Fun With Write Shop Primary B

I am very passionate about writing. I began writing short stories when I was only 6. Having a strong background with this skill has greatly influenced how I want writing taught in our homeschool. For a time, I thought about letting it occur naturally, but then I decided that we needed more direct instruction. My oldest takes everything very literally, so she does better when given steps to help her reach an end goal. After much researching we ended up with Write Shop Primary B.

Once I received the teacher's manual, I began reading it cover to cover. Initially, I was very overwhelmed. There was so much in the preparation part. It told me I needed pocket charts, large easel paper and all kinds of things I didn't want to buy. I was very close to not touching it this year. After taking a breather, though, I came up with a plan. I would do the lessons as listed but in a way that fit our homeschool. It really didn't take much changing. We just don't use chart paper or any of the fancy items.

Now, I will walk you through a lesson.

Each lesson begins with guided writing practice. You are given a prompt to follow each day to get you going. Tips for helping the student form their ideas are also in the manual. We usually write ours on our large white board or my daughter and I buddy write on a piece of paper. Sometimes, the day stops here. Other days, you work on your writing project for the unit.

Each unit has a writing project that you work on throughout each section. Our most recent one was definitely fun. Brina had to come up with our story about outer space. Her story was titled the Trip to Mars. Write Shop takes you through the whole writing process.

Pre-writing During the Pre-writing process, we used a star shaped graphic organizer and a short outline to organize Brina's ideas.

Rough Draft

Next comes the rough draft. Children are urged to work closely with the parent and use their graphic organizers to write their story. Write Shop suggested only 4-5 sentences. During the stage of writing, there is to be no focus on handwriting or spelling.

Editing and Revising This stage in our writing was so cute and simple. Brina sat down with a stuffed animal and went through trying to correct her work. I sat down with her as well. We made the correction right on the paper.

Final Draft Finally, Brina wrote her final draft. She used her rough draft and made the appropriate corrections. The curriculum wanted us to make a rocket ship out of an oatmeal box to stick her story inside. We came up with an easier idea. Her work is proudly hanging up on our school room door.

During this last 3 weeks of writing lessons, I think it finally hit me as to just bow great this writing program is. She is actually learning the steps in the writing process and also about different types of writing. It has just enough fun as well. The lessons are usually very short. Most days take about 10-15 minutes. I hope this helps anyone looking for a fun writing program. I will be sure to update again after the next 2 sets of lessons.

Kindergarten Selections for 2015-2016

I just can't believe it. My youngest child has started K this year. Siriana will be 6 in November and is very enthusiastic about school-most of the time. She is a very serious, smart girl that we just couldn't live without.

Here's a pic of our beauty. Don't let the sweet smile fool you. :)

So Siri has the advantage of being the second homeschooled child. She was started earlier than her sister was. She has completed the majority of Heart of Dakota Little Hands to Heaven and about 10 units of My Father's World Kindergarten. She has also completed half of All About Reading Level 1, Singapore Essentials K math and half of Christian Light Education's KII series. She has been a busy girl.

I had originally planned to use Heart of Dakota's Little Hearts for His Glory with her, but, just like with her sister, we have switched gears this year. I scoured the internet, read blogs and did my research. Here is what we have chosen.

For our core, curriculum, we will use My Father's World Learning God's Story. We are using the entire kit for now minus the art. So far, the selections are working quite well for her. She is currently on week 4.

Math: We will likely add more math at some point in the year-probably after Christmas. We will use Christian Light Education's 1st grade program.

Art: For art, we are using Home Art Studio's 2nd grade program with both girls. We have done 2 lessons from this DVD and it's a hit. The art lessons are based around fairy tales.

Siri is also following along in My Father's World Adventures with her older sister. Hopefully, I will have some posts of our school days up soon. It has been an amazing year so far, so I would love to share how our days are going. 

Our 2nd Grade Curriculum Choices

So much has changed throughout our homeschooling adventures! Last I wrote, we were using Heart of Dakota's core curriculum with both girls. At the time, I thought we would for sure be staying with them for the long haul. Word of advice: never claim you will stick with a curriculum. You never know where life will take you. Your homeschooling needs could change at any second. Last year I began working from home part of the year. This requires me to be on top of things and also use some curriculum that can be independent at least part of the time.

So now to update.

Brina is now a 2nd grader. I am still not sure how this happened exactly. She is a wonderful reader and catches on to most things quickly. She is, however, very literal in how she understands things. Abstract concepts are very difficult for her. Knowing this has helped me narrow down curriculum choices for her. Here is her curriculum lineup:

Core Curriculum: My Father's World Adventures
I chose this curriculum after deciding to leave Beyond Little Hearts. We greatly enjoyed Beyond, but I wanted to try a curriculum where I could combine my girls. I also just needed a change. When looking for a new core, I had a list of wants. I wanted something I could combine the girls in, something that used a combo of classic literature and more up to date suggestions, something with hands-on learning and hopefully something Christ-centered. After much deliberation, we took the plunge into MFW Adventures.

Math: Christian Light Education Grade 2
This is the second year we have used CLE. Its traditional, spiral approach provides a great math foundation.

Grammar: Growing with Grammar Level 2

Spelling: Soaring with Spelling Level 1

I had a hard time choosing spelling. We loved All About Spelling but it is very teacher intensive. I am hoping this works out for us.

Writing: Write Shop Primary B

While I know that writing is not necessary at this age, it is a skill I am passionate about. I want writing to be fun while teaching them how to convey messages in a coherent way.

Reading: Lots of good books

I want to instill a love of reading in my children. To reach this end goal,  I have decided to give Brina an array of books to choose from during the year. We might complete one or two literature guides, but she will get to assist me with those choices.We have forever to worry about analyzing literature. I am more worried in her finding the joy in curling up with a good book.

We are currently about to begin our 6th week of this school year. It has been going amazingly well. We will take a week break after this week for planning and refreshing. I am hoping a Sabbath schooling schedule will work well for us this year. I hope you enjoyed hearing about our 2nd grade curriculum selections! I will post Siri's kindergarten lineup sometime this week!