Institute For Excellence In Writing Negative Reviews

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

When my older kids were younger, we joined a homeschool co-op , where they were taught the Institute for Excellence in Writing® curriculum. I felt it was greatly beneficial to their writing and wanted to continue it for the other kids. I haven't been able to find a class for the littles, so I was super excited to have the chance to review Structure and Style® for Students Year 1 Level A from Institute for Excellence in Writing®.

Structure and Style® for Students is a 24 week writing curriculum that is taught via an online or dvd video course. IEW® provides daily assignments that include literary elements, vocabulary words, and help to improve writing. This course has lesson plans for five days per week. These plans include watching the videos, outlining, writing, peer editing, re-writing, and presenting.

The Structure and Style® for Students Year 1 Level A that we reviewed is geared toward 3rd-5th graders. The program includes a student binder, teacher's manual, 24 DVDS or 24 Forever Streaming Videos. We received the Forever Streaming Videos. I am glad for that option so I can continue using this with my youngest when he's ready for the program.

Throughout the summer, I have been using Structure and Style® for Students Year 1 Level A with my 4th and 5th graders. I think working through this program together has been a great fit for my girls. One of our favorite weeks included the fable of The Fox and the Stork, and we will feature that week's lessons in this review. Below you can see how a typical week goes through this program:

On Mondays, they watch part of a video and write their Key Word Outline (KWO) for that week's literary piece. On Tuesdays they will watch the rest of the video and test their KWO by retelling it out loud to each other or to myself or another sibling. From there, they work on adding adverb dress-ups or other descriptive words to enhance their writing. Wednesdays, they write their summary of the literary piece, including the adverbs they added. After it is written, the girls read their paper out loud, which catches some errors in their writing. Then my girls swap with each other for peer editing. Once they have looked over each other's papers, I collect them to add a little extra editing where needed. Thursday is the day to write out the final draft and make any final changes. Friday it's turned in!

Very little teacher prep is needed in order to start this program each week, which is perfect for our busy homeschool. It also doesn't require a large involvement from me since they are watching the teacher on the videos. The kids find the teacher quirky and fun and do not mind watching the lessons.

Below you can see the rough draft of my 4th grader's work before any editing has taken place. The program recommends writing in pen and skipping lines to add in any corrections.

We have been very pleased with our experience and I know the girls are learning more about writing in a wonderful way. I plan to get Level B for next school year and continue using this curriculum for them. So thankful for a great way for them to learn IEW® at home.

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