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Hi everyone. I will be using Rev2Rev in the fall with my 6th and 7th grader, and need some help with choosing which writing book to use.

Last year, in RTR, my older son used the IEW Medieval Writing Lessons as scheduled, but my younger son used IEW All thing Fun and Fascinating. The year before in CTC my older son used IEW ancients, and my younger son used LLATL, instead of Write with the Best as scheduled.

So now I''m wondering if I should use Write with the Best (along with R&S English) instead of the creative writing book scheduled in Rev2Rev. I read a post a while back where Carrie said she plans on using WWTB 2 at some point, so I'm thinking they might be better prepared for that if they have been through the first level of Write with the Best before hand.

I am really overthinking this, , but I greatly desire my boys to have strong writing skills. I also want to be able to follow HOD's LA progression through High School, so I would like to go with whichever route would prepare them best for the writing in the upcoming guides.

Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks!

Allison

Hi Allison! I just wanted you to know that I am pondering this one. I want to take a look at WWTB 2 to see how necessary it would be to have had WWTB 1 first, but I can't get my hands on WWTB 2 right now. I am also wanting to compare the "Creative Writing Lessons" book with WWTB 1 and see which would fit your ds better. But, I don't have that book at my house either. So, I am unsure of advice to give, but I am going to try to get Carrie's opinion on this, and also get Carrie's books to look at so I can know my opinion on it better too! I didn't want you to think that this had gone unnoticed. Carrie and/or I will definitely get back to you with some thoughts on this. Sorry I am not any more help than this right now! I just don't feel like I can give very good advice until I have more information by comparing these programs.

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you, Julie. Carrie did say one focused on creative writing and the other on descriptive writing, but I am really curious if using WWTB would better prepare them for WWTB 2. Thanks so much for looking into it for me.

Allison

Allison,

Thanks for your incredible patience in hearing back from me! I'm immersed in writing, writing, writing right now and can only get on the board sporadically.

In thinking through what you've shared, I am leaning toward your older son doing The Exciting World of Creative Writing as scheduled within Rev2Rev. I think it will be a good change from the IEW he's done the last two years. There is so much training in The Exciting World... on writing to God's glory. In my opinion it does this aspect better than anything else I've seen. It also takes kiddos completely through the writing process in a less formulistic way. It is full of outstanding examples of good writing from classic literature as well as from Christian authors. This modeling from excellent passages makes the lessons so interesting and very CM!

As far as your second son in line goes, I'm thinking that if he has never done much in the area of descriptive writing, it would be good to go through WWTB with him. Kiddos don't need to have WWTB Vol. I in order to be able to do Vol. II, but I think that the jump from IEW's All Creatures Great and Small up to The Exciting World of Creative Writing would be fairly large. So, I think that WWTB would be a good stepping-stone for what will come next. You'll know better than me, but I also have found it's good for my older two boys to be in different writing programs if possible so there isn't so much comparison between them in the writing area. This is why my oldest did Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons on a different year than my youngest.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts! If you do end up with WWTB for your younger son, I'd alternate it with Rod and Staff grammar, so it doesn't get too heavy for him. If you happen to have the CTC guide, I'd just follow the schedule in that language arts box for your younger son for the year to get a good balance of dictation, DITHR, grammar, and writing.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you, Carrie. I really appreciate you taking time away from writing to help me figure this out. I feel much better now about the choices for next year.

Allison