Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
The Write Foundation: Homeschool Writing Curriculum is a writing curriculum that has 5 different levels for ages 8-18. The Entry Level I: Prepare to Write is for ages 8-11. Entry Level II: Creating Sentences is for ages 9-12. Level 1: Sentence to Paragraph Writing is for ages 12-14. This is the level that we reviewed. Level 2: Paragraph Writing is for ages 14-16. And, Level 3: Essay Writing is for ages 16-18. There are free samples for each of the levels to help determine which level best fits your child’s academic level. Reading lists are also available for each writing level. Step-by-Step lesson plans help guide the parent as they teach the student through the course. In Level 1: Sentence to Paragraph Writing there are 30 lessons. There are two spiral notebooks. Each spiral notebook contains instructions for 15 lessons.
Sentence to Paragraph Writing, developed for ages 12-14, or 7th through 9th grade covers grammar, sentence composition, paragraph structure, and writing organization. My 11-year-old, 6th grader has been working her way through this level over the past couple of months. This curriculum is perfect for homeschoolers. This would also work really well for the co-op setting. Everything is precisely written out so that there is minimal preparation for the parent. This program would work well for most all learners. For the learner that is struggling a bit with writing the parent can be a bit more hands on. For the student that excels at writing you can easily bump them up a level to challenge them in their writing. The reading that goes along with the curriculum, there are multiple levels of books from easier to more difficult books. One aspect of the curriculum is reading good literature. They stress that the best readers make for the best writers. Even though this particular level is for 7th to 9th graders they still encourage reading to students in addition to listening to audio books as well as encouraging students to select books to read independently. There is a point system and it is determined by the length of the book as well as the reading level. For example, a 4-point book would be, The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh. A 14-point book example would be, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. A 20-point book example would be, Jane Austen’s, Pride and Prejudice. Let’s take a look at a lesson so that you can better understand exactly how the curriculum works. At the beginning Lesson 5 there is a layout for a 5-day or a 9-day set-up. For most weeks we chose to go with the 5-day lay-out. I should preface by saying that The Write Foundation uses Mind Benders® in its curriculum. For Level 1: Sentence to Paragraph Writing they use Mind Benders® Level 3. Back to Lesson 5. Here is the lay-out of Lesson 5.
Lesson 5
Day 1
1. Students complete work from Day 4
2. Mind Benders®
3. Adverb Practice
Day 2
1. Adverb Game
Day 3
1. Warning Sentences, Students Brainstorm, Writing Assignment
Day 4
1. Students write, edit, and type 6 warning sentences
Day 5
1. Concrete Poetry, students write poetry
Students are guided at the beginning of the program as to how to create their three-ring binder with written tabs. As assignments are completed students place completed work in the designated section in their binder. The sections are: Worksheets, Assignments, Checklists, Word Lists, Lesson Notes, Reading List, Graded Work, and Mind Benders®. The Worksheets, the main part of The Write Foundation student curriculum come already hole punched and ready to go into a binder. Students simply have to go to the worksheet that corresponds to the lesson and worksheet that the teacher requests such as, Lesson 5, Worksheet WS2. Grading is pretty straight forward as well. In the student’s worksheets there are checklists listing exactly what must be contained within each assignment. For example, at the end of Lesson 5 students must write out 10 Warning Sentences. Each sentence must contain 8 words. The student must write, edit, and type each sentence using the information from the Waring Brainstorm. The sentences must follow the Sentence Writing Checklist. Each sentence must state, the name of the product with a warning or reason for warning. An adverb (‘ly) without repeating any ‘ly adverbs. I did not require my daughter to type out her sentences. It should also be noted that the books that go along with the literature must be purchased on your own.
Overall, as a whole, I was quite impressed with the curriculum and would recommend it to my friends and fellow homeschoolers. My daughter actually liked the curriculum. She liked that it had clear and easy to follow instructions and, in her words, “made sense.” I loved that good literature was included in the curriculum! This was a huge drawing point for me. My daughter liked that she got to choose from a wide variety of books. I also liked that the literature books were broken down into a point system to help parents figure out about the level of book their child needed to read. The curriculum was in my daughter’s words, “not boring like a lot of other writing curriculums.” I would have to agree with her on this point.
There really wasn’t anything that I disliked about the curriculum.
The Write Foundation ~ Level 1: Sentence to Paragraph Writing curriculum throughout its 30 lessons cover how to write descriptive sentences all of the way to writing concise single paragraphs. Emphasis on grammar and figures of speech will be studied as students learn the writing process. Be sure to go to the website to check out all of the levels and to read more about The Write Foundation.
-Product review by Jennifer Ladewig, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, May 2020
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