Review Detail

I firmly believe in teaching writing, but classical writing curriculum can often be a little dull. This one really allows my son to use his creative imagination along with the mechanics of writing. He enjoys finding new ways to say something and enhance his writing. This writing curriculum has a lot of fun stories and goes very deep into developing a good writer. The Teacher's manual contains the complete student manual with notes, explanations and some scripted parts. I love that it includes copy work and dictation but goes even further into actually writing your own creativity. The only con I have is that some of the lessons can be a little long for a third grader. My son's creativity can be hampered by having to write too much, and he will look for ways to make the assignment as short as possible because of his hand cramps. I adapt this by allowing him two days to work on the writing or allow him to narrate it some, but I would love it if this book eased into things for a few lessons more before they started with summaries and amplifications. The only other con is that they ask you to read your writing to each other, which doesn't happen as much in homeschooling. I have him read it to me or his Dad though and offer feedback. The lessons are not broken into daily lessons, but you can plan to stop and start as you see fit. They offer a suggested schedule of what to do each day, but we modify. Overall, I love that it includes dictation, narration and copy work, but it goes beyond that to understand writing and approach it creatively.