Writing Tales vs. Writing Trails

[apCrazy4Jesus]

Can someone point out some differences in these two writing programs and let me know if you would recommend one over the other for a 9yo? Or would you start them with WWE?

Thanks!

Edited February 27, 2009 by apCrazy4Jesus

[apCrazy4Jesus]

Anyone?

[PeterPan]

Well I own WT1, WT2, and Writing Trails in American History. Both are fine, but they're not really comparable. I haven't looked at it recently, but iirc, Writing TRAILS is pretty straightforward, with a small non-fiction paragraph the student outlines with keywords and rewrites. Some people like it, though I didn't particularly care for the models. Writing TALES on the other hand has longer, interesting narrative models, many fables or interesting stories. The tm has full lesson plans with games, grammar analysis, copywork, etc., and the lessons build concepts. In level 1 the retellings and improvements are pretty straightforward (synonyms, adjectives, that sort of thing), but by WT2 you're getting into more sophisticated things like changing sentence beginnings to improve complexity of the sentences. The material covered is very similar to an IEW SWI.

 

Personally, I think it's a matter of progression. First your student learns to write his own narrations from a model you read him. You may have done this already using his science or history lessons. Then he begins to rewrite simple models from Aesop, with the simple goal of getting the retelling down on paper. (the Writing Trails stage) Then he is ready to do rewrites with improvement to his writing. In other words he's moved from the task of merely getting it down on paper to being ready to IMPROVE his writing.

 

When a student can comfortably write his own narration, he's to move into Writing Tales. With my dd, I had her learn to write narrations, then we did basic rewrites using fables and the Imitations in Writing book on fables (similar in level to Writing Trails). Then we moved to Writing Tales. I suggest you look at the materials and decide where your dc is in the progression and what would most benefit him. They're both fine, but it's just a matter of what suits his needs, kwim?