Saturday, July 28, 2012

Essentials in Writing Review

I used Essentials in Writing last year, and I really like how the author (Matthew Stephens) walks kids through this process. This has been a GREAT program so far for my reluctant writer. Now, he still says that writing is a pain...but he says it with a smile and lightness now that wasn't there before, and says he likes it best of the things we've tried.

My son gave me permission to post a descriptive paragraph ( which I'll post below) that he did in its various stages: he started with a sentence about an embarrassing incident.  That one sentence went into 2 different style graphic organizers where my son added more details each time, then into a rough draft paragraph, then revised with more details a couple of times, and finally into a final, edited draft.  He was able to craft some colorful descriptions because the program took him through step by step, gave him examples to think about, told him how to elongate a climactic part by slowing down and describing more, and really helped him to come up with a great narrative paragraph.  No other program has ever drawn this much vibrant description out of him!  Of course, he didn't write like this every time, we had some "just regular old pieces" too--but this one really encouraged me!


Things I like:
The author talks through the concept as he's writing.  He leaves mistakes up, then corrects them.  Or occasionally he'll start writing, erase a whole sentence, and then start again.  Students get to see what the writing process is actually like--it's not perfection on the first try!

He shows ONE thing--a literary device, or something like fragments and run-ons. Then students practice that concept. Some worksheets have them identify that thing, others have them practice rewriting, still others have them do writing from scratch (sentences, paragraphs, essays, and so on).

The author gives clear examples that let the student see the difference between "showing" versus "telling," and teaches how to change things to make their writing come alive (you'll see the metamorphosis in my son's writing below). He helps students want to communicate the "movie" that's in their minds through words.  He teaches how to discover what's unclear in their writing and fix those spots.  

When he taught paragraphs, he made sure to explain that narrative paragraphs are different from essays/research type paragraphs--he taught both styles.

My son enjoys his teaching!

The worksheets are available on a CD-ROM and are clearly labeled--very user friendly.  You can print off one lesson at a time or the whole year's worth.  Or you can buy a workbook if you prefer.

Essentials includes grammar lessons for 1st-6th grade, but not in the 7th grade level I used (it's in there as a review if you need it, it's not scheduled like in levels 1-6).

The answer key is helpful.  Even if "answers may vary," it gives examples so you have a feel for what you are looking for.  My son feels empowered and even interested in writing, which I appreciate.  And the price is awesome!  Overall I find it's very incremental and breaks things down into doable parts.


Things I don't like:
The main con for us is that the grade level label is in the videos and on the cover of the DVD (though not on the worksheets). Normally you would use the grade level your child is in though, so that's really only a con for me!  I used the 7th grade version with my 9th grader (higher levels were not out when we started, but I really wanted to try this, and the Cathy Duffy review said it would be meaty enough to use with a high school student). I discussed this with my son (I didn't want him to think I was calling him a 7th grader!), and he was willing to try it after watching a sample video online.

I ended up using this program for several years for both of my kids! 


Here is the descriptive paragraph that my son did:

Day 1, Brainstorming:
Zach chose this topic:  Practicing my fake limp.

Day 2, Organizing thoughts:
Who:  Me and an old guy
What:  I was practicing my fake limp for fun and I turned around and saw the old man staring at me through a window.
When:  Monday afternoon.
Where:  McKinley Street

Day 3, Event organizer:
In the middle of school > turned on McKinley Street > started working on a fake limp for a disguise
limped for a block > stopped to look and see if anyone was watching me > old man staring and shaking his head.
I ran away fast.

Original paragraph:
I was doing my exercise in the middle of school.  I turned onto McKinley Street and started working on a fake limp for a disguise.  I limped for a block and then stopped to see if anyone was watching me.  An old man was staring right at me and shaking his head.  I ran away fast!

