Writing curriculum to write across the curriculum

[Momto4inSoCal]

I would like to incorporate writing next year into our literature, history and science studies. I want something that gives a basic how to for different types of papers like a persuasive essay, research paper, narrative essay, compare and contrast etc. I have LToW and WWS1 and 2 so I'm thinking about throwing something together myself but but I feel like but would be hard to do part of any of those curriculums without having worked through the entire book first so I was thinking maybe there was something that  outlines how to write different essays and maybe some exercising on writing a thesis statement, intro, conclusions? 

[HomeAgain]

Maybe Writing Strands.  The exercises encourage looking at the model and then creating your own piece.

I will say that we managed to use WWS1 across the curriculum. I would substitute the assignments as needed for something in history, science, or literature.  We did a lot of the assignments as written, but did a lot in the other subjects as well.

[Tanaqui]

I'm really liking The Writing Revolution this year.

[ByGrace3]

I am looking for this as well... We have used Brave Writer projects this year and it has gone well, but I would love something to outline what to teach and then I create the assignments. 

[Ellie]

9 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

Maybe Writing Strands.  The exercises encourage looking at the model and then creating your own piece.

 

Well, here's the thing. Writing Strands teaches children how to write, so its lessons would stand alone. Then you'd make assignments in the other subjects. Actually, that's how students in classrooms have been doing it since at least as long as I was in school. :-)

[hollyhock2]

Well, I'm still waiting for the WWS handbook, like the Instructor Text for WWE, that SWB promised to write. I think something like that would be ideal for this. I wonder if that project is still on her list. 

[Another Lynn]

It's not really what you're asking for, but you could listen to SWB's talk on writing and then make assignments across the curriculum.  But how to do a persuasive, narrative, research, compare/contrast would all have to come from you.  

You might look at a workbook series called Writing Skills by Diana Hanbury King.  You might be able to pull out lessons about different types of paragraphs and essays from it.  

[Tanaqui]

It's been recently republished.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1119364914/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's a MUCH more reasonable price, LOL! Only $22.40

[Momto4inSoCal]

59 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

It's been recently republished.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1119364914/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's a MUCH more reasonable price, LOL! Only $22.40

 

This looks, good thank you! I think I really need to just study more myself and I will just teach them based on what I've learned. 

1 hour ago, Another Lynn said:

It's not really what you're asking for, but you could listen to SWB's talk on writing and then make assignments across the curriculum.  But how to do a persuasive, narrative, research, compare/contrast would all have to come from you.  

You might look at a workbook series called Writing Skills by Diana Hanbury King.  You might be able to pull out lessons about different types of paragraphs and essays from it.  

 

I was just looking at those talks. 

More and more I'm realizing the key to teaching my kids is making sure I have a strong grasp on the material and tossing most of the curriculum. Nothing is every going to fit our needs since every child is different and every homeschool is different. 

 

 

[underthebridge]

On 4/22/2018 at 3:20 PM, Tanaqui said:

I'm really liking The Writing Revolution this year.

Tanaqui, can you describe how you used The Writing Revolution and for which ages? I remember reading about this program in the Atlantic, and it made sense to me that good writing begins with understanding sentence structure. 

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/the-writing-revolution/309090/

[Tanaqui]

Haphazardly. Executive functioning is not my strong suit, reason #1456 I'm only homeschooling for middle school and not high school.

No, seriously, I'm never sure how to answer questions like that! (Plus, to be honest, I'm always a little afraid people are judging me when I say I like things.) But I'll try!

I've only just started this year - for the past few years we actually did no writing whatsoever in order to help the older one get over her fear of the subject, and that worked surprisingly well. (I blame her elementary school, and can rant about that at length!)

But her younger sister (currently in the 7th grade) needs more help, I've been dropping the ball (especially last year due to a family illness), so we've been following the pacing structure in the back of the book and driving myself to remember to tag writing onto every freaking subject, even if I don't want to.

This is definitely a work for the teacher (or parent) not the student, so the onus is on us to work out appropriate writing according to what the kid is learning and hopefully following the guide (or what's the point). All the steps are broken down, chapter by chapter, into substeps with examples for how you'd introduce this to younger children or those who are poor writers and examples for older ones. And the pace moves pretty fast once you've got hold of it - from sentences to outlining to revising to multiparagraph persuasive essays.

[underthebridge]

18 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

Haphazardly. Executive functioning is not my strong suit, reason #1456 I'm only homeschooling for middle school and not high school.

No, seriously, I'm never sure how to answer questions like that! (Plus, to be honest, I'm always a little afraid people are judging me when I say I like things.) But I'll try!

I've only just started this year - for the past few years we actually did no writing whatsoever in order to help the older one get over her fear of the subject, and that worked surprisingly well. (I blame her elementary school, and can rant about that at length!)

But her younger sister (currently in the 7th grade) needs more help, I've been dropping the ball (especially last year due to a family illness), so we've been following the pacing structure in the back of the book and driving myself to remember to tag writing onto every freaking subject, even if I don't want to.

This is definitely a work for the teacher (or parent) not the student, so the onus is on us to work out appropriate writing according to what the kid is learning and hopefully following the guide (or what's the point). All the steps are broken down, chapter by chapter, into substeps with examples for how you'd introduce this to younger children or those who are poor writers and examples for older ones. And the pace moves pretty fast once you've got hold of it - from sentences to outlining to revising to multiparagraph persuasive essays.

Thanks for your reply, it’s so helpful to hear your experience. I suspected it involved a good bit of scaffolding, and I can imagine how much planning is involved in threading it through every.single.subject. I don’t know if I’m up for the task, but I’m going to read the book and give it a whirl this summer. 

[Momto4inSoCal]

1 hour ago, underthebridge said:

Thanks for your reply, it’s so helpful to hear your experience. I suspected it involved a good bit of scaffolding, and I can imagine how much planning is involved in threading it through every.single.subject. I don’t know if I’m up for the task, but I’m going to read the book and give it a whirl this summer. 

My plan for writing across the curriculum is to rotate subjects. We might start with an expository essay in science for example, and work two weeks in that. Then we could move to a narrative about history for another couple of weeks. Then write a persuasive essay about an issue from literature. So we would cover different subjects but not all at once. It would help us dig deeper into subject while working on writing so I think (I hope!) It will actually lighten the workload a bit.