BW Expository Essay

[Loesje22000]

In an thread, not that old, I promised Chrysalis Academy and some others to write a review about the BW EE course.

 

Now the course had been finished, I feel absolutely unqualified to review it.

I will happily answer any questions if I can.

I will share our experience, but just don't take it as a solid review or advice...

 

For those who don't know:

English is a foreign language to me, a subject I failed at highschool.

I can write a standard letter, booking a holiday in the UK, etc.

I definetly don't have any academic level in English.

 

Therefore it is a miracle to me to have a daughter that is very good in English, and prefer to study in the language (not as subject but as course language)

We did IEW FMF, IEW Narnia (that fit me) BW KWI online (that fit DD)

 

Compared to BW KWI online BW EE has a higher pace, and sometimes the explanations were not in depth enough for us.

I noticed more students asking questions then in the KWI class.

 

In 6 weeks the student writes 2 essays (2 weeks working on elements of the essay, one week for draft and final essay)

We learned about thesis, pointers, and particles. About scholar.google and MLA citations.

DD is 13yo, and one of the younger students in the class.

Sometimes I doubted our enrollment and considered us 'being too early'.

The course took more time then the KWI course, but we had that time at that moment, what also was the reason to enroll.

 

When I look at the final essay, at the end of the course, dd began to be able to write academically.

A huge difference from where she started 6 weeks earlier.

 

I could not have done this.

Clear.

But I can see other people who are better in English, better in Writing doing this themselves with help of the syllabus 'Help for Highschool'.

 

Chrysalis Academy wrote earlier about the value of the feedback in these courses.

I agree with that totally.

Our dd became motivated more and more during the course.

 

I can't compare it with anything else as we did not anything else...

 

 

All students were considered 'good enough' to enter any of the other highschool courses.

So I think dd did a great job!

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Thanks for that review! I had thought Shannon would be in the EE class this spring, but she decided she wanted to do the Passion for Fiction class.  That's her 2nd BW class - she did KWI at the beginning of this year (8th grade).  She absolutely loves PfF.  She's so sad that it's ending after just 4 weeks. The feedback has been great, but the sharing with her peers has been even better.

 

I thought that I'd have her just work through the 2nd half of Help for High School, but after seeing what a great time she's having interacting with other writers, I'm going to go ahead and sign her up for EE, probably in the fall. The thing she is really craving right now is interacting with other writers, with peers about writing. So I think it's worth it to give her that. I'd love to find other venues for her to get hooked up with a community of young writers.

[Loesje22000]

Dd was also asking what course we would do next :)

 

They mentioned BW is creating also new courses, so we are curious which ones, and what their content will be.

[Penguin]

DS just started the Hamlet class this week and we are both so excited about it! He took Expository Essay last spring and two Boomerang Book club sessions, and I think (hope) he is well prepared for the Shakespeare class.

[brookspr]

My daughter (16) is also in the Hamlet class and she has taken both Expository Essay and MLA Research Essay. She enjoyed both very much and I can see her writing improving with each assignment. She did say the classes are fast paced and because they are so short, there homework deadlines come quickly, which was only a problem when she had a final for her public high school class and lots of work from the online AP class she is taking. She will most likely take the SAT/ACT essay class and Fan Fiction and finally Advanced Comp.

 

My son (13) will then start with Expository Essay in the fall after doing Fan Fiction this summer. He has done the Writing a Greek Myth and Photography and Writing classes and enjoyed them both. I started him with classes that were less pressure and more "fun" since he is a reluctant writer. Getting feedback from someone else is very helpful for him since he feels like I am personally criticizing him when I make suggestions to improve his writing.

[Loesje22000]

[quote name="brookspr" post="6990393" timestamp="1462811618

 

Getting feedback from someone else is very helpful for him since he feels like I am personally criticizing him when I make suggestions to improve his writing.

 

I noticed that here too...

[Cosmos]

My ds was in the same class. It was both good for him and *really* helpful for me to see the kind of feedback the teacher gave. We're planning to do a couple more BW courses next year -- Rose has posted about doing English at home but supplementing with a few BW courses and that seems just perfect. I don't want to outsource English completely or even mostly. We're considering MLA Research Essay, SAT/ACT Essay, and Passion for Fiction.

[Cosmos]

I also need to find a way to enforce deadlines at home. Ds was up late a couple of Fridays to get his BW work done. He never takes my deadlines that seriously. :cursing:

[Julie of KY]

Expository Essay vs. Help for High school

 

I am quite capable of writing a good paper and I understand the process. However, there is no way I can convey that to my kids. I can tell them steps. I can hand them Help for High School where it is all spelled out, but I cannot give feedback. This is where the BW teachers are so good. They've come alongside my kids at whatever level they are at and helped them improve tremendously.

 

We've loved the BW classes we've taken (and we've done a bunch - various kids in various classes).

[Hilltopmom]

the BW EE class this winter was my kiddos first experience with deadlines & outside feedback. I feel it was worth every cent!

 

His writing improved dramatically in just the six weeks & having someone else give suggestions (that he actually took) was priceless!

[Cosmos]

One thing I got out of ds' experience with Expository Essay was a good way to structure our time in teaching writing at home.

 

In EE, they did two essays, spending three weeks on each one. The first week was where the real teaching of new concepts was and the student did some practice with new skills (like writing several thesis statements). Meanwhile the student was choosing a topic for the essay, mulling it over through the week. The second week, the student did research and made an outline. The third week was drafting and revising.

 

I really like this plan and we're going to basically copy it at home. One week to teach new concepts while choosing a topic. At home we will also use this time for reading and analyzing well-written professional writing from our collection of essay anthologies. Then two weeks to plan and write the essay. I like that it gives a break between writing projects, that it gives time dedicated to teaching and practicing new skills, and plenty of time to choose a new topic.