Favorite Writing & Grammar: 6th Grade

[socody]

I know this is an area that is HUGE and there are tons of options out there, but if you have a writing and/or grammar (can be two separate things or one together) curriculum you LOVED with your 6th grader, what was it and why did you like it? We are finishing up our first year of IEW AFF along with MP Grammar Recitation. I like these ok but would love to see what else is out there. I would consider my dd pretty strong in these subjects.

[PeterPan]

You might want to go to Cathy Duffy's site and look at her lists. That's usually what I do when I want more options.

My dd was one of those who was an excellent writer (I thought, haha) even though she really struggled with the physical act of getting it onto screen/paper. With her I used a combo of things. I think in 7th she took to fan fiction writing and entering contests. We did WWS and the poetry books in that kinda 8th grade range, I forget. We skipped the stuff we was already strong on (copia, etc.) and did it at a greatly accelerated pace. Her ADHD held her back from being ready to do things independently, so WWS later was brilliant for her. If your dc is ready, feel free to try it earlier, sure. I think it's the most mature, sensible approach to strong writing out there, no regrets, love the toolbox approach.

https://www.amazon.com/Writing-100-Days-Student-Centered-Composition/dp/0964904209 You can do these as paired writing exercises.

                                            Don't Forget to Write                                      There's a series of these books, EXCELLENT, greatly enjoyed. They take more time, but they're totally worth your time and the kind of thing professional writers will recommend you do with your kids.

Don't forget to play games like Dixit and Liebrary that develop language skills.

She can begin to keep a copybook or collect quotes.

I think what I'm saying is we separated writing and grammar. You might decide to do that, since it's pretty easy to find an efficient, solid grammar option. We went to Abeka grammar in high school and wished we had started it earlier. It was easy to trim down to what she needed, had well-written sentences, and it was fine. R&S is super popular here, but don't even get me started. My advice is separate the writing and grammar so she can diverge and do interesting things with her writing. Almost anything will do for the grammar. I like Killgallon's sentence composing/expansion workbooks if you haven't done anything like that yet.

My dd writes like what she's reading, so part of the key to improving writing for these kids is continuing to expose them to excellent writing. There tends to be this buckle down into textbooks, where the writing is stiff. We did magazine article outlining in the middle grades, and then I started having her subscribe to online news that she could read and analyze rhetorically. So there she was getting opinion articles, all kinds of things. And by high school we were reading essay collections (Best of annuals that are cheap on amazon), Nancy Pearcy, and basically anything well-written. I wanted to fill her head with excellent language and let her see how writers think. 

In high school we also did some genre-driven writing, like a text on food writing. There's a lower level poetry writing book, and you can see if she's beyond it or not                                             Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem                                     

Here's the first book in that creative writing series                                             The Creative Writer: Level One: Five Finger Exercises (The Creative Writer)                                     

50 Debate Prompts for Kids by Patrick Daley;Michael S. Dahliehttps://shop.scholastic.com/.../50-debate-prompts-for-kids-9780545179027.html  This is another thing we did around that age. Debate and arguing your points with support will promote clear thinking.

Edited April 30, 2019 by PeterPan

[hollyhock2]

I think my favourite is Climbing to Good English. It includes writing, but I usually have my kids doing narrations and outlines (the way SWB describes in her middle school audio lecture about writing). Close second for grammar is Rod & Staff. It also includes writing. I'm old school, I guess. 🙂

[Ellie]

My favorite grammar for any age is Easy Grammar, although I don't do formal grammar until the dc are 11ish. 🙂 Then we do EG once.

For a more homeschool-y grammar and writing, I would do Easy Grammar and Wordsmith (I like the original Writing Strands, but I don't know how long it will be available).

For a more school-y approach, Rod and Staff's English, which is a complete grammar and composition.