English Literature for Boys and Girls by H.E. Marshall

 Charlotte Mason, Classical, High School, History, Junior High Language Arts, Literature, Living books, Middle School  2 Responses »
Mar 282012
 

Ambleside Online has influenced our family in many ways, not the least by introducing us to great books.  One that we’ve been using for many years is English Literature for Boys and Girls by H.E. Marshall, written in 1909.  We are blessed to have a century-old copy for our children, complete with roughly cut pages and sturdy binding.

In 85 delightful chapters, H.E. Marshall traces English literature from the ancient Irish legend “The Cattle Raid of Cooley” to Tennyson. She includes excerpts of stories and poems, summaries of larger works, and many interesting biographical and historical tidbits. She expresses strong opinions about authors and works, and occasionally makes some disparaging remarks about various branches of the Christian faith.

English Literature for Boys and Girls is a solid book, full of information.  Since history and literature are so closely entwined, it includes numerous references to kings and queens, to the changes in the English language, and to cultural innovations such as the rise of newspapers.

As a random sample, in chapters LVII and LVIII Marshall discusses Milton, “a cold and lonely man.”  She begins with his childhood, quotes 14 lines of On his being arrived to the age of twenty-three, and continues, discussing his life and his poetry as well as venturing into the conflict between Puritans and Royalists.  While Milton became more embroiled in politics, his personal life suffered. He lost his sight, his wife died, “his children ran wild,” his second wife died, and he began to write Paradise Lost.  Several pages and excerpts later, Cromwell died, Milton married again, and the blind poet wrote Samson Agonistes, the tragic story of Samson in his blindness.

Don’t let the “Boys and Girls” part of the title fool you; this is not a childish book at all and shows just how far educational standards have slipped in the last 100 years. In fact, Ambleside Online, a rigorous Charlotte Mason curriculum with classical leanings, recommends English Literature for grades 7 to 10.  The subject matter is not too easy for today’s teens, but occasionally Marshall’s intended audience causes her to write in a somewhat patronizing way.  As I’ve come to expect from old authors, the English would be considered advanced today even though it was written for boys and girls, but no well-read modern teen would have difficulty with it.

All of our teens have read significant portions of this book over the course of several years.  Each week they studied a chapter or two and I would ask for either an oral or a written narration.  They have become familiar with early English literature and I am amazed at the history they know.

English Literature for Boys and Girls is a brilliant work, ideal for introducing modern teens to both literature and history.  It is fascinating, lively, thorough, and eminently suitable for young people since no ‘adult’ topics are included as is often done nowadays.  Of course, modern literature is not covered (and Jane Austen was left out, a serious flaw in my opinion). Even so it is an excellent book for homeschooling families, especially those interested in classical education or Charlotte Mason’s methods. 

It is available online at Project Gutenberg  and The Baldwin Project.  You can also buy a book here.

-Written by Annie Kate, a Christian homeschooling mom of five, who reviews and blogs at Tea Time with Annie Kate.  You can read her other Curriculum Choice reviews here.

Disclosure:  As usual, I am not paid for my reviews and my opinions are my own.

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Daily Grammar

 Age, Charlotte Mason, Elementary, Grammar, High School, Junior High Language Arts, Language Arts, Middle School, Online  1 Response »
Mar 092012
 

Grammar is a subject near and dear to my heart. I know not everyone can (or will) admit to that, but there it is. Throughout my children’s elementary years, we explored several different grammar curricula, and all have had their good points. This year, however, I came across a FREE curriculum that is thorough and easy to use and free. (Did I mention that already? Sorry. I really like the word free.)

Daily Grammar provides 440 lessons, which cover:

  • the eight parts of speech
  • the parts of a sentence
  • grammar mechanics

Lessons are grouped by topic and include one quiz per topic. Nouns, for example, comprise five lessons and a quiz. Each lesson also contains an answer key, which is helpful if, say, predicate nominatives aren’t your thing.

Daily Grammar offers other useful features:

  • an archive page, which makes it easy to find the lessons you need
  • a glossary of grammar terms, in case you need to brush up on your grammar definitions
  • eBooks, FlipBooks, and Workbooks available for purchase, should you prefer to use these
  • the Daily Grammar Blog
  • a Facebook discussion group for questions, comments, and general grammar gab

One of the best features of Daily Grammar is its short lessons. Each lesson takes only a few minutes to complete.

