kim973 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 I’m wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to teach outling or summarizing to a 14 year old. He hasn’t had much experience doing this or any type of writing. I started him on IEW towards the end of last year, picking out three main words from a sentence. This is very difficult for him. For Example, the sentence We’re using RS4K which is a simple chemistry curriculum. Even though he knows what atoms and neutrons are, he has difficulty defining them. I’m trying to teach him write a definition by summarizing what he read. I’m having him read the definition and try to put it in his own words. He just can’t seem to do it. He is very intelligent and has dysgraphia. He does have difficulty with “output.†This is something that is probably taught during the grammar stage, yet my son is in the logic stage. Although he loves history and science, he is very discouraged with school. Any advice would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kim973 Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 I just realized that I forgot to include the sample sentence. The heading on this Usborne page is: Assyrians at War Around 2000 BC, they were taken over by invaders who made Assyria into a kingdom. He choose the words Assyrians, taken, over I would have choose 2000 by, invaders, kingdom When I asked him to tell just look at his keywords and tell me the sentence, he said â€The Assyrians were taken over.†Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deece in MN Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 (edited) I just realized that I forgot to include the sample sentence. The heading on this Usborne page is: Assyrians at War Around 2000 BC, they were taken over by invaders who made Assyria into a kingdom. He choose the words Assyrians, taken, over I would have choose 2000 by, invaders, kingdom When I asked him to tell just look at his keywords and tell me the sentence, he said ”The Assyrians were taken over.” This really is not a bad telling back of the information especially since he is somewhat new to IEW. Everyone will choose different words when doing the KWO (I might have chosen invaders, Assyria and kingdom depending on the other sentences I was outlining). Besides they are not supposed to tell the sentence back word for word as long as they get the idea/point of the sentence. He can always dress it up or add to it when he does a rough draft. I tell my dc that it is more important to get the main ideas on paper as we can always go back to clarify and embellish later. I guess what I am trying to say is to keep working with IEW. Are you using a student writing intensive or working through the TWSS on your own? If you are working with just the TWSS, don't get stuck on a level for too long. Also, as far as summarizing goes, I have had my dc do different things. Sometimes I have them identify the main idea of the passage. Other times I have them write 3-5 new or interesting facts they learned. I have also had my dc KWO short paragraphs and then rewrite the paragraph in their own words. Also have you modeled how to do summarizing? Maybe he is not really understanding what you are wanting him to do and having you walk him through it will help. Just a thought, sorry if you have already tried this. These things take time and practice. Kids will not do a stellar job on the first try (maybe not even the 10th try :)). Just keep plugging away and it will get easier and you will see improvement. HTH Edited February 4, 2009 by Deece in MN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 We are using "Paragraph Writing Made Easy" as suggested by someone here. It goes over finding the topic sentence and supporting facts and has your student prepare an outline. First you find the topic sentence and then your paraphrase it (does not need to be a complete sentence). That is roman numeral I. Then you have the child find the supporting sentences and they paraphrase them. These are noted as A., B.,C., I've used IEW and I find the Key Word Outline too restrictive for me. I prefer to allow more than 3 words, in fact short choppy notes are fine. Another way of outlining textbooks like PH Science Explorer is to take each paragraph heading and make it into a question and then have the child answer it based on the information in the paragraph. I am not a real classical homeschooler and I've had trouble with summarizing SOTW and other narrative texts, so I can't address that. We are having much more success with encyclopedias and textbooks. We use SOTW and my dc are able to answer questions and orally summarize the topics, but I haven't tried to outline them in a traditional sense. Hope this makes sense. Still learning here...everyday and all day. K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kim973 Posted February 7, 2009 Author Share Posted February 7, 2009 I guess what I am trying to say is to keep working with IEW. Are you using a student writing intensive or working through the TWSS on your own? If you are working with just the TWSS, don't get stuck on a level for too long. HTH I don't have SWI so I'm working through it on my own. I guess we really are stuck since we've been working on KWO since last spring. I just want to make sure that he is learning the skills that he needs to learn. He HATES writing, and that is a skill that he will need throughout his life. I liked your idea of mixing it up, so he isn't doing kwo for everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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