JE's mother writes, "JE is a 10 year old '5th-grader,' and attended a public school gifted and talented program prior to this year, our first year of homeschooling. His
oral language skills and his comprehension of printed and oral material are excellent. Although he reads at about a high school level, his writing lags far behind his other language skills.  We have been working in Writing Strands 3 slowly and painfully. JE has  always had trouble completing written assignments of any type - he would
much rather write sweeping adventure novels. He can not seem to narrow his focus enough to comfortably write a single paragraph or short summary.  Here are the first draft and finished assignment from Writing Strands 3, assignment #2, days 7 through 10."
 

JE's first draft:

On The Origin of Ferrets

The ferrets we know today are housepets. But in ancient times they were hard working pets. Historians debate about whether or not theese animals started as mongooses in Egypt (used to keep away snakes), or as domestic polecats in Europe. But genetical evidence suggests that they are closer to European Polecats. At about the time of the Renaissance what we know today as ferrets emerged. They were used to flush animals out of their holes, and as companion pets. Queen Elizabeth the Second is shown in a portrait, holding a ferret! Ferrets can also be trained to retreive things from tight spaces. We owe so much to theese little creatures.

JE's finished assignment:

On the Origin of Ferrets

The ferrets we know today are house pets, but in ancient times they were hard workers. Historians debate about whether they started as mongooses in Egypt used to keep away snakes, or as domestic polecats in Europe used to flush small animals out of their holes. Genetic evidence suggests that they are closer to European  Polecats. At about the time of the Renaissance the ferrets we know today emerged. They were used as companions. Queen Elizabeth II is shown on a portrait holding an albino ferret! Ferrets can be used to retrieve things in tight places. We owe so much to our little ferret friends.


 

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