Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I
compensated in any other way. You will find affiliate links in this post. See my disclosure policy here.
If you’re like a lot of homeschool families then it can be a challenge to teach writing skills in your homeschool. Because of all the concepts and systems that go into it, I can see why this subject might even be a subject skipped in your homeschool. Hey, no judgment here. It’s been a tough year. Do what you got to do. But if want to maintain writing in your homeschool and need a writing pro to teach your kids for you (with writing tips and strategies) then I highly recommend Institute for Excellence in Writing (or IEW).
We received one of the products by IEW in exchange to use and review it. The product we received is called Structure and Style® for Students Year 1 Level A, although there is a Level B and a Level C as well. Not only does this program teach your child writing skills, but it also teaches them how to break up stories while reading for better comprehension.
Structure and Style Level A is for grades 3-5, which works perfectly for my 3rd and 4th graders. I wanted my kids to learn the writing strategies from IEW, such as creating Keyword Outlines and other strategies when reading and writing. And taking Level A, starting at the beginning, was exactly what I hoped it would be.
About IEW’s Structure and Style Level A, B, & C
IEW has two different divisions: school division and homeschool division. Both sides of the education spectrum can use IEW’s unique approach to writing. It provides structure that children need in order to develop confidence in the writing process. This becomes a gradual approach toward independence and creativity, which are writing goals to strive for.
With IEW, children earn nine structural models (note-taking, writing paragraphs, stories, simple reports, writing from pictures, research reports, creative writing, essays, and critiques) to help them organize any type of written work. Also, stylistic techniques (strong verbs, quality adjectives, sentence openers, and more) are taught incrementally to gently move students from the basics into more sophisticated writing.
Because we used The Structure and Style for Students: Level A writing program, I know personally know that this program includes video lessons via streaming on their website, physical binders with dividers and worksheets, and a teacher guide. What I find fantastic is, according to the IEW website, that with any purchase you will have forever streaming. So if you need to take a break from writing and pick it up at another time, you can. There is no expiration date for accessibility.
When we received our Level A in the mail, it came with:
- IEW magazine
- Teacher Guide
- Binder
- Dividers for the program
- Student packet of pre-hole-punches worksheets to insert inside the binder
- Some writing tips
- And your special access key to gain access for the online videos
Structure and Style Level A
For grades 3-5, Level A is the recommended level for all students starting out with IEW’s Structure and Style writing program. The face of IEW is Andrew Pudewa, and he leads students through the video lessons. Although with the physical items alone this doesn’t make a complete course. This includes a complete set of student materials and access to the forever streaming online video lessons, including a 3-ring student binder with eight tabs for organizing student work and a packet of handouts with source texts, checklists, and more! Plus a complete Teacher’s Manual containing embedded images of student pages, along with suggested answers, video board notes, teaching tips, and access to students’ sample essays that are read aloud on the video.
Structure and Style Level B
For grades 6-8, Level B has Mr. Pudewa leading students in a 24-week journey with the unique IEW approach to writing. The curriculum provides clear daily assignments and includes vocabulary words, literature suggestions, and lesson plans for teachers. This level also includes dividers, binder, student packet, and teacher’s guide, along with online video access to forever streaming the lessons.
Structure and Style Level C
For grades 9-12, Level C is in its final development stages and will be shipped when it becomes available. For the program with the forever-streaming online video lessons, level C will be available mid-August 2020. For the program with DVDs, the program will be available mid-September 2020. Like Levels A and B, Level C comes with a teacher’s guide, student packet, binder, and either DVDs or streaming video lessons.
Live Online Classes
What I found unique with IEW is the opportunities to attend live online writing classes. Your children will follow along as Andrew Pudewa teaches a real-life class. There are different classes available for each of the Levels. As great as this is, the online seats fill up pretty quickly. Because of this, they have an open and close date for applying to online classes. They also provide a schedule for the upcoming classes.
To see the events of live online classes or to register for an online class, go to the Events & Classes tab on the IEW website.
Click on Online Classes or Registration and you’ll be brought to a place to register and to see the academic calendar.
Online Classes: The Academic Calendars and Schedule of Classes
Registration for the online classes for Spring 2021 opens November 2, 2020 and closes January 4, 2021.
They also provide a schedule of classes so you know which classes will be available and when.
IEW Events Near You
Not only does IEW have live online classes your children can attend, but you can also physically attend an IEW writing workshop event. This is something I found extremely appealing! Not many homeschool curriculum programs have this kind of involvement. To me, it shows me that IEW really cares about its program and the students that grow from it.
We’ll be in Florida for the rest of the year, leaving Texas in just a few weeks, so I searched for any live workshops in the Florida area and found some.
After checking out the other locations, I think it’s safe to say that there are writing workshops all over the place that Mr. Pudewa does!
How We Used IEW’s Structure and Style for Students: Level A
Straight to the point: We do writing a few times a week and with the streaming videos, I found it was a lifesaver. Not only is Andrew Pudewa pretty funny in the videos, but he’s also very informative. As I watched my kids watching him, his teaching style kept my kids captivated and interested in following along with the writing practices.
Each video was a bit longer than an hour, but half the video is one day and the other half of the videos is for the next day. Even so, my kids usually watched the entire video in one sitting. I tried to stop it halfway once, but they begged me to keep going so I let them. Who am I to stop their learning experience?!
They took several stories and broke them down sentence by sentence. In each sentence they would list out up to three words that would be their keyword outline words. This technique helps keep their comprehension and memory when writing and reading, which I loved.
An Excellent Homeschool Writing Program For All Grades {Review}
If you have struggled to teach writing, I encourage you to check out Structure and Style® for Students Year 1 Level A from Institute for Excellence in Writing®. To me, writing is one of the areas in our homeschool that are nonoptional and should have an organized teaching approach to it (which IEW has).
To read other reviews for all the three levels mentioned, go to the Homeschool Review Crew blog or click on the banner below.
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