Final Revision (a few versions later):
It all started one cold and cloudy Monday afternoon when I was doing my exercise.  I walked up the hill and then dashed onto McKinley Street.  By then I was getting bored because I had left my MP3 at home, so I decided to work on my fake limp.  I had watched a documentary about changing yourself to hide in plain sight.  It was really hard because I kept mixing up which foot to use, so after a block or so I gave up on the whole thing.  Only then did I look around to see if anyone was watching.  I turned to my left and looked into the window of a light brown house.  Looking back at me was an old shaggy man who looked like he'd been sleeping for a couple of days.  His hair was standing up all over, and his chiseled face held a look of scorn, as if to say, "Stop acting like a fool!"  I high-tailed it out of there as fast as I could!

46 comments:

  1. This is very helpful! I love curriculum reviews like yours :)

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  2. I love your thorough review, Merry. Thanks!

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  3. Merry, thanks for your review. I am considering getting this writing program, especially after your review of what it has done for your son. I'm hoping to move my son into such descriptive writing.

    One question: We are involved in a homeschool group, and my son will be completing assignments for an English class. I'm wondering if this program would be good as a supplement. For instance, would it work to do the lessons
    out of order to go along with whatever topic the homeschool group is doing?

    On a side note, I love so many of your Sonlight posts! I appreciate your words of wisdom.

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  4. Hi Alicia,

    I don't know...I think the lessons are supposed to work in order but to be honest I've never looked at it closely enough to assess them for that. You might email or call the author and see what he says on that. If the home school group class isn't a full year class or doesn't have daily assignments, maybe you could just work through EIW in order & use it over 2 years or something? I think the main thing to keep in mind is to not end up doing too much.

    Thanks for your encouragement :-).

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  5. Merry,
    How did you know I might tend to do too much? :) Once again, you gave good advice to spread it out over two years if needed.

    Alicia

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  6. LOL, don't we all?!! I don't think there's been a year where I didn't plan too much for at least ONE subject! At least I've learned (mostly) to let some of my plans be "optional" or "if we have time."

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  7. Thank you for the excellent review. I have always taught my now, 9th grade, son with Sonlight but as the years progress I'm using bits and pieces. Their approach to writing has helped us and I feel we have had many years of wonderful teaching for creative writing, but as I am not using as much Sonlight and not following all of their Core 200 courseload, I am not doing much of their writing anymore. I have been looking into EIW. I appreciate your insight and sharing. Are you using it this year with your son again? And if so, did you jump to the high school levels? I see 10th grade is or will soon be released. Thank you again Merry! ~Melissa

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  8. Hi Melissa,

    Yes, my son will be doing the 9th grade level this year. I talked with the author (who was very helpful!) about the best course to take, and he explained that 9th and 10th grade will have more step by step directions than the 11th and 12th grade levels, and he thought we might do better jumping up to 9th grade. I talked to my son about it and he also felt more comfortable having 2 years of more incremental instruction instead of just one. So, our current plan is to do 9th-10th-11th for his last 3 years of high school. My daughter will do the 8th grade version this year. (We just got these in the mail this week, can't wait to start!) HTH! Merry :-)

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    1. Thanks Merry. That sounds like a good plan. And I appreciate your sharing about what the author said regarding those courses. We just came back from a week vacation. And we are back to our coursework! Excited about looking up the EIW and I do believe I'm going to order it and get it started. Thanks so much!
      ~Melissa

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    2. If you do end up trying it, let me know how it goes for you! Merry :-)

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    3. Hi Merry! We did complete all of the Grade 9 EIW that I wanted to accomplish. We pretty much did all the lessons except the research paper because my son was completing a research paper for his PA History. I felt it a good fit for us and I believe he will do the Grade 10 this year. I see it follows the same format. I do hope it is not too much the same ~ that the author changed it up a bit in sections so as to not be a total repeat from Grade 9. Are you continuing onward as well with EIW? Thank you again for all your wonderful help here in your blog. You are a true blessing!

