Institute for Excellence in Writing Review

I have homeschooled my children for more than 13 years.  I've noticed that, whether we are just starting out or whether we are "veteran" homeschooling moms, we never feel like we have arrived at the place we want to be as moms and teachers.  There are many things that I would do just the same way if I were able to start all over again.  There are some things I would completely change.  One of the things I would definitely change is the way I have approached writing with my children.


I was never really taught to write when I was in school.  Sure, I learned how to spell, use correct punctuation and grammar, and those kinds of "technical" things.  I don't remember ever being taught, though, how to do creative writing or essays or critiques or any of the other types of writing that exist.  I did learn how to do a research report, but that was about the extent of the writing I was taught to do. 


Several years ago, I began to consider what kind of writing program I could do with my children.  I realized that I wasn't teaching my children to write any better than I had been taught myself.  I knew I wanted to do better than that with them, but I honestly had no idea where to start. 


I began researching the different writing programs that are available.  I looked at so many that they all just began to run together--without any one particular program seeming to stand out above any other.  Then I came across the writing programs offered by the Institute for Excellence in Writing.  I immediately knew that I had found a program I was interested in!


I began to talk to other moms, do internet research, and read everything I could find about IEW.  I loved what I was seeing and hearing.  The next step was to decide which program I wanted to actually try.  As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I was given the opportunity to use and review the Teaching Writing/Student Writing Intensive Combo Pack plus a Portable Wall (Level A).  I was thrilled!  This was exactly the program I was hoping to try out with my children during the next school year!  I could hardly wait to get started!


This particular program is meant for students from 3rd-5th grades and costs $239.00.  You can see some information about all 3 levels that are available here.  You can see more details about Level A, the level I'm using with my children, here.  My younger daughter is in 3rd grade this year, and my son is in 8th grade.  I decided to do Level A with both of them since I felt sure I could modify the lessons to require more from my older child while still using a level that my younger child could handle.  It worked beautifully!!


My children absolutely loved watching the DVD lessons taught by Andrew Pudewa.  From the very first lesson, they loved him!  He was funny and interesting and not at all stuffy or boring like my children were just sure that he would be.  In fact, the only negative about the DVD lessons was that my children wanted to listen to a DVD lesson every single day instead of watching a lesson, taking a few days to do the work associated with that lesson, and then watching another DVD lesson.  They actually began begging to do writing each day!  I was so thrilled with their response that I was just sure it couldn't last.  But it did.


I listened to the DVDs that are meant for the teacher because I wanted to know better how to help my children as well as for my own sake.  In fact, I had the option of listening to the teacher DVDs and then teaching my children instead of having them watch the lessons taught by Mr. Pudewa.  I thought I'd allow them to watch the DVD lessons, though, if they wanted to in order to take a little bit of the pressure off of me.  After we began using the lessons taught by Mr. Pudewa, I was really glad I'd made that choice since they enjoy his lessons so much. 


One of my favorite things about IEW is that the students are allowed to model or imitate good writing that was written by other people instead of just suddenly being asked to think of their own topics and information and writing about them.  When we first began using IEW, I thought maybe that wasn't such a great idea and that the students were being given too much help so that they would never be able to write without being provided with the basic outline to follow or copy.  Now I realize, though, that if students are given plenty of chances to imitate "good" writing, they will be much more comfortable and much better able to produce their own "good" writing. 


At first, I was a little overwhelmed by all of the wonderful information that was included in the combo package that I received to use and review.  It didn't take long to look through it all and begin using the materials, though, and now I'm so glad I did! 


I do usually have to help my 8-year-old a good bit on her assignments.  My 14-year-old, however, is perfectly capable of following the directions and doing the assignments independently.  I often work along with them just because I'd like to improve my own writing skills along with them. 


I can absolutely say that this is a writing program I will continue to use with my children.  There are other programs offered by IEW if you want to start with a smaller package.  I enourage you to check out their website at www.excellenceinwriting.com to see what they offer.  I also encourage you to take a look at what some other Crew members had to say about their experiences with IEW.  You can do that here. 


If writing is something you don't enjoy, don't want to teach, or just don't feel adequate to teach, I hope you will love IEW as much as my family and I do!  Happy writing!

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Breaking News

I've gotten Facebook messages, emails, text messages, and phone calls this past week from so many of my wonderful friends!!  I thought I would post an update here on my blog for those of you who have been asking how Noah is doing. 

