Re: your experience with IEW please
IEW has several products but they teach 9 units in total. They focus both on structure and style.
The Units vary from report writing to fiction, so it's not really accurate to say that every week is rewriting someone else's work. The way they teach story writing is interesting and helps kids figure out what to say. One unit is "Writing from the Brain" which could be more report-like but only comes from stuff you already know about.
The style "rules" are rigid, but you can drop them if your child already has a nice natural and mature writing style.
Some products like the Student Writing Intensive encourage the use of a thesaurus. Other products, like the theme books, have vocabulary words to match the lesson and kids are encouraged to use them. It's an easy amount. Not overwhelming.
I would encourage people using IEW for the first time to use a Student Writing Intensive because it has teaching videos. Although keep in mind that these do not cover all 9 units. OR watch the Teaching Writing with Structure and Style DVDs that were made to teach parents how to teach the curriculum. It's much easier to use the theme books if you already understand what IEW is trying to ultimately DO with the young writer. All of the clunky rules are not intended to be forced onto already good writing, but to offer practice to the writer who is at a basic level. If you child is beyond those rules, then they should be dropped. Too many parents quit IEW or complain about it because it produces clunky writing. The idea is to get kids to Write! and then with practice, fluency and beauty develop. You rarely get a kid who just inherently writes well from their first paragraph in third grade!
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Desiree, mom to 5 sweet blessings, Lacy 24, Jordan 22, Joanna 20, Emma 19, and Ethan 17
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