Homeschool Writing Curriculum Takes the Fear Out of Writing

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For years now I’ve been telling you that writing is a struggle in our homeschool. Each year I set off to find the perfect homeschool writing solution to help my son get over the fear of writing. But today, I’m not going to tell you about the struggle. Why? Because we’ve finally solved the problem and taken the fear out of homeschool writing.

Yes! You read that right. We’ve finally found the best solution to help my son go from a reluctant, hesitant, and sometimes angry writer, to a willing participant in the writing process.

I received this product for free and am being fairly compensated for my time in writing and preparing this review. All opinions expressed are my own, and I am not required to write a positive review. However, you’re gonna see that I LOVE this product! This post also contains affiliate ad links to 3rd party products.

Last year, I had a chance to check out Writers in Residence™ Volume 1 from Debra Bell. I was excited by all that I saw and couldn’t wait to get started with my son.

And as I reported then, he stopped grumbling when it was time to do his writing lesson. Which in and of itself was a HUGE step in the right direction. But, if I’m being honest, I still worried that as the year progressed he’d fall back into his routine of complaining each time I mentioned a writing assignment.

But, do you know what? It didn’t happen. HE WASN’T COMPLAINING. In fact, he grew to be excited by each lesson. He even found joy in working through each rubric with me because he was dedicating a good amount of time to the PROCESS of writing.

I think the difference for my son was learning the importance of the writing process. Over the years no matter how many times I’d say… Writing is a process, and process takes time, he would just get frustrated at what he thought was criticism when I’d ask him to edit his work. But with Writers in Residence™ Volume 1 he learned step-by-step HOW the process works. And he began to embrace it.

Here’s the BEST Part! My son no longer hates the writing process. In fact, he’s begun to incorporate writing into his everyday life. Writers in Residence™ has given him more confidence in all areas of communications. Verbally, he’s more confident in what he says to others.

He’s even started to text, call, and chat with his friends all over the country, because he no longer has a fear of what to say. He’s even begun writing his own scripts for doing mini how to videos for Minecraft. I can not begin to explain what an enormous step this is for my asynchronous, emotionally intense, son.

Homeschool Writing Curriculum That Kids Love

Of course we’re moving on to Writers in Residence ™, Volume 2 All -In-One Student Text and Workbook and Answer Key.

Here’s the thing, even though my son is a high school student. His asynchrony means that there are areas of learning that aren’t as a advanced as others. Writing has been the biggest struggle area for him academically.

So, even though he’s in high school, I’m using the material that is right for his needs at this time. Which in this case, is an upper elementary to middle school curriculum.

That’s the great freedom we have in homeschooling, we meet the needs of our kids wherever they are.

Writers in Residence™, Volume 2 All-in-One Student Text and Workbook and Answer Key provides everything your student will need to gain confidence in writing for high school. In fact, the foundations they learn in this material will carry them all the way through college.

What You Need to Know About
This Homeschool Writing Curriculum

You will receive a large all-in-one volume workbook for your student and an answer key with teaching notes for the teacher. The teacher’s answer key and teaching notes book is the teacher’s companion to the student’s workbook.

The all-in-one workbook contains both the instructional text, and workbook, as well as the grading rubrics for scoring the student’s work.

Speaking of the scoring rubric. These dynamic rubrics take the fear out of the writing process for both the student and the teacher/parent. Using this answer key coupled with the rubric allows you the mom/teacher to fairly score your child’s work without worrying about whether you are being too lenient or too tough. It makes it so simple.

Builds grammar skills

Learn through the stories of professional Christian authors
A detailed 32-week lesson plan for easy planning
Evaluation rubric for every assignment makes scoring simple

Students will learn these important writing skills

▬ Investigative Research Writing

Understanding Non-Fiction Writing Styles

How to Include a Bibliography
- The Importance of Citations
- How Not to Plagiarize
- MLA Style

▬ Argumentative Writing

How to gather data

Organization of Information
Outlining Skills
How to Write a Thesis

How to Use a Writer’s Voice

▬ Writing Poetry

Poetic Form

Alliteration
Haiku
Cinquain

Point of View

▬ Fantasy Writing

Setting

Climax
Character Development
Extraordinary Exploits

Writers in Residence™is unique in that it utilizes written content as a guide for how a writer can develop their pieces. It’s a complete Language Arts curriculum in that it incorporates a complete grammar study, vocabulary, as well as homeschool writing. You won’t need a grammar curriculum.

Whether you have a struggling writer in your school, or, you as a homeschool teacher struggle to know how to score a written assignment, then Writers in Residence™ will solve the struggle for you. Debra Bell’s step-by-step guide helps your kids know exactly what to focus on to develop a written piece. At the same time she guides parents in how to be a writing coach and how to help the student edit their own work. Plus, the rubrics take the fear out of both the writing and the grading process.

I used to worry about him. I mean, here’s this kid who is so advanced in math, science, and even grammar. He taught himself to read and even to write in cursive by age 3. But, he wouldn’t write 3 sentences without a lot of tears and frustration from both of us. Here’s this kid who wants to become an architectural engineer and design amazing things. But, I would worry, how could he possibly go to college, and get a degree, if he couldn’t/wouldn’t even write a single paragraph?

But, I’m now fully confident that once he completes Writers in Residence™ Volume 2, he’ll have the skill set he needs to launch him toward college success.

Have YOU given Writers in Residence a try with your kids yet? Let me know if you are using it in your school. Or, if you are thinking of giving it a try and have questions, I’d be more than happy to discuss this curriculum either here, or over on my Facebook Page.