At the beginning of each week, I print out the lessons we’ll cover that week. To keep our focus, I opt to stick with one topic per week. I’ve found that the easiest way to print the lessons is to copy and paste the text into a word processing document. I print the lessons and answer keys for myself and the lessons alone for my children.

Daily Grammar is comprehensive enough to stand alone as a complete curriculum for older elementary and middle grade students. Since each short lesson has only around five practice exercises, some children might need more reinforcement.  Daily Grammar would also serve well as a refresher course or a supplement to other grammar curricula.

And the price is right, too.

Ellen stays busy home educating two middle-grade daughters, chasing two corgis, managing the family’s busy household, reading as much as she can, and writing about life at Bluestocking Belle.

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Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension

 Elementary, Junior High Language Arts, Language Arts, Middle School, Reading  No Responses »
Nov 162011
 

Have you ever wished for a reading comprehension program that encourages higher order thinking skills?  Questions that require deep thinking, inference and opinion?  Questions based on “living” literature selections rather than dry paragraphs?  All of this in assignments that can be completed in a lesson or two?  Not to mention, reading comprehension available for children as old as 9th grade?

I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing levels 4 and 5 of the Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Program, which covers all the bases above!

Each of the books consists of 20 lessons divided into three chapters.

  • Chapter 1 focuses on Short Stories – like The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, The Gift of the Magi and The Tell-Tale Heart.
  • Chapter 2 focuses on Poetry – like Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Ulysses, and Not They Who Soar.
  • Chapter 3 focuses on Biographies – like Emily Dickinson, Marie Curie and Harriet Tubman.

For each lesson, your child must read the 1-7 page literature selection then work “up the ladder” to complete questions or activities. The reason the program is titled “Jacob’s Ladder” is because nine different activities are suggested as follow-up to the reading.  The activities are written on a pictoral ladder.  The lower the question or activity is on the ladder, the lower the thinking skill; the higher the question or activity is on the ladder, the higher the thinking skill.  You may choose to assign as few or as many of the activities as you like.

The thinking skills are divided into six types of skill content.

  • Ladder A focuses on prediction skills.  These activities will include sequencing, cause and effect, and consequences and implications.
  • Ladder B focuses on deductive reasoning skills.  Activities include recalling details, classification and generalization.
  • Ladder C focuses on literary analysis skills.  Activities include identifying literary elements, making inferences and determining themes or central ideas.
  • Ladder D focuses on the skill of creating new materials based on information in the reading.  Activities include paraphrasing, summarizing and creating own materials.
  • Ladder E focuses on the skill of emotional development.  Activities include understanding emotion, expressing emotion and using emotion.
  • Ladder F focuses on the skill of metacognition.  Activities include planning and goal setting, monitoring and assessing, and reflecting.

The nine activities offered for each reading lesson include a mixture of the various skills.  As I mentioned before, you can choose to assign as few or as many of the activities as you like.  You may also decide to allow your child to choose one or more of the activities herself.  Depending on how many activities you require, the lessons can last as long as 30-45 minutes one day or 30-45 minutes/day for a week or more. Several of the lesson ideas lend themselves to co-operative learning, too, if you’d like to allow your children to work together occasionally.

The books are published by Prufrock Press, a publisher of materials for gifted children.  While these books are certainly appropriate for gifted children, they will serve homeschoolers well, too!  Anyone who has a good reader that needs to take comprehension to the next level will love Jacob’s Ladder.  While the books are on the expensive side at $39.95 each, they provide wonderfully in-depth reading lessons that are sure grow to your child’s higher order thinking skills.

-Written by Cindy, an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of 3 living in Central KY.  You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her NaturExplorers studies and other creative homeschooling helps at Shining Dawn Books.

-Cindy received the Jacob’s Ladder books as compensation for her honest review. 

Analytical Grammar

 Grammar, High School, Junior High Language Arts, Language Arts, Middle School  No Responses »
Sep 282011
 

“I am a woman on a mission to convince parents that they don’t need to be ‘doing’ a grammar worksheet every day, all year long, for years and years!  If grammar is taught sequentially and logically, there is no need for so much repetition.”  ~Robin Finley

Analytical Grammar by Robin Finley and contributing author Erin Karl is just what the quote above suggests – concise, systematic, thorough and completed in three simple “seasons”.

