grantmeawish Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I hate to drop it. It seems like a great program. We are a little over halfway through swi-a. Ds could take it or leave it. Right now he hates all the requirements for each paragraph and he totally tunes out andrew during the DVDs. One of the big reasons I started homeschooling was to give my kids a better education than I recieved especially in writing. IEW's outlines and web looking diagraming give me a headache. I was never good at those in school and I was hoping I could overcome that with some hand holding that IEW provides, but nope, it's still painful. Seriously, I go cross eyed and and feel like I can't breathe : ) For now, we will finish the year with WWE even though ds thinks it's incredibly tedious and boring. What is a straight forward solid writing program? Rod and staff??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I'm sorry to hear that you and your son don't like it. Have you been following the guideline that you don't proceed with the next dress-up until the one currently being learned is EZ+1? I could see my son tuning Andrew out if my son was overwhelmed also. Young children might not even get through all the dress-ups in their first year of the program. Hopefully, someone will be able to give you some direction about Rod and Staff. I have never used it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I would recommend getting on the IEW Families yahoo group. You can get some support and possible input there on what may be going wrong. It could be your pace is too fast, the source text needs to be changed up, or you are requiring too much too soon as the prior poster mentioned. You are supposed to do one dress up until it gets easy, and then move on to the next. I am not familiar with the pacing of SWI-A but if this is your first IEW exposure you might need to take it slower than you think to get that "easy" application of the dress-ups down. I am sure on the yahoo group they can give you some good tips. Also, if you bought this from IEW, they have a 100% money back guarantee. But I really would check out the group, post some questions, and in the meantime take a breather from SWI-A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Terrific advice by previous posters. OP, how old is your DS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I hate to drop it. It seems like a great program. We are a little over halfway through swi-a. Ds could take it or leave it. Right now he hates all the requirements for each paragraph and he totally tunes out andrew during the DVDs. One of the big reasons I started homeschooling was to give my kids a better education than I recieved especially in writing. IEW's outlines and web looking diagraming give me a headache. I was never good at those in school and I was hoping I could overcome that with some hand holding that IEW provides, but nope, it's still painful. Seriously, I go cross eyed and and feel like I can't breathe : ) For now, we will finish the year with WWE even though ds thinks it's incredibly tedious and boring. What is a straight forward solid writing program? Rod and staff??? It would be too much for me. If you want just writing, there's Writing Strands, or Wordsmith Apprentice. Rod and Staff does have solid writing, but it is also grammar, public speaking, and more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grantmeawish Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 He is almost 9. Rod and staff seems to offer a lot of what I want. Will check it out. I told him this am we are going back to WWE. He said that's boring and wants to stick out IEW. I told home I need a break! Maybe if I watch the DVD again and let it marinate it will become more clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 You might take a look at Essentials in Writing by Matthew Stephens. Very short videos--usually about 5 minutes, and he breaks down what to do step by step. Each day he teaches a concept & the kids work on just that. It's worked really well for my kids. Much easier for us to follow. Merry :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2att Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I think not yet 9 is still very young, especially for a boy. I'd put it away for awhile and come back to it later. I tried IEW at home with my then 8 and 11-year-old boys. I only lasted a few weeks with the younger one, but the older began an IEW class at co-op and has excelled with it. I like IEW, but I do think it asks a lot of elementary boys. Some kids are ready for that, many are not. Also listen to SWB's Writing lecture, if you have not yet done so. It's available as a download on the Peace Hill website for a small fee, and worth every penny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Do you have the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style DVD? If you are not figuring out the program I would suggest investing in that and watching it before you watch the dvds with your son. It will help teach you the program so you can help him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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