Do I need to add writing in Preparing ( for a state test)

[exodus4]

My son is required to take a state standardized test at the end of the year for 4th grade. This can be a descriptive or narrative writing, 5 paragraphs.

This is his first year in Preparing and rod and staff.Last year , except for writing in bob jones English, we did not do anything else for writing and he scored a 3 ( minimum for passing, maximum is 5 ) . His spelling and punctuation are excellent, but his composition lacks . One teacher I spoke with said that this is very common to homeschoolers,they usually excell in most areas, including math, spelling and punctuation, but lack composition skills .

I would like to improve his writing . I love the written narration and writing in science in preparing and also rod and staff, but since I am still at the beginning of the year, I wonder if I should add something else to prepare him for the skills needed for the state test ( descriptive and narrative) or these would be covered later in preparing? If I need to add something else, what's the best recommendation ? I already have IEW - All things are fun and fascinating , Write Shop and Winning with writing , and now I am seeing on this site Write with the best . I am not sure what to do , I don't want to give him so much work to do, especially if these skills will be covered later in preparing . Honestly,I haven't checked yet
I know there is a little writing in drawn in the heart of writing , which we have but since we are still adjusting to Preparing, we did not have time to implement it yet and if we add a writing program, I think I would just do DITHOR orally if the time is short.
Thanks for any suggestion !

[pjdobro]

You shouldn't need to add a thing to Preparing as far as writing. The guided lessons in Preparing on how to write a written narration should have him able to write a great narrative by the end of the year. I'm not for sure which R&S book you are doing but both of the ones scheduled in Preparing have some detailed writing instruction. In R&S3 they begin to work on constructing paragraphs and they take it even further in R&S4. I can't remember the details of what is covered in each year, but descriptive writing is one of the areas covered along the way. You could glance through the table of contents in your R&S book to find out exactly what will be covered.

Writing was one of the areas that I was most concerned about in my early years with HOD especially since it seemed that it is so pushed in Public School, but my dc have become really good at writing through the exposure to great literature and the step by step instruction along the way in the HOD guides. Preparing is already a full guide and I wouldn't want to add any more to the workload and it isn't necessary. You definitely wouldn't want to add Write with the Best as that is used in CTC. The very most I would do is have him do a sample or two of the type of writing that will be required of him on the test, but I would wait until closer to the end of the year after he has already been doing written narrations and covered the writing in R&S. You will probably be amazed at how much his writing skills have taken off after a year with Preparing. I know I was with my dc.

[exodus4]

Thanks Patty, I agree that the schools are pushing way too early and because of that , only 56 percent of 3rd graders passed this year!

We are using rod and staff 4 and it seems it has some writing instruction as well and with the instruction In preparing guide, I hope it will be enough.