounded program that includes grammar/syntax and dictionary skills as well as a variety of writing exercises (copywork/dictation, narration, original stories, etc.) There are also some lessons coming up where I'm going to have them do a little research with the encyclopedia before doing their writing (for instance comparing an animal from a list of the cat family with the household/domesticated cat). For your 10 y.o., if you are looking for a solid writing program, I'd recommend ILL. It's gentle but very thorough (again, based on my going through the book/PDF workbooks).