JenniferB Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 I posted this comparison and analysis of K12 vs TWTM in response to another post asking what is preferred in a secular WTM in a box, but I realize it was a bit off topic of that thread, and I wanted some responses to my analysis, so I'm copying this to a new thread. Here's what I previously posted: OK - this is a bit off topic, but the "TWTM in a box" got me curious to read this thread, and also to compare K12 to TWTM as a possible already produced "WTM in a box". I'm one of those who has gotten really worn out with trying to implement TWTM in an eclectic fashion as outlined in TWTM book. I read the book 4 years ago, and filed the info in my mind, while continuing to pursue other homeschool styles and philosophies trying to find my way over the next 3 years. It was about a year ago (last spring) when I picked it up again in an effort to find a direction for this current year. I've had a very hectic year switching from curriculum to curriculum trying to find my way, TWTM way. I'm at the point now where I've switched to K12 in an effort to find something that covers everything as classically as I can in a "box", with the accountability of our state VA to give me that "push" I need every day to get our lessons done. I've been wanting to compare it to TWTM since I started K12 to see if it's deficient in any way. I've been thinking that K12 is "classical in a box", but I haven't sat down to do a comparison, so I'm going to take the opportunity on this thread to take out my WTM book and compare it to what we're doing in K12. I'm curious to see how K12 lines up with WTM, or differs. We're using K12 1st grade LA & Math with K Science, and 4th grade LA, Math, and Science. I'm still using SOTW for history this year, but will be switching to K12 for all subjects next year, if the rest of this year goes well. Here goes: TWTM grammar stage in black, K12 1st & 4th in Red Language - 1st grade: SWO & Handwritting 10-15 mins per day working up to 15-20 mins. including grammar, structured reading 30 mins., fun reading 30 mins. - Total Language 1 hr. 20 mins per day. 4th grade: Spelling 15 mins., Structured reading w/ notebooking 30-45 mins per day, Grammar 20 mins per day, Memory Work 10 mins per day, Writing letters 1 every 2 weeks + Dictation 2-3 days per week rotating w/ Writing Strands 2 days per week 20-30 mins, and 60 mins fun reading per day. K12 Language includes 2 hrs. of language per day structured learning + 30 mins. in 1st grade and 60 mins. in 4th grade of fun reading. Here's how it's broken out: 1st Grade Language Phonics- 60 mins. lessons include reviewing sounds, blending sounds into words, reading and spelling sight words, sentence dictation (1 sentence around 7 words), oral reading practice (structured reading), and handwriting practice. Language - 60 mins. lessons include composition (writing) of letters, invitations, and creative writing like rhyming or ending a story, GUM (Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics), and Public Speaking (poem recitation, etc.). Literature is the second component of the Language lessons. These include listening and narrating back stories from Junior Grat Books. There are instruction about how to have a converstion about literature without making it seem like a question/answer session. They also include lessons on Shared Reading and Guided Reading. In addition to all this you have your child read on their own from books of their choice. 4th Grade Language consists of: Spelling 20 mins. per day 5 dyas per week - lessons use syllables, and include the study of the United States (2 states per week). Literature 60 mins. per day 5 days per week + free reading 60 mins. per day. Uses Classics for Young Readers, and novels from a pretty good list. We keep a reading notebook of responses from the literature readings, and have discussions lead by comprehension questions about the readings. Language (GUM, Composition and Vocabulary rotating) 40 mins. per day 5 days per week. Grammar, Composition and Vocabulary lessons are rotated throughout the week. No memory work, that I'm aware of yet. Mathematics - SWB recommends 30-40 mins per day on either a new conecpt or drill. K12 lessons are 60 mins. per day with Skills Update which reviews/drills previous concepts, and the lesson which introduces and practices new material. History - SWB recommends studying history chronologically in a 4 year cycle for 3 hours per week making notebook pages and narrating back the lessons. K12 history is chronological in a 4 year cycle from 1st to 4th, then they take a different route studying American History for 2 years in 5th & 6th, and World History for 2 years in 7th and 8th (I haven't looked at High School yet to comment). In 1st grade history is 2 hours per week working up to 3 hours per week in 2nd grade. Science - SWB recommends a 4 year cycle of Biology, Astronomy, Chemistry, and Physics spending 2 hrs. per week working up to 3 hours per week in 4th grade. K12 is different here - students spend 2 hrs. per week in the grammar stage studying a variety of scientific topics categorized into units working in more depth in the various topics as years go on. This is more reminiscent of the public school's approach. Religion - SWB study world religions in the context of history, practice family religion during