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| Review of Excellence in Writing by The Institute for Excellence in Writing |
Excellence in Writing is the first curriculum we used that actually met the needs of the
learning styles of my children.
The many other programs we tried - Calvert, Wordsmith Apprentice, WriteShop, Writing
Strands, Hands-On Essays, Essays & Research Reports plus writing books from Spectrum
Writing, Evan-Moor, etc. - are all prompt-based. They give children a prompt and the child is
supposed to go from there. But what if your child is a reluctant writer, really dislikes writing,
or just doesn't understand "how to start?" Have you ever given your child a piece of paper
and asked them to write about an experience they've had a the park and they look at you
with sadness (or sometimes lots of tears) in their eyes because they don't even know how to
begin? Then you know what I'm talking about.
Excellence in Writing is known for its ability to teach kids how to start and how to write well -
truly the only one to do this, in our humble opinion.
Their Teaching Writing: Structure & Style is a complete syllabus for teaching writing skills
to children in grades 4-10. When this program is followed, it will prepare your children with
writing skills far above their peers. I can personally vouch for this, as one of the first reports
my daughter wrote at age 12 was evaluated by an outside writing instructor and determined
to be at a 9th grade level. This system provides for a solid foundation for exceptional
performance in high school and college. Students will develop competency, independence,
and creativity with their writing.
The program contains 9 units of study: note taking and outlines, summarizing from notes,
summarizing narrative stories, summarizing from a single reference, writing from pictures,
library research reports, creative writing, formal essays, and formal critiques. The pace is
quite easily adjusted to ensure understanding and ability to utilize the techniques in addition
to meeting age, ability, and interests of the children - that's right, even the interests! You can
substitute any writing assignment to incorporate what interests your child.
This program is so complete that only some students will master everything taught; but all
students will master some of what is taught. And even that "some" is plenty for good, quality
writing.
Pros: What can I say - it's just awesome! And Andrew Pudewa is so entertaining for the
kids (and parents, too!) that he makes the learning to write so much fun!
Cons: It's a bit pricey, especially if you use the DVDs for the Student Intensive
Continuation Courses, which we do. Also, since my kids are "just the facts, ma'am" kind of
writers, there are many lessons on writing from pictures that we had to skip - making this an
even more expensive product for us. However, that said, it's still well worth the price.
NOTE: If you have a really reluctant writer who has trouble with this program initially,
check out Step into Writing, a great Primer to use prior to Excellence in Writing. I wrote this
for my children to use prior to Excellence, and they transitioned quite well.
learning styles of my children.
The many other programs we tried - Calvert, Wordsmith Apprentice, WriteShop, Writing
Strands, Hands-On Essays, Essays & Research Reports plus writing books from Spectrum
Writing, Evan-Moor, etc. - are all prompt-based. They give children a prompt and the child is
supposed to go from there. But what if your child is a reluctant writer, really dislikes writing,
or just doesn't understand "how to start?" Have you ever given your child a piece of paper
and asked them to write about an experience they've had a the park and they look at you
with sadness (or sometimes lots of tears) in their eyes because they don't even know how to
begin? Then you know what I'm talking about.
Excellence in Writing is known for its ability to teach kids how to start and how to write well -
truly the only one to do this, in our humble opinion.
Their Teaching Writing: Structure & Style is a complete syllabus for teaching writing skills
to children in grades 4-10. When this program is followed, it will prepare your children with
writing skills far above their peers. I can personally vouch for this, as one of the first reports
my daughter wrote at age 12 was evaluated by an outside writing instructor and determined
to be at a 9th grade level. This system provides for a solid foundation for exceptional
performance in high school and college. Students will develop competency, independence,
and creativity with their writing.
The program contains 9 units of study: note taking and outlines, summarizing from notes,
summarizing narrative stories, summarizing from a single reference, writing from pictures,
library research reports, creative writing, formal essays, and formal critiques. The pace is
quite easily adjusted to ensure understanding and ability to utilize the techniques in addition
to meeting age, ability, and interests of the children - that's right, even the interests! You can
substitute any writing assignment to incorporate what interests your child.
This program is so complete that only some students will master everything taught; but all
students will master some of what is taught. And even that "some" is plenty for good, quality
writing.
Pros: What can I say - it's just awesome! And Andrew Pudewa is so entertaining for the
kids (and parents, too!) that he makes the learning to write so much fun!
Cons: It's a bit pricey, especially if you use the DVDs for the Student Intensive
Continuation Courses, which we do. Also, since my kids are "just the facts, ma'am" kind of
writers, there are many lessons on writing from pictures that we had to skip - making this an
even more expensive product for us. However, that said, it's still well worth the price.
NOTE: If you have a really reluctant writer who has trouble with this program initially,
check out Step into Writing, a great Primer to use prior to Excellence in Writing. I wrote this
for my children to use prior to Excellence, and they transitioned quite well.
Country Hills Academy
| Our Grade: 7/09 A+ |