Landry, IEW and Well-Trained Mind Academy's writing classes comparison

[FMHomeSchool]

Has anyone had their children in writing classes with these vendors to be able to comment on which vendor has better high school writing classes and why?

I appreciate your feedback; I've learned a lot from this forum.

[Hot Lava Mama]

Ds (10th grade) has been in the WTMA Rhetoric I class this year.  Excellent class.  Wonderful teacher. (Chloe' Richardson)  I would highly recommend the class as well as the teacher.  Ds's writing has dramatically improved with this teacher.  She's awesome with the kids and goes out of her way to help them out.  We are doing the next class with WTMA next year, too.

 

Dd (7th grade) has been in the WTMA Creative Writing class for a few weeks this year.  It's a much younger class and she is doing delayed lecture.  Overall, it has been good for her.  I think the fact that the class is a lot younger makes it a bit of a different experience than my older son (above).  I do think if you can do live lecture, you are better off. 

 

I think you can preview some of the WTMA classes.  (You might need to get a password first, though.  Not really sure.)

Hot Lava Mama

[FMHomeSchool]

Thank you, Hot Lava Mama. So far, I've gathered that IEW and WTM Academy have high quality teachers and instruction, although I feel the WTM history books aren't really written to a high school audience.

 

I just wonder how time consuming the Rhetoric 1 class is. The sample syllabus lists 2 pages of writing per week, a 5 page essay and 2 exams. Did your son spend 10+ hours per week on the class?

 

Did they practice writing real essays with thesis statements and conclusions? Did they practice MLA formatting and citing sources in essays? I'm still trying to understand exactly what they teach in the class. Do they have the kids go through symbolic logic exercises applied to writing for one whole year?! I'm going to try to check the text out of the library, if possible.

 

Did you also have him do a WTM Literature and/or History class at the same time? If so, what do you think of them? I suppose I'm panicking about being paralyzed with indecision while those classes fill up!

[dereksurfs]

There is another thread in the Logic Stage forum where a number of parents discuss the time commitment for their middle and high school students.  The overall consensus seems to be it varies greatly on a student by student basis.  So I caution you to compare using a sample size from only 1 or 2 parents.  It definitely appears to be on the rigorous, demanding side.  Based on the comments as well as the website I think its too much for our son for 9th grade.  Here is the thread: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/542696-wtm-academy-intro-to-rhetoric-or-rhetoric-i-for-8th-grader/

[FMHomeSchool]

Thank you, Derek for your very useful link to past discussions about Rhetoric 1 through WTM academy. I spoke to Steve at WTM Academy and it seems that they have decided to change their literature courses to involve about 2/3 of what they did this year, to allow for deeper analysis and longer writing assignments. I've decided I like the combination, along with writing instruction from an instructor I will hire, separately. Combining the Rhetoric and Literature classes in the same year would be too much, in my opinion. I still don't have a good feel for how in depth the literary analysis is, for an advanced high schooler.

WTM Academy is going to offer an Honors level series of history classes that will include primary document analysis, for the 2016-2017 school year, I was told, if any one else is looking for history classes.