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National Writing Institute: Writing Strands Review by Tim and Tina Rice and Heather Jackowitz
http://www.writingstrands.com/"Reading is an important skill, with the potential to open doors of opportunity and enjoyment for our children." -- The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine
The National Writing Institute is well known for Writing Strands. They also publish Communication and Interpersonal Relationships, Reading Strands, and several novels. I reviewed Writing Strands Level 6, Writing Strands Evaluating Writing, and Communication and Interpersonal Relationships.
Writing Strands is a curriculum designed for homeschoolers, not a public school curriculum made available to homeschoolers. Assignments come with detailed instructions. Level 6 (for the older high school student) features assignments in creative, expository, research, and report writing. There are 12 exercises divided into 2 semesters. Each semester has a parent report page for record keeping purposes. My favorite assignment was writing business letters. Writing Strands Level 6 includes many forms that can be copied for use by multiple students in one family. Writing Strands Level 6 is difficult! If your older teen is a poor writer consider using Level 5.
Writing Strands Evaluating Writing is an optional part of the Writing Strands program. Evaluating Writing is a parent resource designed to help parents evaluate what their children write. It is a fantastic resource book that can be used with any writing program. Approximately half of the book deals with specific Writing Strand exercises in levels 2-5. The other half of the book contains sections on spelling rules, common writing problems and how to correct them, rules for drafting papers, and a scope and sequence for Writing Strands. I found the spelling rules to be extremely helpful.
The final item I reviewed is Communication and Interpersonal Relationships. This book is designed to teach about communication techniques for dealing with people to whom you are close to (in other words your family and friends.) Many communication techniques are presented in Communication and Interpersonal Relationships. When you are through with this book you will be better able to use your words wisely and have more positive interactions with those you love. Chapters include Eye Contact, How Not to be a Bore, I Can Top That, Understanding Other People's Point of View, How to Disagree, and more. I found the chapter on How Not to be a Bore very practical.
Check out the National Writing Institute at www.writingstrands.com. They are dedicated to providing high quality reading, writing and speech materials for homeschoolers. They have a fantastic website with an awesome links page. Their website is easy to navigate, contains a listing of all their products, reviews from happy users (parents and students) and online ordering.
-- Product Review by: Tim and Tina Rice, Senior Research and Development, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine
Review of Writing Strands Level 4
What makes Writing Strands the most recommended writing program for homeschoolers? It is not only thorough but also exceptionally easy to implement in a homeschool setting. From Level 3 on, instructions are written to the student directly in an enjoyable, conversational tone. Parents are to monitor and give feedback every step of the way, but it is almost like having Dave Marks as a personal writing tutor for your child.
Susan Wise Bauer, co-author of The Well Trained Mind and professor of literature at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, has prepared a chart comparing Writing Strands to Institute for Excellence in Writing at http://www.welltrainedmind.com/J00review.html. In addition to Ms. Bauer's recommendation, I asked my friend who is a professor of rhetoric and writing to check out the program, and he gave it high praise. The only criticism I have heard from a couple of friends who use Writing Strands is that the author's tone is "flip". Personally, I like his sense of humor, and so does my nine-year-old daughter. For example, at the beginning of Level 4 he says, "If you don't understand something, you can blame me. You could say to whoever you're working with, 'Of course, I don't understand what Dave's talking about; even his wife doesn't always understand him.'"
The focus of Level 4 is on these four skills: basic, creation, organization, and description. Exercises cover sentences, connections, main points, feelings, narrative voice, tenses, paragraphs, person, and more. Exercise #3 teaches students to write a summary of a story including all the main points. I really like this exercise for making the transition from oral to written narrations. There are many good writing programs available, but this one is inexpensive, complete, and easy to use. Check it out at www.writingstrands.com.
-- Product Review by: Heather Jackowitz, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine
Writing Strands Level 2: Challenging writing projects for homeschoolers
Dave Marks of the National Writing Institute has revolutionized the way home schoolers teach writing! Many home schoolers are intimidated by the task of teaching writing. Mr. Marks has made the task much more manageable by providing exercises, planning and details to help us in our task. The Level 2 book, intended for children who are at the second grade level, is appropriate for the child who can independently write the sentence, "The dog is big." If your child can do that, they can succeed at this program.
This volume of Writing Strands covers these mastery skills: adjectives, listing, reporting, paragraphing, ordering actions, grouping and variety, story writing, convincing, dialogue, letter writing, personal narration, comparison, greeting cards, role playing and imagination. It is anticipated that each unit will take four days or sessions to complete. The student then fills out his own record of progress n which he evaluates how he did on that unit. The daily work progresses from easier to more complex. For example, in the unit on interviewing, day one is devoted to reviewing the rules of punctuation in dialogue. One day two, the child writes an interview which they conduct with a non-person, such as a tree, cat or bike (cute!). On day three, he begins to write his interview paper, incorporating the work of the previous days. Day four is devoted to polishing and completing.
The goal of the author is to provide a complete writing program using a process approach to writing and composition. I appreciate the attention to detail and instruction offered in getting children to try different kinds of writing and in exploring the many aspects of the process. This series is immensely popular with home schoolers and I can understand why! A complete series of levels is available, extending through the college preparatory level.
