Our Language Arts Favorites

This is my eighth year homeschooling my children. Wow! Many things are different from when we started. This past week I have been trying to figure out what to do for our writing curriculum next year and beyond. I know what I want to do, but I needed to pick the appropriate levels for my children.

The younger two have the possibility of doing the same level of writing, which would be fun to do together and less expensive for me. But I just didn't feel good about that. Every time I tried to decide which level to have them do together, I got confused. So I started to consider putting them on their own level and having them work independently. That option felt so much better, and it was easy to see where to start them. They are going to start on IEW's new writing curriculum, Structure and Style for Students. N will be in 4th grade and will start at the beginning, with Year 1 Level A. E will be in the 7th grade and will start with Year 1 Level B. Year 2 of both levels seemed like a more logical place with their writing experience, but those won't be available until the end of the year. Also, starting them with Year 1 of their level leaves enough levels ahead to fill future school years!

New IEW Writing Courses

Did you hear the announcement from IEW last night? They have redone their student teaching seminars and are preparing them to be released! The new curriculum is called Structure and Style for Students. Ever since I bought TWSS (Teaching Writing, Structure, and Style) I just knew this was something they would do. I'm so glad it's finally happening!

The student writing classes used to be called Student Writing Intensive or SID/SWI, and then a second course was called Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course or SICC. Both were in three levels, approximately elementary, middle school, and high school. The new products are similar in levels but the names are easier to understand, and the content is updated.

Year 1 Level A

Year 2 Level A

Year 1 Level B

Year 2 Level B

Year 1 Level C

Year 2 Level C

See? That's much easier to follow! The best part about these new courses is they include "forever streaming" for the videos! No DVDs to loose or scratch, no subscriptions to maintain. For families with multiple children, that's a huge benefit.

Here is a video "trailer" for this new product.

The first course is available for preorder now. The rest will be available as they near completion, but in time for the fall 2020 school year to start. There are also options to purchase the writing course in a bundle which includes grammar, or with DVDs.

I'm hoping the rest of the samples are available soon. We're trying to decide between Year 2 Level A and Year 1 Level B .

The Most Wonderful Language Arts Time of the Year!

Since we love using curriculum from Institute for Excellence in Writing, and one of my favorite time to shop with them is now, I thought I'd share some sales and events they have going on.

First, check out their clearance sale! You can save 50% on anything in their clearance section from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1.  This is a great sale because the items are in great condition... some are a tiny bit beat up (never noticed anything more than a slight fold on a corner) or are discontinued. I do most of my IEW shopping during this sale.

High School Essay Intensive Review

We love the writing program from Institute for Excellence in Writing, so when we were offered an opportunity to review their High School Essay Intensive course, we couldn't wait to try it out!

 

What is High School Essay Intensive?

This DVD course is intended to help a high school student gain a greater understanding of, and confidence in the essay writing process. It was updated in 2016 to align with the new SAT and ACT tests. Students also learn skills that will help them apply for college. Mr. Pudewa teaches this course as a one day seminar, and just this spring IEW released this DVD set to be used in the home.

Exciting News! IEW Affiliate!

If you have read here for a while you've discovered how much we love IEW, or Institute for Excellence in Writing. I have recently been accepted as an affiliate for them so you'll see ads and links on my site referring you to IEW now! I receive compensation if you make a purchase using these links, and I appreciate you doing so.

When we started using IEW, we began with Fix It! Grammar. It was pretty amazing, suddenly grammar was fun and my kids could remember what a noun was!

Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization - A Review

If you have read my blog for even just a little while, you probably know how much we LOVE memorization.  I can't even describe how excited we were to review Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization, which was recently updated by Institute for Excellence in Writing.  They also sent us one Student Book.  We were trying to decide what poetry to add to our daily memorization when we were offered this set to review.  What perfect timing!

How we do Fix It! Grammar (with videos)

This post is not sponsored, I purchased this grammar curriculum myself and we are sharing these videos today because we love doing grammar this way and hope it helps someone else.

When we started homeschooling we used another grammar curriculum that was worksheet style.  After doing that for a year my kids still needed help remembering what basic parts of speech were.

"Wait, what is a noun?"

I heard that often enough to drive me crazy.