Trilliumlady Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 I have a 5th and 3rd grader right now doing IEW SWI-A. I’d like to continue with IEW a few more years to continue to practice what they are learning. It seems I could either do SICC-A for both of them (I would definitely spread it out over 2 years) or do theme based books this next year. I would likely do All Things Fun and Fascinating for my 4th grader and Ancient History Based Writing for my 6th grader. Which path have people found to be better - go directly into the continuation course or take a break with theme books? I can teach writing, but certainly do appreciate having Pudewa teach lessons, so there’s that 🙂. The cost difference is pretty compelling..... THough I guess if i find it used and it is over two years it is actually not that different than buying something this year and then re-buying something next year..... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 Well, the official IEW pathway disagrees with me, but I've only ever done 1 SWI and SICC. I start out with theme books in 3rd-5th and do the SWI B and SICC B in 6th-8th and then go straight to Elegant Essay and Windows to the World and maybe Writing the Research Paper in high school. If I was you and had kids that age, I'd go with theme books until they were in middle school and do SICC B at that point. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixpix5 Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 The theme books are great and I would go that route. I had a kid do All Things Fun and Fascinating first and another doing Fables, Myths and Fairy Tales. Neither have had any issues with learning the lessons from them. They are solid and fun programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smarson Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 3rd and 5th could both do All Thing Fun and Fascinating, just work at their own levels. They’re fun and they keep the kids engaged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliumlady Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 13 hours ago, smarson said: 3rd and 5th could both do All Thing Fun and Fascinating, just work at their own levels. They’re fun and they keep the kids engaged. This would be for next year, a 4th and 6th grader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 My sons hated All Things Fun and Fascinating (they called it All Things Boring and Horrible) and both Ancient History and Medieval History bombed out. The revised Medieval History was the best of the three, imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ema Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Following. Had a 3rd grader this year who did IEW SWI-A. If I did SICC-A next, I would also spread it out over two years, but am also wondering about using that or the theme based. Good to hear the opinions so far. Wondering if anyone else has more thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freesia Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 I say do whatever you think looks "best." My present one doing SWI-A and the child just above her both did/will do Ancient Writing theme book afterwards. That's because I like that theme book and it fits with our history study. Actually, I think my oldest did SWI-B, then ancients, then SICC-B. My second and third never did a continuation course. Instead, I taught a writing class for them and another 2 families because that's what worked for us. My fourth might or might not. All (except my youngest who is just starting out) are strong writers now. I've learned there is no magic progression. Just keep plugging along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 (edited) On 1/14/2019 at 4:23 AM, Trilliumlady said: I have a 5th and 3rd grader right now doing IEW SWI-A. I’d like to continue with IEW a few more years to continue to practice what they are learning. It seems I could either do SICC-A for both of them (I would definitely spread it out over 2 years) or do theme based books this next year. I would likely do All Things Fun and Fascinating for my 4th grader and Ancient History Based Writing for my 6th grader. Which path have people found to be better - go directly into the continuation course or take a break with theme books? I can teach writing, but certainly do appreciate having Pudewa teach lessons, so there’s that 🙂. The cost difference is pretty compelling..... THough I guess if i find it used and it is over two years it is actually not that different than buying something this year and then re-buying something next year..... Thanks! I didn't see this until now but you don't want to do SWI-A and All Things Fun and Fascinating. They repeat a lot of the same concepts. We made the mistake of doing AFF and then SWI-A and I realized this quickly. That is why on the stairstep it says SWI-A OR AFF. I missed that! 😃 Fortunately they have a great guarantee so I got SICC-A and that worked out well for us. FYI: We have done Bible Heroes, AFF, SWI-A, SICC-A, SICC-B, and now we are doing Lost Tools and will return to IEW to do Elegant Essay. My kids are currently 7th and 6th. We took about 1.5 years for each SICC course. I did a blend of the 2 year and 1 year track. Edited January 20, 2019 by cintinative Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ema Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 18 hours ago, cintinative said: I didn't see this until now but you don't want to do SWI-A and All Things Fun and Fascinating. They repeat a lot of the same concepts. We made the mistake of doing AFF and then SWI-A and I realized this quickly. That is why on the stairstep it says SWI-A OR AFF. I missed that! 😃 Fortunately they have a great guarantee so I got SICC-A and that worked out well for us. FYI: We have done Bible Heroes, AFF, SWI-A, SICC-A, SICC-B, and now we are doing Lost Tools and will return to IEW to do Elegant Essay. My kids are currently 7th and 6th. We took about 1.5 years for each SICC course. I did a blend of the 2 year and 1 year track. Good to know! Does their Fables course repeat concepts as well? Curious to know, though I think a whole year of fables would get old. DD3 is enjoying the writing, but I do think another year of basically the same stuff would get tediou . Especially if I would be the teacher for AFF, instead of Pudewa. Some lessons are learned easier and better when someone else teaches them, and in this house writing is definitely one of those. Thanks for the info! