EIW, CAP W&R, and Jump In

[Janeway]

My 6th grader is a terrible writer. He does great at every other subject. And his grammar is excellent as is his ability to form a sentence. Beyond that, it is awful.

Right now, he is doing TGTB, but it never had a ton of writing instruction, in my opinion. When it did expect writing, son did as bare minimum and did not even produce a paper that would be passing at all. We started CAP W&R last year and he likes it fine and goes through it and does it and does a fine job. Is this good enough? I can work on paragraph writing in the meantime too. 

I am wondering if, when we finish the book we are currently on, if I should have us go on to the next book, which would be book 3, Narrative 2, or if I should consider maybe EIW? I also have Jump In on the list. I used Jump In years ago with an older child. I could use the older book or buy the new one.

[freesia]

I think you are on the right track concentrating on paragraph writing.  What I would do is this:

1.  Sit with him and fill out a graphic organizer on a topic https://www.hmhco.com/blog/free-graphic-organizer-templates

I fill it out  for a looonnnnggg time.

2.  Brainstorm a topic sentence.

3.  Have him write the paragraph

4. Brainstorm a closing sentence.

5. Once a week or so edit one of the paragraphs for word choice, sentence variety, clarity, etc.  But for each paragraph focus and have him correct the paragraph techniques--do the sentences tie into the topic sentence, is there flow and order.  Don't necessarily have him rewrite them all, but have him correct.  The best method for this is reading it to him so he can hear.  If he doesn't say things like--I am unclear why xyz,

The only product I know on your list is Jump In and I think it's excellent.  I usually use it in 6 or 7th grade.  In your case, I would work on paragraphs at least 3 times a week for 6 weeks before starting it.

It's okay he can't do this yet himself.  It's okay to scaffold a lot at this age. Even my most reluctant/struggling writers ended up writing really well by high school.