I'm continuing this post series on our focus on the three R's and how we work them using the Robinson Curriculum (RC). As I add a bit of outside resources as I see fit and my own created resources I call our homeschool RC+. The heart of our philosophy remains RC. I've shared about our independent reading from the core reading list and our spelling and vocabulary options. I also previously shared an optional RC Science option we have used. Today's focus is WRITING!
This subject I find to be harder to teach than to do myself. I also discovered my expectations for my fifth grader's writing and what I was seeing were not aligned. I'm laughing in my head right now just thinking back on my expectations at the beginning of the year. The kind of laugh that has a snort in it. That's how off I was in my expectations. If you also have a student who needs some direct instruction with writing I hope this post is helpful to you.
Let me review some of the writing resources we have used so far this year. First, I started with handwriting practice from RC, then alternating the Third Reader's McGuffey Print Copywork and Cursive Copywork, and most recently Gentle Grammar. These were all helpful and great at moving us down the road to more independent writing.
We are currently using two daily resources. The first is Writing Fabulous Sentences & Paragraphs (WFSP). This is formatted for a classroom of students but I have found it works just fine in the homeschool setting. This book introduces a concept and then has pages for the student to do. I only do a page a day after introducing the subject. I like a weekly work cycle whenever possible so I do go over the main concepts that are introduced at the first of the week and then the rest of the week is independent work within the book that I check at our midday check in. I have caught a lot of errors and misunderstandings so I'm glad I check in.
The second is our Weekly Paragraphs Packet. In this packet I have a lesson plan overview that corresponds to the week and is based off the skills covered in WFSP. There are also writing prompts and a paragraph checklist. The packet leads the student through the writing of a topic paragraph one step each day until they have a final paragraph. I love that prep is just printing off a new weekly packet and writing in the book pages in my planner for WFSP.
I am using both of these resources at the same time as I am making up for some lost time as I felt my student was a little behind but ideally I would have done the workbook last year and then began the paragraph writing packet this year while continuing to use WFSP as a reference, but it's still gentle and simple using both together. Life just doesn't always line up the perfect timeline, ya know? We do our best. These two activities are easily finished within the one hour of daily writing allotted by RC. When we are through this book I will move onto writing multiple paragraphs and you know I'll have a weekly packet for that!
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