Garga Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Long story short: my 10 year old son cannot learn to write from me. Yes, it's become personal. For some reason, when I try to teach him writing, he flips out. Maybe he's embarrassed when I critique his work, maybe I'm doing it all wrong...dunno. It's been this way for 3 years and we're at a breaking point. It's damaging our relationship now. He needs a break from me as a writing teacher. What do I do now? When I look at the Bravewriter website, it appears that all the classes for 10 year olds where they are the student alone (with no parental involvement in the class) are full until next year. (And I only saw one such class anyway, but the website is cumbersome to me, so I could be wrong.) Is there anything else out there where he can have a teacher teach him writing and I am completely, totally out of the equation? ETA: It looks like Bravewriter spring classes aren't open for registration yet, so I could always wait until then to sign him up. However, if you know of another option besides Bravewriter, I'd love to hear of it. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4ofus Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 For 5th grade, my son used Adventures in Writing with The Potter's School. The class has lots of parental involvement according to the description, but really, it doesn't. He would write & submit online some assignments, & he would write some in a private journal that I would read. BUT, I never commented about the writing part of it outside of, "That looks good. What was the assignment? Did you follow the directions? Would you like me to proofread for technical errors?" That sort of thing. I always picked out at least one thing to compliment exuberantly :).At the beginning he didn't want my input, but by the end of the class he was excited to show me his work & ask for a proofread :). I was careful about how I handled that new trust :). Once a semester (I think) the teacher asked the students to put parents online for a group-parent-update. The class was non-graded which I surprisingly, liked. Once the pressure was off, the skills were free to develop. The kids shared their work in class, & they were mostly very excited to share their work. There was a wide range of ability, but that didn't hinder my son's enjoyment & I don't think it took away from the class at all. He tells me now that it was a very hard class for him in the beginning (I remember, he resisted the work & there might've been a tear or two.) but he learned so much & loved that class :). I'm pretty sure the class is probably closed for the semester, but maybe look into it as an option for the spring. For reference: we used this class as a bridge between WWE & WWS. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 For 5th grade, my son used Adventures in Writing with The Potter's School. We aren't religious, & it was no problem. The class has lots of parental involvement according to the description, but really, it doesn't. He would write & submit online some assignments, & he would write some in a private journal that I would read. BUT, I never commented about the writing part of it outside of, "That looks good. What was the assignment? Did you follow the directions? Would you like me to proofread for technical errors?" That sort of thing. I always picked out at least one thing to compliment exuberantly :).At the beginning he didn't want my input, but by the end of the class he was excited to show me his work & ask for a proofread :). I was careful about how I handled that new trust :). Once a semester (I think) the teacher asked the students to put parents online for a group-parent-update. The class was non-graded which I surprisingly, liked. Once the pressure was off, the skills were free to develop. The kids shared their work in class, & they were mostly very excited to share their work. There was a wide range of ability, but that didn't hinder my son's enjoyment & I don't think it took away from the class at all. He tells me now that it was a very hard class for him in the beginning (I remember, he resisted the work & there might've been a tear or two.) but he learned so much & loved that class :). I'm pretty sure the class is probably closed for the semester, but maybe look into it as an option for the spring. For reference: we used this class as a bridge between WWE & WWS. Thank you so much for replying and giving me all that information--especially how it says there is parental involvement, but there's not really. I am very sad over my situation and want to do what is best. It seems that the best thing for me to do is to bow out. Again--thank you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 I believe that CAP has some online classes for their W&R series, but I haven't heard any reviews: http://classicalacademicpress.com/live-teacher-led-online-courses/ Athenas and Online G3 also have writing classes: http://www.athenasacademy.com/mod/page/view.php?id=2148 http://www.onlineg3.com/OnlineG3/Writing_Course_Descriptions.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 We tried the BraveWriter "Just So" class last Spring, and honestly I didn't enjoy it. Basically, you print out a bunch of stuff, you (or your son) type your work into a message board. And then you receive a message board reply (very positive/encouraging, though.) We're trying EIW (Essentials in Writing) which is a video based course this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4ofus Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 A point to make about AiW with TPS ~ the intention is for the parent to sit in the classes the first semester. Not that there's anything for you to do...just sit in & listen. Why? So that the instructors can model how they teach writing! So that, when you're not in class, & little Johnny comes to you & says, "Mom, can you help me?", you don't just go back to your old, clearly-not-working-habits. So that you can emulate the instructor :). It's a pretty clever model. I sat in the first class, then I'd randomly pop in for 10 or 15 mins here & there. It really did help me to modify how I interacted with my child's writing. Lots less perfection & projection, lots more praise :). I recognized that the instructor focused on one or two rubric skills at a time & build on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRmommy Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 I have a friend who highly recommends So Verbose http://www.soverbose.comclasses. They have a new quarter starting soon! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Have you looked at Attuneup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusyMom5 Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 We are using Essentials in Writing- so far it's been much more grammar-related, so I've given a few written assignments from other subjects. It looks like the actual writing assignments start on lesson 34, and we are on lesson 20. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 WriteShop. I haven't used it, but it looks good. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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