family time. K12 pretty much the same thing. Art - SWB Drawing with Children & picture study 1 hr. per week. K12 art and history go hand in hand. Students study the type of art present during the age of history studied, and do projects to reflect the art study. Picture study goes along with it within the context of history. Music - SWB listen to classical music 1 hr. per week, and/or begin learning an instrument. K12 students study different kinds of music and instruments. Latin - 4th grade 45 mins per day K12 offers Latin 1 and other foreign language classes via PowerSpeak - I think this is an online class, but I'm not sure I need to look into it more, maybe for next year. My conclusion is that K12 meets or exceeds recommendations from SWB in Language Arts, but is deficient in memory work (as far as I can tell so far), meets expectations in Math, meets recommendations in history, differs and doesn't meet recommendations in Science (more like public school), exceeds recommendations in Art by using art in the context of the history time period being studied, and differs but does not meet recommendations in Music, Latin needs to be added to K12 either through their online option or supplemented by another curriculum provider, and Religion is exactly the same. What do ya'll think? If you care to comment, I'd be interested in your analysis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 I posted this comparison and analysis of K12 vs TWTM in response to another post asking what is preferred in a secular WTM in a box, but I realize it was a bit off topic of that thread, and I wanted some responses to my analysis, so I'm copying this to a new thread. Here's what I previously posted: OK - this is a bit off topic, but the "TWTM in a box" got me curious to read this thread, and also to compare K12 to TWTM as a possible already produced "WTM in a box". I'm one of those who has gotten really worn out with trying to implement TWTM in an eclectic fashion as outlined in TWTM book. I read the book 4 years ago, and filed the info in my mind, while continuing to pursue other homeschool styles and philosophies trying to find my way over the next 3 years. It was about a year ago (last spring) when I picked it up again in an effort to find a direction for this current year. I've had a very hectic year switching from curriculum to curriculum trying to find my way, TWTM way. I'm at the point now where I've switched to K12 in an effort to find something that covers everything as classically as I can in a "box", with the accountability of our state VA to give me that "push" I need every day to get our lessons done. I've been wanting to compare it to TWTM since I started K12 to see if it's deficient in any way. I've been thinking that K12 is "classical in a box", but I haven't sat down to do a comparison, so I'm going to take the opportunity on this thread to take out my WTM book and compare it to what we're doing in K12. I'm curious to see how K12 lines up with WTM, or differs. We're using K12 1st grade LA & Math with K Science, and 4th grade LA, Math, and Science. I'm still using SOTW for history this year, but will be switching to K12 for all subjects next year, if the rest of this year goes well. Here goes: TWTM grammar stage in black, K12 1st & 4th in Red Language - 1st grade: SWO & Handwritting 10-15 mins per day working up to 15-20 mins. including grammar, structured reading 30 mins., fun reading 30 mins. - Total Language 1 hr. 20 mins per day. 4th grade: Spelling 15 mins., Structured reading w/ notebooking 30-45 mins per day, Grammar 20 mins per day, Memory Work 10 mins per day, Writing letters 1 every 2 weeks + Dictation 2-3 days per week rotating w/ Writing Strands 2 days per week 20-30 mins, and 60 mins fun reading per day. K12 Language includes 2 hrs. of language per day structured learning + 30 mins. in 1st grade and 60 mins. in 4th grade of fun reading. Here's how it's broken out: 1st Grade Language Phonics- 60 mins. lessons include reviewing sounds, blending sounds into words, reading and spelling sight words, sentence dictation (1 sentence around 7 words), oral reading practice (structured reading), and handwriting practice. Language - 60 mins. lessons include composition (writing) of letters, invitations, and creative writing like rhyming or ending a story, GUM (Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics), and Public Speaking (poem recitation, etc.). Literature is the second component of the Language lessons. These include listening and narrating back stories from Junior Grat Books. There are instruction about how to have a converstion about literature without making it seem like a question/answer session. They also include lessons on Shared Reading and Guided Reading. In addition to all this you have your child read on their own from books of their choice. 