Just wondering,POLL: what writing program do you use

[paulcindy]

for your 4th/5th grader besides IEW, WWE, WTales, and CW. And you plan on staying with it for a long time???

 

Thank you!!

[Tree House Academy]

:lurk5:

[paulcindy]

Does SWB now recommend Classical Writing or Writing Tales? I cannot find any of her newer reviews. I see a review that she recommends Writing Strands, Wordsmith, and IEW.

 

But I see nothing new in relation to CW or Writing Tales.

 

I know she still resommends R+S for grammar.

[Melissa B]

Michael Thompson's writing

 

http://www.rfwp.com/series78.htm

 

I plan to use it for 3rd/4th through 8th/9th (the whole program.)

 

ETA: My children are not gifted. I find it to be a good program, even for average learners.

[Lori in MS]

Writing Strands for me too.

[3byzaz]

Meaningful Composition. A LOT like IEW!! We love it and will stick with it.

[Suzannah]

We tried Writing Strands one year and it didn't work for us. I watched some of the IEW videos and they were instructive. But a few things were off-putting, such as the quality of their writing samples, the specific number of "dress-ups" required for each piece and the use of the phrase "dress-ups". Plus it seemed very expensive and unwieldy. We've used Classical Writing (CW) the last two years. I've been very happy with it and plan to continue, but I'm going to stick IEW's US History Themed Writing in there too. Has anyone else has done this? I found that we were spending a lot of time on the subject of writing, but we weren't always getting around to "writing across the curriculum". I haven't decided yet whether we'll use it after Homer A, use them alternate weeks, use them simutaneously or just do the history writing as it meshes with our history readings. That will probably be decided once I can look through the actual text.

 

Blessings

[NancyNellen]

CW. We plan on staying the course through high school.

[kloumc]

We've had great success with IEW for a number of years now. There are also history-based writing lessons that help you integrate history with IEW.

[LND1218]

IEW - for the long haul.

[siloam]

CW. We plan on staying the course through high school.

 

Same here, and yes I do think it is worth it.

 

Heather

 

[4summergirls]

I'm using Wordmith apprentice this year (with 5th grader) and will follow with Wordsmtih in 6th and some Writing Strands also.

[rainforest mama]

We're about to start CW. We hated Writing Strands.

[clementine]

Writing Strands didn't work for us either.

 

We use Apologia JumpIn! Writing and really like it. I think it's improved their writing a lot and has even gotten them to enjoy writing....which is huge!!!

[Kfamily]

Classical Writing from now (6th) through high school.

[iammommy]

My ds really likes it, so we're sticking with it. I like it too. I also have Wordsmith Apprentice for a change of pace next year sometime. He's going into 5th grade, and a reluctant writer.

 

HTH!

Nan

[ELaurie]

1 and 2. Love it :thumbup:

[Alicia]

Michael Clay Thompson/ Royal Fireworks Press and then transition or include CW depending on what my learners are like at that time. I rarely see it mentioned here. I schooled my sisters 3 for 6 years as both parents were in the military and stationed in separate places. I used the upper levels and 1 or 2 of the speech analysis books( Lincoln, Jefferson, MLK ?). I just received the one on race by Barak Obama. I am now starting with Aesop I-IV (comprehension dictation/narration, integrated grammar and writing in small small chunks) Grammar Island, Sentence Island, Practice Island, Song of the Hemispheres (poetics), and Building Language. I loved what it did for my nieces and nephew. I love the way parts of sentences, the whole sentence, and how and why it works is handled in this program. I am glad it is now available for younger students. The 4 step analysis really made language meaningful in and of itself. It was a great tool for the learning of both Latin and Spanish for them as middle school students. It's a leap for me to give up Voyages in English and First Language Lessons. I bought them and then returned before moving last summer. I am doing McGruffy 3rd grade so there is some traditional language arts. Its the last year of it so we will see if I can make a full leap.

 

MelissaB: What have you used?

 

Alicia in New Zealand

dd7.5, ds7.5, dd4.5

Edited March 16, 2009 by Alicia
spelling!

[Nan in Mass]

Writing Strands. I did 3-7 with one child, and 3-6 with the other and he's doing 7 now.

[Michelle T]

Currently close to finishing an online writing course from time4writing.com. That's been okay, but DS hasn't really absorbed much.

 

I'm planning on using Wordsmith Apprentice, along with ideas from Four Square Writing.

 

I've tried, or at least looked at, so many writing programs!

Michelle T

[keptwoman]

Brave Writer. And yes we plan to stay on it.

It does take a little more thought than some of the open and go options, but the writing the kids produce when we do a period of intensive writing is quite something.

 

eta: oops, sorry. Didn't realise it was an old thread. That will teach me for writing in posts when I've been searching.

Edited October 26, 2009 by keptwoman

[specialmama]

Writing Aids. :001_smile:

 

OOPS here too, didn't realize it was an old thread. hee hee

[Jim]

For us just starting out and questioning what we're doing and where we're headed conversations such as these are pricelss.

 

So, thank you for your comments and brining it back to the top of the list!

 

 

Jim

[Daisy]

I'm using Write with the Best vol 1 with my 5th grader. We'll use it over 5/6 and may go into vol 2 for 7/8. I haven't looked closely at vol. 2 yet.

[MIch elle]

:001_smile:

[Testimony]

Classical Writing currently.

 

I used in the past Writing Tales both 1 & 2. So, I went through the duration with Writing Tales. I will only do up to Diogenes to get my son an idea of doing basic essay writing.

 

Here's my plan:

 

After my older son is done with Diogenes, I plan on having him from my writing group. I am apart of an amateur writing group. The woman who runs the group has now gotten two books published. She is very critical of people's work. I have explained this to my son. I think it would be a good lesson in how to fine tune his writing.

 

Blessings,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[i.love.lucy]

I'm using Write with the Best vol 1 with my 5th grader. We'll use it over 5/6 and may go into vol 2 for 7/8. I haven't looked closely at vol. 2 yet.

How's it going? Looking at it for next year for my 5th grader.

[yslek]

Writing Tales 2 with my B & T. (We did WWE 2 last year, after trying out CW Aesop and Writing Strands.) The plan is to move into CW Homer next year, and to stay with CW for the long haul. I may do this with only T, though, and have B use K12's Language Arts next year. (B is my most difficult-to-hs student, and I think he may benefit from this arragement. He's doing well with WT, though, so we'll see. :))

[Matryoshka]

Using WWE with my younger, MCT with my older.

 

Next year, I will probably mix WWE4 with MCT Town level for my younger and I may mix in some IEW theme based writing (we're going to be starting on ancient history soon).

[bunnytracks]

we use writing strands

[Chris in VA]

Rod and Staff. According to SWB, Rod and Staff isn't just for grammar. Of course, writing the WTM way means copywork, narration and dictation in the subject areas, too. We plan on staying with R&S and continuing cnd with history at least.

I will probably investigate IEW or CW sometime in the future.

[abbeyej]

I have used Imitations in Writing from Logos School, and think it's a marvelous series.

[Whereneverever]

We're using WWE. It's an OK fit, and I'll give it more time before deciding it's a long term solution.

[GESTEP]

Currently we are using Writing Tales for 3rd and 4th, but as soon as we finish I am going to Meaningful Composition 4.