Home Grown Hearts Academy Homeschool Blog: Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) ~ Review

Hi friends, My oldest daughter and I just had the chance to review the Deluxe Combo Teacher/Student Writing Package Level A [FIX-1 & 2] which includes A Word Write Now and Portable Walls. What an awesome opportunity! Seriously friends, we feel truly blessed by this curriculum. Writing is an area for my daughter that could use some work.

What is Deluxe Combo Teacher/Student Writing Package Level A [FIX-1 & 2] and what did we receive?

This deluxe package has everything you need to start your 3-5 grade student on the road to writing with ease and confidence and great products for teachers and parents as well.

It Includes:

Teaching Writing: Structure & Style DVD set

This is a DVD seminar that I found to be very beneficial to myself. It includes twelve DVDs. It helps you teach writing to children and even helped me work on my own writing. It begins with the basics and works its way into advanced creative and essay writing. I have not finished yet and still have a way to go with it, but I can already see huge benefits. I also received a very helpful seminar workbook that goes along with the DVDS.

Student Writing Intensive DVDs Level A, including the Structure & Style Overview

This is a four DVD writing course for elementary children that is recorded live with Mr. Andrew Pudewa. Andrew Pudewa is the founder, principal speaker, and director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing. Over the course of about 30 weeks, students will learn how to effectively use a wide range of structural models and stylistic techniques in their compositions, as they write on a fiction and non-fiction topics. It also includes a student notebook. This notebook comes with handouts, complete teacher's notes, source texts, assignments, and checklists. I really enjoyed that it comes with a three-ring binder that has dividers. Having the binder helped my daughter stay organized.

Fix-It! Grammar, Books 1 and 2 with downloadable student e-books

For this review we received book 1 and 2 teacher’s manuals with downloadable student e-books. The e-books are 126 pages and filled with wonderful easy to understand lessons. The teacher's book have been very beneficial in helping me understand the lessons.

We absolutely love Fix It! Grammar! In these books children hunt for and correct errors in daily passages that cumulatively tell a story. My daughter loved the stories and always felt a since of accomplishment after each lesson. She loves that the lessons are not long or overwhelming. My daughter learned so much using Fix It! Grammar! and I highly, highly recommend them to everyone.

We actually reviewed Fix It! Grammar last year and fell in love with the books then.

You can read that review by clicking on the link below:

http://www.homegrownheartsacademy.com/2014/09/institute-for-excellence-in-writing-fix.html

A Word Write Now

A Word Write Now is a thematic thesaurus that contains a treasure trove of words that will spice up your child's writing. I even find myself referring to the book. It's pretty great. It is organized into four sections. They are:

Section A: Character Traits

This section includes twenty-three character traits which include lists of words categorized by nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, phrases, and additional words. Children can also find famous quotations related to the trait.

Section B: Word to Describe

In this section a list of descriptive words for appearance, color, size, time, temperature, texture, and size can be found. My daughter loved referring to these lists often. She learned many new words this way.

Section C: Words for Movement and the Senses

This section includes a list of synonyms for actions of the feet, hands, thinking and all of the senses.

Section D: Appendix

In this section my daughter found a list of words for transitions, prepositions, and literary genres. My daughter is in the process of trying to memorize all of the prepositions.

Portable Walls

The portable wall is a handy fold-out that contains writing models, tips, and word lists. Having this really eliminates the need for tons of posters that take up wall space. my daughter really enjoyed having it and it is something that will come in handy many times in the future. It is very sturdy so there is no worry about it getting torn through all the use it will be getting. I love that my daughter has all of the information she needs right in front of her.

Final Thought

This isn't a program that can be rushed through. We plan on taking our time and continuing it through the year. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to review it and can't wait to see how much more my daughter and I learn. My favorite part about the whole program is how nicely each lesson is laid out. There is no need for me to go into panic mode to try to get a lesson together. This not only make learning fun. but also makes teaching easier. I'm very thankful for that.

What does Deluxe Combo Teacher/Student Writing Package Level A [FIX-1 & 2] cost?

Currently you can purchase it for $299.00

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