The other day IEW finally came in the mail and I watched one of the DVDs for the teacher, TWSS, and it was OK... The part I LOVE was when we watched part of the video for the student, student writing intensive. My son LOVED it, he actually loved writing!! I am still in shock because until now, I have had to practically force him to write anything. If I got one sentence out of him, I was doing good. He said he likes to write sentences now. I had really wondered if this was going to be worth the money because it is so expensive. Its worth it and more! He still has a long way to go, we have not started for the year I was just watching it to make sure everything worked after being shipped. I do think he will finally get over the writing hump this year. If anyone was wondering if that program is really worth the money, I would tell them that it really is worth it.
I'm NOT Lost !!!!!!!! I love IEW also. IEW- Institute for Excellence Writing TWSS - Teaching Writing: Structure and Style (the teacher workshop to IEW) We've just begun our IEW adventure pretty recently but I love it. The girls are doing well so far too! Rhonda
This is IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/...ng/student-writing-intensive-combo-pack-level The TWSS is (Teaching Writing: Structure and Style) and the SWI is (Student Writing Intensive). We are doing the level A this year, we are just beginning the program. It was recommended to me by other homeschool parents and they said it was a great program for writing. As far as I can tell I think they were right. I really do like the way it explains everything and also the SWI explains it to the kids in a fun way.
I happened to read this in the 100 top curriculums last night. It is the Institute for Excellence in Writing TWSS:Teaching Writing: structure and style SWI: Student Writing Intensive ETA: Apparently we were posting at the same time. LOL!
LOL yes I guess we are typing at the same time. As for IEW, I only watched the first DVD of the TWSS and part of the first one on the SWI and I am already impressed. My son actually enjoyed writing... I about had to pick my jaw up off the floor LOL. Once we start back up again I will go though more of it. I almost cant wait till we start up again.
Oh my!!! For that price it better come with an automatic gold plated pencil that thinks for itself! That is soooo far out of my homeschooling budget it's not funny! I don't spend half of that a year on 3 kids! I know it's not nice to be jealous, and really I'm not because we do just fine, but sometimes I really envy those of you who are able to afford "the good stuff". Really though, I'm happy for you, I know first hand how frustrating it can be to get a kid to write who doesnt' like to! My son hates to write, and if I even get a single complete sentence out of him a day I'm doing good!!!
Another homeschooler in my area just introduced us to this material. I may explore it more for next year. It sounded interesting and some might be working a group/coop type setup for it here.
I agrew with the gold plated thing here! YIKES< My budget woudnt have that either.. sounds great though and I am happy for you! How cool!
Were not rich or anything. We just budget and budget and skimp and save where we can. Truthfully, most of our disposable income goes to hsing books, but thats OK as long as the kids get the things they need. I dont mind going without the latest fashion or whatever people are into lol (its been so long that I dont even know whats "in" anymore hehehe). As long as the kids get the best education that I can possibly give them then I am happy. So now everyone knows where all my money goes lol.
I understand, but hey if it works I think it is worth it to scrimp and save for it! We did that for dds lessons this year, to make sure she has her highschool credits. So I can relate! And you can reuise it too right? Ds has all his science for the rest of home school years and some other courses, grammar and such that we wont have to buy next year when dd goes out our home school $$ will go to her senior year stuff, so it will all work out the same. I was thinking the other day while looking at the bills for the schooling that we spent a lot, but its still less than private school tuition that would cover as much as we are getting in this year! SO ptl!
Yes you can reuse it. The last disk in the TWSS is for grades 8-10. I think I will need another SWI, not next year, but the year after that when my son is in 6th grade. I can use it for both boys and it also comes with a free download of the student resource notebook which is a really nice thing to have. Another thing I liked about it was that after the kids know the rules of how to write, then they can use any written material to do their writing. I could just hand them an ancient history encyclopedia and ask them to write a page on a section of it. The thing I really liked about it was that it teaches me how to teach writing. I am not a writer, it never came easy for me. I wanted the kids to have an easier time with it than I had, and to know it enough to be confident about their writing skills when they go to college. I also needed something to boost my confidence because writing is not my strong point and I was running into the wall trying to get my son to write.
I did see some of these on Ebay.. for much better prices, which when I do splurge is usually one of the first places I go (99% of what I use is used). I don't know what I should be looking for.. it does look like a good program for my son. I have found sets that say they have 9 dvds some say they have 4.. What is all the differences?
Katie, here's the (well, a... I'm sure there are many many more!) curriculum review site that I think most people are familiar with: http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/ I really like her book, too.
