IEW - how do you make it work in your family?

[Porridge]

I’m interested in hearing how various IEW families implement IEW with their DC.

I’ve tried IEW twice, but had a lot of trouble managing the videos (my kids don’t love video based stuff unless it’s a documentary). When I say a lot of trouble, I think it somehow felt hard to fit it in or work it into the flow of the day. Part of the problem may be that I didn’t have a set, designated time for videos.

I also tried using the old SWI with me as the teacher, but the UI / layout was somehow hard for me - there seemed to be a lot of flipping back and forth to figure out what to do when.

DD has been doing well with WWS, but DS has ADHD and I’m not sure WWS will be the best fit for him. I’m reconsidering IEW because I think the structure might be good for him. But I need to figure out how to integrate it into our daily flow.

I have the old TWSS videos and notebook. I think I made it through half of those, and I should be able to go through them this summer if I decide to try IEW again.

Would a non-video based theme-based IEW book be better? Or is the video based one really great (do your kids love it? do they learn more from it?) How do you schedule and structure it in your home?

 

[Slache]

I have done theme books and videos. We did theme books younger with major hand holding and the videos much more independently as he's aged. I definitely think a theme book with lots of hand holding would be better in your situation.

[kirstenhill]

I've used IEW with my middle two kids so far, and only used the videos with the older of the two.  We really didn't love them.  After one semester with the videos, I switched to a theme book with that kid and have always done theme books since then.  Older DS needed almost no help at all with the theme books since he had the basic introduction with the videos.  Middle DS really only needed help/"hand holding" for a few lessons with his first theme book to get the drift of how it worked, then was able to read the instructions and figure it out for himself. 

I do think the way we've used IEW the student can only get so far with the quality of their writing.  My boys were able to read the instructions and produce papers that fit the IEW formula really well, but not necessarily take those tools and apply them generally.  That's where I think either taking a class with an instructor or switching it up and trying something different can be helpful.  I think if I had wanted to be more hands on we could have gone beyond what is written with the IEW books themselves, but it has worked out better so far to either switch materials or outsource after 3 years or so of IEW. 

Edited to add:  My boys really liked the theme books they have done.  I let them pick which ones to do since they all teach the same basic writing concepts, and that helped with buy-in.   As far as scheduling, I tell them to complete one lesson per week, and they could figure out for themselves how to break that up through the week (with a little coaching from me and a bit of trial and error as to the needs of each kid).  There were fewer lessons in each book than our number of weeks in the school year, but that allowed for occasional times where a lesson took 2 weeks either due to a longer writing assignment or just a busy schedule.  Often they were able to finish an IEW book while we still had a month or more left in the school year, and they could do fun/creative writing for the last few weeks.

Edited June 23, 2021 by kirstenhill

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

We use the theme books, not the video lessons. We essentially recreate the classroom environment shown in the training videos as far as brainstorming dress-ups & such. We mostly follow the daily schedule laid out in the books, but he’s on the young side (rising 3rd grader) so I allow more time for writing; I don’t expect more than a paragraph per day. This generally results in spending 1wk on single-paragraph compositions & 2wks for multi-paragraph compositions. 

We don’t use any single curriculum exclusively. We mixed IEW ATFF & FMFT this past year, spread each level of MCT LA across 2-3yrs, use AAS for spelling, & DS participates in NaNoWriMo’s Young Writer’s Program each fall. We read poetry daily & this fall DS will be taking an online poetics course.

I like the blend of highly-structured & open-ended materials; I feel it gives more ownership over the tools he’s practicing with in IEW. 

Edited June 23, 2021 by Shoes+Ships+SealingWax

[BlsdMama]

I have watched the TWSS videos twice.  I've sat in on Andrew's teaching when he came here.  (Tried not to fangirl, but did have to get a picture, lol.)  I love using the theme books.  Initially I was concerned I'd train my kids to be formulaic writers.  However, and partially because they are heavy readers, they use IEW teaching as a foundation, then their writing becomes very fluid.  This is not so with my only (so far) struggling writer and he NEEDS the tools of  IEW.  

I am a big fan of IEW.  I was able to utilize what I'd learned to be successful with college writing.  I'll add that I've had four kiddos take Comp I and Comp II at college level so far and all have earned As.  I have tweaked a few things in response to my older kids' college experiences  (math) but writing was not one of these.

Edited June 23, 2021 by BlsdMama

[Mona]

My oldest two have graduated, but I used the SWI videos and the continuation course videos with them. We did some of a theme book one year, but they really enjoyed watching Mr. Pudewa teach and hearing the students share their thoughts during class. I would sometimes pause so my kids could share their thoughts, too. Maybe, you can make writing the first thing you do after lunch, so it becomes a routine? You do not have to watch a video every day. Some days there is just an assignment. There are usually more than one source documents for each skill, so if you do the second source document, you wouldn’t need to watch the teaching again unless you want to. You can just do the second document as a skill reinforcement. There is a weekly schedule with a 4 or 5 day breakdown of what to do each day in the Teacher’s Manual. You can see it under Samples/Teacher Sample PDF here: https://iew.com/sites/default/files/videocourse/fileattachment/SSS-1A-T_Sample.pdf

(You can see it on page 23)

You can certainly use a theme book on your own so you can adjust for your son’s attention span. Seeing the suggested scheduling and Teacher Sample might help you plan your days better.

[Momto6inIN]

We have used the theme books in elementary and the videos in middle school. The videos were hard to schedule because they were so long and only sporadic. What we ended up doing was to watch the video on Monday afternoon and then use the rest of the week to write/edit/etc. Sometimes going in to a 2nd week if necessary for a longer assignment. The theme books were easier because it took more of a consistent period of time each day, but by middle school they really liked Mr. Pudewa's corny humor and performed well "for him" as their teacher.

[Porridge]

Thanks everyone! It’s really helpful to hear how different people make it work!