Review: Institute for Excellence in Writing: Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons

Curly loves to write and has a talent for it. He has been writing stories since before he could actually write. He used to dictate long, elaborate stories to us when he was three and four years old. I still have the old notebook full of these early stories, and they are a lot of fun to read now. His ambition is to be an author someday, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he achieves that goal.

Because he is a gifted writer, we haven't focused much on a formal writing program in the early years. I let him write what he enjoyed, sometimes with a prompt from me. Then we would go through the editing process and create a final product. Last year, I decided we needed some more structure to take his writing to the next level. We floundered a little bit. We tried Writing with Ease, but it is very repetitive, and he was bored and frustrated by the interminably slow progress through the book. We threw in a book full of creative writing projects, and while he enjoyed that, it still wasn't what I felt we needed.

Our homeschool evaluator recommended the Institute for Excellence in Writing, but the sticker price was a bit too high for me. She then recommended their history-based writing lessons, and they have been a perfect fit.

We are using the Medieval-based book because that is the time period we are studying this year. I purchased Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons in Structure, Style, Grammar, and Vocabulary from Rainbow Resources. I picked up the student book, the teacher's manual, and we downloaded the Student Resource Notebook e-book free of charge. All of the books can be purchased at excellenceinwriting.com.

There are 29 lessons in the book; each one takes about a week. The first five have taught how to create a key word outline and produce a written piece from that. Topics have included the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mohammed. Future assignments will include formal essays, narratives, critiques, creative writing, and the super-essay. Lessons are divided into Parts A (grades 3-5) and B (grades 6-8) , depending on the level of the student.

What I like:

As we are a classical schooling family, it fits perfectly. We are learning about the Middle Ages in history and reading works from or about that time in our literature. It makes sense that our writing should focus on the same topics. For example, this past week, we were studying Charlemagne, and Curly's writing assignment was on... you guessed it. Charlemagne.

The lessons are well laid out. He can work through the numbered assignments for the week on his own.

The lessons build on one another. Lessons 1-5 focused on using quality words (There is a list of banned words he may not use, like said, went, interesting, and big.), titles, dialogue, emotion, and the five senses. Now he is expected to incorporate those ideas throughout the rest of the book AND add in the new material. He is now learning about opening sentences and clinchers.

Each week's lesson comes with a grading rubric. He can see up front what is expected of him that week. He is responsible to make sure everything that is in the rubric is in his piece. On the final draft, he is to highlight different words or phrases to be sure he has included them. This helps him to be very sure he has done all he can to have a well-written assignment. There is a different rubric for level A and for level B.

There are five vocabulary words each week, with periodic quizzes. The words are printed on little cards with a picture to help. On the reverse side, there is a definition and synonyms. The words are relevant and required for use in the assignments.

The Details:

Title: IEW Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons
Age: 3-8 grade, leveled
Length: 29 weeks
Price: $49.00 for the student/teacher combo pack
          $29.00 for student book only, $24.00 for teacher book only
Purchase: excellenceinwriting.com

2nd Grade Plans

Everything is, more or less, squared away and ready to start school in a few weeks. I've been sharing what Curly and Tiny Dancer will be doing this year, so I thought I would also share what Little Bear will be doing.

Little Bear is less enthusiastic about the slightly rigid approach of classical education. He likes to memorize, so we will definitely be learning verses for Awana as well as poems and such. But I also like to throw in some things purely for fun or that are more hands-on for him.

Here is the plan for what he will be doing:

Reading: Little Bear will be following the 2nd grade reading list in the Well Trained Mind. Some of these books include Beowulf: Grendel the Ghastly, Sainte George and the Dragon, and Knights of the Round Table. Some of the books on his list will be ones he can read by himself, but others we will do together. He loves literature pockets, so we are also going to work on a set of pockets having to do with Newberry winners. These are all books he can easily read on his own.

Writing/Grammar: Last year, he started English 2 part way through the year. We will finish it at the beginning of this year and then move on to English 3. This book is pretty solid, though not my favorite. After this year, he will move into Rod and Staff like his brother. I think they have a more thorough program. We did First Language Lessons 1 and 2 last year, though, and I wanted to keep grammar and writing, so we switched to something else in the interim.

Spelling: We're going to give Spelling Power a try this year. I've heard great things about it, so we'll see how it goes.

Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears. Little Bear has little boy handwriting, to say the least. He needs practice with the letters. We will also do copywork and then move into some dictation later in the year.

