6th grade reluctant writer... please help!

[Emma]

 I have an upcoming 6th grader.  He is my youngest, and we've homeschooled for 14 years.  He is also my most challenging.  He hates school.  Really really hates it. Without sounding conceited, he's also my smartest(yet laziest) student.  I am planning for his 6th grade year.  We are going to finish up  VP's self paced 1815-Modern America, Saxon 8/7, and Apologia chemistry and physics ( I think.)  I am stuck on language arts.  I've used Hake in the past and liked it. This year we are using JAG, and he's learned a lot, but..I'm not sure he's ready for AG.  Writing has become our issue. I'm using an old IEW program from one of my other kids, but he's just not doing well with it.  I'm considering going back to Hake and supplementing with another writing program or EIW or Wordsmith Apprentice or.... I have no idea.  ANY advice would be so appreciated.  I'm just not sure what to do.  You'd think I've have it down after all these years!

 

I should add we've tried WWE, Abeka, and W&R: fable.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Emma

[Farrar]

Brave Writer can be excellent for some reluctant writers.

[OneStepAtATime]

I agree, with what you have described, he might do better with Brave Writer than IEW.  Even though they have revamped IEW quite a bit, it is still IEW.  I love the main IEW program but it isn't for everyone.

 

You say he hates school but is probably your smartest.  Could he be gifted?  Like really bored and gifted?  

[Emma]

Thanks for the responses! I've looked at Bravewriter lots of times, it just doesn't make much sense to me.  Where would I start with a 6th grade, 12 year old boy?  He needs work with things like writing book reports, compare and contrast, etc.  

 

 One Step at a Time, perhaps he could be gifted.  He's definitely a typical boy.  He'd rather play video games than read a book, but he can do math problems faster in his head than I can do on paper!  LOL

Edited April 16, 2016 by Emma

[Guest]

Essentials in Writing has worked wonders for us! :)

[Farrar]

Seconding Faltering Ownership as probably the best starting point. But... we've liked it less than we liked Partnership Writing. PW is a little younger, but you can beef up the expectations for the child's work. I don't know... look at the list of the projects, which is included in the samples. See which set of stuff might be more appealing to him. And remember that a lot of the BW projects have sneaky writing. Like that book jacket from FO involves a lot of research, reading, using summarizing skills, etc. Sneaky writing.

 

In general, BW offers these things:

 

* The Writer's Jungle, which is a big picture overview of the whole "lifestyle" - she sells it as a "curriculum" but it's more of a book for you with some practical ideas - good for people who like to start with the big picture first or people who like to get ideas and then DIY their curriculum, or for people who start BW and are hooked and want to know and read more.

 

* The projects supplements (Jot It Down, Partnership Writing, Faltering Ownership) - these lay out a year's worth of projects, a loose schedule, and summarize the stages and other elements as applied to that stage of writing. These are usually the best entry point for BW for people.

 

* The language arts supplements (Arrow, Boomerang) - these are meant to be used alongside the projects books (and are scheduled, though you don't have to do them together) - each one is a book you read or read aloud in a month and then copywork/dictation for once a week and guidance about how to use the dictation passages to teach grammar, mechanics, good writing, etc. There's also a suggested writing project, though a lot of them are lighter, meant to reflect on a literary element from the book.

[Soror]

I think there are multiple ways to approach it, depending on why he is reluctant. Is he reluctant because he hasn't enjoyed the topics you have had him write about? Doesn't like the way writing has been taught? Is it fine motor skills issues holding him back? OR is it because he needs more structured help and scaffolding than he can get? OR a combo of both? 

 

IEW really helps with the structure and a lot of kids likes the way he presents the lessons, if it has failed so far I don't know that I'd keep trying it.

 

EIW does have them work on the things you list but is another structured program like IEW, although it seems to approach things much differently. There is a lot wider range of projects worked on, rather than one technique.

 

BW has an entirely different philosophy. It is the type to address finding projects your kids will actually want to do. It approaches learning to write from the angle of doing lots of different things they like to build up the skills but also doing things like copywork, dictation and poetry time as a routine. 

 

I've done both, work with more structured programs and some Bravewriter as my ds who is about the same age enjoys making up stories and using flowery language but putting on paper has been a struggle. For one I've worked very hard to get him proficient with typing, his hands get sore and he can't get his ideas out fast enough. (he used Typing Instructor to learn to type and the online game Nitro Type every day to get him faster). Next year I'm using Cover Story a middle school program focused on them creating their own magazines with short video lessons. By accident I figured out my son likes to show off his written work, he has actually typed and printed out free writes and poems so he could hand them out to people because he thought they were so cool. Who would ever guess a reluctant writer would do that? We've enjoyed BW but had trouble with implementation on some of the projects and really he does better with some more structure so we are switching gears. Since Cover Story is a 24 wk program, currently I'm thinking of doing the Blackbird &Company Intro to Essay after it to do some more traditional work, however I'm not buying anything now. He might want to instead go the BW route.

 

Personally, I'd have your son look at the various options and see what he likes, having him choose might really help with the reluctance. Also, talk to him about it, why doesn't he like writing? What if anything does he enjoy about it? Writing isn't optional so perhaps ask him if any sort of topic or project appeals more than others. Of course some kids would rather just get right to it and get it done with and don't want to mess with trying to be creative, that's ok too. (In that case EiW would probably be a good bet)

Edited April 17, 2016 by soror