      ~Melissa

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    4. Hi Melissa, thanks for the update! Sorry to take so long to reply--been a hectic weekend here! Anyway, yes, we are continuing on. My son is doing Grade 10 for 11th grade this year and dd is doing grade 9. He does follow the same basic format each year, but changes the examples and topics. It's been very helpful for my kids. I may have my dd do something else for a year or two in high school if she wants, although I haven't seen 11th & 12th yet, those might be different. He also was going to develop creative & technical writing, so he may have some variation that way. Anyway, glad the blog was helpful! Merry :-)

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  9. Hi Merry,

    What a fun post! Somehow I missed it. And here I came to tell you how much my kids are enjoying EiW. You recommended it last winter when I was ready to pull my hair out in frustration. Thanks for recommending it even with the disclaimer that your kids had only been doing it a few weeks. It's made such a difference in our lives! My children are actually writing and putting clear thoughts on paper! 14yo dd is working very well on her own and progressing quickly.

    And I agree that Mathew Stephens is very helpful. He is very personable and able to answer our questions. I hope the audio can be figured out, but if not, after a few weeks, it's not so irritating. Our second daughter was very annoyed by it, but it didn't take long before she was interested enough in the content to ignore the "buzzy" sound of maxed-out mics.

    ~Lorinda

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  10. Hi Lorinda, so glad your kids are enjoying it & writing! The audio seems better this year with the 8th & 9th grade dvd's.

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  12. Merry- I "know" you from the Sonlight forums, although I infrequently post there.
    I have seen your recommendations for EiW and wondered if I could ask you a question?
    I am using the program for my 8th, 6th and 3rd graders. So far, my biggest concern was the lack of writing for many of the lessons. More writing has been required the last couple of weeks, so I hope that works out well.
    My next concern was the length of the program. My 3rd grader just completed the 2nd grade program (he has a language delay so I had started him back a year). My 8th grader will finish his soon, and my 6th grader will finish well before the end of our school year.
    I am not a novice homeschooler (3 graduated already) but wonder if I am not using the program well.
    Any thoughts? Should I move ahead or just require other writing assignments?

    (I feel that this is a lot to ask, so if you don't have time to answer, that is really ok! I just appreciate all your thoughtful advice.)

    Thanks,
    Colleen

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  13. Maybe your children are fast writers? We probably won't get through all of the lessons since we spent the first 8 weeks doing a grammar review.

    I haven't used the elementary level, so I think you'd have to email Matthew on that, and he might be able to give some insight. (I'd email him about all of them actually, and see what he has to say. We tend to have the opposite problem here!)

    I can tell you about how grade 8 is going for us though, since my dd is doing that this year. First, I ask my kids to write for approximately 30 minutes per day. For some of the earlier lessons, we did about 3 per week at that pace. Once we got to paragraphs, it was more like 2 per week--one day to write, one day to revise (or sometimes 2 days if there was a lot to work on). My dd revised her business letter over 3 days recently. Altogether she worked on the business letter for about 2 weeks. Maybe your kids don't need to do as much revising, or maybe they do it all on the computer and don't end up recopying as much?

    I've thought the 7th grade and higher levels had a good amount of writing though--they do lots of paragraphs, essays, and a research paper over the course of the year, and get instruction for each one. Not sure if this helps! If you email or call Matthew, I'll be interested to hear what you learn from him.

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  14. Merry,
    Thank you for your response! I apologize for taking so long to answer your answer:)
    All in all I really appreciate the program and have been helped by it. The last two assignments my older children have done have been wonderfully written! Adding in writing assignments on days where the writing has been light has worked well. Perhaps I should prepare a few lessons they can do on days when I feel EiW is light.
    I don't think the kids are fast writers, and they certainly need lots of revision! Asking Matthew a few questions is a great idea. I want to use EiW well. Maybe there is a way to use the program better.

