We were recently given the opportunity to review Essentials in Writing. Founded by a former public middle school English teacher, Matthew Stephens, Essentials in Writing is a complete Language Arts program for 1st thru 12th grades. The EIW strategy involves several components (step-by-step video instruction, worksheet activities, & writing assignments) so that students can learn not only the rules for writing but also the concepts that are critical to effective written communication
Essentials in Writing fit very well with our school day, allowing me plenty of time to work with my younger kids as Michaela completed her assignments with little to no assistance from me.
When I asked Michaela if she liked this program, she said yes. She said that the DVD lessons were good and made everything easy to understand. Her only complaint was that each lesson had the same type of assignments and/or activities, that it seemed overly repetitive.
For $40 you will get the DVD set and the workbook in a downloadable PDF file format. You can also purchase a printed workbook for $20.00. For us, this pricing is a little out of our budget range because of the additional cost of printing out the workbook and/or the cost of a printed workbook. We will definitely finish using the DVD set that we received for this review to finish out this school year.
Also in the downloadable PDF files there is a "Letter to Parent" that has the instructions for administering this program, as well as, scoring guides and rubrics for the parent to use for evaluating the students composition work. Everything is in one place for easy, uncomplicated planning!
I would recommend Essentials in Writing to anyone looking for a good, independent study Language Arts program for their high school student.
