CAP Writing and Rhetoric with an older child

[TKDmom]

If you were starting W&R with a 6th grader, where would you start?

 

Ok, technically we aren't just starting, but I'm curious.  DS11 just completed Narrative 1, and it was somewhat easy--probably about the right challenge level as he got to the longer amplifications at the end. I'm curious if others who have used this program would skip ahead or try to move through the books quickly with a child who is above the listed grade level.

[freelylearned]

I think that you would be fine skipping Narrative 2. Both Chriea (Book 4) and Refutation and Confirmation (Book 5) focus on essay writing. If your child is a confident writer, you could probably skip all the way to Book 5. 

[TKDmom]

In case anyone comes looking for an answer to this later, here's what I found on CAP's website under the FAQs

 

 

Placement in Writing & Rhetoric has to do with the student’s current experience in writing. We first suggest looking through the Table of Contents found in each of the Writing & Rhetoric samples available on our website. Reading through both these and the sample lessons will help you determine a good starting level for your student.

 

If you have a student in 4th–7th grade and are considering Writing & Rhetoric, the initial identifier of placement is to evaluate whether your student can acknowledge the 5 W’s (who, what, when, where, why) in an essay or is comfortable writing six-paragraph essays. If not, we recommend looking at Book 3: Narrative II. Starting here will provide review from the first two books in the series, as well as more age-appropriate material with longer stories and more thoughtful questions in the lessons.

 

If your student is confidently working through the two skills mentioned above, we would then suggest looking through Book 5: Refutation and Confirmation. In this book, students begin to support a cause or refute it. This is the beginning mark of persuasive writing (pre-thesis work) and helps them to begin research for an idea they will support in an essay.

 

Now I wish we'd spent last semester working through Narrative II...  He's not familiar with essays, but he can write several paragraphs of a narrative without too much whining.

 

I have Cheria on order. We started Narrative II this week, and I'll evaluate Cheria over winter break to see if I want to move him up.

Edited December 3, 2016 by TKDmom