IEW--how often do you use it? How long each lesson?

[Ginger]

I am planning to use IEW next year with my 5th grader. I'm trying to figure out how to schedule it. Right now, we're using BJU and the writing lessons alternate with the grammar ones. Is this something I could continue? Say do two weeks of grammar and then two weeks of writing?

How long is a single lesson? I plan on using the SWI-A. And what does a typical lesson look like in your house? I'm kind of familar with the idea of IEW, but just wondering what the actual day to day use of it is.

[MIch elle]

We do writing everyday. I leave the time up to my dc. If he wants to write 2-3 sentences/day that's fine with me. It may take him 1 or 2 weeks to finish a writing assignment. The only thing that takes a lot of time is watching the dvd's but that's usually only 1x/week or less.

Did you look at the lesson plans on their website?

[GVA]

IEW is designed to be used almost every day. I teach paid classes with IEW, and I always encourage my students (and parents) to work on their assignments 2-3 days a week in addition to class day. SWI-A is actually scheduled for 12 lessons with 4 "assignments" each, so approximately 12 weeks if you do it 4 days a week. Some people do it half-speed and stretch out the assignments so that they cover a lesson every two weeks with shorter sessions 3-4 days a week, which gives you 24 weeks with SWI.

I used SWI-A with my oldest over the summer to review IEW (he had used parts of it before), and we've used one of their history-based books this year. I block out about 30 minutes of writing a day with a bit less for my younger one. Making outlines and revising usually takes less than that, actually writing a rough draft can take that much or longer depending on the topic and mood :glare:.

Personally, I think you're better off writing and doing grammar almost every day. I've seen the improvement in my own children by doing that, and I know ;) which kids in my writing class write almost every day and which do not. It really does make a difference.

[JuJuBee]

I am afterschooling SWI-B with ds13 and ds10. We're working twice a week -- once during the week and once on the weekends. It's going to take us about six weeks to work through it at this pace, including a couple of detours where we've had to do the same level assignment again.

[Ginger]

Thank you. I haven't looked at the lesson plans on the website. I was kind of overwhelmed by it all. I was just going to try to wait till the convention this year. But I thought I'd go ahead and ask here :-)