Hi Ladies!
We have done CtC and RtR and will be using Rev2Rev this fall. For various reasons we did not use Medievel History Based Writing Lessons (yes, I wish we would have.)
My question is, what are the most important concepts that we missed in MHBWL that I should teach?
We have done WWtB, R&S 5, Paragraph Town, beta tested Writing With Skill, and did a couple story writing lessons. I think the summarizing has been covered in HOD's notebooking and storytime lessons so I guess I am most concerned regarding the essay, research, critique, thesis, and super essay lessons from MHBWL.
Will these be covered again in HOD?
Should I do one of IEW's American history based books this year instead of The Exciting World of Creative Writing or should I use The Exciting World of Creative Writing as planned in Rev2Rev and either do some "catch up" lessons over the summer or work some extra lessons in next year. I am more concerned that we cover academic writing well rather than creative writing.
Thanks for your insights!
Karen
What did we miss by not using Medievel Writing Lessons?
Re: What did we miss by not using Medievel Writing Lessons?
The Medieval-History Based Writing lessons taught dc to read a history-based writing piece, take notes in phrases with symbols within a keyword outline format, and use those notes to formulate their own version of the story. These basic steps were then elaborated upon, and dc had to use multiple resources, some provided and some sought out, to mesh their research and their key word outlines into a multiple paragraph essay. Many "dress-ups" were taught in the form of mini-lessons, and these had to be included within dc's writing pieces. Ample vocabulary was taught as well. A rubric was used to check for the inclusion of each of these skills learned. Different writing assignments taught different skills, like how to do a research paper, library research/oral reports, borrowing a conflict, writing a critique of a story of novel of choice, descriptive writing, lit. response, writing from a prompt, responding to a quote within the form of a contrast essay, and completing advanced research in the form of a 5 paragraph essay. I am not sure if this helps or not, but that is what was covered skill-wise. Since you own RTR, could you maybe just get the Medieval History Based Writing lessons and use RTR's plans to complete whichever assignments seemed to have skills your dd still needs to be exposed to? For sure the lit. critique, the writing prompt, and the contrast essay were new to our ds. The 5 paragraph essay is also an important one to do IMO. The descriptive writing and research, and more written narration type lessons have been introduced to dc within the LA of HOD already, and would not be new to your dd. HTH! 
In Christ,
Julie
In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie
Re: What did we miss by not using Medievel Writing Lessons?
Hi Julie,
Thanks so much for your reply. Unfortunately, funds don't allow for buying MHBWL
. Also, we won't have time to do the whole program so I was hoping to bring him up-to-date on the skills in a consolidated way or just add a few extra lessons. I don't want to add too much as HOD is already a full day for us! Ds writes very well as far as word choice and sentence variation so I am more interested in the structure rather than the style component of IEW. Plus we can easily add that aspect into his writing this next year. Thanks for typing up the skills covered. More to think on!
Karen
Thanks so much for your reply. Unfortunately, funds don't allow for buying MHBWL
. Also, we won't have time to do the whole program so I was hoping to bring him up-to-date on the skills in a consolidated way or just add a few extra lessons. I don't want to add too much as HOD is already a full day for us! Ds writes very well as far as word choice and sentence variation so I am more interested in the structure rather than the style component of IEW. Plus we can easily add that aspect into his writing this next year. Thanks for typing up the skills covered. More to think on! Karen
Re: What did we miss by not using Medievel Writing Lessons?
Karen,
At this point, due to the balance of the language arts in the guide, I'd be inclined to have your child do The Exciting World of Creative Writing as scheduled within Rev2Rev. This is because the heavier schedule of Rod and Staff and the writing across the curriculum in Rev2Rev would be too much written work by far when combined with a program like Medieval-History Based Writing Lessons.
I wouldn't really recommend using The U.S. History Based Writing Lessons in its place, as they will also be too heavy. The strength of Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons was its content when combined with the rich literature read within RTR. While you could possibly get that same feel from U.S. History Based Writing Lessons, it would be too much writing overall for the balance in the Rev2Rev guide.
If you're really worried about a bit more in the areas missed within Medieval Writing, which I can definitely understand, you could possibly consider adding Igniting Your Writing II, which does go into some of these areas. I would still keep The Exciting World of Creative Writing as scheduled, but then add Igniting Your Writing II once weekly on the 5th day only. You won't need to have Igniting Your Writing I first, as you've already done Write with the Best which is descriptive writing.
Blessings,
Carrie
At this point, due to the balance of the language arts in the guide, I'd be inclined to have your child do The Exciting World of Creative Writing as scheduled within Rev2Rev.
This is because the heavier schedule of Rod and Staff and the writing across the curriculum in Rev2Rev would be too much written work by far when combined with a program like Medieval-History Based Writing Lessons. I wouldn't really recommend using The U.S. History Based Writing Lessons in its place, as they will also be too heavy. The strength of Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons was its content when combined with the rich literature read within RTR. While you could possibly get that same feel from U.S. History Based Writing Lessons, it would be too much writing overall for the balance in the Rev2Rev guide.
If you're really worried about a bit more in the areas missed within Medieval Writing, which I can definitely understand, you could possibly consider adding Igniting Your Writing II, which does go into some of these areas. I would still keep The Exciting World of Creative Writing as scheduled, but then add Igniting Your Writing II once weekly on the 5th day only.
You won't need to have Igniting Your Writing I first, as you've already done Write with the Best which is descriptive writing. Blessings,
Carrie