I heard Joy recommend this progym course in a video not too long ago and decided to check it out. She's right; it's an invaluable resource. I've begun using it this year with my middle school son. Highly recommend it.
We use Classical Writing really love it. I’m hoping to adapt it a little, so hearing others’ methods is helpful. The progym is SO fascinating to me. I can’t believe I had never heard of it before having children of my own!
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing. I have a two in form 1, one in form 2, and one in form 4 and a 4 year along with us. Writing is not my strongest subject for sure and haven't found anything that is really making a big difference for us. We do a lot of composition and I give direction during that time. We work on grammar and all to. The writing comes naturally for my oldest but I can tell that I will need a bit more information for my second child. I will look into this for sure. Thanks for your time!!!
I listened to the schole sisters podcast on this and I was so interested! I only have form 1B student right now and some littles. Excited to hear what you think!
Sorry, I should have clarified; I didn’t mean fitting into the timetable. How do you use this in conjunction with written narration? Do you incorporate the exercises into their narrations? Completely separate?
I have struggled teaching writing so much. I keep "trusting the method" but my oldest isn't getting anywhere with my haphazard approach. She has great narrations, is proficient is spelling and grammar, and can vary sentence length. Getting her to a well-organized writing or being persuasive is were we falter, though. Do you think I have enough time to start this with a Y10?
You totally have time! We had several folks in the class with older students. Even going through the exercises in one term or one semester is valuable for anyone! These exercises are like a superpower. They are truly fabulous. Because you mentioned being well organized, you may also enjoy going through The Lively Art of Writing with her. That book explains how an essay works and what the function of the introduction is and how the paragraph helps to build out the thesis. Worth looking into! You've got this!
This was insightful! When would you recommend starting a classical writing program? My year 4 is doing okay with written narrations but has expressed interest in "learning how to write better." I have IEW All Things Fun, and Writing & Rhetoric Fable at my disposal... would you recommend either at this stage?
My Year four student joined us for part of the Progym lessons. He did well with poetry imitation (which is SO MUCH FUN!) and Fable work. The narrative work was harder for him and most of the grammar is going over his head. If your student is expressing interest in learning to write better, I recommend trying the progym and seeing how they do with Fable and throw in some poetry imitation for fun if you can. Have you learned about copia exercises? It's playing with words and word order. Erasmus has a chapter on his book "On Copia" where he rewrites a sentence 150 different ways! It's a really fun way to PLAY with language. Another thing to look at is impromptu games. It helps us think on our feet and organize our thoughts. Children of any age can do it. But the idea is that if we can think clearly and speak clearly then we can write clearly.
@@joycherrick I am currently going through the Progym class and implementing it with my kids (Forms 2-3). Are copia exercises explained well in the program? I feel myselt defaulting to IEW programing. Does it cover poetry imitation too, or do you get that from another source? Our progym program last year only had us trying poetry. That is the piece we have been missing. I am also trying to work out a weekly schedule to cover all the components right now so that composition doesn't take too long.
Ministry mama of many here, is this something you would recommend I save up for the course, or would the book the recommend be enough to help? My I have 1,3,5, 8,10,11,13 year olds and use CM but definitely need to work on composition more as my oldest is hitting that age. Been using Know and Tell and realize I just need to focus more on writing.
I have seen a huge impact in my confidence teaching not only writing but HOW to think! It is worth saving for, IMO. It's been a game changer for us and has already impacted the way I teach other subjects. Renee (the instructor) is a little monotone in her presentation. But the WORDS she is saying and the valuable information she conveys for HOW to engage our students when we are teaching them a skill (like writing) is beautiful and so helpful!
