Please Help - Remedial Writing in High School

[CrystalN]

I really need some advice.  I have a 16 year old son going into the 11th grade.  We have mostly done Charlotte Mason style writing narrations and it has not worked for him.  He has never progressed past a paragraph summarizing the chapter.  He is not particularly academic and really does not have an easy time writing at all.  He typically has very little to say on a topic, even one he cares about.  Writing persuasive essays is just excruciating for him, even when I let him choose a topic.  I am completely incapable of teaching writing, I dropped out of high school in 11th grade and never had an opportunity to do any kind of higher level writing.  I am not sure why I thought I would be able to home school my kids through high school, but here I am, doing my best to give them a classical education.  Currently he is working through The Power in Your Hands.  It is going o.k., but I feel he really lacks the foundational tools Susan talks about in her seminars.  I am wondering if I should go back to Writing With Skill and just do all three books in one year, the way they do it in the WTMA Preparation for Rhetoric Course, or just continue with Power in Your Hands and hope something clicks.  I know going "back" will frustrate him. His younger sister is in WWS1 right now and starting where she is will make him feel behind. My gut just tells me the remedial work would help him so much and make Rhetoric doable for him his senior year. I want to give him all the tools he will need to succeed in college and life, but I also don't want to hurt his spirit and make him feel like a failure.  Any suggestions?  

[Aloha2U]

Writing & Rhetoric by Classical Academic Press 

It's my understanding that the author recommends Books 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, and 10 for fast-tracking.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Mom21

[Aloha2U]

My ds completed W&R Books 1–10, and I'm thoroughly convinced that this is the only way he would have learned how to write, or even want to write. WWE was our precursor, but WWS did not work for him at all. That is when W&R came into the picture.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Mom21

[Lori D.]

(((hugs))) Please don't beat yourself up. I'm absolutely convinced that you have been doing your very best all along because you want the best for your children.

And just to encourage you -- every student develops the thinking skills needed for writing in their own unique timetable. My DS#2 had mild LDs and it took all through high school of me running alongside, plus doing some writing mentoring with him into the first year of community college, before he was able to handle writing "without the training wheels". I teach Lit. & Comp. to gr. 7-12 students at my local homeschool co-op, and students "click" with being able to dig deeper into literature, or learning how to write an essay, at very different ages -- so much is dependent on when the logic/critical thinking and analysis/abstract reasoning portions of the brain click "on" for them.

Esp. since you don't have a lot of time left for experimenting with various writing programs (just grades 11-12), and plus since you don't have the background/experience for teaching or grading writing -- I think the fastest/easiest way to get him up to speed would be to spend the $$$ and get him a 1-on-1 tutor (in person or online) who specializes in writing.

Or, if that is not possible, consider running through the Lantern English essay writing series of classes -- $60 for each 8-week course with instruction and feedback:
Essay Basics
Essay Basics Practice
Growing the Essay I
Growing the Essay II
   (or: Fast Track -- combines I & II)
Growing the Essay Practice
Research Paper

Not every student clicks with SWB's WWS series -- it is very formal and assumes a certain mindset. And esp. if that's what his younger sister will be doing, I think he will probably either fight you or give up, out of feeling frustrated and hurt that he is doing the same program as younger sister at the same time. I would definitely encourage giving him his own program, and outsourcing for the instruction and feedback. Also, students tend to be much more motivated to write for an outside teacher. And a good teacher will be able to provide individual guidance, tips, and suggestions specifically for that student in a way that a program can't do. 

While I think Power in Your Hands is good as an independent-working program and it covers a wide range of writing, if you don't have what he needs as far as being able to help guide him through the writing process, there is a high likelihood of important information and skills falling through the cracks.
 

I totally understand that money may be very tight, and spending the $$$ -- $240-300 (4 or 5 Lantern Classes) or $1200+ (tutor) -- for a year of outsourced writing might sound like a lot. But if that is what will best help the student develop and flourish in a very basic job skill (writing) that will also be fundamental for college success -- then a few hundred dollars is a very small investment to help DS's future pay off big. JMO!

BEST of luck in finding what works best for DS and for your family. Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Lori D.

[Reefgazer]

On 5/15/2020 at 1:35 PM, Mom21 said:

Writing & Rhetoric by Classical Academic Press 

It's my understanding that the author recommends Books 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, and 10 for fast-tracking.