Meant to be taught in middle school during ten weeks of the 6th grade year, eight weeks of the 7th grade year and 17 weeks of the 8th grade year, the three seasons can be easily modified and completed in one or two years time as desired.  However, I’ll be discussing the plan as intended since this is how I am using it with my 6th grade son.

In season one (ten weeks of 6th grade), the student is taught (at a pretty fast pace) mostly about parts of speech.  Don’t be fooled – the parts of speech are rather in-depth and cover such things as interrogative pronouns, antecedents, modifiers of prepositional phrases and the like.  For each new concept, there is a teaching sheet that you go over with your child.  Following, there are at least two or three practice worksheets where your child is expected to label and/or diagram sentences.  At the end of each concept’s set of worksheets, there is a test to administer and grade.  Each concept’s lessons and test should be completed within one week’s time.  Additionally, there is a writing assignment during the week where your child is asked to paraphrase a paragraph in his own words to promote both reading comprehension and writing skills.

(If you would like to use the program with an older child, you may move at a faster pace during the week or allow him to test out of various concepts.)

During season two (eight weeks of 7th grade), grammar takes a further dive into the world of participial phrases, gerund phrases, infinitive phrases, appositive phrases, adjective and adverb clauses and more.  Again, sentence labeling, diagramming and rewriting are the main modes of practice, with tests following each covered concept.

During season three (17 weeks of 8th grade), your student will use his prior knowledge of grammar to begin understanding and using punctuation well.  Commas, quotations, colons and semicolons, possessives and more are covered.  Trust me when I say that this is far more than a review from 3rd grade punctuation lessons.  However, I have found this section to be a “breather” from the intense grammar lessons from season two.  :)

The program comes with two very nice 1 1/2″ binders.  One for the student and one for the teacher. The teacher’s guide is almost exactly like the student book, except with all the answers filled in for you!  You don’t need additional teaching material because the lesson teaching sheets are meant to be read by the student and are self-explanatory.  In fact, the authors suggest removing completed worksheets from the notebook as it’s completed leaving only the lesson notes.  In the end, you’re left with a nice grammar reference guide.

Oh, and I ought to mention that even though the lessons can be pretty intense at times, an open-note policy is suggested – even for tests.  Yeah, my kids really like that idea, too.

What do you do the rest of the year if the grammar lessons only last for so many weeks? If you like, you may keep grammar skills sharp by using Reinforcement and Review Worksheets. This book of worksheet and answer keys consists of 28 lessons that can be completed once per week.  Simple paragraphs from literature and poetry are read, parsed (labeled for parts of speech) and paraphrased.  Five additional sentences are supplied with each lesson for more parsing practice if needed.  These lessons once a week should keep skills sharp until the next “season” rolls around.

Besides using this program (slower than suggested) with my 6th grade son, I’m doing a faster tour through the book with my 9th grader as part of her English 1 credit.  I’m excited to use the High School Reinforcement book, The Great American Authors as a follow-up, too.  Similar to the Reinforcement and Review Worksheets for middle school, the high school reinforcement book supplies parsing, diagramming, punctuation and usage practice using biographical information about famous American authors.  As we read through some of the works of these authors during her high school years, she’ll already be familiar with the authors!  (These are available for British authors, World Authors and Shakespeare’s plays, too.)

In conclusion, Analytical Grammar is no easy-peasy course.  In fact, at times, it can be pretty intense.  However, it’s very incremental, and the directions and explanations are clear.  In the end, your student will have an excellent knowledge and usage of grammar and punctuation!

Before I end, you ought to know that there is a Jr. Analytical Grammar program available to introduce your 4th or 5th grader to the world of grammar.  While the authors don’t feel it’s necessary to begin grammar early, they created this program for younger children after many parent requests.

-Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of a 9th grader, 6th grader and K4.  You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her NaturExplorers studies and other creative curricula at Shining Dawn Books.