4th Grade Language consists of: Spelling 20 mins. per day 5 dyas per week - lessons use syllables, and include the study of the United States (2 states per week). Literature 60 mins. per day 5 days per week + free reading 60 mins. per day. Uses Classics for Young Readers, and novels from a pretty good list. We keep a reading notebook of responses from the literature readings, and have discussions lead by comprehension questions about the readings. Language (GUM, Composition and Vocabulary rotating) 40 mins. per day 5 days per week. Grammar, Composition and Vocabulary lessons are rotated throughout the week. No memory work, that I'm aware of yet. Mathematics - SWB recommends 30-40 mins per day on either a new conecpt or drill. K12 lessons are 60 mins. per day with Skills Update which reviews/drills previous concepts, and the lesson which introduces and practices new material. History - SWB recommends studying history chronologically in a 4 year cycle for 3 hours per week making notebook pages and narrating back the lessons. K12 history is chronological in a 4 year cycle from 1st to 4th, then they take a different route studying American History for 2 years in 5th & 6th, and World History for 2 years in 7th and 8th (I haven't looked at High School yet to comment). In 1st grade history is 2 hours per week working up to 3 hours per week in 2nd grade. Science - SWB recommends a 4 year cycle of Biology, Astronomy, Chemistry, and Physics spending 2 hrs. per week working up to 3 hours per week in 4th grade. K12 is different here - students spend 2 hrs. per week in the grammar stage studying a variety of scientific topics categorized into units working in more depth in the various topics as years go on. This is more reminiscent of the public school's approach. Religion - SWB study world religions in the context of history, practice family religion during family time. K12 pretty much the same thing. Art - SWB Drawing with Children & picture study 1 hr. per week. K12 art and history go hand in hand. Students study the type of art present during the age of history studied, and do projects to reflect the art study. Picture study goes along with it within the context of history. Music - SWB listen to classical music 1 hr. per week, and/or begin learning an instrument. K12 students study different kinds of music and instruments. Latin - 4th grade 45 mins per day K12 offers Latin 1 and other foreign language classes via PowerSpeak - I think this is an online class, but I'm not sure I need to look into it more, maybe for next year. My conclusion is that K12 meets or exceeds recommendations from SWB in Language Arts, but is deficient in memory work (as far as I can tell so far), meets expectations in Math, meets recommendations in history, differs and doesn't meet recommendations in Science (more like public school), exceeds recommendations in Art by using art in the context of the history time period being studied, and differs but does not meet recommendations in Music, Latin needs to be added to K12 either through their online option or supplemented by another curriculum provider, and Religion is exactly the same. What do ya'll think? If you care to comment, I'd be interested in your analysis. I'm in our third year of K12 and I think your assessment is pretty accurate. I like K12. I'd like to do it without a VA though.....:tongue_smilie: Nothing wrong with the VA....mine is actually great...but some things bug me. I don't like being referred to as a the "learning coach" for one thing. The K12 curriculum though...I think it is awesome. Kinda pricey if you had to pay for it...but awesome nonetheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferB Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 Yeah, my VA, WAVA, referrs to me as the Learning Coach too. I don't care though, but I've only been at it a few weeks, and everything's always great the first few weeks, right? Off to gather our papers for next week. :D No typing of the schedule though, that's already done for me. Yay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 (edited) Well, I don't know. I think that TWTM is about learning from history, narrating, outlining, notebooking, and focusing on inteligently sharing your ideas. I find the whole K comparison intriguing and thought I would bump it up. k12 history & science-too light? This thread sounds like it is quite a bit different. Edited March 9, 2009 by Lovedtodeath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5ray2006 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Jennifer, I love your comparison to TWTM. I will be using K12 LA (independently) next year for my oldest. I have other curriculum lined up for history, science, and math (even though I like the looks of K12's science and history-so my plans may change in the near future.) As far as the accuracy of your comparison, I can't really say. I'm definitely not a classical homeschooler. I sold my copy of TWTM, it just wasn't for me and I thought "When in the world am I going to find time to do all of this?" We've been afterschooling our oldest since he was 4yo. He has always been in private school. This school year we put him in public school and it has been a mistake. He will finish the year out, then we will be exclusively homeschooling next year. I've done alot of research and K12 seems to be right for us. It seems to be a very thorough curriculum as well as a challenging curriculum. I need something like this b/c we don't plan to homeschool for the long haul, just through 5th grade. Then we will transition into a private school. FWIW, you did a GREAT job explaining the K12 program. