Posted in Reviews

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About the product: As part of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was given Write Shop's Primary Book A Teacher's Guide and the corresponding Activity Set Worksheet Pack to review.  I got the digital editions of both products. 

Book A is written for kindergarteners or first graders. It is also appropriate for second graders who are late bloomers or have learning differences. The program accommodates pre-writers as well as beginning and developing writers.  Students learn about the writing process at the very simplest level.

Unlike most drugstore activity books, these books are not just about filling in the blanks.  You child will do activities and crafts that will help make learning to write fun!

What are the pros of this product?  As for the product in general, it is written to gently teach writing to your student in a way that is fun and not "work."  It's nice that you can feel "OK" having your child dictate to you what he or she wants to write.  I have done this with my children before, but it's nice to know that the author's are not only okay with it, but encourage it!  What can I say, I am a people pleaser.  LOL 

The gentle approach makes it a great way to start off a younger child or older stuggling learner.  Many kids tend to be quite imaginative, but get bogged down by the mechanics of writing.  Once your child sees his or her own story "in print" he or she just might be inspired to grab a pencil and take a stab at it!  Okay, bad visual. LOL Maybe I should say you child might be insprited to grab a pencil and write the story him/herself!

Having the digital edition of the worksheets is great because you simply print what you need.  It makes it nice if you have more than one child using the book.  I honestly don't like making scans of print book so I tend to put it off.  It's very easy just to print out two three for each of my kids.  (In all honesty, I would probably prefer the printed version of the teacher's guide.)

Also, the program is set up so that you can schedule lessons to fit your needs.  They also have a sample schedule for parents teaching kids at different levels.

Another plus is that the program is just so easy to use.  It takes the teacher step-by-step through the process of teaching the child to write.  It is very well put together, much better than anything I've seen for young children, though admittedly I haven't really looked into writing programs for my young children as I thought they were, well, too young!  LOL However, this is so geared to young children that is is just perfect for them.  The lessons are short and sweet so little ones do not get bored, frustrated, or overwhelmed.  Most lessons takes just five or ten minutes.

What's not to like?  I might be crazy, but I'm also frugal.  I found the price just a tad high for the teacher's guide.  For one child it seems a bit high, but if you have two or more it gets a whole lot closer to being a bargain.  I have to say here, though, that the worksheets are a bargain indeed! 

As I said earlier, I would probably prefer the printed edition of the teacher's guide.  This is probably not something that would be true for everyone, but since the only computer in the house that is connected to the printer is in the basement (where I don't like to sit and read), I'm pretty much forced to print it all out.  That means lots of paper and ink.  If I were buying this, I would probably be willing to spend the additional couple dollars, plus shipping, to have the printed version.  Then all I would have to do is print the worksheets and I'd be good to go.

The Crazy Mom take:  I was honestly surprised how impressed I was when I got this book.  Initially I just looked at the worksheets which look a lot like the books I buy for the kids for a few bucks at the local Walgreens.  I even gave them a few of the worksheets thinking that's all there was to it.  Then I started reading the teacher's guide and found out that I was mistaken.

Once I knew what I was doing, I decided that not only my kindergartener and second grader would be doing these activites, but my fourth grader would too.  I just have not focused much on writing with any of my kids at that age.  I don't really get them writing much, or at least I haven't, until they are closer to high school age.  I tend to do a lot of things in a group and do a lot of things orally.  I mean we do spelling and some writing in workbooks, but it hasn't been a huge focus of mine.  (In my defense, my two oldest are getting straight A's in college English, so I am not that pathetic! LOL)

Anyway, I have really been enjoying doing this program with my younger kids.  I work with them all together, but I have them doing it at their own level.  When we write I have Baber, 5, dictate to me what he wants to say and I write it for him.  With Bear, 8, I write it down and she copies it.  Dode Man, 9, writes on his own, though I let him "peek" at the other kids' papers if he is stuck on spelling. 

The fact that everything is spelled out for me makes it so easy.  I could probably come up with a similar program myself if I wanted to, but I just don't have time to reinvent the wheel.  The kids have enjoyed what we've done so far and want to continue.  This is the measure of how much we like something.  When we make it a point to continue using it after the review is turned in, that really says something.  This is one I'm glad to own, and I'll probably even consider using the rest of the books in the series when we get to that point.  I guess you could say, we like it!  :) 

What's the bottom line? Teacher's Guide: $26.95 print/$24.25 e-book  Activity Set Worksheet Pack: $4.95 print/$4.50 e-book

I am going to give out of 5 smileys!!! *

Check it out!  http://www.writeshop.com/

See what my fellow TOS Crew members have to say @

 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/667687/

*The Smiley System: 

I can't really recommend this product.

 I doubt this product would be helpful to many people.

 This is a good product, but isn't right for everyone.

 Most homeschool moms will find this useful.

 This is great, and I would recommend it to anyone!!!