What emcompasses *English* for a 6th grader?

[carlyincali]

My oldest daughter will be using 6th grade curric next year. I am still deciding on which English & spelling program to use with her. But she has never done a writing program.

 

I would like to know what I should be doing at this point with her. What exactly should English cover in the 6th grade. (When I say *English,* I mean spelling, grammar, writing, and whatever else is supposed to go with it.)

 

This brings me to my lack of self-confidence or iniquities: I have major fears about correcting a writing assignment. I struggle w/writing myself, and I am the last person I would want to correct a writing paper. I have always avoided the writing curric. and writing assignments for this reason.

[Sue G in PA]

Though I have never used the entire program, many a writing phobic parent has like IEW for writing. My friend highly recommends it. We've just used the Theme based writing workbooks (Anc. Hist. Based Writing Lessons) and like them. My dh and I are not writing phobic parents so we felt we didn't need to spend the big bucks for the entire program. Personally, I can't wait for SWB's middle-school writing curriculum to come out. My dd is in 6th this year and does R&S 5 for grammar, SWO G for spelling, no vocab. but will do Vocab. from Classical Roots next year, and IEW's Anc. Hist. Writing Lessons along with some of R&S's writing lessons for writing. She also writes letters to friends each month and does copywork and some dictation for writing. We use her spelling words.

[carlyincali]

Though I have never used the entire program, many a writing phobic parent has like IEW for writing. My friend highly recommends it. We've just used the Theme based writing workbooks (Anc. Hist. Based Writing Lessons) and like them. My dh and I are not writing phobic parents so we felt we didn't need to spend the big bucks for the entire program. Personally, I can't wait for SWB's middle-school writing curriculum to come out. My dd is in 6th this year and does R&S 5 for grammar, SWO G for spelling, no vocab. but will do Vocab. from Classical Roots next year, and IEW's Anc. Hist. Writing Lessons along with some of R&S's writing lessons for writing. She also writes letters to friends each month and does copywork and some dictation for writing. We use her spelling words.

 

Thank you. Please tell me, what does IEW and SWB stand for please?

[Lenora in MD]

Institute for Excellence in Writing and Susan Wise Bauer

[April in WA]

I would second Sue's recommendation. I was afraid of teaching all three of my children (now 11, 9 and 8) two years ago. While I am not ready to go it alone just yet, with the use of IEW, my confidence is huge compared to before starting the program.

 

I bought the Student Writing Intensive A in the spring of 2006 and used it with my then 4th grader. I could rely on Mr. Pudewa to teach the lesson and then I had the free lesson plans with checklists, which are VERY black and white, to guide the grading. Your child either meets the requirements or he doesn't. They know what's expected ahead of time and you grade accordingly. It helps with their confidence because they should be able to receive a perfect grade on every assignment if they just follow the checklist.

 

After getting our feet wet with the SWI-A, I bought the Ancient History Based Lessons since that would be our history focus for his 5th grade year. I LOVED having it all planned out for me. The teaching was in the book and we still had the SWI-A to watch if we had trouble with a particular unit.

 

This year we are working through the Medieval History Based Lessons and having similar success. I am now starting to see the skills taught in the program spilling over into all of my son's writing, not just IEW compositions.

 

Next year I plan to continue with the USHBL, vol. 1.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions. I know there are several great writing programs out there, but IEW has been a life-saver for me. Now I think I could actually tackle some of the other ones, like Classical Writing, and have success. Before IEW tears would have consumed me and we never would have gotten anywhere.

 

Blessings,

April

[OnTheBrink]

I heartily second the IEW recommendation. Andrew Pudewa, the creator, teaches the parent how to teach writing and also how to evaluate it. If there are any homeschooling conferences near you, check and see if he's a speaker. If so, go. He alone is worth the price of admission!

[Ellie]

for writing "English" instead of "language arts." :D

 

My oldest daughter will be using 6th grade curric next year. I am still deciding on which English & spelling program to use with her. But she has never done a writing program.

 

I would like to know what I should be doing at this point with her. What exactly should English cover in the 6th grade. (When I say *English,* I mean spelling, grammar, writing, and whatever else is supposed to go with it.)

 

This brings me to my lack of self-confidence or iniquities: I have major fears about correcting a writing assignment. I struggle w/writing myself, and I am the last person I would want to correct a writing paper. I have always avoided the writing curric. and writing assignments for this reason.

 

You could go the traditional textbook direction, which could be R&S's English and spelling. They're comprehensive and easy to use, easy enough that your lack of confidence wouldn't matter at all.

 

Or you couild be more eclectic: Easy Grammar Plus (or whatever the current levels are), Writing Strands Level 4, and R&S spelling (Spelling by Sound and Structure).

 

In either case, you'd also want to include something for reading/literature, as that is also part of an English course. You could stick with good books and have your dd do the book reprots from the Love to Learn Place; or you could do several of the Progeny Press guides.

[Hoggirl]

R&S for Grammar (omitting the writing exercises)

IEW for writing (LOVE IT!) Probably a mix of SICC-B and Medieval Lessons

Lightning Lit 7

 

I am still deciding on the necessity of doing either spelling or grammar in a formal. We have been doing Spelling Workout and are in Level G this year, so we would move to Level H (last one) for next IF I force myself to do spelling.

[nutmeg]

My sixth grader is doing:

R&S English 6

Spelling Workout

Wordsmith Apprentice

[HollyDay]

This year for 6th we are doing:

Winston 1 first semester

CW HOmer A with Harvey's Grammar

MegaWords Spelling

DITHOR for reading

 

There is a book called What Your Child Needs to Know When that is very helpful when looking at lesson planning.

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

I love Write Source- The skills book and the daily language cover gram. It gives prompts to write on and covers the rubric and a ton of different categories in writing.;)

[Sunshine State Sue]

Analytical Grammar - highly recommend. Email me if you would like a review.

 

Megawords for spelling and some vocabulary.

 

Write Shop - we are about 10 weeks into this, so no real review yet. I chose it because it is supposed to be step-by-step for both the parent and the student. There is a bit of a learning curve for the parent because it is very detailed, which is good for me, since I NEED everything spelled out. So far, so good. IEW, with its videos, didn't appeal to me, although it gets good reviews. I seriously considered Classical Writing, but in the end, was too intimidated by it.

 

Good luck!

Sue

[magistramom]

I have a fifth grader. We've had amazing success with all the recommendations in WTM. This is what we will be using next year:

 

Rod & Staff 6

Spelling Workout G & H

Lively Latin (second book when it comes out) moving into Henle Latin

 

For writing, we have done seven minute compositions each day for the last two years. Writing Strands sort of follows this format - sort writings each day - but the books were viewed as silly by my DD. The seven minutes MAKES the child focus on topic and paragraph development. When we first started, all I could get was a paragraph. We are up to three or four paragraphs each day now. Whole papers can be written using this format if each day (or series of days) is devoted to a particular area (note taking, outline, intro, body, closing, bibliography). I've read D'Angelo's book on the progymnasmata, and apply many of the different writing styles to our seven minute writing times. Having a strong background in grammar, spelling and vocabulary (through Latin) has been priceless.