For those who don't know what happened, my 14-year-old son, Noah, broke his jaw a week ago!  Yep.  Broke it.  Some of you have asked how it happened, so here's the story.....

Last Sunday, May 1, Noah was playing the Wii in the living room.  I was attempting to take a nap because I'd had a busy week and was really tired.  Everyone else was occupied too.  We were all just taking it easy and enjoying our Sunday afternoon.  Around 2:30 or so, my husband came running into the bedroom and woke me up.  All he said was, "It's Noah.  Come here......NOW!"  If you know Scott, you know he doesn't yell.  He's usually calm and collected.  Not this time. 

Needless to say, I was instantly awake and running into the living room.  There I found Noah sitting on the floor and holding his chin with blood dripping from his hands.  I couldn't tell if the blood was coming from his teeth, his nose, his chin, or where.  He kept saying, "I think it's broken!"  (He was a little panic-stricken and in lots of pain!)  I finally calmed him (and myself) enough to try to find out what had happened and where the blood was coming from.

He had been playing ping pong on the Wii when he blacked out.  We don't know why he blacked out, and the doctor didn't seem too concerned about it.  We still don't know why it happened, but hopefully it won't happen again!  Anyway, for some reason he blacked out and fell face first onto our stained concrete floor!  When he woke up (which was just seconds later), he sat up and realized that something was terribly wrong and that he was in great pain.  I think he realized right away that his jaw was broken--or at least he thought it might be. 

Turns out the blood was dripping from the cut on his chin which happened when he hit the floor.  The cut wasn't actually too bad.  It just looked bad because cuts on the head usually bleed a lot.  Once it heals, it will hardly be noticeable at all.  That was the good news.

Scott and I immediately called a neighbor to come stay with the girls while we rushed Noah to the emergency room.  They took him back pretty quickly and did an x-ray to try to see if his jaw was broken, fractured, or what.  The x-rays at the hospital looked as if his jaw bone was just fractured.  They said it would be best, though, to follow up with another doctor here in town who specializes in oral and maxillofacial surgery.  First thing on Monday, we saw the specialist and had more x-rays done.  It was very clear from the x-rays on Monday that his jaw bone was broken all the way through.  That was the bad news.

The doctor, because it was an emergency, did surgery on Noah that very afternoon to wire his top and bottom teeth together.  He said that he could have put a metal plate over the broken bone, but there were several reasons why he thought the wiring together was the best option.  After listening to him and weighing our options, we agreed with him and went ahead with the wiring. 

Poor Noah had been in so much pain since the afternoon before, and he had been unsure of what was going to happen.  He was pretty stressed out by Monday afternoon when it was time to do the procedure.  He made it, though, and Scott and I did too! 

He was in a lot of pain for the first 2 or 3 days.  He was taking some pretty strong pain medicine and was sleeping a lot.  On about Thursday or Friday, though, the pain started decreasing, he started resting much better at night, and he was beginning to feel a little better in general.  Now, a week after the procedure to wire his teeth together, he isn't taking any pain medicine at all and is feeling pretty good.

The main problem now is that he doesn't have much energy since he can't eat "real" food.  He's been living mainly on Ensure milkshakes and cream of chicken soup.  He can only eat whatever he can suck through a straw until the wires are taken off!  We don't really know how long that will be, but the estimate is 4 to 6 weeks.  He'll go back to the doctor once a week for x-rays to see how it's healing and decide when the wires can be removed. 

So far he's been really good about not resenting it when the rest of us eat.  I was afraid it would upset him or make him miserable.  We don't make him sit at the table with us when we eat meals (but of course he's welcome if he wants to), and we try not to eat candy or cookies or things that might be particularly tempting in front of him.  He hasn't wanted to try drinking applesauce or other kinds of creamed soups (like tomato or mushroom, etc.).  I figure he'll get pretty sick and tired of milkshakes and cream of chicken soup, though, and maybe he'll try some other things then. 

I am so thankful that he is alive and well and that no worse damage was done to him.  Times like this make me realize that life can change in an instant.  We always think that things like that happen to other folks, but sometimes we ARE the "other folks."  We surely do appreciate the prayers for comfort and healing for Noah and ask that you keep on praying!  Soon he'll be healthy and well.  And then we'll all have to listen to his "war" stories!  I'm looking forward to that day!  :) 

Signs of Spring