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Anyone familar with Understading Writing by Braderick?
- This topic has 10 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 3 months ago by
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I just came across a recommendation in a Diana Waring book for this writing program. Does any one have experience with it? I’m concerned that my children are not doing enough paragraph writing this year and am thinking they may need more writing instruction. I found information on this program at this web site:
http://familydiscipleshipmin.com/faqs/understanding-writing-info/
I’ve read very good reviews, but wondered what those of you at SCM thought of it.
Hi Kimberly,
We used it several years ago with our oldest–she was struggleing with writing and we had just started using the CM method. Wow-where does time go? That would have been about 11 years ago!
Anyway, we really liked it. And it did work for her. We used it for 2 years only though. Just went through the levels fast since she was older.
Since then we just do narrations which then lead naturally into written narrations. So we haven’t used anything else with our 5 other children. About 4th grade we just gradually and slowly start doing occasional written narrations–At first 1 paragraph only. Then as they can they just make them longer.
With my son who is allergic to pencils : )— We started off with him dictating his narration to me and me writing it down. This really encouraged him to ‘see’ what ‘he’ was capable of writing.
HTH
Michele
Kimberley, what ages are your students using the program? I like the looks of the program but don’t think a 1st grade is ready for it, right? I’d like to start using formal grammar in 3rd grade (or when SCM suggests you start formal grammar).
Do you get the entire program for $75 and is supposed to last for grades 1-12? Just making sure i understand it correctly!
Tara
Hi there! Hopefully I can answer some of your questions.
1) We used it for our children in grades 1-3. It is certainly age-appropriate and is easy to begin with in grade 1.
2) The whole curriculum, which comes in one binder, is for grades 1-12, so you only have to purchase it once!
3) You can purchase it second hand for about $40-$50 Canadian, if you keep your eye on places online.
Please let me know if you have any other questions; I would be glad to help!
Patricia
If I bought ONE curriculum could I use it with all 3 of my girls eventually? Or do you buy one curriculum per student?
I’m excited to start using it for next fall if it’s not grammar intensive and over her head! She is learning to spell by merely reading and copywork so don’t want to discourage.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!
Tara
You would only need to purchase one curriculum and you can use it with as many children as you want. It is very economical. I don’t like to be the only dissenting voice about this product, but we didn’t like it at all. We found it to be very dry. It is a good program to use to teach your child about paragraph structure, but overall we couldn’t do it for more than a year. I started using the CM method after we dropped it and also follow loosely with Brave Writer, which IMHO is a MUCH more CM friendly writing program. She has just started 7th grade (my school year starts in January) and we are just starting grammar for the first time. We are using Analytical Grammar and after that we will start “serious” writing in the 10th grade.
Thanks, everyone, for your input and information. My girls are in 3rd, 5th and 7th grades. We have been doing oral narration which they all seem to do well with (although, their narrations are often filled with “um”, “like”, and too many pronouns to be clear). My 7th grader can write narrations, although every time I tell her that I want her to write the narration, she complains (whines) and says it will take too long, she doesn’t know what to write, “do I have to, can’t I just tell you?”, etc, etc. Today, I had each of them write their narrations (even the third grader) in the form of a journal entry from the point of view of one of the characters in today’s chapters. They each did well, although my 7th grader wrote it all in one paragraph. I’m also not sure how polished or “advanced” her writing should be at this point. I wonder if I’m expecting too much or expecting too little. I’m probably worrying about nothing. Sometimes those voices that say “your not doing enough or doing it right” get too much of my attention.
Hi again Kimberly!
I think the UW curriculum would be good to look at before you decide to purchase it (if you can).
Our experience is that, although the premise is good, the content is a little lacking. I think that it would be fine for younger children (I really liked the grade 1 and 2 activities), but found that once my children were in grade 3, we needed a little more “meat”.
We are currently working at Institute for Excellence in Writing for our writing curriculum and we are all enjoying it greatly. It does not begin with “write a story about…”, but rather begins by evaluating and “tweeking” someone else’s writing. We appreciate it more as the child learns how to write well before deciding what to write.
If you have any more questions about UW, please feel free to ask away. I would be happy to help in any way I can!
Have a super schooling day!
Patricia
This is for Tara:
1) You would only have to purchase the UW once, using it for all of your students at once or throughout their 1-12 education.
2) The program is not at all grammar intensive.
3) As I mentioned in my post to Kimberly, the activities for those in grades 1 and 2 are really easy and tend to get the child focused on what writing is and where it is found. Even if the child is just learning how to read, he/she can complete the activities with ease.
Hope that helps!
Patricia
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