Math: We've been using Singapore. I still feel a little undecided. It's not exactly what I'm looking for, but it is a very solid math program. We'll also throw in some games, Life of Fred, and Primary Grade Challenge Math. Little Bear LOVES math and is really good at it. I'm hoping that a combination of things will keep him interested and challenged while still being sure he's mastering the basics.

History: We're on cycle 2 of the Story of the World. I'm looking forward to the Middle Ages! I picked up the volume on cd this year. We may be spending a good deal of time in the car taking Curly to his Latin class, so I thought we would listen to Jim Weiss tell us the story of the world. We'll be doing maps, timelines, and lots of projects.

Science: We're going to be studying biology this year. We don't have a curriculum or text for this. We're going to learn about animals, the human body, and end with plants. We will do experiments, research, take photographs, and have nature journals. Little Bear also loves science, so I will take this as far as he would like to go this year.

Music: Little Bear will take piano lessons and listen to a variety of music. I'm going to see what I might be able to find that represents the time period.

Art: Working with Curly, we'll start with drawing, move on to sculpting, and then finish with painting. Art is so not my strong suit, but there are lots of great books out there. For drawing, we'll start with Draw Write Now. We used this some last year, and Little Bear really loved it.

Bible: We're going to study the Bible together for the first time. We're going to use the blog Bible Road Trip as our starting point. She has some great ideas over there, and I love the extra books she recommends!

We'll take field trips to round out the year. And Little Bear will participate in a few extra-curricular activities. He'll do scouts, Awana, and swim team. 

I feel like I am forgetting something important!

We're looking forward to a great year!

5th Grade Plan

First of all, where in the world did I get a fifth grader?? I can't even imagine how either of us are that old. I used to teach first grade, and the fifth graders seemed huge! And now I have one?!

Alas, I have a fifth grader, and it's almost time to start school.

I started re-reading the Well Trained Mind (WTM) back in March. He's moving out of the grammar stage and into the logic stage, so I wanted to be sure I knew where we were headed for the next few years.

Reading: He's going to be working from two different lists from within WTM. One is a list of books he will be reading on his own, including The Door in the Wall, I, Juan de Paraja, Adam of the Road, Robin Hood, and the King Arthur stories. We will also be working on some books together, including Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Dante's Inferno, and maybe dabble in Shakespeare at the end of the year. That's not an exhaustive list, but it does include some of the books we will be using.

Writing: We're going to try Institute in Excellence's Medievel History-Based Writing Lessons as well as Wordsmith Apprentice. Curly is a great writer with strong skills and an advanced vocabulary. I need something that will teach him how to clean it up and help him organize his many thoughts.

He really, really wanted to use this book, so I guess we'll throw it in every now and then.

Grammar: Rod and Staff's Building Christian English book 6. He's a year ahead in grammar because he loves it so much. This program is extremely thorough and advanced. It's perfect for him.

We're a little bit nerdy around here. We like diagramming sentences.

Vocabulary: Vocab from Classical Roots book 6.

Math: Math is my nemesis. I am still undecided. We have been using Singapore, which I mostly like. I have Calvert for this year, which I don't feel is up to the same level as Singapore. You can read more about that here. But I am excited about our supplemental math materials. We'll play games, of course, but we're also going to use Challenge Math and Life of Fred. A friend also sent me a link to this Pet Shop consumer math program that looks like a lot of fun.

Science: The topic this year is biology. We are not using a set curriculum or textbook for this. We are going to start the year by studying animals. We will read, explore, dissect, diagram, research, etc., a variety of animals. Later in the year, we will do a study of the human body and then move on to plant life. We are going to learn the scientific method, conduct experiments, and complete lab reports.

I've been trying to build up some reference materials for this year. These are some we will use for science.

History: We are on cycle 2 of the Story of the World, but we won't actually be using SOTW this year. I have a friend who is a former history major. She sat down (and had a good time doing it!) and wrote a plan for me! I am super excited. I don't know about half the things on her detailed timeline or list of topics, but I love that it's all written out for me. I told her she should go into business!

Some of the "fun" to go with our history studies. We're going to do lots of timelines, maps, and projects.

Latin: Curly is going to take a Latin class at the Lancaster Center for Classical Studies two mornings per week. The instructors are PhDs in Latin and Greek. I am very excited about this class.

French: We began studying French last year when I determined that I wasn't going to be able to teach him Latin. We're going to start out with this book. I'm not in love with it, but I haven't yet found something that I am in love with.

