which writing program or software worked best for your child

Choosing a writing program that works for your child can be very difficult. A lot of teachers on these boards like Step Up to Writing, but it does not appear that easy for a parent to implement. For computer programs there is Inspiration, a computer program that essentially automates webbing. This is effective for some children and just too messy for others like my ds, who likes a more structured approach. Draftbuilder appears to be moe structured, but I haven’t tried it because unlike Inspiration, there is no trial download available. Neither of these deal with style.

On the homeschooling boards one hears good things about Writeshop and Wordsmith Apprentice (includes a lot of grammar review), as well as Institute for Excellence in Writing. I’ve looked at sample pages from the first two and they didn’t look like something my ds could latch on to. I think it is Writeshop that has in one of its ealiest assignments “describe a pencil.” I would be lucky to get one sentence from my son on that.

I personally like the approach of IEW because it takes away the anxiety of what to write about and coming up with ideas by having kids rewrite passages. It addresses both structure and style. The downside of this program is that it uses videotapes (or DVDs) with some of the main ideas and materials included in a binder. The lecturer is very good and engaging, but this would not be my preferred way to figure out a program. Nonetheless, I ordered the student workshop tapes and had my ds do them on his own with pretty impressive results. I have not systematically followed up (due in part to his resistance) unfortunately. You can get a good idea of IEW’s approach if you go to www.writing-edu.com and read, under the articles section “Writing Without Tears.” It explains the approach and gives a thorough example that you could try on your child to see if this a method that could work for him. (You can also view video samples of IEW on the website.)