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 6 minutes ago, Ema said: Good to know! Does their Fables course repeat concepts as well? Curious to know, though I think a whole year of fables would get old. DD3 is enjoying the writing, but I do think another year of basically the same stuff would get tediou . Especially if I would be the teacher for AFF, instead of Pudewa. Some lessons are learned easier and better when someone else teaches them, and in this house writing is definitely one of those. Thanks for the info! Hmm. I am guessing that the theme books do repeat some concepts but probably not so much as with AFF and SWI-A. Repetition is going to be important anyway to solidify the concepts. ETA: interestingly, they have altered the stairstep. It looks like they now have AFF OR Fables, Myths in 3rd, followed by SWI-A in 4th. It looks like the fables book is being revised for this year. Maybe if you email them they will tell you what units of writing are covered (if you aren't sure what I mean, see the magalog at https://iew.com/help-support/magalog) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 It's my understanding that the IEW system is designed to repeat concepts. From listening to the teacher dvds, that's pretty much the entire philosophy of the system - you teach the same types of units every year and gradually increase in difficulty and what you expect for output as the student matures and practices. Whether you have a theme book or an SWI, you are still going to go through the same units and practice the same dress ups as the system uses in every other book/program. Just the level of difficulty and the subject matter of the given writing samples will be different. And the pace, depending on grade level. SICCs do expand on the basic units a little but more, but they all progress through the same basic concepts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ema Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 3 hours ago, Momto5inIN said: It's my understanding that the IEW system is designed to repeat concepts. From listening to the teacher dvds, that's pretty much the entire philosophy of the system - you teach the same types of units every year and gradually increase in difficulty and what you expect for output as the student matures and practices. Whether you have a theme book or an SWI, you are still going to go through the same units and practice the same dress ups as the system uses in every other book/program. Just the level of difficulty and the subject matter of the given writing samples will be different. And the pace, depending on grade level. SICCs do expand on the basic units a little but more, but they all progress through the same basic concepts. Yes, and the repetition is clearly why DD has been learning so well. However, a whole year of just Fables would be too much, and just repeating the same concepts without adding any new concepts, or taking it to a new level, which I believe the continuation courses do (?) may be disappointing to DD. However, since we started in 3rd grade as opposed to 4th it might be good to really solidify the concepts already learned before progressing. Sigh, so much to discern! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 You can do SICC-A over two years, or even longer, if you wish. It has a schedule for two years which you can follow. The first few lessons will be basic outlining. If you feel you need more practice with that, then you can park there and spend more time. The same with any other lessons. I have some extra source material I downloaded during one of their Christmas promotions. That kind of thing can be useful for stretching out lessons. Or choose your own source material if you wish. I am not sure what concepts will be in Fables that are not in SWI-A. I am confused that they moved it on the stairstep. I asked someone I know who works for IEW if she can explain that piece. I would definitely email them and ask if they have an idea of what units of writing are covered. Also, when you do buy, please know that IEW has a 100% money back, no time limit guarantee if you buy from them. So it makes sense to buy from them, especially when you aren't sure if it will be a good fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 28 minutes ago, Ema said: Yes, and the repetition is clearly why DD has been learning so well. However, a whole year of just Fables would be too much, and just repeating the same concepts without adding any new concepts, or taking it to a new level, which I believe the continuation courses do (?) may be disappointing to DD. However, since we started in 3rd grade as opposed to 4th it might be good to really solidify the concepts already learned before progressing. Sigh, so much to discern! We are doing Fables this year with my 5th grader. The book is about 1/3 fables a la Aesop, 1/3 Greek myths, and 1/3 fairy tales a la Cinderella and Hans Christian Anderson. So far we've had plenty of variety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliumlady Posted January 22, 2019 Author Share Posted January 22, 2019 Ok, so a few more questions..... For those who have done both theme books and SWIs, how much more teacher intensive would you say the theme books are? Really, with the DVDs, we’re only watching him once every one or two weeks, so it’s not like i’m getting the benefit of someone else doing this every.day. I still feel like with the oversight, editing, brainstorming, etc, that I’m still involved in quite a bit of the “teaching.” Not really a huge time saver (though I didn’t need it to be, thankfully). So, with this being the case, does the time taken for theme books look pretty similar to this, then? What does “teaching a lesson from the theme book” look like for you? Also, I’m leaning towards the Ancients theme book (if that’s the way we go) - any specific feedback on this one? My sister saw their Narnia book and oohed and aahed over that, so would be curious to know how people have fared with that as well. Again, this will be for a 4th and 6th grader. Regarding some of the comments from above, I fully appreciate and support the IEW method of repetition of same ideas with higher levels of literature. Makes sense to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto6inIN Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 I don't spend much time on the theme books each day, honestly. Maybe 15-20 minutes on a day when we begin a new type of unit? Then she usually does the rest on her own with me just reminding her what the next step is and looking over her work with her and editing. I ooh'ed and ahh'ed over the Narnia books too, but when I looked at the lessons, I think they require a bit more depth of knowledge and analysis than my 4th/5th grader knew about World War II. I mean, she knows who Hitler and Churchill and FDR were, but she couldn't have compared and contrasted them very easily with characters from the book. I think that requires a logic stage brain and she's not quite there yet. Maybe your 6th grader is there, but I'd be surprised if the 4th grader could do it very well. I've used All Things Fun & Fascinating for 3rd (great), Geography Based Writing lessons for 4th (ok), and Fables for 5th (great). I'm going to try the Fables for 4th next time and Ancients for 5th with my next kid and see if I like that better than the Geography. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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