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 I think the major drawbacks to K12 as WTM in a box are the price if you don't have a VA available and the amount of time it requires a day. 4.5 hours is a very long day for a 1st grader IMHO. I also think it would be almost impossible to do K12 with more than 1 child who needs assistance. I have a 1st and 2nd grader now neither of whom is working independently. With K12 I couldn't combine them in history and science or even music or art if you want to follow their progression. Or are the 2.5 hours for LA and 1 hr for math a generous estimate? I did find that Calvert really stretches the amount of time lessons will take and that we were always done quicker. Is K12 the same? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 You can't just look at recommended time-tables or even information covered and say that one is better or equal to the other. I actually think that K12 is a great, solid program but "classical" is so much more than the curriculum choices. Classical is what you do with those choices and what your end-goals are. That is what I was trying to get across. I really enjoyed the explanations in your whole post. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 You can't just look at recommended time-tables or even information covered and say that one is better or equal to the other. I actually think that K12 is a great, solid program but "classical" is so much more than the curriculum choices. Classical is what you do with those choices and what your end-goals are. You can't just tack chronological history, a year of Latin and smattering of logic onto any box of curriculum and call it classical. Some of the K12 subjects and book choices lend themselves to teaching in a classical way, others don't. K12 may meet or exceed the recommended number of hours, from WTM, for LA in these young grades but I don't see that as an advantage. SWB does her best to let you know that no one is really going to spend that much time and you need to alter expectations to fit your child and your family. I think the K12 expectations for that grade level are not age appropriate. The expected amount of writing is not age appropriate. It is much more in line withe the ps thinking of "getting them writing a lot and magically that will translate into good writing". J wrote an essay for K12. He followed all of the steps and it was the right length but it was a disorganized, repetitive, lackluster mess. He was taught to write for volume, but not to ever really say anything or to make a point. While I liked the recommended dictation for third grade spelling that is dropped in fourth grade. Yes, you could still do dictation but it isn't part of the program. The math requires a level of logical thinking in the grammar stage that is wholly inappropriate. Unless a child has the brain maturity for logic stage thinking they will get bad math grades for some of the units. Most units are fine and if you don't mind skipping most of the word problems you can get around this. If you can't skip the word problems they can cause huge issues for kids who haven't hit that stage yet. My disagreements with K12 come down to a difference in philosophy. While it is a good program, they obviously do not pay attention to the stages of child development or to the stages of learning within a subject as interpreted by any of the neo-classical guides popular now. All very well said. That is why I think that K12 can be used as a strong curriculum choice even though it is boxed---however, I think it would be easier to tailor to classical if the VAs weren't involved. (and I still don't like being called 'the learning coach.' :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferB Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 I'm so happy to get some responses and debate/thoughts back and forth on this subject. I want to respond to some of the replies, but I have ALOT of work to get done first with the kids, so I'm going to try to reply this evening before 24. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferB Posted March 10, 2009 Author Share Posted March 10, 2009 (edited) I want to thank each of you for your responses. I so wanted this to become a topic of discussion, and I was disappointed at first when I didn't get many responses. So, thank you! Well, I don't know. I think that TWTM is about learning from history, narrating, outlining, note-booking, and focusing on intelligently sharing your ideas. I find the whole K comparison intriguing and thought I would bump it up. k12 history & science-too light? This thread sounds like it is quite a bit different. Lovedtodeath, thanks for bumping this topic up! In response to your comments, I would agree that SWB's ideal education includes a good foundation in history with narration responses and outlining, note-booking, and intelligent discussions. Also, a big focus I got from reading TWTM was the importance of a heavy emphasis in language arts. SWB gave examples of starting with talking in complete sentences to your baby, asking for answers in complete sentences from your young children, learning phonics, reading good literature, and eventually the other output things are expected, such as responding to literature through verbal then written narrations, eventually outlining and creating compositions in response to literature, etc.. Surprisingly K12 is really great in the language arts subjects. They have a great phonics program, teach spelling through phonics and syllables, they use classical stories and literature, their teacher's manuals have questions to prompt dialog