whitestavern Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Desperately seeking assistance in figuring out which writing curriculum to use for my ds in 6th. To-date we've done wwe 1-3 and WT 1 and 2 and a couple of the kilgallon books. He is not ready for WWS. I already own CW Homer and Write with the Best, but I'm also looking at EIW and Write Shop. I want something that holds my hand a bit, is interesting to my son, does a good job of teaching writing and is secular. Which would you choose for us nd why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 I have no experience, but I have WT and have looked at samples of CW Homer and WWTB. If I were you, I'd pick one of these (probably WWTB). They are good follow-ons after WT 1 and 2. I don't know about EIW, but WS is more of public-school-type writing instruction (i.e. not "classical writing") whereas CW Homer and WWTB are both imitation-type writing ("classical" like WT and Killgallon). So I'd choose either CW Homer or WWTB. Both are secular/easily secularized. A WTM member has provided free lesson plans for CW Homer. Another set of lesson plans for CW Homer, also from a WTM member. Hope that helps somewhat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homemama2 Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Thanks for posting the CW schedules! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Well, I absolutely love IEW as a bridge between WWE and WWS. Since you are doing US history next year, their US history themed set would be perfect. It would hold your hand and allow you to link writing with content. http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/hbw-t Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 Well, I absolutely love IEW as a bridge between WWE and WWS. Since you are doing US history next year, their US history themed set would be perfect. It would hold your hand and allow you to link writing with content. http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/hbw-t Alte Veste, I actually meant "Essentials in Writing" vs IEW, but I'm intrigued by your link. Do you think I could use that without any other IEW background (TWSS)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 I have no experience, but I have WT and have looked at samples of CW Homer and WWTB. If I were you, I'd pick one of these (probably WWTB). They are good follow-ons after WT 1 and 2. I don't know about EIW, but WS is more of public-school-type writing instruction (i.e. not "classical writing") whereas CW Homer and WWTB are both imitation-type writing ("classical" like WT and Killgallon). So I'd choose either CW Homer or WWTB. Both are secular/easily secularized. Thank you for the links to the schedules. If I end up using CW they will come in handy! A WTM member has provided free lesson plans for CW Homer. Another set of lesson plans for CW Homer, also from a WTM member. Hope that helps somewhat. Thank you for the links to the schedules. If I end up using CW they will come in handy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Alte Veste, I actually meant "Essentials in Writing" vs IEW, but I'm intrigued by your link. Do you think I could use that without any other IEW background (TWSS)? Should I pretend I didn't know that? I don't know what protocol is in these situations. :D I actually knew I was throwing out another option, which was not nice, I guess. Just seemed perfect for your situation and I am oh so happy with IEW. Keeping in mind that I only got it in the mail last week... :D We will be starting early modern this year, so I thought I'd give IEW's corresponding history theme a try. I think you could. Did you view the sample? It looks easy as pie to teach. As always with IEW, viewing the TWSS would be helpful because it would give you the big picture view, but the theme lays everything out beautifully. I actually like this themed set better than the SWI (which is really saying something :tongue_smilie:). Maybe because there is no back and forth between the videos and the books? Anyway, I think it would be a great option for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 Should I pretend I didn't know that? I don't know what protocol is in these situations. :D I actually knew I was throwing out another option, which was not nice, I guess. Just seemed perfect for your situation and I am oh so happy with IEW. Keeping in mind that I only got it in the mail last week... :D We will be starting early modern this year, so I thought I'd give IEW's corresponding history theme a try. I think you could. Did you view the sample? It looks easy as pie to teach. As always with IEW, viewing the TWSS would be helpful because it would give you the big picture view, but the theme lays everything out beautifully. I actually like this themed set better than the SWI (which is really saying something :tongue_smilie:). Maybe because there is no back and forth between the videos and the books? Anyway, I think it would be a great option for you. You are not good for my curriculum addiction! Sigh. Maybe I can find some locally who has it so I can give it a good look/see before ordering. The sample I looked at refers to TWSS a lot (ie. read these pages in TWSS...). I need a bit of hand holding; not sure if it will be enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathie in VA Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 off hand I'd say CW Homer, but then again I'm knee deep in it at the moment. I've used this with my two older students a few years ago but I will be taking a class thru it this year. So I'm actually in the middle of outlining the book for class notes... I really like how well it takes you through things step by step. However when I back up and re-read your originial post I paused... why do you think your ds is not ready for WWS? and why is WWE4 not on your list if you did 1-3? *I* recommend CW because I know CW and I haven't seen the others. But there are general pros/cons on all curriculum ... we can better help compare these with what has worked and what has not worked to help narrow the list ... hths Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 I like the Hake writing lessons. You can buy just the writing book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 We are trying Winning with Writing this year for 8th, from the Growing with Grammar people (my kids love GWG). It's open-and-go: written directly to the student, they write in the book, planned out for 36 weeks with one task per day. This will be a good overview, and ensures that a certain amount of writing actually gets done, lol. We will do history based writing as well (she says optimistically). Here's the link to 6th grade; you can view the table of contents and a sample lesson: http://www.growingwithgrammar.com/1www_Level_6.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 I'm also curious why you think he's not ready for WWS. I have Homer and have recently taken a good, long look at WWTB. I used WWS1 this past year. WWTB goes over several of the focuses of WWS, descriptions of person and place, using dialogue. It is easier than WWS in that it seems less intense overall, the lessons are spread out, and WWS is more specific about length of writing assignments. In other ways, WWS is easier because it spells everything out to the student and teacher and is less open-ended, there is much more instruction to help the student, and for most of the book, the student does not have to come up with his own topics to write about as he does in WWTB. I don't see that Homer is much easier than WWS, but I haven't used it so maybe am missing something. Maybe the pace is easier, but you can slow down WWS. I am not trying to talk you into WWS, but it does exactly what you said you wanted with hand-holding for you and the student. :) SWB has said the requirements for beginning is for the student to be able to write a narrative summary of something she has read; I want to say she says 3-4 pages of reading summarized into 4-5 sentences, but I don't remember that part. There is a peacehillpress youtube video that talks about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted August 1, 2013 Author Share Posted August 1, 2013 We switched from WWE to WT because he really struggled with the summaries and began to despise writing. He did very well with the rewrites in WT and enjoyed the process again. Both my dd and I had a hard time with WWS and she's my reader/writer! I was reading some posts by llewelma (?) this morning and she said her son had trouble with WWS too, something about needing more information on the topics that were given and also not enough instruction. And I think that's what it was for us too. I just really did not like it, nor did dd. Alta Veste's suggestion looks promising but I am nervous using that without any TWSS experience. Also, the website states distinctly Christian content. Can someone speak to how prevalent this is? Lastly, will I need anything besides the student and instructor books and the student resource book? There is a possibility of my son going to school next year, so whatever I do I want to get the most bang for my buck in a one year period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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