An in-depth, expertly researched curriculum with a lot of effort involved.

What is IEW?

• IEW provides multiple resources for writing, grammar and more.
• Their focus is primarily on writing from primary age through college.
• There are also options for teachers, English Language Learners and special needs.
• There are options for advanced writers.

How IEW Writing Curriculum Works:

• The books offered in the GENERAL writing curriculum in order are: Primary/Level A/Level B/Level C & College
• The books offered in the THEMED writing curriculum in order are: Following Narnia Volume 1 & 2
• The books offered in the ADVANCED writing curriculum are Bible based and History based writing

The Pros

• Thorough and well-researched
• Lots of content
• In-depth concepts that get your student writing quickly
• Many worksheets and template resources
• Scaffolding allowing for multiple skills to accumulate
• Options for generalized or specialized writing

The Cons

• Overwhelming content, almost too much content that can’t all be utilized
• Somewhat confusing format – particularly for teacher manual
• Requires a lot of attention and planning 1:1 time with student
• KWO worksheets need modification to use efficiently

Why We Chose Following Narnia Volume 1 & 2 AND Level A

We decided to have our two older children work through the books and we also bought Fix It Grammar books to go along with the Level A writing curriculum. By having each curriculum set we could try and test to see what we liked and disliked about each of the curriculums.

The Basics Broken Down:

In both curriculums they break down lessons into the main components:

Modifications:

What it offers:

• Narnia Series connects with the book by teaching concepts within the author’s writing style.
• Some of the breakdowns and overall concept of the intended lesson can be confusing.
• It is good for age group, overwhelming at first but then turns into a very good lesson once you sort through the lessons.
• Needs lots of prep time, organization and deeper understanding.
• Take a tutorial on this curriculum because it’s not a jump right in kind of format. Review it carefully before starting it.
• Lessons can be repetitive in style but also useful for those who struggle with writing. Often the repetition is helpful for writers who struggle with the basics of organization.
• Allows for a predictable and clear expectation for the content in the essay.
• Teaches grammar informally through visuals and explanations in Fix it book which is more effective to apply into writing.

The Overall

Writing is a long term process that you may not see “results” like math or other subjects for many years. So take your time and be patient. We already see some slight changes, but every child is different so allow time for the skills to cross over.

Overall we will continue using this curriculum to see where it takes us. However, we prefer the general writing curriculum that includes the grammar book. It’s a much more organized and efficient set with clearer goals for us to quickly adapt and incorporate into our curriculum. We love the idea of the Narnia series, but if choosing this option, we need more time to research and modify it to fit our own child’s needs and our schedule.

Our children are slowly learning how to write and I think that given the time, we are happy that it has help improve any of their writing s kills so far. We will see how it goes over the next few years.