The Write Foundation Lessons 16-30

I was given The Write Foundation's Essay Writing Lesson 1-15 to review for TOS.  The author, Rebecca Celsor, then offered the second half of the curriculum, Lessons 16-30, for use and review.  She completed a major edit of her curriculum and was eager to share the changes.

Just like I did for the first half, I received a set of student worksheets ready to be put into a binder and a spiral bound teacher's manual that has instructions for use, answers for the worksheets, a step-by-step guide for each lesson, and an assignment page that sums up that week's work.

Lesson 16-30 are much more on par with the level of curriculum that Dragonette is ready for.  It includes 5-paragraph essays; how to set up, research, and execute research papers with works cited; and timed essays.

Since the edit, the instructions in the the teacher's manual are more clearly written and the typographical errors are gone.  Some of this may be that I am more familiar with how the program works going into it, as this is a complex program.  But nonetheless, the explanations are much more organized and are arranged to be more pleasing to the eye and therefore much more easily searched and reviewed.  

While this is still a Christian-based program, it no longer hits you over the head in religious rhetoric, and for that I am truly grateful.  The examples in lessons 16-30 are everyday sentences and adding in Biblical references and topics is much more easily adjusted to your personal needs.

I like the way this curriculum takes you step by step through essays and research papers.  This can be a tough topic to teach because it often has to be broken down for a student which can lead to a lot of frustration for the teacher/parent.  Breaking things into small steps is something this curriculum does well.  I was able to use the steps and apply them to the topics Dragonette needed to write about in her literature curriculum.  The two curricula dove-tailed together very nicely.

The timed writing in this program has been valuable, too.  The ACT and SAT tests now have writing components, as do many AP tests.  This is a skill that is often overlooked in many subjects written for homeschoolers.

If the first 15 lessons of this curriculum have been edited to a product similar to the last 15 lessons, this curriculum is now worth a serious look.  If you are teaching a co-op it gives you a good framework for a class.  It can be used at home, but as with most curricula, it moves a bit slowly for us in places.  But we were able to skip thorough things that we needed to easily.

The price has also been adjusted with this curriculum.  It is no longer sold in stores, so the writer was able to adjust the price to a more family friendly amount.

Chose from Sentence, Paragraph, or Essay Level. Three different packages are available from the The Write Foundation for each level:

Curriculum Package 1: Lessons Complete 1-30  $69.95 + tax and/or shipping. 
            Spiral Instruction Manual Lessons 1 – 15
            Spiral Instruction Manual Lessons 16 – 30
            Student Worksheets Full Set Lessons 1 – 30
            Essay Additional Resources (download to your computer immediately after purchase) 

Curriculum Package 2: Lessons 1-15   $39.95 +  tax and/or shipping. 
            Spiral Instruction Manual Lessons 1 – 15  
            Student Worksheets Lessons 1 – 15
            Essay Additional Resources (download to your computer immediately after purchase) 

Curriculum Package 3: Lessons 16-30  $39.95 + tax and/or shipping. 
            Spiral Instruction Manual Lessons 16 – 30 
            Student Worksheets Lessons 16 – 30  
            Essay Additional Resources (download to your computer immediately after purchase) 

Instruction Manuals Only are available separately for a cost of $29.95 each for Lessons 1-15 or 16-30 + tax and/or shipping.