Let me start this off saying that my 14 yo DS has not always been HSed. With that in mind, we need some help. He is in the 8th grade and could not write a paper anywhere close to grade level. He wouldn’t know where to begin in writing a book report or research paper. We tried Writing Strands last year and it wasn’t a fit and we are using Jump Start this year, but pretty much just wasting our time. Does anyone have any suggestion on how to help him or what program I should use? TIA
I'm not familiar with Jump Start. Is he needing a step-by-step program? Is the difficulty getting started or composing sentences/paragraphs? I've found Jump In to be a good step-by-step method once my child was able to write good paragraphs.
Sorry, I meant we are doing Jump In this year. He is having difficulty composing paragraphs. His papers look a 3rd or 4th grader (guessing) wrote them.
My ds could not write a good paragraph at all either. We are still working on it. I downloaded an e-book from scholastic that was a step by step program called Paragraphs Made Easy. It starts by reading & teaching how to find main idea & supporting details. Then goes on to how to outline them. Then how to write a paragraph from an outline. DS is now doing awesome with writing a paragraph from an outline pre-made for him BUT is still having difficulty with writing his own outline. It has made a big difference. Debbie
DS is 12 and in 6th grade. E-book program was a whole $1.00. It was well worth that. Its Paragraph Writing Made Easy, sorry.
My 13 year old son is in the same boat. I need to get him up to speed before next year when he joins the charter school. I am using Spectrum Witing workbooks and beginning in the 5th grade book. So far its going pretty good. He's actually writing better paragraphs than I thought he could. Still not 8th grade level, mind you. But better than I thought he could do. Once we finish with the 5th grade book, we'll move him on the either 6/7 or 8 and see how that goes. I also have him write a paragraph with his spelling words once a week. I don't help him with it. I correct what he's written then he has to recopy it correctly. I hope you find what you need for your son.
I haven't used it (almost did though), but I've heard great things about The Paragraph Book. It is a step-by-step approach to writing paragraphs.
Fine. If he's writing on a 3-4 level, then that's where to start. Get a program geared toward that level, and move on at his own pace.
Hi, A writing text that does a good job of teaching basic paragraph construction followed by five paragraph essay construction is Format Writing by Frode Jensen. We sell it on our website which is www.basicskills.net. I've personally used it with two of my three grown children. If you need help working through it, check out the Effective Writing program profiled on our home page. Curt
We are using Winning With Writing (WWW). My ds likes it so far. Since your ds is having trouble forming paragraphs, level 3 may be a good fit for him.
Hey, I haven't seen it in person, but I've heard good things about Brave Writer. There is a discount for it on homeschool buyers co-op. I'm looking at it for next year...