This x 1000!  When I opened this thread I was thinking of Writing and Rhetoric from Classical Academic Press.  You can actually email the magister at CAP and tell them your situation and ask for guidance on where your son should begin.  My son started this later than usual (although not quite as late as your son) and was able to progress through the books and just finished Book 10 at the end of 9th grade.  That's a little behind recommended scheduling for the books, but it was a great progression for him and has helped build my son into an excellent writer.  It is great for remedial action because it moves the student through the necessary steps slowly and methodically, and there are detailed and understandable teacher manuals available for you at a reasonable price.  I also agree with the progression above, with one additional comment:  Because your son is older than the book's targeted age, he should be able to move through the program faster than most students; he can probably do 3 books per academic year, and more if you school year-around.

I would absolutely not go back to Writing With Skill.  I think it is a top-notch program and my daughter used it, but it is not remedial and some of the writing lessons will overwhelm a student who hates to write and has a weak spot in that academic area.

Edited May 19, 2020 by Reefgazer

[Farrar]

Seconding Lori's suggestions. And strongly seconding not to beat yourself up.

I would add that at this point, I'd especially try to focus on bigger writing goals. You say he's not academically minded? That's fine. So rather than focus on an academic writing approach like WWS, I'd focus on ways he's likely to need writing in his life as well as ways that he might connect with writing. In terms of needing to write, he might need to write to get into a college or to succeed in a basic community college writing course. He might need to write a letter, to correspond with people via email, to create a cover letter for a job application or to fill out a statement for a job or write a client in business, if he goes into the trades? I'd focus on those practical, nuts and bolts skills. For him to be able to talk about himself in a short work and for him to be able to communicate information clearly. In other words, formal summaries, formal essays, even persuasive essays... I'd ditch it for now.

[kbutton]

I agree about a customized pace and determining what types of writing are going to be most important. 

I have a 10th grader that is just now able to write anything at all. He turns out to have a well-hidden expressive language disorder (he's profoundly gifted and has ASD--the two cancel each other out in many ways to seem typical, but he is not typical) that we discovered three years ago.

We found that using products from Mindwing Concepts has been pivotal. They are intervention materials vs. a curriculum. Their website has a great deal of information on how kids transition from narrative to expository writing and how they develop the deep thinking skills that take them through those levels. Their various books give support for teaching various types of text structures in teeny tiny steps. I would guess it somewhat parallels Writing and Rhetoric but would provide more explicit support, and that support stays consistent across all domains of writing (using icons for the parts of thinking and recombining those icons into the various text structures). I suspect that you could use Mindwing Concepts to support teaching W&R, or use the intervention materials to teach the concepts, and then use W&R a level behind your explicit teaching to cement those concepts with a little independence for your student. I have only looked at the early levels of W&R, but those were very compatible with Mindwing materials and progression.

One of the nicest things about the company is that you can talk to the author, describe the problems you are seeing, and she will recommend which products you need. She's supportive and kind, and nothing is "new" to her. 

You might not need this level of intervention, or you might need a nudge in the right direction with it vs. using it long-term, but if you are at all open to a tutor, I would consider finding an SLP that specializes in literacy and writing (not that it's an easy find). We have a tutor that implements these tools with my son (our state has scholarships for IEP students, so it's at no cost to us). She has kids with their own struggles and has an academic background that includes some exposure to language issues--when I found this program, she could see right away what works about it. 

One nice thing about the materials is that they are ungraded. The main program that is the starting point for older kids is Thememaker, but other products help the person implementing them teach side concepts that need to be approached more in depth, or you can order products that give an overview of how the program progresses through the various levels. Generally if a student is stuck going from narrative to expository, they might need the extra book that works through The Critical Thinking Triangle or cohesive ties work. This is an example of a basic package for an older student: https://mindwingconcepts.com/products/thememaker-quick-start-free-thememaker-icons 

As examples of how the components foster deeper thinking and writing, The Critical Thinking Triangle tool helps the student formulate what needs to be communicated with the writing (and recognize the main problem or conflict in narrative); cohesive ties work helps with transition words and forming main ideas and subordinate points. As students progress through higher levels of thinking, these ties can be subject-specific words for literature, science, history, etc. 

Their website has a lot of free articles that show the basis for the program. If you follow them on FB, sometimes they let you know about free webinars (and some are listed on their site). 

https://mindwingconcepts.com/