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10 Bright Stars
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Location: Virginia
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| Posted: Jan 10 2008 at 6:02am | IP Logged
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I am not sure if this is the correct forum to post this question, but I was wondering if someone could give me a more detailed view as to what the DVD's and curriculum for Institute for Excellence in Writing are all about. I often read reviews from folks saying that it is a "great program" and things along that vein, but I was wondering if someone could provide more details for me, or a link to a site that would. (I have looked at their site already.) Is it worth the money? I have a 7th grade boy who writes good book reports, and then a 5th grade boy who is a very reluctant writer. (Doesn't know where to start, procrastinates like crazy, and frankly, sometimes I don't know where to get him to start since is thinks differently than I do!  The eldest's boys philosophy for his book reports is to "make them sound as overexaggerated as possible" and he gets good grades on them.
They both really enjoy their Latin DVD's, so I thought anything that would encourage them, even if we didn't use the curriculum, but using it as a "show" for ideas even, would be good. I used Seton's curriuclum and there is plenty or work so I don't really need that, but if it is more like a writing "class" then that might be interesting. Is it something you can just sort of watch as opposed to something that you have to follow along with?
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Kim married to Bob (22y)
Mom of 11 blessings:
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Anne
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| Posted: Jan 10 2008 at 7:07am | IP Logged
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Kim,
We are using the IEW curriculum with a co-op and I love it.  The DVD's are realy interesting for the children to watch and they are interactive. They work in the student book along with the lesson. The creator of the curriculum is the instructor and he has some funny stories to keep the kids interest.
The curriculum begins by teaching a key word outline. The student reads a papagraph about booklice. The instructor breaks the papagraph down sentence by sentence teaching the students how to choose 3 key words from each sentence to capture its main idea . At the close of the lesson your child has an outline of words to use to create their own paragraph about Booklice. They are encouraged to use only their notes and not look back at the origional paragraph.
I purchased this program years ago (I used it some but my children were not ready for it)and have the videos and teachers manual(it includes all of the student worksheets just not in a seperate notebook). The videos are really just the seminar for teachers however, I have loaned it out to my friends and they have used it for their instruction.
PM me if you would be interested in purchasing these from me. I have the entire program seminar plus the first 2 student units for 5th-7th grade. The only reason I am considering selling it is because my co-op wants to use the student DVD instead of my teaching videos and we will be splitting the cost of the program.
I hope this helps 
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Anne in TN
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wwandsprmn
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| Posted: Jan 11 2008 at 10:28pm | IP Logged
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We also use it in a co-op setting.
The kids would read traditional stories and have to rewrite them with the same model, changing the characters as they like. They learned the difference between strong and weak adjectives, verbs, etc.
I also have Teaching Literature Using the Socratic Method which I am starting this spring.
The videos are engaging and the Andrew the instructor infuses the lessons with humor.
They learn about paragraph structure, report writing, the whole enchilada! I really love it and recommend it to everyone. The kids really looked forward to the writing. I do think this works best in a co-op format where the kids can read their work to their friends though. I think it made the difference in their enthusiasm for the program.
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Heliodora
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| Posted: Jan 29 2008 at 8:48pm | IP Logged
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I purchased this last fall (the nine DVD teaching seminar), and have been viewing the DVDs in bits and pieces as it is quite a lot to digest.
I am very impressed with it- I know my children will enjoy it because instead of telling them to write "creatively" it gives them parameters to write in. They have enjoyed watching the DVDs along side me, although it wasn't designed for the children. It teaches how to write based on models of good writing. The idea is to teach YOU the teacher, how to teach writing, and how to incorporate it into your other subjects like history and science, instead of isolating it as its own subject.
The only downside is that it is very labor intensive for the parent. If you are looking for a curriculum with lesson plans then look elsewhere. (Although I do believe that IEW offers some other products that break it down a bit for parents- I haven't gotten that far yet.) The good news is that if you can persevere, and if you can implement this with your children, you will have good writers. I also think that once you have gotten into a habit, that it will get easier to give assignments.
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Prove all things, hold fast that which is good. -1 Thessalonians 5:21
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4Real Forums : Philosophy of Education
Topic: Review Institute/ Excellence in Writing
