To all of you who have ever used IEW, Does it really work??? We have started it this year and when we dove into yesterday and I starting doing it with them I have my doubts..... Can anyone shed some light on this?
I have only done about 1/3rd of SWI B with my oldest. It has improved her writing exponentially. So, yes, I feel it works. Granted, we've only really touched on Unit I - IV in style techniques....but just being able to pick out the main words from each sentence and rewrite as a unique sentence has helped her a great deal with her writing. I was NOT going to ever use IEW. I fought it for so long. Then I went to see Andrew Pudewa at a local convention. He made so much sense. My oldest was with me when we went, and she said he was awesome. I got his "intro" DVD to watch (you know the hook). It was about an hour and a half long, she watched it with me and said "This guy is so smart, he's talking about everything that I HATE about writing, he's so right on". We're about to dive in again - I've done these first 4 weeks of just getting up to speed, next unit (which starts September 26th) we will begin to add in writing. I do think it's for an upper elementary or middle school child - I know my 5th grader would probably blow his brains out! LOL
I used IEW. It was especially helpful for my boys (look here for my son's long-term results) who hated writing. It was not as helpful for my girls who enjoy writing. Have you watched the entire DVD set for the parents? I know it's very time-consuming, but it's crucial for understanding the program, IMO. How old are your kids? We started with level B and probably not until my oldest was 6th or 7th grade. I agree with kbabe that, depending on the child, much younger could get fed up fast. I mean, I think it's a great program, but it's not for everyone. And it is parent-intensive. But I tried so many programs before getting IEW and it's the only one I can actually say that I got results with. Incidentally, one of the things that people complain about with IEW is that it's too formulaic. And it is. But with my oldest, I think it worked just like Andrew Pudewa would hope it would. My son figured out, "Oh, I get it. Key words, big vocabulary, vary my sentence openers. Got it." And then he ran with it. He took those ideas and incorporated them into his school writing without having to use the IEW program any more. I think that's how it should ideally work. But it can take awhile to get to that point.
I don't have the video's, we are taking it at our local co-op. Someone else is teaching it I am just the helper.
Okay. So I can understand now why you would be having doubts. It seems very formulaic at first. But I would hang in there. You may be surprised. Is the person that is doing the co-op using the videos with Andrew Pudewa, or is the co-op teacher teaching it herself? Either way is acceptable, but it may be easier to understand the ideas behind it if you are watching the videos because he explains it so well. When I did it with a co-op a few years ago, I only had 30 minute classes for 6 weeks, so I had to cover a lot in a short period so I'm sure I didn't cover everything that Andrew Pudewa did. Did it go any better this week compared to last week?
My dds are using it in their co-op writing class. I think it helped my dds significantly. writing was a big struggle with my older dd, this is her 3rd year using it.Her writing has improved a lot.
