The Write Foundation ~ Essays

I had the chance to review The Write Foundation's Essay Curriculum, I reviewed their paragraph curriculum here, to see first hand the changes they had made.  At first my son still was reluctant and kind of trying to avoid doing it but I soon learned the genius of the lessons and how it worked best for us.

We began doing a lesson over an hours time which was requiring my son to work on multiple worksheets. He was feeling overwhelmed until I realized these lessons could be Charlotte Mason –ized (forgive the word creation) into short lessons if we only worked on one concept/worksheet a day.

I still wish there was a copy of the students sheets in the Teacher’s Manual because often times I would be writing what my son was to fill in on his sheet and it was already there or I would be giving him instructions and it was already printed on his page to read himself. At 15 my son likes to be able to just take the work and do it mostly with out my help unless needed. This is where I stumbled onto what worked best for us, I got tired of having to go look at his page and just gave him the TM instead of writing it on the board and then we would talk about it as he wrote, brilliant, huh?!

Now let me point out here that there is an additional resources file that you receive with your purchase that includes copies of the student pages meant to be used either on an overhead projector or from your computer. I could never remember to go to this file and get what we needed so for me sitting the TM in front of my kid is what worked best. Not I am sure the author’s intent but that is why TOS Crew just voted this the Most Adaptable Curriculum in their Blue Ribbon Awards.

Check out the video below for the How-To’s of teaching this curriculum.

 

Here is what you get when you purchase the  Essay Writing Curriculum package:

• Spiral-bound Teacher Instruction Manuals with Lesson Plans (about 160 double-sided pages)

• 1 set notebook-ready Worksheets (about 200 pages)

• 1 downloadable Additional Resources file

  • Grading System

  • Grading Record Sheets

  • Word Games

  • Checklists

  • Teacher Presentation Sheets

  • Weekly Assignments

  • Extensive Reading list

There are a few ways to buy this package so to be clear I will explain. You can order the first half of the lessons, the second half of the lessons or all of the lessons. Basically this is so you can use it either by semester or an entire year. The complete package is 30 lessons and costs $70 plus tax and shipping. You may email or call for other package options.

To contact her:

Email:   bcelsor@sbcglobal.net 

Phone: 281-356-3556

There is also a Yahoo Group which can be found at thewritefoundation.

Overall I would say I am very pleased with the changes made and the curriculum in general. More specifically I really enjoyed the subject matter contained in the exercises for Essays and found my son was picking up on the teachings in a much easier fashion, he was learning and really did not realize it. I would say he was naturally becoming a better writer through the use of this program.

Disclaimer: I was provide with the first 15 lessons of this curriculum free of charge in return for my honest opinion. No other compensation was received.

Mandy