 

Research in Increments

 High School, Junior High Language Arts, Language Arts, Middle School, Writing  3 Responses »
Apr 042011
 

Research in Increments by Susan Kemmerer is a wonderful tool for your students who are learning to write a research paper.  Written directly to the student, the lessons lead your child through a step-by-step process of:

  • choosing a research topic
  • narrowing down the topic’s direction
  • using index cards to keep track of sources and information gathered
  • creating a bibliography
  • interviewing people
  • including graphics
  • creating an outline
  • adding endnotes and footnotes
  • and more!

Ms. Kemmerer also teaches your student how to use creative writing skills to make the research paper interesting by teaching such things as hooking the reader and adding finishing touches.  In fact, she stresses to both the parents and student that a good research paper really must include not only the research skills, but creative writing as well.

I love how the book can be used in various ways.  You can choose to simply read through the 17 steps and apply them as you please.  Or you can go through each lesson in order and allow your child to actually write notes and rough drafts in the spaces provided in the book.  Or you can even choose to follow the provided lesson plan guide – this will take 63 days, but your child should come to the end with a masterpiece!

For those children who tend to draw a blank when it comes to writing, the author has included a large list of research topics to choose from.  She also does a great job guiding the ideas during each step of writing the paper.

My 8th grade daughter had never written a “real” research report before.  (Mostly because I was dreading it.)  This was a painless (okay, as painless as a research paper can possibly be) method to teach her the process, and it will be a great resource for her when the next paper rolls around.  I chose not to allow her to write in the book, so that I can use the guide with my two sons eventually.

Great resource!

-Cindy West in an eclectically Charlotte Mason homeschooling mom of three in Central KY.  You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her NaturExplorers curricula at Shining Dawn Books.  Research in Increments was given to her in exchange for her honest review.

Wordplay Cafe

 Elementary, Grammar, Hands On, Junior High Language Arts  2 Responses »
Dec 172010
 

Wordplay Café by Michael Kline is a set of grammar and vocabulary lessons disguised as a book of games.  Truth be told, there are a few lessons that cover logic and Greek and Latin in there, too.

The set up of the book itself mimics a menu at a café.  There are recipes for games, brain candy (interesting word and language facts), unfortunate cookies (made up but funny definitions for words), keyword kabobs that connect the reader to the internet, taste tests that preview word games and ideas, and Punzles© (puzzles made with puns).

There are six chapters, each named with a pun.

Chapter Won:  Word Nutrition is part history, with its discussion of the beginning of language, Greek and Latin roots, and the alphabet, and part game, proven by the inclusion of “Orange Origin Juice,” a game that asks players to create Latin-sounding words for household objects.

Chapter Too:  Comfort Food contains the old standbys in language games:  anagrams, palindromes, acrostic, and such.

Chapter Free:  Dinner for One is filled with games that can have a one-player option.  Of course, more can play, too.  There is “Homonym Grits,” a game that asks players to alter a nursery rhyme using homonyms and “Spaced-Out Spread,” in which players change familiar speeches, songs, and other writings by combining all of the words into one very long word and then re-spacing the letters into different words and almost words.

Chapter Fore:  Deep-Fried Diction for Two (Or More!) has more games, but these are for a group.  “Knock, Knockwurst” asks players to write their own knock-knock jokes based on puns.  “Bizz Buzz Biscuits” mixes words and numbers as players are challenged to count, but replace multiples of 5 with the word “bizz” and multiples of seven with the word “buzz.”

Chapter 5ive:  PC Pancakes focuses on games that involve the computer.  “Typo Tea and Biscuits,” for example, leads players in scouring internet pages for errors, while “Translation Toast” uses translation software to discover odd wording resulting from repeatedly translating a selection of text.

Chapter Sicks: Put Words to Work in Your Kitchen teaches players about mnemonics and the phonetic alphabet.

Wordplay Cafe, written for kids ages ate to fore-teen, is sure to delight wordsmiths and grammar non-enthusiasts, alike.

It can be found for free in PDF format on Michael Kline’s website or you can purchase a paper copy on Amazon.

Susan S. is a homeschooling mama of three little ones who get bigger and livelier every day. They delight in living books and hands-on math, and are nurturing a love for God and the amazing world that He created.

