The IEW Experiment is Begun

I've been on the bandwagon developed by the Institute of Excellence in Writing for over three years now, but failed to actually IMPLEMENT their products out of F-E-A-R.  I am not a writer.  I've completed two graduate programs of coursework, but never written the thesis thereby making me still not a Master of anything. 

But, I've placed the Student Writing Intensive version B in front of G1 this week, and he zoomed through the first TWO weeks of work.  He loves the check-list for grading and expectations.  He enjoys the animated DVD presentation from Mr. Andrew. 
 
I didn't receive any part of TWSS or SWI-B for free in order to write about it.  I paid exactly what most people pay when they order from the IEW website, but I didn't buy it until the Logic Stage of our Classical education schedule.  You see, I was not buying teacher materials for history or science, so was able to afford the HUGE investment for WRITING. IT'S THAT IMPORTANT.

Two Gs are eager writers and never take short cuts when writing. Often they write too much, and I learn more about writing while editing their contributions.  All three Gs have our old Palm Centro phones, and these two affore mentioned Gs write their own stories about all kinds of things.  Many times G1 is writing about youtube stop action pieces he wants to do with legos.  G2 writes about drama and fiction (go figure - tween girl, remember?). 

So, when we spend lots of time reading/listening to materials for history and science, the narration exercises we commence with help organize what we learned from the materials and how we can use it in the future.  IEW encourages me to use this material too as we continue the never-ending mission to WRITE and learn to Write better (even in a formulaic manner - it's better than hitting the "I can't do it" wall).  Someday, these 3Gs will look back on it and be grateful for the foundation.  Right now, G1 enjoys exercising the writing muscles.  G1 above with first draft (chicken scratched) and final draft typed.