Is CW Homer A as hard as it appears?

[Melissa in CA]

I am torn on what to use for writing next year! I really want to focus my son on writing more and more each year, but not make him hate it.

 

We are using Writing Tales II this year and he is doing very well with it. He is in 5th. I just looked at the Lulu samples of CW Homer A and, frankly, it looks too hard for 6th grade! Good Grief! Am I missing something? Is it actually not as difficult in practice as it seems to be on preview? Someone please tell me that there is a Writing Tales III coming out before September. :D

 

Writing is one of the areas I have not gotten settled for next year; not completely. I have TOG's Writing Aides which I had planned to use, it looks very good, but I am seeing such good results in my son's WT II writing assignments that I'm now wondering if I should stick with some form of Classical writing instead.

 

I suppose Aesop B would be too easy for 6th? :o

 

{sigh} Decisions, decisions...

[HollyDay]

Is it too hard for a 6th grader - no

Is it too hard for a 6th grade mom - maybe

 

We are doing HOmer A this year and I thought I would never learn how to teach it. My dd is doing wonderful work with it. She is enjoying it, learning a great deal, and actually enjoying it.

 

But, it was really hard for me to learn. Someone here suggestested outlining the lessons by day and steps. That really helped and now I feel confident to teach it. But, it is not easy to start. It is not "plug and play" Give yourself some time to learn it. I wish I had discovered it last year so I could spend the summer going over the Core. I did spend a chunk of time over Christmas break digesting the Core. But, Homer A should be fine for a 6th grader. I am also doing Aesop A with my 3rd grader and it is easy to do. Perhaps a little too easy for her, but she is doing well and enjoying it.

[Beth in Central TX]

I agree Holly; I have a big learning curve with each new level of CW that we begin. I do read the core books during the summer, but sometimes it really doesn't click until I work through the weekly lessons too. I'm on the last half of our second year with CW, and I feel more comfortable with it now. I will definitely teach it better when my 5-year old starts the program. I feel sorry for my oldest son; he's often the guinea pig for new curriculum, and he doesn't benefit from my learning curve (no matter how fast I try to get up to speed).

[jeri]

for both mom and student. My 5th grader finished Homer A around Christmas and we started on Homer B with the new year. She is doing very well, but it *is* a lot of work and I must say that she doesn't *like* it. Also, I think the idea is that you do a lesson every week. Well, with all the other subjects she does in addition to Homer, we have been doing it over two weeks. Anyway, this Jan she did the first lesson in Homer B and I told her to stop. She was very behind in history, really wanted to spend more time in science, and we have some huge family changes coming up next month. I knew that for us both to put the time and energy into this was not going to happen, so I think we have shelved it until the fall.

 

Well, that said, I do think it's very doable for a 6th grader. You really need to focus on dwelling in the minute with this curriculum though. As a teacher, you have to really understand where you are going and why you are going there. It has taken me a long time to understand CW, but I think it is this: In Aesop, you are focusing on primary grammar--words, sentences, paragraphs, as well as spellling and organizing thoughts sequentially. In Homer, the student takes each part of speech and really works on them so that s/he knows them inside and out. There is a huge emphasis on writing with an eye to including all the important details (Theon;s components), understanding what is essential and what is not needed (but adds to) a story, and writing from different perspectives in time (from the future looking back, starting in the middle of things,etc.). As others said, it is important that you, the mom, really work on the core manual. I have read it through at least 3 times over the past year or so, and I preread each section when we get there.

 

As for my dd, she does already have a good handle on grammar. She also can type pretty quickly (very important in rewrites!), and she's a hard worker. She doesn't require a lot of hand holding, but I believe I am shortchanging her if I don't spend time with her each day with Homer.

 

However, I do think that this is a very worthwhile program. I do intend to use it with my next children.

 

I would suggest you try it! But please take it very slowly in the beginning. Go to the CW boards adn ask questions. Reread and reread the manual. Just do the best you can! I really believe that there is a huge reward in this program.

 

Blessings,

jeri

[Melissa in CA]

Thank you!

 

I believe I will buy the Core book to read over the summer before I decide to invest in the other books. Would that be the best thing to do, or would having the other books on-hand help in understanding the program?

 

I looked in the Instructors Guide online and that helped a bit. Perhaps it's not a difficult as I first thought. How do you like Harveys Grammar, are any of you using that with the program? If you do use Harvey's...do you just use that, or do you use another grammar program as well? It seems like two programs would be overkill.

 

Thanks for your help!

[Karenciavo]

I believe I will buy the Core book to read over the summer before I decide to invest in the other books. Would that be the best thing to do, or would having the other books on-hand help in understanding the program?

 

I think, if at all possible, you should get the student workbook too. The core is great and has all the information, but I was overwhelmed by Homer until Kathy made the wonderful workbooks. I just had trouble picturing how it all worked.

 

Karen

[Beth in Central TX]

I completely agree. I thought about purchasing CW many times, but I didn't take the plunge until they came out with the student workbooks and the teacher's guide. I buy the whole ball of wax because I need it. It can get expensive, but I think the money is well spent because of the results I see in our boys' writing.

[Melissa in CA]

I think, if at all possible, you should get the student workbook too. The core is great and has all the information, but I was overwhelmed by Homer until Kathy made the wonderful workbooks. I just had trouble picturing how it all worked.

 

Karen

 

Karen, are you using CW and The Lost Tools of Writing? I looked at Lost Tools a while back and got completely overwhelmed! :eek: ;)

 

My hats off to you if you're doing both. :D

[Karenciavo]

Karen, are you using CW and The Lost Tools of Writing? I looked at Lost Tools a while back and got completely overwhelmed! :eek: ;)

 

My hats off to you if you're doing both. :D

 

Oh no. I used CW Homer A & B, but chose not to move on with their other levels. CW is great, but there are only so many hours in the day and since TOG takes so much time I dropped CW.

[Julie in GA]

I you can't afford to buy all of it now, you'll be fine with just the Core. However, if you can buy the workbook early as well, then as you read through the Core, you can flip to the corresponding section in the workbook and see how the lesson plays out. AND, if you get the IG too, you'll be able to make little notes in it, like what page numbers to go to in the workbook. Then, when you teach next fall, the Core will be used only to teach a new lesson, and as a reference. Your teaching "spine" will be the IG.

 

To prioritize, the best thing you can do is to read the Core Manual ahead. The next best thing would be to buy the workbook & IG, and see how they tie together.

[susie in tx]

I agree Holly; I have a big learning curve with each new level of CW that we begin. I do read the core books during the summer, but sometimes it really doesn't click until I work through the weekly lessons too.

 

I have owned Aesop for quite a while. I just could not figure out how to implement Homer, even after looking at the samples. And, the grammar scared me to death. I purchased WT1 and WT2 for my girls. After working through both of these programs, I picked up a used copy of Homer. Suddenly, Homer started to make more sense to me.

 

Recently, I went through parts of the Homer Core again, trying to find a way to implement the first 5 skill levels into the last 5 lessons of WT2. I think it's possible, but I don't think I'm going to do it. ;) However, every time I read through the Homer Core book, it looks more and more manageable. WT2 has given me confidence in my ability to teach Homer. I, too, would like for Amy to come out with more versions of WT. I will buy them. In the meantime, I will very happily use Homer. Or so I hope.

 

FWIW, the grammar still scares me. My oldest hasn't done a lot of grammar and she doesn't seem to memorize the parts of speech. She has an intuitive sense as to what goes where and how it all works together. I'm not sure how that is going to play out once we get to Homer.