writing curriculum

I'm new to this group, and really need advice for a writing curriculum that is easy to use or teach. My son, who is in 8th grade, is ADHD, very visual, hates busy work and writing, and needs help organizing. If anyone has a child like this and has successfully used anything (in any subject) that they feel has really helped for this age and beyond, I would appreciate it! Thank you and God bless! Mary Ann

I teach my sister who is in 9th grade and I basically just pick assignments and have her write a paper, I make comments, and we revise. We started with a 100-200 word paper on a Saint for All Saints Day and then keep getting a little harder. We are now up to 400-500 words on a political figure and have started adding bibliographies. I'd say start slow and then just slowly add a little. I am not sure if this is what you are looking for, but I hope this helps. I have not been able to find a good English/writing course that I like. If anyone out there has any suggestions please let me know.

Two things we have used around this age that were quite good:

1. Lingua Mater An excellent writing program although Hillside PRess says it's around 7th grade. Good variety, no real busy work but some grammar too. Highly recommend!

2. Put That In Writing from Barrett's Bookshself. A very good, hand holding curriculum for writing that does require some grammar knowledge. They have two levels and starting with the first which focuses on paragraphs (really LONG paragraphs that could be easily broken into several imo) and Level 2 that delves in to various types of essay writing. Another excellent program well planned and could be worked mostly independently.

You can probably Google to get these sites if these links fail...

http://www.adoremusbooks.com/linguamaterlanguagelessonsfromliterature-completeset.aspx

http://www.barrettsbookshelf.com/



Lastly, WriteatHome, com has superb writing courses and workshops!! The BEST.

Good luck!

Mary

Hi MaryAnne. I'm homeschooling my 10th grade son and joined forces with my friend to do writing. She has a 7th grade boy and 9th grade girl. A friend of mine suggested Excellence in Writing with Andrew Pudewa and the kids are loving it! It's a DVD series that comes with all the lessons and teaching guide for mom. The student watches one segment a week and works on doing what they learned throughout the rest of the week. It builds skills of writing slowly and methodically, but he's a very entertaining and interesting teacher. His program gets high marks from all three of our kids. We have seen their writing improve tremendously in just 8 weeks! Just google the website and read all you want to about it. Good luck, Anne