Bravewriter Partnership Writing or Faltering Ownership

[JennyD]

I am looking around for writing programs for my rising 5th grader.  For the past few years we have mostly worked out of Voyages in English, but that program is getting pretty repetitive and I'd like to mix things up a bit.  I wouldn't say that DS10 is an unusually reluctant writer, exactly, but he's an exceptionally high-strung kid who is easily overwhelmed by (even IMO entirely manageable) challenges.   With a lot of hand-holding, he can competently write standard elementary school-type things -- a letter, a short research report about animals, a few paragraphs about why he should have a later bedtime.  My goal for the upcoming year is for him simply to write more with less frustration (i.e., crumpling up his paper and flinging himself on the floor in rage).  

I read The Writer's Jungle years ago and found it inspiring, but I could never quite figure out how to implement it, and my oldest son has thrived with WWS.  Lo and d behold, I see that BW has developed a whole slate of home study courses!  I have looked at the samples for all of them and I think that this general approach is just right for DS10.  But I am not quite sure which level to get.  Developmentally, it seems to me that he meets the description of Partnership Writing, but I am a little concerned that PW doesn't involve enough, well, writing.  I can't tell from the sample whether it will push him enough.

Any thoughts from folks who have used one or both of these?

[kristin0713]

I have Partnership Writing and used some of the projects with my kids when they were younger, probably 7yo and 9yo.  I just pulled it out again to use with my younger DS who is now 10.  Some of the projects are very basic and, you are right, they don't have a lot of "traditional" writing.  There are things like, make a secret code book, make a homonym mini-book, make a lap book of a story, choose a science or history topic and fill out a graphic organizer of the 5 W's.  Some would require more writing and can really get quite elaborate--keep a journal for a month and then report on the data, create an imaginary continent or island and put together a report on it, create a mail order catalog.  It is definitely not traditional essay writing, but I think there is value to these kinds of projects. FWIW, I don't think Faltering Ownership is traditional essay writing, either. I haven't looked at that one closely enough but from what I remember, it is more creative project based writing.

[Farrar]

For us, Partnership Writing is hands down the best writing program we ever used. We did do it between ages 8-9 (mostly age 9), but I think it's fine for a 10 yo.

I think there's plenty of writing in there. You just really need to reframe your idea of writing. Or... if you don't want to, then BW isn't the right program for you anyway.

Each project can be more or less elaborate and more or less writing. Just depends on how you implement. It's still BW and a bit loosey-goosey, but it's a million times more practical than TWJ. I mean, there's a suggested schedule.

I've also used Faltering Ownership. It's good too... but PW is perfect for a 10 yo who needs to recover some joy. You can make some of them push him a little. I wouldn't worry about that. The projects are just more fun than FO overall.

Here's a good example... there's than 5 W's project. I feel like if you wanted to keep that super simple, you could have the end product be five pieces of paper with a few words and phrases and half done sentences and maybe even pictures cut out. Basically, younger elementary-ish. Or, you could push for each one to be a well-developed paragraph with a topic sentence. A couple of the projects are always going to be a bit easier - but I found most of them had that sort of range. Like, for the imaginary islands one, you can have him write a bunch of descriptions of his islands. Or for the timeline one, my kids interviewed their grandparents and wrote the questions and then took notes during the interview. But if I'd wanted it to be super simple, I'd have let them list ten events and let it go.

[Farrar]

And, just, in defense of BW's approach... some of the "simple" projects really are about learning to play with language. They're part of creating the language rich environment that BW talks about. So, the codes project - my kids made book ciphers, which took tons of reading. In the Wild Words project, we were sticking up those stickies with the words everywhere. Even the homophones project was a lot of fun playing with words. So it's not so much... oh, did he write a research paper. It's more like... you get to play with random words and language. And then, there'll be one that's a bit more traditional, like that 5 W's project or the lapbook.

[JennyD]

Thank you both!  Farrar, I am so glad that you weighed in.  I am definitely on board with BW's definition of writing -- my concern was more that perhaps the program was targeted at kids who hadn't really done much writing on their own yet.  But it sounds like it is very adaptable, and 'best writing program we ever used" is quite the endorsement!  

Recovering some joy is precisely what I'm after for this kid. This past semester we were firmly in 'get it done' mode, for a variety of reasons, and it just wasn't good for him.  

[Sarah0000]

Do you mind if I piggy back a question? If Partnership Writing can be used with a range of skill level, do you think a kid would find it fun and "newish" to do it at a lower level like at first/second grade level with phrase and pictures then the whole program again 2-3 years later with more structured output expected? Are the project ideas open ended enough for it to still be fun a second time around?

[Farrar]

11 hours ago, Sarah0000 said:

Do you mind if I piggy back a question? If Partnership Writing can be used with a range of skill level, do you think a kid would find it fun and "newish" to do it at a lower level like at first/second grade level with phrase and pictures then the whole program again 2-3 years later with more structured output expected? Are the project ideas open ended enough for it to still be fun a second time around?

I would say yes, though obviously it depends on the kid. For a kid who truly isn't ready for it, then I'd get Jot It Down (which I've never used... came out too late for us). However, if you've got one who is a tagalong to an older sibling - yeah, I'd do PW for both and then potentially do PW all over again. A few  of the projects might not repeat that well - like the homophones book maybe? Or the timeline project... though you could do it a different way, I guess. But several of them, like the imaginary islands, the lapbook, the historical products brochure, etc. would repeat very well with new topics and a more mature kid.

One of the things too is that - like a lot of BW products that help you understand how to do something DIY - PW will teach you how to make your own writing projects.