ELTL and IEW? (X post)

[blue daisy]

I'm cross posting here because I didn't get many responses on the K-8 board.  I'd love to hear from someone using ELTL in middle school.

 

 

Would you use both together?  Or just stick to ELTL?  I purchased ELTL for all my kids and IEW as well for my 6th grader as I felt he would need specific instruction in writing techniques.  We started school a month ago and have been using ELTL since the beginning and I put off IEW for a while, but I'm finding that ELTL has a lot more writing than I anticipated, and after a few tears the first week (lol), my oldest is doing very well with it.  He's doing outlines, narrations, etc. with no problems.  I'm seriously thinking of putting IEW aside for the year. Do you think ELTL has enough writing that I don't need another curriculum? He is using level 5.

 

For what it's worth, he is autistic (high functioning) and is very very bright, but written output can be very hard for him.  I don't want to push and overdo it, but I do want to make sure he is getting enough instruction.  I plan to add outlining and narrations into his history and science work during the year, but we aren't doing that yet.

 

If you've used ELTL, please weigh in!

[blue daisy]

Anyone?  Help please?

[blue daisy]

Anyone?  I was really hoping to hear from someone who has used ELTL.  This is my first year homeschooling and I have no idea if we're doing an appropriate amount of writing or not.

[Tiramisu]

I think if you're seeing progress like you describe, I would keep doing what you are doing. If you are dealing with autism especially, overloading is the worst thing you could do. I would also go VERY slowly with adding in narrations and outlines in other subjects. For example, don't have him do them on the same days and also not when he's doing them with ELTL. I would consider one narration per week in addition to ELTL and that's in one additional subject--science or history or whatever but not both.

 

And I also don't think you have to add anything more. I really think if your seeing progress with something like you describe, give it this year to work its magic on him without mucking it up.

 

Less writing is less damaging than too much writing.

 

You might also consider leaving his favorite subject writing free. He's getting the writing skills elsewhere and he'll likely retain enough if he's already engaged. This is the opposite of what others might suggest, which is put a lot of work into what they like because they'll do it and do what they dislike in a get 'r done way. Instead, I would take the subject he likes and a do it in a way that's most enjoyable and stress free for him.

 

This is not ELTL specific advice but seeing what I have seen in ELTL makes me comfortable in saying it.

Edited September 27, 2016 by Tiramisu

[blue daisy]

I think if you're seeing progress like you describe, I would keep doing what you are doing. If you are dealing with autism especially, overloading is the worst thing you could do. I would also go VERY slowly with adding in narrations and outlines in other subjects. For example, don't have him do them on the same days and also not when he's doing them with ELTL. I would consider one narration per week in addition to ELTL and that's in one additional subject--science or history or whatever but not both.

 

And I also don't think you have to add anything more. I really think if your seeing progress with something like you describe, give it this year to work its magic on him without mucking it up.

 

Less writing is less damaging than too much writing.

 

You might also consider leaving his favorite subject writing free. He's getting the writing skills elsewhere and he'll likely retain enough if he's already engaged. This is the opposite of what others might suggest, which is put a lot of work into what they like because they'll do it and do what they dislike in a get 'r done way. Instead, I would take the subject he likes and a do it in a way that's most enjoyable and stress free for him.

 

This is not ELTL specific advice but seeing what I have seen in ELTL makes me comfortable in saying it.

 

Thank you, this is really helpful.  This is basically what my gut was telling me, but my head was telling me that as a newbie I don't know what I'm talking about.  :)  I'm still learning to trust myself and to teach the kid in front of me, and I believe this approach is best for this kid.