Hello! I've been lurking around for quite a while, but I need some help. I have a 7th, 5th, and 3rd grader - all boys. (I also have a dd4 learning to read) Anyway, I am having trouble with teaching my boys how to write. We used to use Calvert, and I loved how they taught composition, but there was no way to afford it the past couple of years, and their skills haven't really improved. It is like pulling teeth. What's your favorite program/curriculum for writing???? Please help this crazy mom Thanks and make it a great day! Tara
We have been working our way through Jump In Writing for the last year or so. I like it but it won't work for your 3rd grader. It isn't expensive, like 40 bucks I think. And it is a workbook, but your kids could easily share by writing the answers to the questions in a notebook. Lots of other people like Writing Strands, I havne't used it but it looks like a good program. I just bought a kind of pricey software calleed Inspiration 8 that helps them brainstorm and put it in an outline. We are doing our first lesson tomorrow and it looks really cool. You can check it out here: http://www.inspiration.com/Inspiration They give you a 30 day free trial and they have tons of templates.
Word Smith Apprentice has been working well for my 5th grader this year. It treats you like a newspaper reporter. Kind of cute and she doesn't mind doing it too much.
Oh, I forgot about them! My DD used them when she was still in school. She liked it from what I can remember.
We're using Writing Strands this year and loving it. (my oldest - 5th grade - is using 3, my middle is going to start 2 next week). It's a very step by step, hand holding way about it - but not reliant on the parent. My daughter has actually written stuff this year without crying, without fighting and without driving me nuts over it! LOL
Thanks! A huge thank you to everyone that replied! I will have to check out everyone's suggestions. Thanks again for taking the time out to help. . . hopefully, I will get the issue resolved soon. Tara
I have heard that the Institute for Excellence in Writing can be very helpful - we used it last year, and while I like it for a bit, it got VERY repetitive. Basically it takes the "come up with an idea" away and instead teaches the child how to take notes from a source, write a paragraph based on those notes, then take notes on several sources, and write several paragraphs based on that. The greatest failing is it really seemed like too much "read and repeat" - that being said, if your student has no concept of taking info from a source and putting into an essay, or if your student is the type that whines "I dont' know what to write" this program is excellent! I only used it for one year - as I said it got redundant, but we might got back to it periodically, and we do use the techniques we learned in what we write now. It is pricey, but it is a good investment, and on the website they have samples so you could try those first to see ifyou like it. If you kids can come up with their own ideas, they just need guidance on how to write those ideas down, then writing strands is a great way to go. Writing strands starts with sentence buiding and works up to paragraphs, IEW (what we did last year anyway) started at paragraphs. I hope this helps. Good luck.
