Help! I need direction re: writing for my hs senior.

[DB in NJ]

He'll be going to the community college next year. We've covered writing instruction (essays, etc.), but I need help in assigning the writing. Is there a book or program or something I can use to help me with what to require, how much he should be writing, how often, etc.?

I am not good with open-ended stuff (like IEW). We have tried that, and while the instruction is great, the implementation is not (my fault).

Any ideas??

[Anna]

Are your son's essay writing skills really strong? Typically and unfortunately, first semester Eng Comp at CC focuses more on creative writing than essays so you want to make sure those essay skills are in place before he goes on to college.

You might want to do a search here on the high school board. I know others have asked similar questions. Here (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68256)is one thread that might help you.

[Jenn in CA]

My oldest is taking English Comp this semester. Now that I know what it's like, I plan to prep my second student for college writing by taking him through "Fan the Deck." It's part of a series called Stack the Deck (http://www.stackthedeck.com/). I haven't used it yet, but it looks like exactly what my oldest could have used... a great preparation for college writing. It addresses the exact types of essays my oldest has been writing. It's a lot more concrete in regards to essay format than IEW, IMO.

The really wonderful thing is that it has grading rubrics, specific guidelines on how to grade. It's much more like an honors classroom English class than a homeschool program, which is what we need.

BTW my oldest son's class hasn't been "creative" in the sense of fiction writing, but it is personal writing, as opposed to writing about academic subjects or literature (although the last paper is lit analysis).

[laughing lioness]

If you are familiar with IEW I would suggest their Rhetoric book. It is terrific! My 18 yo is using it this year. You can be as involved as you want to be. We have both learned a lot using it-even after having used IEW for years.

[DB in NJ]

Wow, that whole series looks great! I'll look into it further. Thanks!

[Michelle in MO]

We started out in grammar school with copywork and dictation, which is surprisingly a very effective way for teaching younger kids how to write well.

Then we did Classical Writing-Aesop, CW-Homer, and CW-Diogenes. By the time we got to Diogenes, I was starting to get a little "lost" myself. The CW series is great, but I probably never took enough time to actually study it myself and figure out how to implement the higher levels properly. Plus, I began to have concerns about my girls learning all of the levels of the progymnasmata before they graduated.

That, plus the fact that getting the kids to buckle down to a real schedule was a challenge for me. Everything else they were able to complete on time, except for a writing assignment.

Before we started Omnibus II, a year ago, I decided something needed to change. So---I began to outsource writing. I signed my girls up for Cindy Marsch's Progymnasmata Tutorials through her website, Writing Assessment Services (http://www.writingassessment.com/). (Her website is undergoing construction, so if you have trouble finding things, send her an e-mail at the link she provides.) Summer before last they did the Beginning level of Cindy's progym. tutorials; then they did another one in the fall; then another in January/February. This took a lot of pressure off of me in terms of requirements, although I still had to "sit" on them to get their work done. The tutorials each lasted about a month, so during that month's time I would put off some other work, or reduce the load a little, and scheduled two hours of writing every morning. It probably wouldn't take every child two hours daily to complete the work load, but if you knew the pace that my oldest writes at (I need a snail icon!) then you would understand why we needed two hours! :D

In the spring, instead of doing another writing tutorial, I would give the girls writing assignments, based upon the readings and Summa discussion/essay questions in the Omnibus book, and e-mail them to Cindy Marsch for an evaluation. I made sure that I specified my requirements for them in terms of length, number of words, possible essay topics, and even details like the minimum number of times that they must refer back to the literature in question, as well as how many words long a reference could be. (I did the latter because I discovered how they would use longer quotes as "filler" for their paper instead of coming up with their own substantive thought!)

At any rate, I think outsourcing the writing helped us tremendously. There are other great writing programs out there. You might also check out Julie Bogart's Bravewriter (http://www.bravewriter.com/), and I've also heard very good things about Write@Home (http://www.writeathome.com/). I've used Julie's services to help my oldest prepare for the SAT/ACT essay, and her approach is extremely positive and encouraging. Cindy Marsch is as well---I've had more experience with her---and her format worked a little better for my oldest, as she is somewhat shy and "protective" about her writing. Cindy encourages excellent grammar, logical thinking, and helps to keep the kids on track with the subject of their paper.

HTH!