6kids2luv Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 Hi ladies, I have been doing a lot of research lately on Bravewriter. I have TWJ (the older version) & am working my way through it, and it really connects with me. I have decided to go with this but am having trouble figuring out what I should be getting. I have 6 kids in grades 1st, 4th, 7th, 9th,10th, & 11th. I plan to use the Help for Highschool for the 3 oldest. I know some people just use TWJ but I really need a plan to follow, I want something that will lay out the copywork & dictation & tell me what all to point out in it (i.e. spelling, punctuation, literary elements, etc). So I'm thinking The Arrow & Partnership Writing for my 4th & 7th graders. My 7th grade ds is a very reluctant writer so I thought maybe this would be ok for him too. My confusion is in what to do with my 1st grade ds. When I look at the samples of The Wand & Jot it Down, I'm having trouble understanding what is in what. The Wand says it has copywork & dictation but the sample shows mostly phonics. I don't really need a lot of phonics because we are also going through Logic of English. I did read somewhere on a forum that the sample doesn't show well what The Wand really is. So, I don't know whether to get it or not. Jot it Down also mentions languages arts, so do they overlap? So could someone clarify for me what is the difference between The Wand & Jot it Down, and is it really worth spending that money for that age or do I just wait to start with him until next yr. Hope that makes sense. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 Brave Writer is meant to cover all of language arts... I adore BW, but I have to admit that I think a few things under the "language arts" heading need supplementing - phonics followed by spelling definitely for most kids and grammar possibly for many as well. I have to admit to being a little confused about The Wand as well. I saw the sample and dismissed it because I felt like we were past that when I first found BW. I still think they're making a huge mistake in posting only the very first issue - Hop on Pop - on their site because it makes it seem so preschool/kindy. But then I got a chance to see the whole thing at friends' houses who were using it and realized that it was really cool and ramps up in difficulty and I wish I had bought the upper level for my boys back at the end of 2nd grade. Now they definitely have outgrown it. Oh well. From looking at it, I saw some phonics, but also a lot of mechanics and pre-writing instruction as well as literature. It seemed like it would be mild support for a phonics program with lots of good writing through copywork and dictation or possibly good for a kid who found reading really intuitive, but apparently Julie Bogart responded to someone that it *is* a phonics program and you wouldn't need another, so... Hm. Judge for yourself, I guess? I can't imagine it's enough for the vast majority of kids. It's too whole languagey. And I say that as someone who is fond of whole language alongside phonics. For Jot It Down, we haven't used that one either, but it's writing projects for the whole year - you do one a month. But it also summarizes the aspects of the Jot It Down stage and what to do for a BW routine for that age. So in that sense, it will cover language arts completely (though I would again argue that BW just isn't enough phonics for most kids so everything but phonics). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 Just going to chime in about "The Arrow." We're using it for the first time this year, and so far, I am sadly not impressed. I think I could have come up with better passages (or at least the same) for dictation on my own. The little blurb on a literary element at the end is not enough to justify the cost IMHO. I love TWJ, but not "The Arrow." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 The Arrow is overpriced... But I've found it convenient when I have it. Still, I'm with you. We've only done a few of them. Usually, I just pick the dictation myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 Since I am just getting started with BW this year, I have found the Arrow very helpful. We are only on our second one but I love having it all there for you. We are using the Arrow and pieces of PW and Jot it Down for my 3rd grader and pieces of JID fort 1st grader. I haven't seen the Wand, for first we use AAR, AAS, WWE, and FLL and JIT is just extra. It adds some fun. My 3rd grader is doing more BW but we do FLL and AAS in addition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLMom Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Jot it down is a whole year of writing projects and explains the other aspects of BW (copywork, dictation, art appreciation, poetry tea time). I really like it a lot. I haven't seen the wand so I don't know about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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