The Core/One Room Schoolhouse Writing/IEW

[stm4him]

I just reread The Core for the third time and I was struck by her talk about copying paragraphs as a prerequisite essentially to rewriting paragraphs. I had planned for the fall to have my oldest three children in three different IEW books and I am still considering that option, but I know that will take a lot of time and I'm worried I would just default to helping the oldest (because she is in Essentials) and not get to the youngers consistently. They are already going to do PreScripts next year (Words and Sentences levels), but that is not really copying paragraphs or talking about its structure as Leigh Bortins suggests. So my thought was that maybe instead of putting them all in a different level, I could just use the book my oldest is going to do (Medieval Writing lessons) and have my 6 and 8 year olds copy the teacher's manual outline and find the dress ups in the paragraph given, then copy out the paragraphs and we would check it for any mistakes. They would also do an oral retelling using the outline. This would be over the course of a week, not in one day. So on the days my oldest is writing her rough draft and typing it up they would be copying the paragraph(s) and editing them with me while discussing the structure. I think this would set them up well for when they are in Essentials and would allow me to focus on one book's contents instead of three. I think the modeling of the structures and style in front of them for three years will make it almost second nature to them by the time they get to Essentials. Hopefully by that time their mechanics and spelling skills will have caught up with their oral vocabulary so that they can then easily write what it is they want to say.

 

I know it seems like a lot for a first grader to copy, but her book references first graders in Jamaica copying Scripture for an hour (in cursive), which I'm sure is at least one paragraph's worth of writing. They can be copying their one sentence in cursive in their PreScripts book as they get used to writing in cursive, and copy the paragraph in manuscript until cursive becomes easy.

 

The other side benefit of this is the history in the paragraphs, which she also mentions in her history chapter. If they do another book they don't get the same benefit necessarily and we would all have different content.

 

Any thoughts?

[fourisenough]

I think that sounds like a terrific idea and so, so much more do-able, over the long haul, than trying to teach three different IEW programs.

 

I have read the Core twice, and I plan to re-read it again this summer. I get something different out of it every time!

[stm4him]

Well, this is a bust. At least to some extent. I looked over the other teacher's manuals I just bought at a used sale and I can see that the only way this would work is if I retype the paragraphs in larger font and every week will not work out beautifully as outlined above because the book isn't consistent (and the tiny print drives me nuts!) I guess it will save me money, though. Now I'm thinking maybe I should just have them follow along when I teach my oldest the day after CC and on other days give easier paragraphs to copy from other sources (like the two easier level IEW books I already own). I don't know.....still thinking about this. I'm on the right track, though....

 

I really wish CC would get their own theme-based books produced through IEW that are written with larger spacing and margins, etc. and which are easily adaptable for having younger kids follow along......