Teaching the Essay from Analytical Grammar

 High School, Junior High Language Arts, Language Arts, Literature, Middle School, Writing  3 Responses »
Nov 152010
 

My oldest child is in 8th grade this year and is taking a Literary Analysis class for the first time.  The class involves writing many literary analysis essays.  Rather than dive right into the Literary Analysis class, I thought it would be prudent and fruitful to first teach her how to write a literary analysis essay.  Even though I feel confident in my own writing, I wasn’t sure how to go about teaching her how to write this specific type of essay.  Therefore, I was completely delighted when I attended a presentation about Teaching the Essay by Analytical Grammar at last year’s MidWest Homeschool Convention.

After listening to the representative explain the Teaching the Essay unit, I knew that it was exactly what I was looking for to teach my daughter how to write a literary analysis essay. More than anything, the very best way to describe Teaching the Essay is CLEAR.  Even if you have absolutely no background in expository writing, Teaching the Essay will teach you, the parent-teacher, how to teach your child to write a 5 paragraph expository essay focusing on literary analysis.  Teaching the Essay is designed for the secondary student – junior high age and above.

As Robin Finley, the author of Teaching the Essay, asserts, writing a literary analysis essay involves fluency, mechanics, and structure.  Fluency has to do with the “gift of gab” and the ability to put words on paper.  Some children are natural writers and will find fluency easier than those who struggle to put words on paper but ALL children become more fluent writers with practice.  Mechanics has to do with grammar and is taught separately from this unit by whatever grammar curriculum you choose.  Lastly, writing a literary analysis essay involves STRUCTURE and Teaching the Essay focuses on the structure of a 5 paragraph essay.  After finishing this teaching unit, your child should have no doubt about what a literary analysis actually is and how one should look.

Teaching the Essay comes with all of the notes and reproducible hand-outs you will need to teach a 4 – 8 week course on writing literary essays.  My daughter is a fluent writer and was able to catch on to the concepts fairly easily so we completed the unit in 5 weeks.  Depending on your child, you may need more or less time to finish the unit.  In addition, a CD is included for the teacher.  Listening to the whole CD gives you a big picture overview of the whole teaching unit so that you feel prepared about how to go about teaching the unit.  As well, the CD is divided into tracks by teaching days so that you can listen to the specific teaching day that you are on to prepare for that day’s teaching.

How does this teaching unit work?

  1. In this teaching unit, all students start with reading The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe.  Then, a thesis statement is given to the child to build a literary analysis essay around.  For this first essay, the parent-teacher and student work together every step of the way to complete this first essay.
  2. For the second essay, the child reads “Wheldon the Weed” first.  Then the student is given a choice of three thesis statements to choose from that correspond to the included short story.  This essay is completed more independently with the parent-teacher giving help as needed.
  3. For the third essay, the child reads “Bargain” first.  Then the student is given a choice of three thesis statements to choose from that correspond to the included short story.  This essay is completed more independently with the parent-teacher giving help as needed.
  4. Lastly, the student chooses his or her own short story and thesis statement.  This last essay is written independently.

After writing four essays in this unit, the student should feel comfortable writing other literary essays.  In my own experience, after writing the essays, my daughter was able to easily apply the knowledge and the structure to her writing assignments in her literary analysis course.  If the student needs more or less practice, the teaching unit can be easily adjusted to the needs of the student.

In addition to all of the detailed instructions given on the CD, Teaching the Essay also includes the following tools to help teach the unit:

  • A very clearly written hand-out titled “What is a Literary Essay?”
  • A graphic organizer hand-out to further explain the structure of a literary essay titled “The Keyhole Structure of the Literary Essay”
  • A completed literary essay of the Tell-Tale Heart for the teacher
  • An outline hand-out of the whole writing process for a literary essay – “How to Write a Perfect Essay:  It’s All in the Process!”
  • Teaching the Essay teaching notes - A Step by Step Guide for the Teacher
  • All the needed texts for the literary essays written in the unit (The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe, Bargain by A. B. Guthrie,Jr., and Wheldon the Weed by Peter Jones)
  • Reproducible worksheets to help the student write each part of the essay
  • Very detailed grading rubric.

