Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: Essentials in Writing

This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 2 months ago by Christy.

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

Author
Posts
February 23, 2015 at 4:56 pm
Christy
Participant
Hi! This is early, but I like to do my planning now so that I get the summer off with the kiddos. 😉 This post is also along the lines of the other post about outsourcing some things as the kiddos get older. It really got me to thinking. 🙂
So, I am looking to start using some DVD/online/co-op sources to help out with a couple of our subjects next year, maybe English and math. For English, we have been using BJU, which is just ok. I really like the colored coded grammar and the fact that we can cover grammar and writing in one book-simple. However, it just feels disconnected.
In my research this past week, I came upon Essentials in Writing. I really like the instructor on DVD and the fact that grammar is covered alongside the writing and not necessarily as a separate subject. That just makes more sense to me. 😉
Anyway, just wondering if any of you have used this curriculum and if so, was the grammar enough? The website says that you do not need to add another grammar program, but grades 7 and 8 don’t really cover as much as the earlier grades seem to. There was a supplement mentioned, but I couldn’t find an example of it. Maybe that’s normal to phase that out by high school. I’m not sure.
Any advice on this would be great! Thanks!
Christy
February 23, 2015 at 7:55 pm
Polly
Participant
Matthew (creator of EIW) teaches grammar for the purpose of creating a picture using writing. It’s to benefit writing; not for the purpose of studying the English. Grammar is finite; but writing is infinite . If you want your children to have an in-depth study of English, it is very easy to supplement EIW. EIW teaches writing in small step – step by step , and really holds their hand through the process. At the same time, it is easy to adjust and modify as needed. FYI, it is not CM in it’s inspiration.
February 23, 2015 at 8:45 pm
Polly
Participant
I can’t figure out how to edit my post above. The first sentence should read:
Matthew teacher grammar to create excellent writers. The writer is to create a picture using writing. The knowledge of grammar helps the student to create a picture in writing.
February 24, 2015 at 8:58 am
HSMAMA
Participant
We just started using this. So far it’s ok. The grammar is covered in the first half of the program and writing in the 2nd half. I wasn’t aware of this when I purchased. If you do a grammar & a writing lesson each day, it cuts the program length in half. We started our 3rd grader with the grade 3 dvd, as recommended by the company. She has never had any grammar exposure (aside from basic mechanics) and by lesson 3 the grammar jumped too quickly for her. My oldest has had 2 years of BJU English and she has done fine with the grammar portions. We use EiW alongside BW. For us, they mesh well. We get the open-ended creativity that my middle kiddo thrives on and the bare-bones structure that my oldest needs. I am undecided if we will continue with it.
March 6, 2015 at 2:21 pm
Christy
Participant
Thanks so much for the info! I am leaning towards using it as is for the next school year and just see what happens. 😉 We will be doing 6th grade and 4th grade.
I looked on the FAQ of their website and it said that it was a full language arts curriculum and there was no need to add grammar to it. It did look like most of it was covered in the first part of the year, but it mentioned that it was brought up again later in the writing lessons where it applied.
Honestly, my kids have been doing BJU grammar/writing for the last 2 years and I haven’t noticed much improvement since the change (we had being doing R & S before that). Maybe a little. I am hoping that a different, simpler approach may just be what we need for now.
Blessings,
Christy 🙂