Advice for Classical Composition

[mamabearjd]

I feel like an idiot posting this, but I am reaching out for advice.

This is our second year of homeschooling. My ten year old started out in private school and was encouraged to write, write, write, without any structure. Last year we tried Writing With Ease and she hated it, plus I felt that it was overkill with the Memoria Press literature guides that we were using. I tried starting her in Classical Composition: Fable, but it seemed so foreign and I pushed it until I could review the teaching instructions.

This year we are doing, except for math, MP core curriculum. We are trying again with CC, and I feel awkward. I've never struggled to teach Language Arts! I was considering switching over to Writing With Skill and then working through Classical Comp over the summer.

Advice? (Especially from large families?) I've never balked at the difficulty of any other MP product - they are challenging, and we love them - but we are struggling here. I am not a bad writer, in my pre-homeschool days as an attorney I was published in professional journals - but I feel so unfamiliar with the progym that I think it is hindering her progress.


thank you!
Michelle

[SaintJude7]

Summer

I have a fourth grader and sixth grader that will both be doing Rod & Staff English during the school year and then Classical Composition during the summer. I like to do this with subjects that really need one-on-one attention. This past summer I had three children studying poetry, because I hadn't been able to cover it in-depth. They are still writing every day, and Rod & Staff has writing assignments, including letters. I just don't have the time each day to cover CC, not even if I used the DVDs. But I have seen how using the progymnasmata methods made my eldest a stronger writer.
Blessings,
Jude

Dd 16, Ds 13, Ds 11, Ds 8, Dd 6, Ds 4, Dd 16 mos.

[KF2000]

Michelle,
We started CC last year, and I will easily concur that a lot of it felt awkward and foreign. But I had read a few posts here and other places which helped us to just plug on through. The techniques do become easier as the familiarity grows...but it takes a few weeks in our experience. So my first suggestion is to try to stay calm, and give it a couple of weeks. I definitely have seen the value in our experience of letting it slowly sink in.

That being said, if you have done that already, and are still feeling the strain, Jude's suggestion of doing it in summer is a really good one as well...and one I have considered as well. I would like to have him doing writing assignments that are more tied to his other subjects, and that to me is one drawback to the "stand-alone-ness" of CC.

Just my $.02.

AMDG,
Sarah

[Kelly1730]

Michelle,
We started CC last year, and I will easily concur that a lot of it felt awkward and foreign. But I ha read a fe posts here and other places which helped us to jus plug on through. The techniques do become easier as the familiarity grows...but it takes a few weeks in our experience. So my first suggestion is to try to stay calm, and give it a couple of weeks. I definitely have seen the value in our experience of letting it slowly sink in.

That being said, if you have done that already, and are still feeling the strain, Jude's suggestion of doing it in summer is a really good one as well...and one I have considered as well. I would like to have him doing writing assignments that are more tied to his other subjects, and that to me is one drawback to the "stand-alone-ness" of CC.

Just my $.02.

AMDG,
Sarah

We are very new to CC, as in week 2, day 4 new, but I had this same thought, Sarah. I think we will take a week or two off of CC to do a history or science writing assignment every now and again through the year.

[mamabearjd]

thank you

I also have one who is doing Intro to Comp, so I will see if we can slowly make some progress...but I think we will likely set it aside and pick it up in the summer as a sort of writing intensive.

thanks so much for the advice.
Michelle

[pickandgrin]

Have you considered the DVDs?

Michelle,
My 9yo son (fourth grade) is working through Fable this year. I've found the DVDs to be extremely helpful and have taken the posture of learning along side him. I am new to the progym, want to improve my own writing and why not use this? I am even doing the work myself in a separate workbook. This is some sort of boon for my son, seeing that I have to write the same amount that he does. I got the idea of doing the work myself from Andrew Pudewa. I can testify that it greatly improves my understanding. The DVDs only have about 5 minutes of content per day. The instructor teaches and asks you to pause and fill in the blanks. As scheduled in the Lesson Plan, each fable takes two weeks: week one for developing familiarity with the content and week two focuses on manipulation (variation and paraphrase). It does require one-on-one and we're fitting it in during the toddler's afternoon nap and last night we did it right before bed--just wherever we can grab the 15 minutes.

Related, my son loves the fact that his instructor's name is Mr. Vaden. He's affectionately known as Darth Vaden in our home.

Just my experiences...
I hope you can find the perfect fit for your daughter,