How much writing in 11th grade?

[Jenn in CA]

I posted this same question under the title "What Constitutes Honors" and would like more input.

How many papers does your 11th grader write? I've been told by my charter school that mine needs to do 8 5+ page papers this year to qualify for "Honors." Note, this is still homeschool, just thru the public school system.

Is that doable? My kid got an A in college comp but the length concerns me. He has difficulty writing more than a couple pages without help.

[Luann in ID]

I posted this same question under the title "What Constitutes Honors" and would like more input.

How many papers does your 11th grader write? I've been told by my charter school that mine needs to do 8 5+ page papers this year to qualify for "Honors." Note, this is still homeschool, just thru the public school system.

Is that doable? My kid got an A in college comp but the length concerns me. He has difficulty writing more than a couple pages without help.

I don't know the answer to this, but I do know that all three of my college-age kids have told me they wish I had had them writing a lot more in the last few years of high school. They add that they wish I had focused more on quantity and less on quality, not that we should ignore quality but that they needed more help learning to get a lot done with an alotted amount of time. Apparently I was too much of a perfectionist. :tongue_smilie:

I really thought we were doing a lot of writing here, but even so when they hit college the amount assigned was a huge jump for them. For example, in one class ds had a three-page paper assigned on the first day which was due two days later. I haven't yet settled on how much I'll be assigning my high schoolers this year, but I've already ramped it up.

[Jenn in CA]

Hmmmm, that is a really good point. Maybe I'm doing my kids a disfavor by not requiring long pieces.

Thanks for sharing.

[Michelle in GA]

My dd is in the 10th grade. She is in a co-op English class that she attends once a week. Her teacher requires 3 papers a week. She wants to see 10 pages, not per paper but total. For example, one paper may be 4 pages, one may be 3 pages, and the other 3 pages. Any combination is acceptable as long as 10 pages(typed, font 12) are turned in.

[Barb B]

Wow, I guesse it depends on the child. My ds would not be able to do that. But, I wouldn't think that he would be the right kid for honors English - maybe honors math or science. So, If you child strong point is English then go for it. But for my non english kid - I think his head would blow up!

Barb

[Loupelou]

dd15 is doing both English Composition and U.S. History using texts and sample syllabus from the College Board AP site.

Her first week included:
English: Memoir essay, annotated reading of "The Crucible", 2 chapters of writing guide with practice skills- outline, essay
History: reading, answer 4 short essay questions (1/2 pg. each) and precis from one history book, reading & notes for 3 chapters from the other history text, current events essay

We only did 4 days this week, next week is 5 and she is really looking forward to it!:huh:

[Chris in VA]

Lots and lots of writing, across the curriculum if you have given a good foundation. Lots and lots...
They will need it in college. They will need it for essay questions, short and long papers, research assignments, even lab reports. They will need it in practically every class--sometime even upper level math classes require some sort of explanatory essay on tests.
I think teaching them to take excellent notes (they should basically be able to recreate a lecture thru their notes, main points at least), bang out a rough draft in a couple of days (for a 3-5 page paper), edit with help, and write essay answers for tests is the least we can do to prepare them for college expectations.
Just stuff I'm findin' out now!:D

[Karen in CO]

Writing needs to be in more than just English. It should be everywhere and often. They all don't have to be long, but being able to utilize multiple sources in a paper is an important skill. Most of my ds's tests are essay. He has had to do multimedia presentations with an oral defense and a 10 page written paper. His writing class in college only required three papers - but they required synthesizing information and forming conclusions. His government classes have required long papers defending a position.

I never taught him to take a timed essay test (oops), but this is one of those areas where narration and memory work paid off. We spent a lot of time talking about literature, religion, government, history, and politics so I think he had lots of practice formulating arguments and thinking through things he had read, and he is good memorizing lots of detailed information to support his arguments. I'm including this to give a little voice to moderation. Writing is an important skill that needs to be practiced, but it is just one form of communication. One of the joys of homeschooling teens is to listen to their ideas as they encounter these topics for the first time.

[Jenn in CA]

Chris in VA, good point about being truly prepared for college writing. I think this may be the push I need to do something that seems very hard and scary but is good for my kids.

Thanks to everyone for your input.

Does anyone have suggestions for writing curriculum that teaches and requires long papers? :-) What about IEW SWI C? I thought TWSS was pretty basic but does the SWI cover long papers? Maybe part of my problem is that we need broader topics to write on that will fill up 5 pages.

[HiddenJewel]

IEW does have a college-bound student pack (http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/index.php?q=CBS). I don't know if it addresses longer papers or not.

[Robin in DFW]

they basically said you would need to do through IEW TWSS and SWI C first to really get the full benefit.

I don't know if this is really true. It would be nice to hear from someone who just used the college bound package without all the other stuff.

Robin