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Institute for Excellence in Writing or other good programs?
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Hi – I’ve started using IEW (very lightly), and am impressed with its reviews and recommendations, but am not quite sure it fits well with my style of teaching writing. I’m wondering what others of you might be using to teach writing skills, and if there is something else out there that produces equally good results as IEW. Writing is a high priority for me, and I do want my children to be very proficient in their writing composition skills, so I’m looking for something that will really teach them well – not a “light” program.
Thanks!
I plan on using Dr. James Stobaugh’s materials for writing when my girls start 6th grade. https://www.forsuchatimeasthis.com/language-arts-curriculum His writing program is quite different from IEW and does not teach format writing. The results seem to be wonderful.
Our family enjoys using IEW.
Here’s a thread on Analytical Grammar/Beyond the Book Report that may be of interest.
If you’d like to strictly follow CM suggestions, this link should be encouraging.
http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/
HTH,
Becca<><
CM writing is very informal, as far as instruction goes. I have chosen a middle ground – a moderate writing instruction program along with oral/written narration. That has worked very well for us, and my kids are loving writing and realy improving.
We use Aplogia’s, “Jump In” and my kids absolutely love it – but there are really a lot of good instructional programs out there.
My concern with IEW is the ‘formulaic’ writing approach, which was discussed on this thread:
http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/andrew-pudewa-for-what-its-worth/page/2#post-119841
I have never used IEW, though, so I have no real opinion there. People seem to love it or hate it :). Like so many things in Language Arts…it seems that taste is subjective!
Hope you find what you are looking for out there in homeschool world. Happy writing!
Used IEW before, it was okay, great to help a struggling writer who needed to gain confidence with their hand holding formulaic technique. Now we don’t use it. We are really relaxed now and so we use BraveWriter’s materials loosely. I read The Writer’s Jungle to guide me in helping my writers. My 2nd and 3rd graders will do a monthly writing project and I have BW’s Jot It Down for ideas for them. (Focuses on having them narrate orally and I transcribe their words).
Currently, I am using The Lost Tools of Writing by the Circe Institute (Andrew Kern) with three children. It teaches persuasive essay writing. I heard about LTW last year during a seminar with both Andrew Kern and Andrew Pudewa as presenters. We love it. I wish I had more time to elaborate…
@Rebekahy, I have Stobaugh’s literature guides (American, British, World) and, while these provide an excellent literature program, I haven’t felt it was a writing program. Yes, these guides contain writing prompts and weekly writing guidelines, but there is no direct essay writing instructions. (Perhaps the newer editions?)
Im not sure what I will use. We follow Analytical Grammar and next year we start Beyond the Book Report. A few years after that we will do Teaching The Essay and The Research Paper. I do hope this will be enough. I was considering Writing with ease/skill. Does anyone use this?
We will be using Write w/the best this year, catching up on grammar in between.
Some friends of mine recommended this:
http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/workbooks
I’ll be looking into that next, their 11 year daughter published her first book using this program. We bought it but my kids have not read it yet.
Janell – Yes, you’re correct – Stobaugh’s high school literature program teaches literature as opposed to writing the Writing curriculum is Skills for Rhetoric which he recommends be taught over a 2 year period for 6th and 7th grade, but certainly could be used for older students as well. https://www.forsuchatimeasthis.com/language-arts/junior-high/skills-for-literary-analysis This rigorous program teaches students how to write in their own individual style while holding to the highest standards of grammar, vocabularly, and critical thinking – it is not an all encompassing Language arts program in that he expects your child to have mastered the basics of grammar prior to using this program. I like that he offers a mentorship where he will grade and coach your child through any of his programs for a year, for a very reasonable fee. He grades essays for the ACT, so we plan on taking advantage of this service at some point early during my children’s high school career in preparation for the SAT/ACT and college. He offers free samples of his curriculum on his website as well as a suggested course of study. Any parent that sees their child as being on a college track can benefit from the information available in terms of recommended booklists and scope and sequence suggestions for the college bound student.
Oops – the latest edition of Skills For Rhetoric has a sample available through Master Books and not directly at his website – See http://www.nlpg.com/downloads/dl/file/id/479/skills_for_rhetoric_developing_persuasive_communication.pdf you can also find a sample of the teacher guide at this site.
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