Write Shop, Wordsmith, or Adventures in Fantasy

[Red Dove]

I have a 7th grader and a 5th grader that are working on Wordsmith Apprentice this year.  Would you recommend moving on to Wordsmith or starting Write Shop or Adventures in Fantasy next year?  What are the pros and cons of each?  

They get their grammar lessons from Fix-it Grammar and are on level 2 right now.  

[Melissa in Australia]

I use write shop for a couple of months a year as a sort of different approach to writing. I use Writing With Ease the rest of the time. When my boys get better at actually writing ( disabilities.)   possibly by mid teens -  we will eventually move over to IEW

[rutheart]

Adventures in Fantasy got both my girls excited about writing, and they now consider themselves writers. IMO, that alone was worth the detour. As a side benefit, because they wanted their book to be good, they also got more invested in grammar and spelling. When it was time to write the actual chapters, my oldest started lugging around the thesaurus voluntarily. 

The downside is that the book is out of print, but you can find used copies. It's also committing to a year of just writing fiction. Even if you split it up over 2 years and alternate with another curriculum, it's still 36 weeks of writing time dedicated to writing a single story, a long story for the age group (my oldest wrote a story the length of a middle grades novel), but ultimately it's still just one story. On the plus side, before they were done, both of my girls were already plotting out multiple sequels to their books.

I think writing a book makes a young person feel like they are equipped with the tools to tackle any writing assignment. While my oldest doesn't look forward to writing essays and research papers (how many people really do?), she feels more than capable. All the shorter assignments seem smaller in comparison, so they are not intimidating. 

[Lori D.]

Write Shop
...will be more parent-intensive, but covers more traditional writing topics. I have heard from some people that it has more "moving parts" so it can be more effort to use.

Wordsmith
...is more independent-working, but shorter and will likely take less than 1 year to complete (like Wordsmith Apprentice). Also like Wordsmith Apprentice, it has the same informal tone and instruction is directed at the student. However, unlike Wordsmith Apprentice, it is less "funny" as there are no 1-page comics and there is no overall theme (like the "cub reporter" theme)The focus is paragraph writing and multi-paragraph essays, in the 4 areas of writing: descriptive, narrative, expository, persuasive.

Adventures in Fantasy
... @rutheart gave you a great explanation and personal experience above.


3 additional options to possibly consider, which are both low parent time / fairly independent-working for the student:

Cover Story (gr. 6-8)
Blends creative writing and general middle school writing instruction; video-lesson-based.

Essentials in Writing
Video-lesson-based; fairly independent-working. Depending on the writing needs of your students you could combine them in one level -- possibly level 6 or level 7 for both of them, since it looks like your 7th grader is working "down" a grade or two in level. EiW also offers an optional Scoring Service for $99 per student for a year of grading assignments -- that fills up fast, so if you decided to go with that optional service, sign up in the spring when the website first opens up to register for that option.

Jump In (gr. 6-9)
Very similar to Wordsmith, but more in-depth. From a Christian perspective. Note: it's designed to take 2 years by after every unit taking 4 weeks to do free writing prompts, but you can drop the free writing prompts (which are a bit lame and very similar), and complete the program in 1 year.

Edited November 3, 2021 by Lori D.

[Red Dove]

47 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

Write Shop
...will be more parent-intensive, but covers more traditional writing topics. I have heard from some people that it has more "moving parts" so it can be more effort to use.

Wordsmith
...is more independent-working, but shorter and will likely take less than 1 year to complete (like Wordsmith Apprentice). Also like Wordsmith Apprentice, it has the same informal tone and instruction is directed at the student. However, unlike Wordsmith Apprentice, it is less "funny" as there are no 1-page comics and there is no overall theme (like the "cub reporter" theme)The focus is paragraph writing and multi-paragraph essays, in the 4 areas of writing: descriptive, narrative, expository, persuasive.

Adventures in Fantasy
... @rutheart gave you a great explanation and personal experience above.


3 additional options to possibly consider, which are both low parent time / fairly independent-working for the student:

Cover Story (gr. 6-8)
Blends creative writing and general middle school writing instruction; video-lesson-based.

Essentials in Writing
Video-lesson-based; fairly independent-working. Depending on the writing needs of your students you could combine them in one level -- possibly level 6 or level 7 for both of them, since it looks like your 7th grader is working "down" a grade or two in level. EiW also offers an optional Scoring Service for $99 per student for a year of grading assignments -- that fills up fast, so if you decided to go with that optional service, sign up in the spring when the website first opens up to register for that option.

Jump In (gr. 6-9)
Very similar to Wordsmith, but more in-depth. From a Christian perspective. Note: it's designed to take 2 years by after every unit taking 4 weeks to do free writing prompts, but you can drop the free writing prompts (which are a bit lame and very similar), and complete the program in 1 year.

Lori D. - Which of the programs do you think teaches writing the best?  I know I have to consider how much time I can dedicate to teaching, the personalities of my children… but which one would give the best foundation for writing?