To learn more about Teaching the Essay, you can visit their website and watch an informational video about the teaching unit by Robin Finley.  As well, I have found the representatives from Analytical Grammar very easy to talk to and quick to respond to e-mails.  I am sure that they would be glad to answer any additional questions you may have about Teaching the Essay.  Teaching the Essay is available online for $15.00.

Samantha has been homeschooling for 8 years and currently is homeschooling her 8th grade daughter, 6th grade son, and 4th grade son.  Samantha is an eclectic homeschooler using a wide variety of curriculum to best meet the ever-changing needs of her children.  Samantha writes about homeschooling and family life at To Be Busy at Home.

Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons from IEW

 Elementary, History, Junior High Language Arts, Language Arts, Middle School, Vocabulary, Writing  No Responses »
Oct 062010
 

After trying many different writing programs, I am using a writing curriculum this year with my 4th and 6th grade sons that I KNOW I will continue using year after year.  I am absolutely thrilled with the writing curriculum I purchased from the Institute for Excellence in Writing.  More specifically, we are using Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons.  Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons is one of many theme-based writing programs available from IEW.  While this review will focus exclusively on Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons, the use of this curriculum assumes that the parent/teacher has attended (either live or via DVD) IEW’s Basic Seminar on Teaching Writing Structure and Style.  An overview and review of IEW’s Basic Seminar can also be found here at Curriculum Choice.

Basically, Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons takes the nine units of writing instruction covered in Teaching Writing:  Structure and Style and applies them to specific writing assignments that pertain directly to Ancient History topics. For example, three lessons cover IEW Units I and II (Note Making and Summarizing from Notes).  More specifically, three lessons focus on writing from key-word outlines using articles about ziggurats, the Sumerians, and ”The Epic of Gilgamesh” story.  Within those three lessons, several aspects of writing style are practiced as well:

  • creating titles
  • sentence openers (starting with an -ly word and very short sentences)
  • appealing to five senses

A wide variety of writing assignments are given in this curriculum including:

  • Poems
  • Writing paragraphs from key-word outlines
  • Writing narrative stories
  • Writing critiques
  • Research reports
  • Formal essays and reports
  • Writing from pictures
  • Creative writing.

To learn more about the writing skills and history topics covered in Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons, the entire Table of Contents and the Scope and Sequence can be viewed.

The program consists of a Student Book and a Teacher Book.  Not only do I highly recommend purchasing both components, I highly recommend purchasing a Student Book for each student.  To make things even more convenient, it would be beneficial for the parent/teacher to have a copy of the Student Book as well.  Much of the material in the Student Book is simply not included in the Teacher Book.

Advantages

  • The program meshes very well with our history studies in Ancient History.  I adore that the boys’ writing lessons are related to and reinforce the topics they are learning about in history.
  • Many of the assignments include a picture as part of the assignment.  This element particularly appeals to my artistic sons.

  • The expectations for the assignments are clearly given in Final Checklists.  My boys appreciate knowing exactly what they need to do to do well on their writing assignments.
  • Four vocabulary words are introduced almost every week.  The cardstock vocabulary cards with pictures on the front and definitions on the back are wonderful for learning the new words.   Since the program encourages the vocabulary words to be used in the writing projects and quizzes are included, my sons are internalizing the vocabulary words.
  • The program can easily be used with multiple grades at one time.  Instructions and suggestions are given for Level A students (3rd-5th grade) and Level B students (6th-8th grade).  As well, the lessons can be adjusted according to the readiness level of the child rather than the grade level.  For example, I am teaching this course to my 4th and 6th grade boys this year but they are both working at Level A.
  • The Student Book includes many very helpful pages in the Appendix including:  Stylistic techniques chart, Quality adjectives, Strong verbs, -ly words, Five-senses words, Proofreading marks, and Vocabulary words.

The program does require quite a bit of parent/teacher involvement but I am finding that the time investment is paying rich dividends in improved writing skills for my sons.  After years of searching for a writing program that is a perfect fit for our family, I feel confident that I’ve finally found a great fit with IEW’s Theme Based Programs.

For the 2010-2011 school year Samantha is teaching her 4th, 6th, and 8th grade children at home.  Samantha writes about homeschooling and family life at To Be Busy At Home.  In addition to her own blog, she writes for The Homeschool Classroom, Curriculum Choice, and is a member of the TOS Review Crew.

