Curriculum for Composition

We started using “Jump In” from Apologia 2 months ago for my 7th grader.  It’s helping her get the big picture of writing, by breaking it down into small segments.  So far it has been what we needed .

I do not use a writing program in the elementary years at all. I started my son on IEW when he was around 6th grade or so. While the program worked really well for him, I wish I had stuck with written narrations instead. I think he just needed more time to find his writing voice.

My daughter is in 8th grade now and we’ve mostly stuck with CM methods. Her writing is wonderful IMO. She is a natural writer and easily churns out 1-3 page written narrations. They are essayish in style and have an opening and a closing paragraph. She prefers to write her narrations using books with short biographies like the Famous Men series. She also enjoys writing them from her history readings when a chapter deals with a complete subject rather than breaking the story up into several chapters.

I’ve tried a few exercises from various writing curricula but I wasn’t pleased with anything we’ve tried so far.

I do plan on using something to teach more formal writing in highschool but I’m not sure what at this point. Hands on essays looks really good to me but I may change my mind when we actually try it out. 🙂 Google it and see what you think. It’s very inexpensive. The student book is around $12 for the printed version and the teaching videos are free on the website.

We have a couple of writing reference books that I plan on having my daughter read through-Writers, Inc and The Elements of Style.

I want something that will walk my daughter through the more formal styles of essays and research papers without dragging her through simplistic exercises or creating a formulaic writing style.