plain jane Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 So who's using IEW Bible Heroes program this year? What ages are you using it with and is it working out well for them? I've been using it with my 2nd grader. I thought he was a pretty decent writer for his age but he's finding it to be a bit difficult- especially the story sequence part. It was a big jump for him to go from outlining 3 words from each sentence to doing a SSC. :unsure: Is this a typical thing? Should a second grade child be doing this with ease? Would like to hear what others' experience with this theme book has been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I'm using it for my 1st and 2nd grader. The story sequence has been a learning experience for all of us. It was covered in part in PAL, and it was covered in the TWSS, but still, when the rubber meets the road . . . I find myself often peeking in the teacher's manual at their examples. The thing that trips me up is that they say it is not a line by line key word summary like the other units, but yet it is sometimes even in their examples. Also I sort of wonder if we will always get so lucky as having one paragraph for each part of the story sequence. When they start throwing longer source texts at us I think it will be almost "easier" to just answer the questions they give you in the margins to fill in the outline. For now I am having to do a LOT of handholding with my boys through this section. My focus is firstly to answer the questions and second to come up with key words from the sentences in the source text. Sometimes that is easy and other times it is not. And, I am having to heavily rely on their guidance because I am never 100% sure. I am inclined to think this is a practice related thing and that over time we will get better. Overall I do like it though! We just finished the last lesson on Daniel--so we start week 21 on Monday. I do also follow the IEW Families yahoo group which can provide support for specific questions or general ones. I have found it helpful. My guess is that the source texts will get harder next year. What do you plan to use next year? I am debating between SWI-A and All things Fun and Fascinating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 This is my 3rd child to use IEW but the first to start so young. I think I will probably follow it up with All Things Fun and Fascinating. I've used most of the products by now but wanted to hear what others think of Bible Heroes for the younger crowd. Thanks for sharing your experience with it. Anyone else using this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monarch Room Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 We dumped it, and I am one who typically will work through programs that aren't my favorite because I hate the waste of buying something that goes unused. I was using it this year with my 2nd grader. It just seems too early to me to be using this method. There were tears, and at this age I don't want any anxiety associated with writing. I know IEW is a great fit for many families. It was just definitely not a good fit for us. The games and vocabulary were fun though :) I think we may just be too right brained for IEW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I think the main thing to remember in doing this type of curriculum with this age (2nd/3rd, or even 1st grade) is that you are going to need to help your child quite a bit through the process. Andrew Pudewa said in his talk about the "deadly errors of teaching writing" that withholding help is one mistake we often make as teachers. At this age, there is NO amount of help that is too much. Do you need to scribe for them? Fine. Do they need to look at the adverbs list? Fine. Do you need to suggest adjectives because they can't come up with one? Fine. Do you need to suggest who/which clauses? Fine. They do not need to be responsible to come up with all that on their own. The curriculum leaves it open for them to do so IF they are able, but the teacher should and must help to prevent frustration. Just my two cents, but I wonder if unintentionally withholding needed help is the reason for the tears mentioned by a few of the posters here and on other threads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monarch Room Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I totally helped him. I was even having a hard time coming up with what they were looking for though. Like I said, I know IEW works well for many families. It just wasn't for this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Our co-op used it with 2nd-4th graders, but I don't have a child in the class. From all I've heard, the kids have done well and like it. An important thing with IEW is to make sure you have units 1 and 2 down very well before you move on to another unit. If you have a child struggling with Unit 3, you might could move on to unit 4 because it's report writing. I did a little IEW with ds in 3rd, but he wouldn't have been ready for much in 2nd. I only covered units 1 and 2 that year. He did SWI-A in 4th grade, but he needed a lot of help from me. He's doing the US History theme book and just now writing paragraphs on his own. I'm still helping with some of the dress-ups and techniques, but he's able to do many on his own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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