    Thank you for your response. I appreciate your thoughts and your time. It means a lot!

    Take care
    Colleen

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  15. I love your review but I love your son's paper even more. It was a lot of fun to read and I even laughed out loud as he described the old 'shaggy' many.

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  16. Thanks, I'll have to tell him he has fans now! I loved that piece too :-).

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  17. Merry, do you buy the workbooks? Are they essential?
    Thank you! Great review.

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  18. You don't have to buy the workbook--the CD-ROM has all of the pages and you can print them off, which is what I've done. But if you don't want to print, then you'll want the workbook. HTH!

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  19. Thank you for the review! :) Now you have me rethinking my writing choices for next year! :)

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  20. Thanks for linking me here Merry. Hoping our Essentials journey has positive writing moments like this too :)
    Thank you for being so generous to help other moms idea bounce, and on share what has worked for you.

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  21. Hi Merry, thanks again for your helpful review of this program! I'm really sold on this program for my reluctant 4th grader writer. However, I came across some reviews (dated 2013) mentioning a number of grammatical errors/ worksheet mistakes as well as negative feedback on some of the writing prompts. Just wondering what your thoughts are or if you noticed these things too in any of the versions you've used? Thanks again!

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    1. Hi Karen,

      I haven't had issues with any of the levels we've used, and I've found the author and support staff very helpful if you have questions or concerns about anything. My kids have enjoyed the writing prompts and always found something they were willing or interested in writing about (and my oldest struggled a lot with writing). We've used levels 7-10 and are using 11 this year.

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  22. Thanks for this assurance, Merry! Will go ahead with the program :)

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  23. Thank you for this thorough review! I am considering using EIW for my 11yo dd, who will be in 6th grade next year. She uses IEW through our co-op, but writing is a painful, painful process for her that results in many shed tears every week. In your opinion, would EIW be a good fit for a child who not only has a hard time organizing her thoughts, but even has a hard time forming a complete sentence? Run-ons are the norm for this sweet girl, and her papers are often plagued with awkward wording. I spoke to the author, and he recommended starting her in Level 5 rather than putting her in at grade level. Also, have you had a chance to use both the 1st edition and 2nd edition of EIW? I can get the 1st edition for just under $50 or the 2nd edition for just under $90. I'm not opposed to spending the extra money if I need to, but it's always nice to save a buck or two ... or 40. ;) Thank you for any insight you are able to offer!

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    1. Hi Jennifer, we actually tried IEW first but my oldest really needed things broken down more incrementally for him, and Essentials does that so well. I haven't used the elementary aged levels (the program first came out when my kids were 9th and 7th), but starting in a lower level was really helpful for my son. We discussed it, and I said they were more like swim levels than grade levels. That helped him. The upper levels always start with working on sentences and clauses, so there's lots of help with that. I believe the elementary levels start with grammar for half the year and then writing for half the year--so I'd think there would be lots of opportunities to work on sentences (honestly, I think many curricula rush ahead to paragraphs and essays too quickly--students need those basic building blocks).

      With regard to the editions--our level 7 was a first edition and the sound quality wasn't as good as the second. It wasn't a huge deal since the videos are short, but I definitely think the second edition was better. I'm sure some other things have been tweaked too. I think $50 might be high for a first edition if it's used though--the first year or two that EIW was out, it only cost $40. Anyway, HTH! I think either way you'll probably find it helpful for her. It really turned writing around for my kids.

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  24. Thanks for the review! We all enjoyed "The Fake Limp" story, especially the part about forgetting which foot to use! That made us laugh!! My 3 sons sound a lot like your son. I hope we have the same results using EIW. Pam

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    1. Thanks Pam! I'm glad you enjoyed the story! If you end up going with EIW, I hope it works well for you and your crew!

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  25. I love your sons paragraph! Here I am at 1am looking for curriculum reviews of EIW. Your review is definitely the best! ��

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    1. Thanks! Gotta look while the house is quiet, right?!

