Vintage81 Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 (edited) DD is currently in 3rd grade and we're working (slowly) through SWI-A; however, she doesn't enjoy the videos and quickly gets bored. I end up having to re-teach her the information from the video because she doesn't pay attention. (FWIW, I don't find the videos all that engaging either.) This is our second year doing IEW writing and I like the program, so I don't want to give up on it. I was considering switching to a theme book instead, maybe All Things Fun and Fascinating, but I would really love to just incorporate writing in with science and/or history. If you've only used the TWSS....how do you plan your year out (how many units do you go through, how long do you spend on each unit). Also, where do you get your source material from? If there are other threads out there with this information, just point me in that direction. Thanks! Edited April 5, 2017 by Vintage81 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndGenHomeschooler Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 I use just the TWSS. I'm using it with my 5th and 7th graders. I do roughly one unit a month. We do most of our regular school work in 7 months so we spent less time on a couple of the units (the first on and the writing from pictures one). Last year I only did the first 5 units and we spent longer on each one. There are guidelines for what to do with each unit at different grade levels. I don't know that you'd need to do them all as young as your DD is. I mostly pull from history and it's pretty easy to do with SOTW. Sometimes I'll do something from a book on animals instead. I watch the video at the beginning of each month and choose source texts the weekend before. We do one complete writing project a week. I'm not sure that's really "enough" but it's what we can fit in and something is better than nothing. My oldest especially HATES writing and I end up having to work with her a lot. All that being said, I plan to get a Theme Book for next year. Using just the TWSS is time consuming and I'm hoping a Theme Book will save me some of the planning time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 I would find it hard to only use TWSS. We have been using the American History theme books -- they are for kids older than yours but there are several other 3rd-5th grade theme books that you could check out. There are so many to choose from. On one podcast Andrew Pudewa talked about how much he likes the Bible-based writing lessons. If we are not using a theme book, it takes me a long time to find good models, and that means it may not get done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 You can still use the SWI materials but give the instruction yourself based off of the videos. Your student doesn't have to watch them. A theme book is helpful, though. Source material is ready to go, just as if you were using SWI. You can use just the TWSS and it has things in it that are not in SWI so it can be very helpful. However, I found I did better with both or paired with a theme book. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Yes, you can use TWSS by itself. There is (or at least use to be) a yahoo group for IEW users. In the files there are LOTS of ideas or how to implement each unit at your own home. You can certainly do it on your own, use a theme book or some mix of helps from the yahoo group. I think the TWSS is very good and very usable. If you get just this, you can later decide if you need more. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage81 Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 The point of IEW is that you can just integrate it into what you are already doing. I use SOTW, simple fables I find online, simple children's books, traditional American tall tales, simple English Wikipedia, library books ...... Whatever other resources we are already using or are easy to get and use. Do you go through all 9 units each year? After going through the TWSS, I think my goal will be to get through units 1-5 (maybe 6 and 7, if we can) for her 4th grade year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted April 6, 2017 Share Posted April 6, 2017 Do you go through all 9 units each year? After going through the TWSS, I think my goal will be to get through units 1-5 (maybe 6 and 7, if we can) for her 4th grade year. You are right--you need to consider the grade level. A 4th grader is not going to do a formal critique (Unit 9) We are doing SICC-A (almost done) and it covers Units 1-8. I am to the point where I could use TWSS and my own source materials (for example, write based on our history text or something like that). I have used the IEW videos or theme based merely for my own convenience. The unit I can possibly see having trouble with on my own is writing from pictures, but usually during their 12 days of Christmas promotion they have it as part of a free download, so there you go! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage81 Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 You are right--you need to consider the grade level. A 4th grader is not going to do a formal critique (Unit 9) We are doing SICC-A (almost done) and it covers Units 1-8. I am to the point where I could use TWSS and my own source materials (for example, write based on our history text or something like that). I have used the IEW videos or theme based merely for my own convenience. The unit I can possibly see having trouble with on my own is writing from pictures, but usually during their 12 days of Christmas promotion they have it as part of a free download, so there you go! Thanks for the info on the Christmas promotion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted April 6, 2017 Share Posted April 6, 2017 Thanks for the info on the Christmas promotion! It's a great promotion. Many of the days there are free pdf or audio downloads, and usually they give away free portable walls (with free shipping) one of the days. So make sure you sign up for the daily emails next December. =) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage81 Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 It's a great promotion. Many of the days there are free pdf or audio downloads, and usually they give away free portable walls (with free shipping) one of the days. So make sure you sign up for the daily emails next December. =) I will do that! I forgot to ask you earlier...Since you're almost through SICC-A, have you found the later units (6, 7, and 8) difficult to get through? They seem advanced, but I haven't watched the TWSS for those units yet, so maybe they're not as complicated as they seem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted April 7, 2017 Share Posted April 7, 2017 I will do that! I forgot to ask you earlier...Since you're almost through SICC-A, have you found the later units (6, 7, and 8) difficult to get through? They seem advanced, but I haven't watched the TWSS for those units yet, so maybe they're not as complicated as they seem. No, they really haven't been that bad. My kids fatigue quickly of the writing so we do one paragraph a day, which is basically the schedule IEW suggests. So, for the last five paragraph essay we wrote we spent one day writing the outline, five days writing the paragraphs, and one day typing and checking over everything. For the summarizing multiple references (unit 6), they taught us a method of highlighting and marking up the sources that really was helpful. I still had to walk the boys through it quite a bit but I think with practice it will become easy. I actually have found the Story Sequence (Unit 3) the most challenging unit to teach. I think there is something about how I learned to write stories growing up that kind of rails against all the structure in it. Plus I have boys and they are not big into adding details. It's all about being efficient. =) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted April 7, 2017 Share Posted April 7, 2017 On a side note, with regards to the story sequence writing I found that the kids did better when we were brainstorming together on a dry erase board the first time through. We also got the absolutely awesome IEW resource A Word Write Now which organizes words into all kinds of great categories. They could thumb through that and would get more excited about finding interesting and unusual words to use. Love that resource. Ours came free during a promotion when we ordered something else but if we ever lose it I would happily pay for another one. http://iew.com/shop/products/word-write-now 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creekside5 Posted April 8, 2017 Share Posted April 8, 2017 Another thread just reintroduced to me to Matt Whitlings work. I think it is much easier and kinder for the younger kiddos. I love IEW for 4th, 5th or 6th, but I think it a bit unnecessary and complicated for the younger set. At that age you just want them to practice putting words on paper. I wouldn't worry about dress-ups or other skills yet, besides basic editing. If they have been retelling stories orally they should do well with Whitling. It is worth checking out. http://www.logospressonline.com/writing/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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