I was thrilled when I got the chance to review a new curriculum from World Magazine: Write With World. World Magazine is a respected current events magazine written from a Christian worldview. I have also had the privilege of being acquainted with one of their writers. Based on those two things, I expected a great, quality product. I was not disappointed!
The curriculum is designed to be used for two years at the middle school level, with the first year of the curriculum being broken down into four units. Each unit consists of four lessons, which are made up of five capsules each, for a total of eighty days of instruction. Each day's instruction is short and easy to understand. My first impression of the books I received was that the photos and graphics are vibrant and eye-catching. The first lesson deals with images and advertisements, which seems to really catch a student's attention. Super Girl flipped through the student book and was eager to carry it off and get started. Wonder Boy was not as thrilled with the idea, but he's my reluctant learner. Once he got past the first capsule, he was as taken with it as his sister was!
Armed with the student book and a composition book as their writing journal, my kids have been steadily working their way through the daily instructions. Conflict arises only when they both want to use the book at the same time. I am so happy with this curriculum - any time a program gets my son to do school work and not fight me on it, I'm pleased! And the fact that it is also applicable to my daughter, who is definitely working at a higher level, is wonderful! My children find the writing activities to be engaging, and both stated that they found the material easier to understand and the activities easier to complete than the creative writing material we used previously.
I encourage you to explore the Write With World website to see some specific things that make this curriculum different. The two years of the program are available separately for $95 per year, or you can purchase both years for $165. The curriculum is slated to begin shipping this summer. A website, "for updated examples, writing prompts, published student work, and helpful teacher forum", is scheduled to be up and running in September (the September 2011 date on the informative site is a typo).
***Disclaimer: I received the first year curriculum books of Write With World in exchange for my review through TOS Homeschool Crew. All opinions are those of myself and my children.
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