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  26. I am trying to decide on IEW or EIW for my soon to be 9th grader. Your review is so helpful!!!! I'm still a little torn, but at least I have a better idea of how EIW works! Thank you!!

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  27. Thank you so much for this review. Loved reading your son’s story and plan to show it to my son tomorrow. I know this is an older post, but I hope you can answer some questions. I just heard about EIW today. My son is a junior, so we only have 1 year left. He’s a math & science kid. Just took the AP Calc AB test & wants to study aerospace engineering. Writing is a HUGE struggle, like pulling out teeth. He didn’t speak until 4 & then only a few words & was in speech therapy for years so spelling & writing had to wait. We worked on spelling forever & it’s still not good, but he can use spell checker now. We used MCT for grammar & that is a strength. Sentences are intelligent & thought out & even were when he was little. But when it comes to writing a paragraph he just struggles to put anything down. It takes hours of me coaching & handholding to even get 100 words. He doesn’t like the “messy” process of writing. He wants to organize everything in his head first, but that doesn’t work & results in nothing on the page. We have tried so many different programs & have failed at all of them. But he will need to write college application essays very soon. Rainbow Resource recommended EIW 11. Do you think this would be doable since we haven’t used the earlier levels? Since grammar is a strength could we skip or skim those sections? Is it possible to “crash course” it this summer to catch him up to be able to independently write the college app essays this fall, so I don’t pull any more teeth out? 🤪 Thanks in advance.

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    1. Hi Candace! Essentials in Writing is a program that you can usually jump in at any level. With that said, I don't think I would start with EIW 11. I would lean towards doing 9 or possibly 10. (9 if you think there's a chance you'll use it for 2 years). I say that for a couple of reasons:

      1, EIW 11 and 12 really assume a lot of foundation and are not nearly as incremental as the earlier levels. I think they wouldn't be as beneficial for a student who has a lot of struggles with writing.

      2, EIW 11 and 12 include a new kind of essay, the Response to Literature Essay. I don't think that type of essay will be important for a math-science kid. I also didn't think that particular lesson had the kind of helps that I really needed to teach my struggling writers. The student spends several weeks on this essay, and I think that time can be better spent in other ways unless a student is going to be doing literature courses in college.

      Other than that, I think EIW could be very beneficial for your son and for what you are wanting to do. There really isn't "grammar" in levels 7 and up. The first part of every level does focus on sentences--how to vary sentences, how to correct run-ons and fragments, how to identify clauses and so on. It's the kind of stuff that also came up in my kids' Freshman English classes in college, so I found the foundation helpful for that reason. It's also a nice "easy" way to start (sentences are not as intimidating as essays!) The next section focuses on paragraph writing. After that it focuses on various types of essays (personal, persuasive, compare and contrast, expository) and includes a research paper.

      You probably could get through a lot this summer, but what I might consider doing is see what kind of essay the college application essays are and actually have him do those essays as he works through the course. You can always sub out topics, and if the essay fits with one of the types, you could use it for the assignment.

      I this helps some, and I hope your son's college application essays go well! Merry :-)

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    2. Thank you so much, Merry! Son will be a senior in the fall & he’s our last. So no one coming after him to use it & he only has a year left plus this summer. Is it possible to do 9 & 10 in one year & a summer? He’ll also be taking Advanced Physics, Calc 2, & studying for the AP Calc BC test, as well as the college apps & essays in the fall. He knows he’s got to work on essays & is willing & motivated. He won’t mind grammar review, as he’s good at it & studied it on his own for the SAT recently when he hit something on the practice tests he was unsure of. If we do 9 only, what would he miss from 10? If we do 10 only what explanations would we have missed from 9? & is it crazy to think we could do 9&10 in a summer plus 1 year with tough courses & college apps?

