Susan Wise Bauer has an opinion about how writing should be taught to children. Not surprising! The Complete Writer is the one who has mastered the three stages of writing -- Writing with Ease (combining the two distinct mental steps of putting ideas into words and putting words onto paper; grades 1-4), Writing with Skill (learning to organize sentences into short compositions; grades 5-8), and Writing with Style (the persuasive expression of ideas; grades 9-12). Judging from the thoroughness of the material being developed for the first stage, I think we will eventually see a K-12 scope and sequence of The Complete Writer material.

In the meantime, Writing With Ease provides easy-to-use materials for introducing this comprehensive approach to writing to young students; an approach that focuses on copywork (putting words on paper) and narration (putting ideas into words) ultimately combining the skills (Years 3 & 4). The Text is a program overview. The first section -- Understanding the Program -- describes the three stages of writing instruction and why most writing programs fail as well as a four year scope and sequence concluding with a segment on where/how to begin. Included here are some short diagnostic exercises that will help to determine if an older reluctant-writing student will profit by some portions of this program. Next comes a short but very practical section outlining preschool and kindergarten language instruction. The bulk of the text provides the weekly lessons for each level (year). Each year is divided into segments with a varying number of weeks. Each of these segments starts with a detailed lesson plan for the first week; then “tweaked” plans for the rest of the segment’s weeks (i.e. use slightly longer sentences for copywork; look for sentences that contain the proper names of days of the week and months of the year). Each year concludes with a mastery evaluation. Copywork sentences and narration excerpts are provided for each of these “first weeks” but not for the remaining weeks. There are several valuable appendices at the back of the Text -- what to do after program completion, troubleshooting (wise advice on student’s writing problems), frequently asked questions, and resource lists.

The Workbooks provide all the needed teacher preparation for each level making the program very user-friendly. The first half of each book (153 pgs in Level 1; 185 pgs in Level 2) is the teacher’s portion. This comes close to being scripted with all lessons carefully detailed. Copywork and narration excerpts for each lesson are included with background information provided and comprehension questions (with possible answers) that lead the child comfortably into narration. The last half of the books (144 pgs in Level 1; 177 pgs in Level 2) are student pages. It’s suggested that these be removed and given to the student but they are reproducible for family use (schools and co-ops need to make other arrangements with Peace Hill Press). Grade-appropriate writing space is provided along with copywork models. Occasionally, pen-and-ink illustrations brighten the pages.

There is a relationship between Writing With Ease and First Language Lessons (from the same author). Both share the same philosophy and while these writing skills are presented in FLL they are extensively developed and practiced in WWE. The WWE Text could be used independently of the WWE Workbooks with the parent/teacher selecting all their own copywork excerpts from other school material. Criteria for selection are provided with each lesson segment. Likewise, it might be possible although perhaps not desirable to use the Workbooks independently of the Text. They are designed to be used together and there is material in the Text that is not repeated in the Workbooks (at the beginning and end of the Text). However, all lesson material is carefully repeated in the Workbooks and often expanded in terms of teacher instruction. The Workbooks also provide the needed copywork models and narration excerpts for all lessons making them very comprehensive. ~ Janice

Customer Reviews

 
Lori H. from McComb, MS wrote the following on 07/09/2008:
This book is everything I needed in a writing program five years ago! I am very impressed with the sequential progression of writing instruction. The author breaks down the writing process into small achievable goals. She also explains why she has done this and why other methods may not work with your child. I especially appreciated her advice for an older reluctant writer and how to use her book to get them where they need to be. Level 1 begins with simple copywork and narration. Level 2 introduces dictation and longer narration passages. Level 3 has the student read the passage independently and teaches them how to do short summaries. Dictation sentences are also longer which develops the skill of holding the words in your head as you write. Level 4 continues the same process with dictation paragraphs and longer summaries. By the end of the book the child is doing summaries of chapters of classics such as Black Beauty. Another helpful feature is the evaluations at the end of each level to determine mastery. These can also be used to determine the level for a child to begin with if they are starting in the middle. There are additional diagnostic exercises to determine where to start an older child. I can't wait to begin this with my children. I believe this is the solution to the writing struggles my older child has had. This book can be used by itself for the elementary years but the companion workbooks make it even easier as all the copywork, dictation, and narration passages are selected for you to have the child complete. I plan to use this book with all of my elementary aged children and to help my older children overcome their struggles with writing.

 
Melissa S. from Knoxville, TN wrote the following on 11/24/2008:
I went to college to be an English teacher, but as a home school teacher & Mom I struggled to help my own children like to write. It's one thing to know how to write yourself and another matter entirely to teach someone else to do it. Then we tried Writing With Ease - Strong Fundamentals. Wow! The author's goal is to make every parent a writing teacher. She could definitely accomplish that with this book. Bauer spells out in layman's terms exactly what to expect from children at each grade level. Writing With Ease takes students through the steps of reading challenging material and putting it into their own words. It's designed for elementary aged writers and for older students who still struggle. The text is mandatory. The workbook is optional. Yet, if you have the workbook teacher prep time is zero. I found both books to be well worth the expense.

 
Darlene H. from New Albany, IN wrote the following on 02/20/2009:
I couldn't help but write a review for this book written by Susan Wise Bauer, author of The Story of the World books. She has been a English/Writing professor at the College of William and Mary for over 10 years. She has been shocked at the number of students in her classes that can't produce quality writing. Her curriculum is designed to solve that problem! I believe it will do just that. This, the first book in her new writing program, uses copywork, dictation,and narration as the tools to begin the writing process. Her premise is that before we can expect children to write anything original, they first have to learn how to organize what to say (narration) before they can write it down (copywork, dictation). That takes lots of practice, patience, and years. Organizing thoughts in one's head and the act of writing them down are two separate skills. In the articles which are included in this book, she lays out the stages of writing for children from 1-12 grade. She also tells us why many children struggle with writing. It is because they have not been taught how to use the tools they need to write successfully. This book will develop those skills in them. I have used narration, copywork, and dictation off and on in my homeschool for years. I knew they were good skills, but never knew why. I wish I had had this book years ago! Now, I know the why. My older children are too old to begin this book, but I am looking forward to using this program with my 9 year old. We are using this book currently and I LOVE it. It is so very easy to use. I use it without the workbooks because I like to pick narrations and copywork/dictations from our studies. It doesn't take but a few minutes to locate a sentence for her to copy. I just have her narrate from her history, nature, or read-aloud books. It is worth every penny and then some. The articles on the writing process were so enlightening and helpful. Combined with The First Language Lessons written by her mother, Jesse Wise (which I also LOVE), you would have a Language Arts Program that can't be beat!

 
Teri A. from North Carolina wrote the following on 08/02/2009:
My only regret is that Writing With Ease wasn't published 1 year earlier, so we could have used it alongside First Language Lessons 1! My son was a 2nd grader when he started it, and it was a gentle introduction for learning how to write, starting with the absolute fundamentals. I loved that the reading excerpts are from classic children stories. You could easily design a similar program yourself, reading from literature and then taking excerpts out to narrate and use as writing models, but this book has taken all the teacher prep work out. The optional separate workbook even makes it simpler, since the copywork is all ready to go, written on penmanship practice-style sheets. You can use this book alone without the workbook, but then you'll have to write down models for your child to copy, yourself. It all depends on how much time/energy/money you want to invest-- the Workbook is a time-saver. Some of the exercises in First Language Lessons can no doubt be skipped, since they are covered more fully in Writing With Ease. This is a logical and sequential method. There are 36 lessons per year, with 4 brief lessons per week. I hope the author will go on to write a logic stage writing book as well!