Institute of Excellence in writing is recommended all the time, and I took a serious look at it for our main writing materials. There were a few things that made me hesitate, first the cost. It costs more than my first car. Now granted my first car was a POS, and it was a long time ago, but still.
Instead of buying the entire program I found Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons. I thought this would be a good way to get the flavor of their materials without making such a big commitment. I am really happy with the program. The Grinmaster's writing was what I consider quite weak and after only a couple of weeks his use of quality adjectives and strong verbs is making his writing more fun to read, and more interesting.
This is his first writing assignment. A poem about the Ancient World. I am leaving the capitalization and punctuation errors, although surprisingly there aren't many.
The Ancient World
Sumer, with harsh cruel rivers,
Pleasant, lovely gardens,
Colossal Ziggurats.
Egypt, with Clever powerful Pharaohs,
Massive, huge Pyramids,
The fascinating Nile.
Israel, with God's delightful, baffling law,
The stunning, fancy temple,
And the incredible, broad promised land.
Greece, with mysterious, remarkable Gods,
Mighty, strong athletes
Remarkable, stunning philosophers.
Rome, with charming, kind emperors,
Scary, gruesome armies,
Immoral, hideous gladiators.
The Ancient World,
Scary, Amazing and Immense.
(I thought some of the adjectives that he chose were funny, but since we are just beginning out Ancient history study, I am sure they will change at the end of the year when I will have him rewrite the poem to test both his writing skills and if he learned enough about the ancients to realize that these might be a bit off. But overall I am happy with his progress, and happy with IEW.)
No comments:
Post a Comment