Writer’s Inc and Write for College Writing Handbooks

 High School, Junior High Language Arts, Language Arts, Middle School, Writing  3 Responses »
Sep 132010
 

The GreatSource Education Group, a Houghton Mifflin Company, has produced a variety of academically useful and reliable handbooks.  Chief among them are the writing handbooks, including Writer’s Inc. and Write for College.  Both books are intended for high school students.  They present writing in an orderly manner, complete with lots of examples.  These two handbooks contain enough writing information for several years’ worth of writing instruction and guidance, making them an excellent choice for a home education library.  Choose one and start writing!

Writer’s Inc.

Writer’s Inc. officially targets high school students.    The nine major sections present the writing process, the basic elements of writing, searching and researching, forms of writing, writing about literature, reading and study skills, speaking and thinking, proofreading, and an almanac.  Writer’s Inc. covers the areas of writing beginning with words and progressing from sentences to paragraphs to essays.  It discusses how to get ready to write a paper, how to start a paper, continue a paper, review a paper, and publish a paper.  It includes explanations of writing forms and details the processes of creating different types of writing.   There are lots of examples.  It is an extremely useful tool.

Write for College

Write for College is for upper-level high school students.  As the name suggests, the goal of this handbook is to prepare students to write in college, and is a level above Writer’s Inc. It provides a comprehensive overview of the writing process, discusses the basic elements of writing, contains a list of level-appropriate writing forms, includes a research center, and various other relevant informational sections.  Basically, in one volume your student will find pertinent, well-written advice about a variety of writing forms, including analysis, learn how to research and document in MLA and APA, discover the secret to style, figure out how to proofread, edit, and revise, how to use the library, and how to read a variety of texts.  Plus, they can look at examples of everything!  It is fabulous.

The Best Part

The best part of both handbooks (in my humble, English-teacher opinion) is the layout used for presenting different types of writing.  First, the general type of writing—persuasive or personal, for example—is introduced.  Then, guidelines for each particular kind of writing within the general type are presented with a “Quick Guide.”  So, in the persuasive category of Write for College there are sections for an editorial, a personal commentary, an essay of argumentation, a position paper, and an explanation of thinking through an argument.  In addition to the “Quick Guide” is an example paper for each type.

The handbooks assist students as they delve into different kinds of writing by explaining the differing purposes, audiences, and nuances of each type using language that is accessible.  The examples seal the deal, making these handbooks the emerging writer’s best friend.

Writer's Inc.

Of course, they have to open them first.

If your student is anything like the high school students that I work with, they will need a bit of gentle prompting.

My Method

Currently, I have all of my students (I teach home educated students one day a week), freshmen through seniors, purchase Write for College.  I want them to be able to buy one book that will be useful for all four years of high school; this one nicely carries them through.  When I teach middle school students or lower high school students without much writing experience, I use Writer’s Inc.

For my English classes, which are traditional in nature, I use the handbook as a supplement and reference.  I periodically choose a writing topic from the handbook, we examine it, look at the examples, and then give it a try.  I build the writing concepts naturally and then give my students the opportunity to use them.  Writing assignments are also gleaned from the writing handbook, allowing students to read examples and providing step-by-step instructions for preparing, writing, and revising each piece.

Writing Course

It would be easy to use either handbook to develop a writing course for middle or high school students.  By breaking the reference pages into lessons a course could discuss the writing process, style, and particular types of writing.  The course could be repeated with higher standards for several years.

Handbook

It is, of course, possible to simply use these books as handbooks.  Make them available to your students and remind them to use them when they write.  Because they are designed as handbooks, Writer’s Inc. and Write for College are easy to navigate and explore.  Gently prod your student in the direction of the bookcase when writing questions and needs arise.

Write for College

Which One?

If you have upper-level high school writers, I prefer Write for College for its emphasis on literary analysis and research.  It is prepared for a more mature student, but is accessible to less developed students.  If your students are middle school or very inexperienced writers, Writer’s Inc. is probably the better choice.  I realize that many families will fall in the middle of these two levels.  Remember that Write for College is intended to prepare students for college, while Writer’, Inc. is for the emerging high school writer.

In short, both are useful and efficient; each is a good choice.

