Writing & Rhetoric Book 4: Chreia & Proverb Student Edition

I have now used the Writing and Rhetoric series from Books 1 through 7 across four daughters over the past two years. (This is a review of the entire series more than for any one specific book.) Two of my children are "reluctant writers," and for that reason I am especially impressed with this series. Even those two kids have completed all the work, as expected, with minimal difficulty. The amount of writing output from my "reluctant" 9th grader, who is now is Book 7, has amazed me. She started in Book 5, and I am glad that I trusted the process and that we got to where we are today. On the other hand, my oldest daughter is a natural writer, and has been creating a flow of stories ever since she could hold a pencil. This series has been a challenge for her to learn to think logically, organize her thoughts ahead of time, and use more advanced writing techniques (hyperbole, etc). So this is in NO WAY an easy or dumbed-down course. For both those reasons, I pretty much recommend this to anyone who asks me about writing curriculum now. As to specifics, I find this series ramps up quickly in difficulty. I used Books 1 and 2 in 4th grade, 3 and 4 in 5th grade, and after that I dropped to only one book a year. I am using a history course that also requires a decent amount of writing, and plowing through two of these books a year was just too much to handle when there is also writing in another course. If you do drop to one book a year, I would also recommend skipping Book 6. It's pretty much a repeat of Book 5. Doing both in one year (as scheduled) would make for good practice, but my oldest informed me that she felt like she wasted an entire year and didn't advance with it, and I had to agree with her. The rest of my daughters will skip Book 6. My youngest child has never done any other writing course beside this one, and I am was pleased that she could begin Book 1 with no prior instruction, and it took her step-by-step through everything she needed to know from the very beginning. I also appreciated the "reading comprehension" work that is included every lesson. Good writing comes from good understanding! I personally love writing myself, and have not gotten any teacher guides to date. I would recommend the teacher's guides for those who might not love to write, as some assignments do require quite a bit of explaining on my part and deep thinking on the part of the students. Mostly the books are very independent, which I also hugely appreciate. My kids have done all the work on their own unless they get stuck on an assignment. I consider this course to be "hands off, with occasional tutoring needed." Well done! Be aware, especially at lower levels, that there is little or no instruction on writing mechanics. Punctuation, spelling, and indenting is all left up to teacher instruction. I am fine with giving a brief lesson on things like that and then expecting/correcting mistakes as I correct each assignment. But for those expecting that, it will have to be added in from other sources. The occasional grammar lessons are an added bonus. (I tried out the corresponding CAP grammar course for one year and truly loathed it. But they way they use the study of adverbs or prepositions to improve writing in these books is very useful and well thought out!)

So far my son and I have loved the Writing and Rhetoric program. I think it is challenging without overdoing it. (Why write variations of a model sentence 20 times when 4 well crafted variations will do?) My son enjoys the stories and often asks me to listen to each....and....every....sentence he writes. He is so thrilled with his output. And he has decided that he wants to be an author someday, which is significant since he is severely dysgraphic.

I have made adaptations in this book on the major writing assignments, since it skips from short narratives in the previous book to 6 paragraph essays, and my son isn't quite ready for the writing load. His charter school teachers are thrilled with his writing.

Singapore Earlybird Math really works for us My 5-year-old daughter responds well to the fun illustrations and colorful yet not cluttered pages The way it introduces concepts is excellent For example it has the child count objects to see that 2 and 2 are 4 then progresses to writing it in a number sentence of 2+2=4 My daughter easily learned addition without even realizing it! It's so much better than just forcing her to memorize the math facts When she wants to figure out a number concept in everyday life I see her using Singapore-type methods to come up with a solution She'll draw two sets of circles in a notebook to figure out an addition problem that without Singapore I'm sure would be far too hard for her at this age I've heard some say they didn't like that Singapore does not repeat the same concepts over and over or that there isn't extensive practice but my daughter has not seemed to need it In fact I'm sure she would be bored with repetition once she understands a concept So far she says math is one of her favorite subjects I appreciate that teacher's notes are at the bottom of each page While they're meant for a classroom I have had no problem easily adapting them for homeschool The notes give activity ideas to bring the math concepts to life