Pat in MI Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 How have you liked this program? Also, do you feel that it will prepare a student for writing in high school? Or what else will they need to know? Thank you for your help. Blessings, Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenKitty Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 We use this, though it's not everything we will need for high school. It depends on the child. If they need more help in that area, I would use more. Hopefully you'll get more answers;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 We used Jump In last year with our struggling writer (then in 8th grade). Jump In is written to the student, in an informal tone. Each chapter has several "cycles" instruction, then exercises, then shorter writing assignments that increasingly go into more depth, and then each chapter ends with a list of longer writing assignments to choose from. Jump In is designed as a 2 year course (they recommend interspersing the 14 chapter/units of the student notebook with "writing plunges" (10 minute "free writing from the writing prompts in the Teacher book). However, we easily used it in 1 year as our son was able to handle doing 1-2 exercises a day (they are usually quite short), which allowed us to then spend a week on the longer writing assignments. Also, we didn't care for most of their writing prompts, and substituted with other things. Overall, we found Jump In to be a gentle, very incremental writing program. Jump In is informal in tone, written to the student, and our son was able to do much of Jump In without help. The first 100 pages of Jump In focuses on teaching the student how to: - figure out *what* to write - how to support the topic sentence - and how to organize his thoughts/writing/paragraphs The second half of the book focuses on applying these techniques to the 4 different types of writing (persuasive, descriptive, narrative, expository). Other than not really liking Jump In's writing prompts, the only other thing I didn't like is that the Student Workbook (meant to be consumable -- in other words, the student writes right in the book) is NOT spiral bound, but "perfect" bound, which makes it extremely frustrating to get the book to stay open. My son wrote in a spiral notebook instead; you could also slice off the binding and either 3-hole punch the student workbook, or have it re-bound in a format that LAYS FLAT! One note: Jump In is strongly from a Christian viewpoint (put out by Apologia); mostly this does not come into play, but some of the examples of good writing, and a few of the ideas for writing assignments do include things from a Christian viewpoint. And a few "hot button" issues such as abortion are included as the occasional example -- you may wish to preview the program first if this is a problem. See sample pages at: http://www.christianbook.com Hope that is of help. Below are links to past threads not only on Jump In, but also other writing programs. BEST of luck, whatever you go with! Warmest regards, Lori D. Anybody else liking Jump In? http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55968&highlight=jump Put That in Writing vs. Jump In http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52413&highlight=jump Writer's Jungle, Wordsmith Apprentice, Jump In -- Confusion, Confusion! http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45952&highlight=jump Jump In?? http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37991&highlight=jump Please Help Me Sort Through These Writing Programs http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11399&highlight=jump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 (edited) PS -- in answer to your question: "Also, do you feel that it will prepare a student for writing in high school? Or what else will they need to know?" Our younger son (currently 9th grade) still struggles with writing -- but not as much. Partly the writing portion of his brain is finally starting to kick in just a little. Partly, I think the combination of doing key word outlines (IEW technique) for paragraphs over and over since 4th grade, and the emphasis on supporting examples/facts in Jump In is finally taking hold in his brain, too. What is needed for high school writing? Most high school writing is either report-based (science, history), or analysis (literature, history), with some persuasive writing (editorials, position papers, essays for SAT/ACT testing). This would be my list (realizing that *many* students will continue to work on these things throughout high school -- as many aren't "there" yet at the end of 8th grade -- certainly not our younger son, currently in 9th, and just now are most of these kicking in for our average writer older son, 10th grade/nearly 17yo ): - create an overall outline from which to write a logic, organized paper of any length - understand how to use solid *specific* facts/examples to support each paragraph's topic sentence - proofreading for spelling, run-ons/fragments, punctuation, capitalization - understand how to both quote, and how to research and rewrite in own words - begin to cite various types of sources (both within the paper or at end as part of a bibliography) - begin to work towards literary analysis -- taking a stand (making a contention) and supporting it with examples from the text - begin to practice timed essay writing (once a week, we use a past SAT essay prompt question and write for 15 minutes, working on logic argument supported by specific examples, especially from literature or history (which is what most SAT essay graders want to see) -- we'll work up to the 25 minutes given for the real SAT in the next year or so Hope something here is of help! I'd also suggest posting on the high school board about how to prepare a student for writing in high school, or what is expected from a student (writing-wise) in high school. Lots of ladies with great wisdom and experience there! Warmly, Lori D. Edited February 18, 2009 by Lori D. added info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat in MI Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 Thank you Lori! Your response was wonderful and very helpful. Jump In sounds a bit easier to use than the Writing Strands book that we are currently trying to work through. Thanks again! Blessings, Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cougarmom4 Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I'm using Jump In with my ds11 right now...we've only been at it for a few weeks, but amazingly enough ds who previously hated writing, now likes it! We are new to homeschooling, so I don't have other programs to compare it to, but I am impressed with it. I just wanted to mention that I wish I hadn't spent the extra few dollars on the teacher's manual...it's not worth it, imo. Really all that it adds are writing prompts (which are kind of silly ones, again imo). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiegirl Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 I bought Jump In this past year and used it a bit with my 11 yr. old. I am not using it for my sole writing program. I liked it more for me. I am a natural writer and it is very difficult for me to explain logically the steps of writing. Jump In showed me what all the steps were as well as what the different kinds of essays there were. (No, I didn't know that either. :001_huh:) I consider Jump In to be more of a teacher resource for me rather than a writing program for dd. I like the pre-writing exercises they offer as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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