Writer’s Inc. and Write for College are only two books from the line of writing handbooks offered by GreatSource.  The line begins with a first grade handbook and progresses to one intended for college students with many other products in between.  It is absolutely not necessary to have all of the handbooks in the series, as they contain much of the same information at slightly varying levels.  It is also not necessary to purchase all of the other materials.  The handbooks are stand-alone resources.

All of the handbooks are discussed at thewritesource.com and sold at greatsource.com.  Used copies abound:  check the internet and your local used bookstores.   (I should note that if you purchase a used edition of either book, the MLA discussion may not be current.  A copy of the 7th edition of the MLA Handbook or a website like Purdue University’s OWL will bring you up to date, though.)

For your middle and high school writers, I recommend Writer’s Inc. and Write for College.

Happy writing!

-Most days find Susan on the couch reading to her children, in the floor “playing” math, and generally in the middle of a good-sized mess.  A love for the Lord, a love for her little ones, and a love of learning have led Susan and that  wonderful man she married to an educational philosophy that is Well-Trained Mind-inspired classical and Charlotte Mason, with a touch of the traditional.

Growing With Grammar

 Junior High Language Arts, Language Arts  2 Responses »
Jul 262010
 

I have been using Growing With Grammar with my daughter and youngest son for the past three years.  This review will focus on the Growing With Grammar curriculum generally, as we have used several levels of the program.

Growing With Grammar provides a thorough education in grammar, including sentence diagramming.  Sentence diagramming is included starting in level 3 of the curriculum.  The complete Scope and Sequence for the series is included on their website.  Growing With Grammar is a secular program published by JacRis Publishing.  While I tend to use curriculum from Christian publishers in our homeschool, over the past three years and three levels of the curriculum, I have never found anything even remotely offensive to our family values in the grammar program.

Growing With Grammar curriculum is sold as a package with the Student Manual, Student Workbook, and Teacher’s Grading Key for $29.99.  All of my orders have shipped quite promptly and I have enjoyed nothing but excellent customer service from JacRis Publishing.  All of the elements of the grammar program are also sold separately, which is a benefit if other siblings will be using the program at a later date.  So, when using the grammar program for a second time, only the Student Workbook would need to be purchased.

The presentation of the Student Workbooks offers two unique benefits.  First is that the spiral binding is at the top.  This is an advantage for those who have left-handed children.  Second is that the “Grade 7″ label on the front of the Student Workbook has been changed to read “Level 7.”  All of the levels in the program are presented in the same way.  As somebody who has always had one of her children a year below his grade level in grammar, I appreciate when Student Workbooks are not marked with grade levels.  Currently, there are 8 levels in the program.

In my daughter’s experience, she has been able to complete the vast majority of the lessons independently.  One of my sons often needed some help completing his lessons, but grammar has always been a struggle for him.  So, depending on your child, the program can be almost entirely student-led.

To complete a lesson, the student first reads the lesson in the Student Manual.  The lessons are very clearly presented with many, many examples.  The lesson for levels 1 and 2 are included right on the work/text page, so those two levels do not have a separate Student Manual.  All other levels have a separate Student Manual.

Looking specifically at the pages within the Student Manual, they are quite plain with no color and infrequent small, black and white graphics.  I find that the lack of visual stimulation helps my children to focus on the lesson.  After reading the pages in the Student Manual (usually between 2 and 4 double-spaced pages), the child completes the front and back of the Student Workbook page to reinforce the current lesson.

Each lesson in the Student Workbook also has a review portion included.  I particularly like that the review portion includes the lesson number that is  being reviewed.  This makes it easy for the student to go back in his or her Student Manual and look up the previous lesson if needed.

The curriculum is designed so that it can be completed over a 36 week school year by doing 3 lessons per week.

My single criticism of the Growing With Grammar program is that there are no tests available for purchase.  To compensate for this, I have used the end-of-chapter reviews as tests but my preference would be to have both a review and a test for each chapter.  Other than that, I have been completely satisfied with the Growing With Grammar program.  We have been using this curriculum for three years now and will continue to use it in the fall.

If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment.  As well, the Growing With Grammar website has much more information about all levels of this curriculum and their new spelling and vocabulary program.

-Samantha writes about homeschooling and family life at To Be Busy At Home.

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