shburks Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 I'm completely overwhelmed with trying to find a writing curriculum for next year (6th grade). I have one kiddo (boy) who is in the gifted range and loves math, science and history as well as reading. LOVES reading but heaven forbid you ask him to write anything. I spent this year having him write in a journal a few times a week and occasionally longer writing for history or science. (By longer I mean a paragraph!) We're also doing Veritas Press and/or Total Language Plus literary studies where there is a little writing involved. He hates it. I have to get the boy writing but I don't know where to start. The acronyms overwhelm me, the programs confuse me. I need help! What program will work best for a very reluctant writer who has never done a formal writing program. (He was in private school until 4th grade, so he does have some writing experience from there but nothing as a homeschooler.) Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeriJ Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Write On! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto4inSoCal Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Well I can't tell you what will work for your child but I am in a similar situation with a 3rd and 4th grader who have limited exposure to writing. Right now we are working through Treasured Conversations. I am starting them in Writing and Rhetoric by Classical Academy Press next year. I'm skipping fable and going to either narrative 1 or 2. I haven't decided which one yet. I'm leaning towards 1 since they haven't had a lot of experience. I like the way W&R is laid out and I like that it includes lots of great literature as examples of how to write. I love any opportunity to give my kids exposure to the great books so I'm hoping it will be a good fit. The other curriculum I've considered is IEW. It's supposed to be great for the reluctant write and it give a lot of guidance and structure to a kid that gets stumped when writing a paper. My daughter took a 10 week course last semester in IEW and was really frustrated by how restrictive it was so I wanted something a little less constrictive. This is W&R http://classicalacademicpress.com/writing-rhetoric-1/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shburks Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 Write On! Thanks. Checking it out....looks NOT overwhelming! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shburks Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 Well I can't tell you what will work for your child but I am in a similar situation with a 3rd and 4th grader who have limited exposure to writing. Right now we are working through Treasured Conversations. I am starting them in Writing and Rhetoric by Classical Academy Press next year. I'm skipping fable and going to either narrative 1 or 2. I haven't decided which one yet. I'm leaning towards 1 since they haven't had a lot of experience. I like the way W&R is laid out and I like that it includes lots of great literature as examples of how to write. I love any opportunity to give my kids exposure to the great books so I'm hoping it will be a good fit. The other curriculum I've considered is IEW. It's supposed to be great for the reluctant write and it give a lot of guidance and structure to a kid that gets stumped when writing a paper. My daughter took a 10 week course last semester in IEW and was really frustrated by how restrictive it was so I wanted something a little less constrictive. This is W&R http://classicalacademicpress.com/writing-rhetoric-1/ Thanks...going to look at this, too. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Check out Write On Essentials in writing Attuneup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Write On Writing Skills (EPS, Diana Hanbury King) Writing Tales Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto4inSoCal Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Also this thread was really helpful to me http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/348864-my-evaluation-of-numerous-writing-curricula/?hl=+writing%20+program%20+reviewsWriting and Rhetoric was released after the thread was posted (its a few years old) so it is not in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 If use Wordsmith Apprentice and follow it with Cover Story. He'd probably really enjoy CS, but he may struggle with the output. WA would be an enjoyable way to work him up to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shburks Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 Also this thread was really helpful to me http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/348864-my-evaluation-of-numerous-writing-curricula/?hl=+writing%20+program%20+reviewsWriting and Rhetoric was released after the thread was posted (its a few years old) so it is not in there. I read this thread a few months ago and it just simply overwhelmed me! I was a pretty decent writer back in the day and have a background in middle grades education (LA and SS) but I don't feel smart enough to understand half of what Ruth said in that post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Essentials in Writing! This worked wonders for my reluctant writer :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALB Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 I just wrote a detailed review of Classical Composition here if it helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Essentials in Writing helped tremendously here--here's a review I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Writing With Skill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 My DD is in 6th now and a reluctant writer. We've been using Jump In and so far, writing has been a lot less stressful this year. She's actually had some great break throughs and no longer gets anxiety attacks when she needs to do her writing assignments. I have been changing the topics for the major writing assignments in the book to topics in either our science or history studies. This has been very easy to do so far. For next year, I've purchased Essentials in Writing 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Well, I would say Brave Writer, in large part because taking the slow road toward writing is encouraged and you already have done that to some extent. Also, fostering a love of writing is seen as a primary goal. But it's different and the open ended format of making a routine isn't for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My3girls Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 For 6th grade, we used writing with skill at 1/2 speed. It breaks everything down step by step and builds gradually. It's not exciting, but it gets the job done and is not overwhelming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 My DS doesn't hate writing, and CAP Writing and Rhetoric has been working well for him. If you are willing to start a different English program, I think Rod and Staff's writing instruction is also gently incremental and very good. I agree that Writing With Skill is excellent, but only for a kid who has written ad bit and can write a decent paragraph without a meltdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cottonwood Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Moving Beyond the Page! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingHope Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 We really like a vintage text called School Composition by William Maxwell. This is mostly about descriptive writing. Free download https://books.google.com/books?id=E_8AAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=School+composition+maxwell&hl=en&sa=X&ei=93vdVN7mL86zogT5yoCgCA&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=School%20composition%20maxwell&f=false $8 reprint http://www.amazon.com/Composition-Grammar-Classes-Classic-Reprint/dp/B0099TOAMW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423801380&sr=8-1&keywords=School+composition+maxwell Also the next book after School Composition is Writing in English which is great for middle school. https://books.google.com/books?id=s1sQAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=School+composition+maxwell&hl=en&sa=X&ei=93vdVN7mL86zogT5yoCgCA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=School%20composition%20maxwell&f=false Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmingMomma Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 My DS doesn't hate writing, and CAP Writing and Rhetoric has been working well for him. If you are willing to start a different English program, I think Rod and Staff's writing instruction is also gently incremental and very good. I agree that Writing With Skill is excellent, but only for a kid who has written ad bit and can write a decent paragraph without a meltdown. I agree with the bolded portion above. We tried Writing with Skill with my oldest, who was in public school up through 4th grade. It was just too much for a kid who hasn't had much writing instruction and is overwhelmed by writing. I bought a lot of different writing curriculum (and resold most of it). What is working for my 6th grader is Rod and Staff English. My DD finds the instructions clear and helpful, and the writing instruction incremental enough that she doesn't get overwhelmed. I have CAP Writing and Rhetoric Fable, but decided to just stick with R&S for my 6th grader. Maybe my DS8 can use W&R :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 We really like a vintage text called School Composition by William Maxwell. This is mostly about descriptive writing. Free download https://books.google.com/books?id=E_8AAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=School+composition+maxwell&hl=en&sa=X&ei=93vdVN7mL86zogT5yoCgCA&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=School%20composition%20maxwell&f=false $8 reprint http://www.amazon.com/Composition-Grammar-Classes-Classic-Reprint/dp/B0099TOAMW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423801380&sr=8-1&keywords=School+composition+maxwell Also the next book after School Composition is Writing in English which is great for middle school. https://books.google.com/books?id=s1sQAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=School+composition+maxwell&hl=en&sa=X&ei=93vdVN7mL86zogT5yoCgCA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=School%20composition%20maxwell&f=false I'm planning on using Maxwell's School Composition next year for 6th, the more I read it, the more I love it. If you are looking for a classical approach, this is a greatbook for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shburks Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 Essentials in Writing helped tremendously here--here's a review I did. Thank you! That helps tremendously and I love seeing the product from start to fininsh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shburks Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 My DD is in 6th now and a reluctant writer. We've been using Jump In and so far, writing has been a lot less stressful this year. She's actually had some great break throughs and no longer gets anxiety attacks when she needs to do her writing assignments. I have been changing the topics for the major writing assignments in the book to topics in either our science or history studies. This has been very easy to do so far. For next year, I've purchased Essentials in Writing 7. I like the looks of this one but some of the reviews concerned me--topics involving abortions and gay marriage? Can you tell me any more about this and/or give me your thoughts? Apparently this is done by Apologia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I had one who was an avid reader and reluctant writer at one point (though not stellar in math or science, lol). I kept trying programs that gave me hand holding and confidence as a teacher (IEW, Writing With Skill, etc), but they were torture for him - too much detail (too much "trees" not enough "forest"). I think the sweet spot is finding enough support/scaffolding without bogging down the whole thing - and I think it's a very difficult sweet spot to find. We used a bit from the Writing Skills series from EPS by Diana Hanbury King (mentioned above). The great thing about it is that its a cheap workbook and you can use or skip as much as you want without guilt, lol. Truthfully, I doubt we used that much of it before I made a list of topics based on the different paragraph/essay types covered. Then, I required him to write a paragraph to a page every single day on any topic of his choosing. I gave him my list in case he couldn't think of a topic on his own. He wrote every day for the rest of that school year - it was 6th grade, by the way, (and never used my list) - and honestly I think that helped him more than any curriculum we ever tried. Step-by step stuff just did not work well with him at all. (In hind sight, had I been more confident in implementing Bravewriter, that might have been a better approach for him.) Also, we didn't do a lot of editing - I just required him to write. If you need to use something step-by-step, keep it as short and painless as possible. jmho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 IEW has worked wonders with my 6th grader who sounds similar to yours. It's very gentle, lots of scaffolding, everything has a tidy box...and because it's DVD based, "class" is taught by someone else, taking the pressure of me. ;). We started SWI-B in November, I think, and will be finishing in a few weeks. I cannot believe the influence it has had on him. He would barely hold a pencil last year and now he's whipping out short (short--but good!) essays left and right--and enjoying it! Unfortunately with writing, different kids respond to different programs and it can be frustrating and expensive to try several methods. I hope you find the program that works for your son! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I like the looks of this one but some of the reviews concerned me--topics involving abortions and gay marriage? Can you tell me any more about this and/or give me your thoughts? Apparently this is done by Apologia? My son used Jump In in 7th grade, and I was okay with the topics for that age and for that kid. I probably wouldn't use it for a elementary ages though (I had a 5th grader at the time, and I used Karen Andreola's Story Starters for a fun creative writing time that was loosely structured--I wasn't focusing on writing a lot for her that year. My dd probably would not have enjoyed writing on those topics even in junior high, though I could see her writing about them now in high school. Different kids, different personalities and interests...she wasn't an "issues" oriented kid. She had a rich imagination and a fun-loving spirit. There's time enough to grow up and learn about real-life issues, I feel, without rushing kids who barely have any life experience into doing something difficult like writing on a difficult topic you have to research to write about.) We actually didn't finish the program, so I don't think we ever got to the gay marriage topic. I don't remember if the topic was just among options...it may be that it could be skipped, or an alternate topic subbed in. My main issue with Jump In was that I had a very reluctant writer that really struggled and Jump In wasn't incremental enough for him. So...it wasn't the topics that held us back so much as the style just didn't meet his needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildiris Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Some may shun The Common Core, but it does have its merits. I stumbled across this writing resource-Writing Companion- and bought it because it covered the types of writing a student should master at grade level. I also have on my bookshelf-Writing Workshop. Both of these resources are slim books with step-by-step approaches to writing. Another useful tool is to use RAFT=Role, Audience, Format, Topic from 6+1 Traits of Writing. It may give your reluctant writer a framework for his writing. A question: Does your son hate writing because he doesn't want to do the hard work of putting his thoughts down on paper, or does he hate writing because he is frustrated and cannot figure out the process? How you answer this question will guide your choice of writing curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shburks Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 Some may shun The Common Core, but it does have its merits. I stumbled across this writing resource-Writing Companion- and bought it because it covered the types of writing a student should master at grade level. I also have on my bookshelf-Writing Workshop. Both of these resources are slim books with step-by-step approaches to writing. Another useful tool is to use RAFT=Role, Audience, Format, Topic from 6+1 Traits of Writing. It may give your reluctant writer a framework for his writing. A question: Does your son hate writing because he doesn't want to do the hard work of putting his thoughts down on paper, or does he hate writing because he is frustrated and cannot figure out the process? How you answer this question will guide your choice of writing curriculum. Thanks, Wildiris... He hates writing because he doesn't want to physically write anything and/or take the time/spend the time to get his thoughts down. He knows the process--he's been taught the process--but I can't gage what all he knows since this is our first year homeschooling. I know he did all those graphic organizers, some writing, letters, etc in private school, but I don't know how much they covered as far as topic sentence, supporting sentences, etc. Knowing that, do you have different suggestions? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I like the looks of this one but some of the reviews concerned me--topics involving abortions and gay marriage? Can you tell me any more about this and/or give me your thoughts? Apparently this is done by Apologia? The only thing I've found so far is in the Persuasive Essay section. The student has to write a persuasive essay on something they feel strongly about (either negatively or positively) and try to convince his/her readers to their own point of view. The student can choose their own topic, but if they have trouble, a list of potential topics is provided. Abortion is one of the topics, along with recycling, humane treatment of animals, war, minimum driving age of teens, etc. That's it. It was not judgmental or prejudicial in any way. I haven't come across anything for same-sex marriage yet, and I have gone through and skimmed the rest of the book. Whatever the reference is must be quite inconsequential because it didn't leap out at me. If it's there, it would probably be along the same lines as the abortion reference above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildiris Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Thanks, Wildiris... He hates writing because he doesn't want to physically write anything and/or take the time/spend the time to get his thoughts down. He knows the process--he's been taught the process--but I can't gage what all he knows since this is our first year homeschooling. I know he did all those graphic organizers, some writing, letters, etc in private school, but I don't know how much they covered as far as topic sentence, supporting sentences, etc. Knowing that, do you have different suggestions? :) Take a look at 6+1 Traits. It is not a writing curriculum, but it does have samples of student writing. These samples might encourage your reluctant writer when he reads the writing of other students. Look at this book on Amazon and browse the pages. It may help. Otherwise, require writing across all subjects. Short written answers and paragraphs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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