Talk to me about FLL and / or IEW?

[Ameena]

If you've used either of these - talk to me please?

 

I never considered either program due to cost being out of my budget. But, on my trip today to the local homeschool center, I found they now carry BOTH, along with the WTM 3rd edition in their shop. Goes to show that you shouldn't give up hope - this was an uber religious, mostly carrying ACE & Lifepacs except for the used book room kind of place. The homeschool center does scholarships {kind of like a work study - you have to commit to x many days work per month at the center}. I qualify for a scholarship probably {depending on references}. So it might be possible to do either program :)

 

So - talk to me about FLL or IEW?

[julie4]

We tried IEW this year & it was not for us, so I will let someone else talk about that.

 

We love FLL, Ds just finished level 4 & dd will be done by the end of the summer. I love it because grammar was one of my weaker my subjects, I'm learning it again right along with my children. It's scripted, so I can't mess it up. Now that I'm more comfortable I can stray from the script, and I often do, but it's still there to fall back on. There is a lot of repetition & review, and again I am more comfortable skipping this now when I see fit.

 

#1 thing though is that my children do know their grammar, they have retained everything! And they even love to diagram sentences.

 

I know the scripted & repetitive style are a big turn off for some people. But for us it's quick, simple, effective. HTH.

[Pink and Green Mom]

Here is my 2 cents.  I have used both programs with my children.  My older son I used FLL for grammar in Grades 1-4 and used IEW for writing in 5th grade.  He went off to private school for 6th.  This child is, at best, an average student.  He has/had some speech and language issues (horrible phonemic awareness, expressive and receptive language disorders) that for the most part were worked through in private speech therapy.  Writing is not his strong suit.  So I want to caveat my opinions with that.

 

In private school, he runs circles around the other kids in grammar.  His English teachers, who are very tough, asked him if he had been in a gifted school that focused on grammar (oh, to see the look on their faces when he said no, my mom taught me...).  They have asked me what programs I used.  I think FLL was great.  Never heard a complaint from my often-complaining son.  I wish I had been taught grammar this way because I finally understood sentence diagramming.  The way the book lays it out made so much more sense than I had been taught.  I cannot say enough good things about FLL.  I wish SWB had continued with her grammar program for middle school.  For 5th grade we used Hake (Saxon) grammar which was ok.

 

For writing we used Writing with Ease for 1-4, attempted to use Writing with Style for 5th, found it way too much for DS to handle, and switched to IEW because we were doing Classical Conversations and that was what they used.  I am an attorney so writing is something I am comfortable with (I wasn't a litigator so the bulk of my work came from writing briefs, contracts, and other documents).  I personally do not like IEW.  I think it is too formulaic and do not believe that makes for good writing.  The writing I saw it produce at home and in CC was all too matchy-matchy.  In my opinion, it focused too much into all the dress ups, sentence starters, etc. at the expense of content.  When my son has to write for school the sentence starters and dress ups are the least of his teachers concerns.  Lots of people use and love IEW.  For my reluctant writer, it did not work.

 

If you are unsure about writing, you may want to look at Susan Wise Bauer's lecture she has available for a few dollars on her website.  Whenever I needed a pep talk about writing and how to get your child to a good place, it was very comforting.   

[Guest]

Use both, love both. If you decide to go with IEW and are able, try and get (or at least watch) the Teaching Writing with Structure and Style DVD seminar. I have found that essential to the program.

[FriedClams]

I loved FLL 1 and 2 and then CLE from grades 3 and up. But I also loved IEW for writing only for grades 4/5 and up.

[fourisenough]

I love FLL.

 

I have used IEW and, while I wouldn't say I love it, it does introduce many important writing conventions. It got us writing. My daughter is a very capable but somewhat reluctant writer. I like working through the 9 units rather than just writing book reports. We used it with CC so it may be that what I liked about our writing year was the accountability, assignments, deadlines, etc and not so much IEW per se. We completed more writing projects this year than ever before and I saw my daughter's skills improve fairly dramatically over the year.

[cintinative]

I use both also.  My kids are 1st and 2nd grade. If you are looking for those "memory pegs" for grammar such as definitions of a noun, verb, etc. and memorizing lists of prepositions, etc., FLL has that.  It is just not there in that "way" in IEW.  IEW does introduce what these are but not in the same manner. Also I find FLL addresses in more detail things like terms of address (mister, missus, etc.) and writing letters, addressing an envelope, etc (lower grades--we haven't done upper grades yet obviously).  However, we do tend to skip the "composition" portions of FLL because we are doing IEW. We do the copywork and dictation but if she asks to write a paragraph then we skip it. We haven't gotten to FLL 3 yet--I "assume" that there will be less composition work as the author will assume us to move on to one of her writing products or another company's writing product. 

 

I really like IEW but from reading many many boards on here I can say that for a writing curriculum to work you need to have both the teacher and student vested. You (the teacher) might like something and it might not work for your kid. This is probably not an one size fits all type thing.  So I would encourage you to try it and see if it works for your children. IEW has a 100% money back, no time limit unconditional guarantee on everything you buy from them (they even pay return shipping). You really can't lose.  If it doesn't work, return it.

 

 

[Guest kmathew5]

We're a bit obsessed with IEW now.  It's phenomenally expensive, but well worth the money.  

 

Years ago we started with SWI Level B (for middle school) and the difference in the childrens' writing was amazing.  New concepts are taught precept by precept allowing the students to gradually incorporate specific skills into their writing.   We've since started the continuation courses (at Level B and C as age/skill appropriate) and my youngest is begging to do SWI level A.  I usually don't start intense writing instruction until 5th grade, but I broke down and bought it last week.  

 

One thing to note:  We do all our IEW with friends for accountability.  The students read their own work aloud to their classmates.  Positive peer pressure can be a wonderful thing.

 

Yes, it's formulaic.  Normally I bristle at this, but it works.

• This is great for the student (dd) who has an aversion to rules, as it gives a solid framework for composition. They are no longer lost in the abyss of freedom writing provides for their thoughts.
• For the student (ds) with a high justice-quotient (who obsesses about HAVING to follow the formula exactly every time) IEW structure is helpful because it lets them sense accomplishment.  That being said, those who obsess with rules sometimes need to write their rough drafts with NO RULES, just to pull the ideas out of their head first.

It works for us.  You DON'T need to do Levels A, B, and C!  Because we drive a distance for the classes, it just makes sense for us to have all the students do composition simultaneously.  Otherwise I would teach composition well in middle school and be done with it.  

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

If you'd like a look at FLL1, I've been blogging about using it and the things I added to make it better for my kinetic learner.

 

http://sceleratusclassicalacademy.blogspot.com/search/label/FLL%201?m=0

[mom31257]

I LOVE IEW mainly because it makes me, a math girl, feel like I can finally teach writing. I think there are many good grammar programs (CLE is my favorite), but none that included writing gave me the instruction I needed to do this. 

 

I went through the entire TWSS in a 2 week sprint one summer. I met with a friend 2 days a week, and we worked through it together, evaluating each other's writing from the practicums.

 

I used a little of All Things Fun and Fascinating before teaching in a co-op setting using SWI-A. The same group just finished the US history volume 1 theme book. This has been a program which took a boy who cried over writing anything to writing several good papers this year. I really want to cement all he learned in the US history book because we went rather quickly in the co-op. I plan to use the Ancient history theme book next year and possibly over the next 2 years. 

 

I love the definite expectations, the structure of the program, and the ease in use. 

 

 

[MAMommy]

I agree with Amy. We love IEW & the way it teaches writing. I find it quite flexible & easy to implement. FLL was like water torture to me. I hated every bit of it.