in response to literature readings, and narration responses are asked of the students either in picture or written form depending on the grade level. As far as history & science, I haven't tried the history yet, but from what I can tell it is chronological, there are extra read alouds, and note-booking. K12 Science is more reminiscent of the public school approach, as I said before. In conclusion, I think it's pretty close to TWTM in a box, with the few deficiencies that I mentioned, like a different approach to science, no memory work, and Latin in only availabe as an online course for 1 year in Elementary. So, if you were going to create a WTM in a box, I would say to make sure it's heavy in language arts, and user friendly, and that the science is doable. That is why I prefer K12 science over something that is more free form. I don't do free form well. If it's in the schedule, "read this, do this, and here are the supplies" it's much more likely to get done, and that is how K12 does it. Those are my priorities. In response to the other thread and regarding Sonlight, I think this curriculum is more reminiscent of Charlotte Mason than TWTM. It's really weak in grammar, and the writing assignments are not usually based on a child's personal experience, but on "creative" subjects like imagining something out of thin air, and writing about it. I also didn't like the way the Teacher's Manuals were formatted in terms of the vocabulary and literature response questions/discussions for the read alouds. For some reason I always skipped them because of the way they were formatted in a confusing way with pages to assemble, etc. So, when I did Sonlight a couple of years ago, the reading always got done, because it was in the schedule, but some of the important things like vocabulary and discussion questions/topics didn't get done, because it wasn't in the schedule, and it was confusing to flip from section to section in my HUGE binder. :tongue_smilie: I like the individual subject teacher's manuals of K12. I just open to the lesson, do each step, and every aspect of the neoclassical method gets covered without fail. I REALLY like this part. I'm actually getting school done, finally! I think the major drawbacks to K12 as WTM in a box are the price if you don't have a VA available and the amount of time it requires a day. 4.5 hours is a very long day for a 1st grader IMHO. I also think it would be almost impossible to do K12 with more than 1 child who needs assistance. I have a 1st and 2nd grader now neither of whom is working independently. With K12 I couldn't combine them in history and science or even music or art if you want to follow their progression. Or are the 2.5 hours for LA and 1 hr for math a generous estimate? I did find that Calvert really stretches the amount of time lessons will take and that we were always done quicker. Is K12 the same? I agree about the ridiculous price of K12. When I first looked into it I had no idea that my state would pay for it. I was adding up all the costs when I finally decided to click on the "Virtual Academy" option. I thought to myself that I would never do that. But, once I looked further into it I thought it was a dream come true, and so far it is. Yes, the time allotments can be adjustable. You don't have to do EVERYTHING in the lessons to give the child a thorough understanding of each lesson. The time allotments are for doing all the projects, and options, and extensions, etc. etc. I just get as much done as I can between the hours of about 8:30 to 3:30-4:00 ish. I do as many of the items in each lesson that I can. If I had 1 child to school I would do everything, but since I have 2 that are school age, and 3 more that are youngins running around, I don't have time to do everything. Next year I will have a Ker and I plan to teach her at her own level in Phonics and Math, but put her in my son's level (1st grade) of Language Arts (this is like Literature and Mechanics combined) and History, Art, and Science. You can't just look at recommended time-tables or even information covered and say that one is better or equal to the other. Classical is what you do with those choices and what your end-goals are. My disagreements with K12 come down to a difference in philosophy. While it is a good program, they obviously do not pay attention to the stages of child development or to the stages of learning within a subject as interpreted by any of the neo-classical guides popular now. I actually agree with you. I know it didn't seem like it with my analysis of subjects and time allotments, etc., but I was just trying to map out for my own piece of mind whether or not the actual nuts and bolts of TWTM were being covered with my use of K12. I agree that it's what you do with the curriculum that can make or break the Classical element to my homeschool. For me to implement TWTM, I've discovered that it's essential for me that the materials be completely mapped out. For instance, this school year I started out with SOTW, FLL, Singapore Math, SWO, nothing for Science, and nothing specific for Literature. This is where I found Ambleside Online, to fill in those gaps with good literature and nature readers. Now, I had a great base here (not totally WTM, kind of CM/WTM combo), but no teacher helps in the science or literature. I couldn't have intelligent discussions with