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I have always stayed away from IEW because it looked complicated with many moving parts, videos and formulas, etc.  I love Writing and Rhetoric for its user friendliness.  However, my fourth grader is going to be attending school next year, and they are starting IEW this year in fourth grade.  I am wondering if we should do IEW for my fourth grade son at home this year so he is on track with his class.  I have always thought he would be my kid who might like IEW the best.  

Then I go their website, and it's so overwhelming.  I find the pathway, but do we honestly have to start with the giant $250 package before we do anything else?

We are doing Ancient history, and they have a theme based ancient history writing book that looks appealing.  It covers all of the same topics such as note writing, etc., but with ancient history as a focus.  Could we do this book without going through the "PROGRAM" with all the teaching videos, etc.  Because honestly, I don't want to... It looks daunting and cumbersome.  My husband is doing the bulk of the teaching of this year, and I need streamlined, not time consuming.

Maybe we will just stick with our Writing and Rhetoric plan, and they can catch him up with IEW in school.  I need some advice from someone who has waded these waters before.

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I felt the same way as you about IEW when I began homeschooling a couple of years ago.  Many people raved about IEW (including our pediatrician!).  In my first year of homeschooling, I could not bring myself to attempt it.  Every time I went to the website, I stared at the pathway and was overwhelmed - maybe all of the abbreviated names for the programs are a turnoff? 

In our first year of homeschooling, I used WWE with three kids and it was a bust after one semester.  While reviewing other programs, I couldn't shake the fact that IEW is so well respected.  I got lucky when I found the $250 set of IEW videos in our charter school's library.  I was hooked after the first DVD, but I must admit that I haven't gotten past the 4th DVD yet.  For our second year of homeschooling, I used IEW's SWI-A on loan from our charter school (kids were in grades 3, 5 and 6). SWI-A includes a set of videos that speak directly to the kids.  It saved me time - I was able to learn along with the kids. My kids found Pudewa to be entertaining and the program was effective while we used it. Key word outlining was a tool that my kids took to immediately and we deployed all the dress-ups (even though Wise Bauer has said to avoid them in one of her books). About 3/4ths of the way through the program, things got busy in our household and I found that I could not keep the kids on track.  The program required heavy oversight on my part (okay, I acknowledge that any writing program is going to require the parent to teach); and it seemed particularly hard on us during the busy times.  I found that if I could not finish a writing assignment before we had another busy spell, then the assignment would languish.  By the time we got back to it, everyone lost enthusiasm for what we were doing and it was difficult to reboot.  But I had three kids to juggle so my situation sounds different than yours.  I'm sure you already know, IEW is not an "open-and-go" workbook like W&R.  

For the upcoming year, I've decided to outsource writing to WTMA for my two older kids. I'm a fairly decent writer, but I've concluded that I lack the discipline to keep the kids on track with writing when life gets hectic. I'm hoping that these online classes will keep us on pace while I coach from the sidelines.

The IEW program is comprised of several units that can be repeated grade after grade, with increasing levels of complexity (of source documents) and expectations.  My point being, just because your child misses IEW in 4th grade at the new school, I don't think that's going to hinder him when he enters in 5th grade.  I'm guessing that the school will repeat those initial units for several years to reinforce the concepts. 

To sum it all up, I'm a fan of IEW.  It deserves the rave reviews. The DVDs are extremely enlightening and effectively communicate the IEW "lifestyle."  However, you said you need something streamlined and not time consuming.  Given those constraints, I would lean toward W&R.  I think W&R will provide satisfactory writing instruction without being too burdensome.  (Full disclosure: I haven't used W&R, but I considered it on multiple occasions.)

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You can use the theme books all on their own without the teaching dvds and your kid will still get some good practice with writing assignments, but in my opinion you won't get the full benefit of the program without the background and the philosophy of it that the TWSS provides. It is an investment of time and money and there's nothing wrong with saying that you don't want to do it! But in that case one of the packages where your child watches the video lesson (SWI followed by SICC) might be a better way to go if you don't want to watch the teaching videos yourself. The way a rep explained it to me at the convention was: If you want Andrew Pudewa to teach your child to write, do the SWI and SICC. If you want to teach your child to write yourself, use the TWSS and then either make your own lesson plans or use a theme book.

Hope that helps!

 

Edited by Momto5inIN
Eta if your husband is doing the teaching, he should be the one watching the videos
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Thank you all for your responses.  It will actually be Dad teaching him this year, so I should get his input.  I just saw that there is an IEW Ancient course at our co-op, and I think that could be an option because then it is done for me.  I know it is a good program.

As far as the time investment and all that, I guess IEW just doesn't really jive with my teaching style whereas I LOVE Writing and Rhetoric.  Maybe it's because my husband and I have more confidence teaching writing.  My husband is a professional writer/editor, and I am no stranger to academic writing.  Watching videos on how to teach writing formulas sounds like torture to me, and I am sure that would come across to my kids.  However, some of the assignments and Fix-it grammar look appealing when I have enough patience to wade through their website.  I do think their website is just plain cumbersome and confusing.  

I'll think about it some more, but it's good to know that I could just get the Ancient writing lessons.  That is far more appealing to me than a $200 kit that will likely be reviewed in school next year anyways.

 

 

 

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