Write with WORLD

 

 

• Write with WORLD
• From the publishers of God’s World News and WORLD Magazine
• Available from: www.writewithworld.com
• $95 per year or $165 when both first and second year books are purchased together.
• All purchases include access to the user website coming Fall of 2012

About the product: (taken from their website)

Write with WORLD is the middle school writing curriculum developed by education and media professionals. Use it to inspire and train your students to become proficient communicators who can meet educational requirements and navigate today's growing new media and conflicting worldviews.

Write with WORLD exposes students to:

• reading and critical thinking that develop discernment
• contemporary subjects and professional guidance to pique interest
• flexible exercises to build confidence and skill for using today's new media
• a thoughtful and meaningful Christian worldview

ClarkClan Thoughts

I have been a huge fan of World Magazine and God’s World News for years. When I heard that the publisher’s of World and God’s World News had written a curriculum to teach writing, I was excited to try it out.

Write with World has been a very good writing curriculum for Benjamin. Ben is in the 5th grade and really enjoyed working with this. Rebekah who is in the 4th grade joined us, but I could tell she was just a little bit too young for the program.

I liked the way the program is broken up into 5 different capsules. Each of these capsules were a great length taking us about 30 minutes to complete. We sat and worked through one capsule a day, thereby finishing one lesson a week. Because of the ages of my kids, I went over the lesson with them and sat while they completed the daily assignment. We used spiral tablets as our CWJ (which stands for Conversations: Writers Journal).

I found the lessons to be engaging and understandable. New vocabulary is introduced and used in each capsule. We took index cards and wrote the vocabulary words at the top, looked the word up in the dictionary and then wrote the definition that fit the context of the word. My kids favorite vocabulary word came from the first lesson: ubiquitous. Both of them will still use this word in daily conversation.

I liked that there were quotes and passages by published writers that “spoke” about good writing. These may have been more interesting to me because I have read World Magazine for years and enjoyed reading perspectives on writing from columnists I recognize. But more than that, my kids liked reading what actual “real-life” writers thought.

There is no specific grammar program with this curriculum. But grammar is taught as needed throughout the lessons. For example, lesson two has students looking at pictures and describing them. One capsule is on nouns,  one on adjectives, one on verbs and one on  adverbs to help make stronger sentences. I liked how the concepts built upon each other. They started simple, then became more complex as the lesson was completed.

Subscribing to World Magazine or God’s World News is not a requirement for using this program. But, because we had both, were were able to pull issues out and use these resources to complete assignments.

Since this curriculum is not available until next Fall, there is a  part of the program that I know is coming, I just have not experienced it for myself. What is still to come is a web site for users of the curriculum. This is to provide an online publishing opportunity for student  writers, as well as additional writing subjects to constantly freshen and augment what is in the textbooks.

I definitely think this is a solid, middle school writing curriculum. While I did use this with Rebekah, who is below middle school, I think she will get more out of it in about two years. Ben picked right up on it with no problems. I also think this could be a solid program for a high school student who has not had a formal writing course.

Read even more reviews about this writing program by visiting the TOS Crew Blog.

Disclaimer:  As an Independent contractor for The Old Schoolhouse and member of TOS Homeschool Crew I received a pilot copy of Write with World for free from God’s World Publications in exchange for my honest review of their product. All opinions given are mine and/or my children’s