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    3. We used about a level per school year working for about 30 minutes per day. If you're adding on the summer, you might get through 2 levels. Also what you could do--work through 9 all the way, and then if he still has time left, you could pick and choose what you want to do from 10. You could skip sentences and/or paragraphs and just work on specific types of essays for example. Essentials "spirals" a lot, so once he's been through a level, it would be easy to jump in with the essays in the next level and focus on what you want to work on with whatever time he has left.

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    4. A few more questions - did you using their scoring service? Again can’t use it now because they don’t offer it, but could in the fall. Just wondering if it’s worth another $107? Did you do the literature piece for level 9? Is it worth another $107? It uses The Hobbit, which he’s already read. And how much time is required? Thinking no to literature, just want to be sure before I buy (doesn’t look like you can add it later). Thanks again. Sorry to keep bugging you.

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    5. The scoring service didn't exist when I started, sorry I'm no help with that! The literature didn't come out until my kids were almost through with high school. I considered it, but I was pretty set with what I was already used to using (kind of my own eclectic version of Sonlight). I don't think I'd do a lit program that uses a book he's already read, unless he would really enjoy reading it again! :-)

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  28. Thank you so much, Merry! That sounds very doable. 30 min a day sounds great too! You have been so helpful. I called EIW before seeing your latest post & sadly it was a very hard conversation. The lady must have been 20 yo, no kids. She suggested Level 7 this summer & Level 9 in the fall using their virtual class w/a monthly fee. That would cost me over $700. I could take him to our community college & sign him up for Eng Comp 1 & their CCR class (the helper class) for that price & he’d have 3 credits of English to transfer. EIW has no scoring option for the summer (that’s crazy!), so that won’t help us to get him ready for the application essays. And he’s not going to be happy to do level 7. I asked if I bought level 9 this summer & worked on it & then decided to do their virtual class in Sept could I have a credit for the books toward the $167 class fee & the answer was, “No.” I’m so frustrated. I was thinking this would be a great match for us, but feeling like their customer service is not good. She offered to ask her supervisor about the discount, but told me she’s been told “no” before. That was hours ago & no one has called me back. 😩 Sorry for venting, but thanks for your help. I need to go pray & ask for direction.

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  29. Sorry it was a hard conversation! I did briefly wonder about using Level 7 or Level 8 for your son (7 was the level I used with my son in 9th grade) because those levels are SO incremental, but I went back and forth in my mind. It's so hard to know from your description if it would be really necessary to go back that far. (I'm actually surprised the EIW rep suggested it because I was under the impression that they generally suggested going in at grade level! Level 7 for 12th grade seems like a big stretch--though I don't remember anything seeming "little-kiddish" about it.)

    I have no experience with the online class or grading service, sorry--none of that was available when I took my kids through! We literally just went through the materials, watched the videos together, they wrote, I gave feedback etc... If you and your son work okay together, I think I would try that rather than the class or grading service, at least to start.

    Also, do you ever let him write orally? My daughter always does rough drafts orally. She uses an app on her phone (years ago when she didn't have a phone, we had a tablet and she was able to use speech-to-text on there too). Sure, it will get some words wrong and he'll have to fix things--but he might be able to get more words out if his first or rough draft was done orally. Then he can send it to the computer and go in and work on it for subsequent drafts.

    It sounds like the biggest obstacle for your son is just the thought process of wanting the first draft to be the final. I wonder if you can compare it to something science-y to help him make the connection. Inventors try things hundreds of ways before coming up with a final product. Engineers start with a concept, but prototypes go through many trials and remakes before a final product is ready, etc... (Goodness, the computer is a great example of a product that is NEVER done being improved upon, LOL! If he knows computers, tell him his rough draft is the equivalent of an old 286 or 386. Sure, it has some functionality, but no one really wants that to be their computer today, LOL! It needs a lot more drafts to be a final product!) I think if you can help him see drafts as necessary to the process and get him on board that way, that he'll be able to make some real progress with writing.

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