Writing is not my favorite subject to teach but I wanted my kids to do well in communicating verbally and with the written word. I found IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) to be a great resource and curriculum for writing. It gives a formula to teach kids how to write and then uses that knowledge to expand the kids writing ability. I love how they first give the kids a foundation on how to structure a well written paragraph or paper and then the kids use their own creativity with the solid foundation of writing that they have built.
This really helped my reluctant writers who couldn’t come up with any ideas if you gave them a writing prompt or their writing didn’t grow beyond what they were writing in the elementary grades. IEW gave them tools to use in their writing that were clear and easy to add into their writing across all the subjects. Once my kids learned the process of IEW and how to structure a well written paragraph, we used it in other subjects such as Bible, History or Science.
IEW has programs from Kindergarten all the way through high school. They also have curriculum for Spelling, Poetry and different types of Unit Studies for writing. We are doing the “Fun and Fascinating Facts” writing curriculum which the kids enjoy because they are learning about bugs, inventors, and other interesting facts as they write. I also love how IEW has curriculum of high school that teach kids how to write short essays or research papers. This is helpful especially to the parent that is unsure of how to make sure their child is becoming an effective writer.
IEW Student Intensive A or B, depending on your child’s age and readiness is what I would recommend. Its a DVD set that walks you through the entire lessons step by step. This helped me understand how to be more effective in my adventure of teaching writing. Institute for Excellence in Writing is a great resource that I am still enjoying in teaching my kids how to write.
Living the Adventure 