Writing Strands – ages/grades used

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  • September 1, 2014 at 4:45 pm
    Sue
    Participant

    I was given a copy of Writing Strands Level 4 and have the opportunity purchase levels 5 & 6 inexpensively. I am wondering if those of you who have used these books could tell me for what ages or grades you used them successfully. I am planning to have 13yo dd use level 4 this year. She is not a particularly good writer, but she always has a lot to say about a topic that interests her, usually with lots of details. I just need to get her used to putting things in writing.

    My oldest, dd16, does not like to write “for school,” and it is like pulling teeth to get a decent written narration out of her. Always has been this way….but she likes writing blog posts and will work on short stories when the mood strikes her. I want to transition her toward academic essays, although she is headed toward vocational career training rather than college. I read a thread here from several years ago that mentioned Robin Finley’s Teaching the Essay, but I wondered if I should let dd16 go through a level of Writing Strands first. Any advice on this?

    Thanks.

    September 1, 2014 at 5:11 pm
    Bookworm
    Participant

    Never used them successfully despite trying.  🙁  If anything it made my writing-phobic kids hate writing approximately 100 times more.

    September 1, 2014 at 7:09 pm
    Karen
    Participant

    I’ve tried Level 3 with my then 4th grader – and she hates it!! I thought she’d like it – I read through it and I thought I’d LOVE to do it.  Just goes to show how we’re all different!

    Currently, we’re doing nothing for writing with my now 5th grader.  Well, not exactly nothing – she verbally narrates and occasionally writes a narration or so….and then I go over that with her and fix some things.

    I’m sorry I can’t answer your question!

    September 1, 2014 at 11:36 pm
    MelissaB
    Participant

    This will be our 5 year homechooling.  Our first year we used MFW (My Father’s World) and they recommended using Writing Strands starting with level 3.  I did that and my kids really enjoyed the program.  I stopped using it the following two years, but reintroduced it last year due to wanting something more structured for writing.  My older two completed level 4 and my third child used level 3 (he was too young when we did MFW as was my youngest).  I’m planning on using it again this fall with my older two using level 5 (grades 11 & 9) and my third child using level 4.  I will probably add my youngest (grade 4) using level 3 mid way through the year after we revisit other more basic things.

    I’m not sure why it didn’t work for the other two families, but since you already have it, give it a whirl.  We all really like it a lot – well the kids not as much as me, but that is typical,right?

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