Logic: Last year we started studying logic. He went through books 3-6 last year, so we will begin with book 7 this year.

 Bible: We haven't officially studied the Bible together. I think we are going to use this blog I found as a reference: Bible Road Trip, plus these materials, to do something a little more in depth this year.

Health: We're going to try an official health book this year. We've never formally done health before, so I sort of wanted to check it out.

Art: We're going to study works of art and artists from the time period we are studying.  We are going to begin the year with practicing drawing skills (which none of us are remotely talented at), and then later in the year we will move on to sculpting and painting.

Music: We'll have piano lessons. I was hoping to get some other instrument lessons at the public school, but it doesn't look like that's going to work out.

Beyond that, it's extra-curricular activities. Swimming, scouts, Bible quiz team, Awana, a play, maybe.

I think we're going to be busy. What do you think?

Math Woes

I think I've been following the math book at the end of the yellow brick road. I've been skipping down the road, thinking I know what lies ahead, only to get there and find out it's not what I expected.

Wait. Maybe my problem is I'm following the wrong yellow brick road!

I have an idea of what I want. I just don't think it exists.

I want a mastery approach that also has plenty of review (daily if possible). I want a program that is challenging and that encourages them to think outside the box, at least some of the time. And I want a program that we can follow for a good, long time. I don't want to skip around, continually searching, which is what I feel like I am doing.

Here's what I've tried so far.
 

Saxon. Hated it. The incremental approach drove me bananas. I felt like there wasn't enough practice on the topic introduced that day, and then the next day it was a completely new topic. There was no opportunity to move any faster through the books or to go into any greater depth on a topic.

Singapore. The jury is still out. We've been using it for two years, and I mostly like it. Mostly. More or less. I feel like I should like it because so many other like-minded folk do. It is mastery, and it is challenging. It makes kids think outside the box. And yet... sometimes the way topics are introduced just don't make sense to me. I end up explaining it the old-fashioned way, which negates the approach.

Thinking about trying this Calvert book for Curly. For Little Bear... maybe A Beka? maybe stay with Singapore? BJU Press? HELP!

I have two solid math students (Tiny Dancer is too young). One is very advanced, and the other is a little advanced. I am open to two different math programs, if I must. I just don't want to/can't spend a fortune.

I am good at supplemental materials.

We have tried Beast Academy. I really liked it, but I think it was too "mathy" for Curly. I have a hunch Little Bear will eat it up.

Life of Fred. HUGE hit in our house. We all love the stories, and no one seems to realize they are learning or doing any math. Works especially well for Curly who leans (I mean tips the scale) to the verbal side. Everyone looks forward to seeing what Fred will be up to next.

Miquon and Cuisinaire Rods. Everyone raves about these. I used them a lot when I taught first grade in public school. We haven't latched on to them at home as much as I thought we would.

This year we are going to try out these Challenge Math books. They look really cool.

And lots of math games. Especially Yahtzee. Lots of Yahtzee.

Anyone out there want to tell me what to do  have some good ideas of what spine to choose?

Classical Education

When we first started home schooling, I spent a lot (I mean, a LOT) of time researching. I read many books about home schooling and the different approaches to it. One of the books that I found really helpful was Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Homeschool Picks.

 

In the front of this book was a survey on different learning styles, different teaching styles, and different educational approaches. I quickly discovered that my preferred approach is the classical method. I then went on to read The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer.

This book was exactly what I needed. The classical approach made total sense to me, and she explained it in such a straight-forward manner that I felt that I could implement this style into our home school. Many books out there like to talk theory, and that's all well and good, but what I really wanted was more practical help. The Well-Trained Mind spelled it all out for me.

There is so much I like about this approach. I love that it's history and literature based. I love that it shows children the big picture of the world to help them process and remember all of the information they are learning. I love that it teaches them to learn for themselves. I also love that it allows my children to work at whatever level they need.

It would be difficult for us to use a boxed curriculum because my kids don't fit neatly into a grade level. Curly works on grade level in math, a grade ahead in grammar, and several grades ahead in everything else. Little Bear works two grade levels ahead in math and a grade level or two ahead in the different aspects of language arts. This suits them so well, and I feel like they are constantly challenged.

Classical education fits our family perfectly. We love memorizing poems, reading classic literature, and diving into history. If you are also classical home schoolers, I'd love to hear about it!