Where to after Wordsmith apprentice?

[LEK]

Just thinking and planning ahead of time here as I like to have a plan in place which I will then change several times and spend ages second guessing myself over lol.

For those that have used wordsmith apprentice what did you move onto after that? We are using wordsmith apprentice for 5th and I am trying to plan where to from here.

My DD will be 10.5 and starting 6th grade. She is not a natural writer but is about on grade level. She needs a little hand holding but is very independent so we prefer a writnig program that is independent but includes some hand holding within the program itself.

I am thinking maybe writing with skill for 6th?
Where did you go after wordsmith apprentice?
What would you recommend for writing in 6th for an average writer and a very independent child that still needs some hand holding?

[Lots of boys]

Hi,

 

We used Wordsmith Apprentice for a break between IEW SWI and IEW continuation course. I also have JumpIn I was thinking of using to break up the year a little bit aswell.

[SilverMoon]

My Wordsmith Apprentice user went onto Cover Story, which is where he found out he really quite detests anything resembling creative writing. So that didn't work too well. LOL CS is a fabulous program, for kids that enjoy having a creative bent to their writing anyway (siblings used the whole curriculum and gave it two hearty thumbs up).

After that we used School Composition by Maxwell, which was a great fit for him and kept him moving forward. It's a vintage text you can download for free on the internet.

[Momto6inIN]

We went right from Wordsmith Apprentice to Wordsmith Creative Writing and then Wordsmith Craftsman. We have since switched to IEW, but the progression worked well for my kid who was a pretty natural writer.

[Lori D.]

With DS#1 (average writer) we went to Wordsmith after Wordsmith Apprentice. It is the next step up and is written in the same informal style -- just not with the funny/goofy cartoons or with as much variety, as it is all about paragraph writing, with the last section being about writing a multi-paragraph essay. It's not quite as deep or lengthy of a program as I would have wished for, even with a boy who didn't care too much for writing.

 

With DS#2 (delayed/struggling writer), after Wordsmith Apprentice we went with Jump In, which had just come out. It is similar to the Wordsmith series with its informal tone and it, too, is written to the student and "holds your hand". But Jump In is more in-depth than Wordsmith, and meaty enough to take an entire year. The program is actually designed to take 2 years, but that is because they schedule 4 weeks of "free writing" from prompts after every unit in the program. (We personally found the prompts to be lame and repetitive, and since DS was older (8th grade) when doing Jump In, we completed it in one year, and instead did a weekly timed essay from a past SAT test essay prompt for the free writing.)

 

Another option might be one of Brave Writer's programs: Partnership Writing or Faltering Ownership, depending on where you think your student is. Brave Writer programs are also informal in tone like the Wordsmith series, although both are definitely written to the parent to help guide the parent who then guides the student.