my daughter about her nature readers or her literature reading, because I had no prompts to bring that out of her. I had no idea what she read. So, I fumbled and fumbled through the year. I had my daughter use a digital recorder for part of the year to record her thoughts on the readings, but this became frustrating to listen to, and they ended up being unintelligent ramblings most of the time. You can see where a good teacher's manual would really help here. Enter K12 - the Teacher's Manuals are step by step, and there are questions, and writing prompts for the literature reading. In this case K12 is helping me meet the goals laid out in TWTM more than what I had before, because I have the help I need to implement it. Regarding your comments about the stages of development in K12, I haven't experienced anything to indicate that the materials are not written to the appropriate stages of development. Of course, I'm not very far into it, so who knows what I'll find later down the line. I have noticed a heavier load of writing than what my 4th grader was used to, but I've been helping her through it by sitting next to her and coaching her with sentence starters and help with the mechanics as she needs it. I just want to say, without trying to sway anyone to buy K12 - I'm not a dealer or anything like that, but K12 has been the answer to many of my prayers to find a solution to getting everything done, covering all the bases, and freeing my mind of the confusion of piecing together everything. Each morning, I just log in to my OLS, go down the line teaching each lesson, checking them off, and at the end of the day (4:00 ish), I'm done. No more thought about it. I can make dinner and know that I'm not needing to research or plan anything else out on my free time. :lol: I don't know if it will be the method/curriculum we will use for all of our remaining years of hsing, but for now, it's just what I need right now to plug away every day. I think about if I had done K12 for the last 4 years with my oldest, how much more ahead she would be. She would have had a thorough covering of chronological history, and 4 years of science (since these are the subjects I failed to cover well over the last 4 years), and I think she would have had much more consistent practice in math, and much more exposure to and discussions about great literature. That makes me think we will stick to K12 from now on. Edited March 10, 2009 by JenniferB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferB Posted March 10, 2009 Author Share Posted March 10, 2009 (edited) oops posted twice. Sorry. Edited March 10, 2009 by JenniferB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muffinmom Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Thanks for this discussion. I have been wondering what K12 was all about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 The expected amount of writing is not age appropriate. It is much more in line withe the ps thinking of "getting them writing a lot and magically that will translate into good writing". J wrote an essay for K12. He followed all of the steps and it was the right length but it was a disorganized, repetitive, lackluster mess. He was taught to write for volume, but not to ever really say anything or to make a point. I agree that across the curriculum that the expected amount of writing is nuts. We do most things orally. However, both of my kids are having great success with the composition part of their LA courses. But I am having to actively teach the program. It would not work if I just let them try to follow the instructions on their own (even with the 7th grader). But with my guidance, each of my kids has produced some fantastic writing with the K12 program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyinva Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 I don't have much time right now, but I had to add that the K12 Composition for 3rd grade is great. They slowly take the child step by step, having them start with listing ideas, then make an outline, etc. Once they have written a paragraph they have them make changes such as adding more interesting adjectives, verbs, etc. and making sure the paragraph is well-organized. It is really well done. Speaking of which, gotta run teach! Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 I guess this is what I mean. I don't think paragraph writing is appropriate for 3rd grade, especially if they are writing out of personal knowledge. WTM would have that child copying and learning through dictation but not creating original work like that. If it works for you, fine, but it sure isn't classical in philosophy or practice. This is true. And makes me feel better about how much of the K12 writing I let ds NOT do. They have them writing ALOT in Lit, in History, AND a full Writing curriculum that I think is too much even if it was all the writing they had to do. I've really slacked off on the amount of writing/composition I have him do and we are both much happier. It is a very rigorous curriculum. I think the key is to know your child's limits and not stress it is too much for them. Most of K12 is fine for my ds who is generally ahead of his age peers. It is just the composition quantity that is too much for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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