Late last year author, Kimberly Garcia, contacted and asked if we’d be interested in reviewing any of her books in the Write From History series. Did we ever! One look told me that my boys would enjoy them and I wasn’t mistaken at all.
The books are wonderfully done and written with the homeschooler in mind. They are geared, especially, towards those using a Charlotte Mason approach in their homeschool, but can easily be used by anyone choosing any method or means of homeschooling.
The books are quite large and come with lots of information inside to help you find your feet if you’re not sure how you want to use them. They also come in varying levels {1 & 2} as well as manuscript and cursive models. Models is the term used when it comes to the font in the book that the child will see and read in regards to copy work.
How I Use Them:
I use these books in a pretty simple manner. I select a passage for the week and read it aloud to the child. Then I ask them to narrate back to me. I do not always require a written narration all though there is plenty of room for the child to record just such a thing within the book. Instead I may record the child’s narration and have them copy a sentence or two of it over or not. It simply depends on the length of the passage and the age of the child.
On the second day with the book we use the selected passage provided for copy work. Again, there is space within the book for the child to do the work directly in the book. I will admit that I don’t use that space. My children write best on paper similar to HWOT so I have them write directly on that instead.
On day 3 we may choose to do more copy work or we may use some or all of the passage for dictation, it depends on the week, the child, and the passage. Either way I’ll point out something within the passage they are using for grammar &/or spelling purposes. Specific punctuation, quotations, compound words, etc. These are not directly worked into the lesson but are provided in the back of the book for you to pick & choose what you most need/want to use with each child.
Now, I want to state that I don’t always follow the book in order, in fact that’s not at all mandatory and even says within the beginning of the book to pick a passage. This works wonderful for my youngest who can enjoy having some say in all his lessons. So I may give him three choices and he can pick one or I may say to him, “What kind of story would you like today?” He’s always very forthcoming with exactly what he wants!
What I love
I love the simplicity of this program. It truly is open and go if you let it be and for me that’s a wonderful wonderful thing!
I love that the passages can be in greater depth for the upper level and shorter in the younger levels. This gives me the option to pick or choose what I know will work best for each child on any given day.
The selections! I chose the Write From Ancient History books specifically knowing we’d be covering that time frame this year, and the selections inside are wonderful ranging all over the place with historical stories, poems and cultural tales. Things are dated where possible which makes slipping them into the week I want even simpler.
The font. Now I know that might sound silly, but I chose manuscript because I was really worried about how fancy the cursive might be. I can’t speak about the cursive, but the Manuscript Model font is wonderful. It’s crisp & clear & very simple for my SSS child to look at when he doesn’t have his glasses on & see each letter easily.
The Table Of Contents. Now that might seem like a really funny love/like, but the TOC of this book tells me what each passage or story will be about allowing me at a glance to offer my child a buffet of choices. It saves me thumbing from lesson to lesson wasting time when I can just open right up to the front. It’s especially handy when your child says, “I’d really love an action story, with Romans in it & maybe some war.” Yes, he’s that specific!
What I Don’t Love
Really there is very little not to love about these books. If I had to name one small thing it might be that the grammar is not worked into the lesson. This is both a positive and a negative. If, like me, you used another writing curriculum that worked it right into the writing for the day you might be prone to forget to pick things out or focus on something specific. I’ve done that a few times, but you know it’s all good and it works!
Bottom Line
After using these books for a couple of months my son was so smitten with them I confess we picked up another one from Currclick during a sale they recently had. My boy was excited to have more stories to choose from. I figure any kinda writing curriculum that can excite my reluctant writer is top notch!
~ by Kendra, Aussie Pumpkin Patch
Hey Kendra,
Waving hello from the FIAR forums.
I happened upon your review for Write From History, which I have recently discovered.
I am curious, do you use this as a stand alone LA program or do you use it for a supplement? Bottom line, I was wondering if there are any LA components I might substitute if I use this with my 4th and 6th graders? We will be using SOTW 4 (plus some SL titles).
Up until now we have been using Rod and Staff English and spelling, and also Pentime Handwriting.
Thanks for any advice,
Colleen OH
Hi Colleen,
I used this alongside a book entitled The Word Spy {there’s a review for it here on TCC as well}, all though in the USA it’s called The Word Snoop. Write From History can be as vigorous or as relaxed as you make it. There’s a pretty hefty sample of it on Amazon which allows you to see the suggestions the author gives for the grammar portion of it in regards to marking nouns, verbs, & other such things within sentences. I, personally, didn’t use it in that manner. I used it to teach writing, penmanship, & punctuation as well as giving my youngest child the liberty to narrate freely to me. Something he’s often struggled with.
Could it be a stand alone curriculum? Absolutely! I don’t think you’d need to supplement with another grammar programme, but this one won’t be laid out like Rod & Staff meaning you’d need a little more teacher work/planning on your part. You’d want to make a note of what you were choosing to teach per each little story & narration. If you’re familiar at all with the Writing With Ease series these run down that line without the scripted lessons.