Looking at two options for writing: help me decide!

[Chris in VA]

Oops--"Please" help me decide!

 

Option one: Continue using Write@Home.

We used WAH last year, doing their essay one course. Ds could do the one semester course that includes basic writing instruction--how to write various papers (persuasive, descriptive, etc.).

 

Option two: Go with another source mentioned on my thread about online writing (name escapes me) where you get a writing instructor for a certain time period, and you can have her/him help with anything you want--research paper, timed essay, basic mechanics, ANYTHING. They can come up with assignments or you can ask. You are in contact with the instructor every day.

 

I don't know what to ask the second option people as far as what ds needs. I know I want him to be able to write a research paper, and I know he needs help writing essay answers to test questions such as he'd find in college. I'm just not sure.

 

WWYD?

[bwasko]

Then again, I founded the company, so I'm not very objective.:D

[Michelle in MO]

Option two: Go with another source mentioned on my thread about online writing (name escapes me) where you get a writing instructor for a certain time period, and you can have her/him help with anything you want--research paper, timed essay, basic mechanics, ANYTHING. They can come up with assignments or you can ask. You are in contact with the instructor every day.

 

I don't know what to ask the second option people as far as what ds needs. I know I want him to be able to write a research paper, and I know he needs help writing essay answers to test questions such as he'd find in college. I'm just not sure.

 

WWYD?

 

read about it. I thought Bev in B'ville used them. I seriously considered it, but the summer we were going to take one of their classes something else came up which nixed our plans.

 

As far as your second question/option is concerned, are you possibly thinking of Cindy Marsch at Writing Assessment Services? We did three of her Progymnasmata tutorials, which were very intense but also well worth the time and money. I also used her to do evaluations for my girls on their Omnibus essays. I felt that the Omnibus progymnasmata writing was a bit over their head, not having had all the prior levels of progymnasmata, so I would use Cindy to help with evaluations of the Summa questions. I would choose one Summa question per literary work and have the girls write and essay. I would send to Cindy my assignment, and she would do the evaluation. She also helped me prepare for the two timed GRE essays I had to write for my GRE in March.

 

Cindy will work with you on an individualized basis to draw up assignments, do evaluations, etc. She also has her own tutorials (the progymnasmata) and other forms of writing. There's a Great Books workshop, I believe, and the new Criterion Writing Service which helps prepare students for the timed SAT/ACT essays.

 

Check out her website, at any rate. She was professional, kind, and humorous to boot! Her grammar and walking students through the logic of their papers was very helpful.

 

But---this is not meant to criticize Write at Home, either! From the coursework I saw on their website, it looked excellent. Cindy Marsch's materials just fit in better with our needs as a family.

 

HTH!

[Chris in VA]

Tee Hee! That's funny! We really did like Write@Home.

[Chris in VA]

BTW, option 2 is WriteGuide, recommended by someone here.

[rhrice3]

Chris,

We did Write@Home's complete writing course for 8th and 9th grade. My son did well with it, and the only negative I saw with the program was "three drafts". By the second half of 9th grade, my son had realized he had until the 3rd draft to be scored. When he was short of time, he did not put forth the BEST effort, I think. However, he received very positive feedback, and my husband and I saw remarkable progress in his writing. I felt the scores were very fair. I wish that by high school they allowed a draft and then a scored paper. I would have signed him up for another year, but I wanted him to write more and have less time on a final paper.

 

Last year during his 9th grade we did sign up for a Research Paper Workshop, as well. I wanted someone to help him through a research paper and grade it. He had a different instructor for it, and she, also, was very fair. His father and I read through the paper each once, and we offered our suggestions for different things but did not do anything for him. I thought that his grade on it was right where it should have been - a high B. I would do the Research Paper Workshop again in a minute.

 

Also, I will say that the instructors are very easy to work with if a problem arises. My son did get the flu during the Research Paper Workshop, and I simply emailed the instructor and told her that he was very ill and asked her for an extra day on the Bibliography or something like that.

 

This year we are using MyAccess Home edition since I can use it with all my children. I allows them to correct their own work, and you can add different prompts although I have not done that yet. I, also, added the SAT prep package Add-on which will allow him to practice writing SAT papers some. We will not use that until the end of the year. If you have several children, you might look into it.

 

Good luck. I know that writing is a difficult thing to teach for many of it.

ReneeR