 Hey, you guys, my name is Brittany and welcome back to my YouTube channel. You guys in today's video I will be giving you my final thoughts and review of IEW structure and style level 1a I'm so excited you guys to bring to you my final thoughts and my final review of IEW structure and style Especially after we have completed this entire writing program this homeschooling year So if any of you guys are new here to my channel again, I'm Brittany I'm a homeschooling mom to three girls and I'm wrapping up my third year of homeschool So you guys I just want to give you like a few Disclaimers before I start today's video. I am a part of IEW's affiliate program However, in this video all of my thoughts and my opinions are all of my own No one is paying me to say anything specific about IEW structure and style I will be giving you guys my honest review and my honest thoughts of this program since we have completed it And some of the cons that I did have with it, but overall you guys I'm just going to go ahead and give you a little spoiler I am really really happy with IEW structure and style I'm really happy with the progress and my daughter's writing throughout this whole homeschooling year This program really it benefited me and my homeschool in a very special way And this actually has to be like my favorite piece of curriculum we have used this homeschooling year So I'm going to go ahead and let you know that I do already have on my channel the flip through of the IEW Student binder and of the teacher's manual. I have that video on my channel I also have a video of IEW structure and style my initial review after completing this program for 30 days and then I also have another video on my channel of IEW how we actually implemented this program how a week of IEW looked in our homeschool So I think what I'm going to do for you guys is I'm going to go ahead and put all of my IEW videos in a playlist So if you want to see any of those specific topics You will be able to go ahead and kind of like binge watch that playlist to see if IEW will be a good fit for you In your homeschool this upcoming year. So you guys I'm going to try my best to like keep this video short and concise I do have some notes. So if you see me looking down, that's what I'm looking at I'm looking at my notes I made for this video I'm not even going to like front it because I have so much I want to say and I just want to make sure I'm able to really give you guys a very thorough review So first and foremost, what skills do I recommend your kiddos having before starting? IEW structure and style now IEW structure and style level 1a is geared for Grades three through five. However, if you have a middle schooler in a sixth grade that has never went through the IEW structure and style program They do recommend all students begin at the level structure and style level 1a However, I do think it's some prerequisites before starting this program that I think would create will make this program be a little bit easier for your Kiddos to follow through and I think it will kind of like eliminate that initial challenge in a writing curriculum I definitely would say the kiddos need to know how to do like a basic paragraph with a topic sentence three detail sentences and a concluding sentence Basic punctuation and capitalization. I definitely feel like they need to know to capitalize All the letters at the beginning of their sentences periods question marks now as far as commas I would say not to worry too much about that because they will be learning about commas in the writing program IEW structure and style and then also to something that elevated the program for us was that my daughter actually took typing Last year so she was able to type out all of her papers like her final copies of her papers because she already knew how to type Now they can practice like typing skills while doing this if you do want them to type up their papers If not, they can just like hand write all of their Compositions at the end of the week. It's just really up to you But I really liked my daughter practicing like on the computer actually like typing up her formal papers So this IEW structure and style you guys this is actually broken up into seven units The first unit is note making and outlines the second unit is Writing from notes the third unit is retelling narrative stories The fourth unit is summarizing a reference the fifth unit is writing from pictures the sixth unit is summarizing multiple references and then the last unit in this IEW structure and style is inventive writing or creative writing and then they end off the entire program with a timed essay so That is kind of like the breakdown of this program. It is broken into 24 weeks However, a quick suggestion that I will have you guys do is in the beginning of your teacher's guide You will have like this paper right here of all of the downloads You're able to access once you purchase IEW structure and style and in the downloads that you're able to access You will be able to print off this 30 week Adapted schedule where it already has each of the weeks laid out for you to complete over 30 weeks of time And because for me in the state of Georgia our criteria is 36 weeks of Home school. I was really able to kind of like take this schedule and adapt it to our overall School year and I was really able to like mimic it a lot because I didn't want us to be doing like IEW over our Christmas and holiday break so I was able to take that like six week buffer that I had to take off weeks like in During November and December and then really hit it hard when it came to like January, February and things like that in our second semester So that is like a little tidbit. I definitely will suggest you do another Suggestion I will say is that a lot of you guys asked me do you need to actually purchase the teaching Portion of the IEW structure and style. I'm gonna go ahead and pop a picture of how it looks I think it's called teaching structure and style. I'm not too sure But I will let you know I actually was able to complete this whole program with my daughter without actually going through the parent teacher Portion what I did was I actually set in at least for the first unit with my daughter to kind of like let Andrew Putawa teach me the structure and style of writing So I will be able to really be a aid for my daughter as we were kind of like a learning a new style of writing So the teacher's manual definitely will hold your hand in helping you age your kiddos and write in this writing Curriculum. However, I found by just sitting in and watching the videos with my daughter It really helped us out especially with me being new to the program So I really don't think you do need that teachers teaching structure and style manual unless you absolutely want it I found that I was actually okay with just sitting in on the videos another suggestion that I would have before starting the program is to get you like a Little sheet online of some proof mark proof reading or marks Because in IUW structure and style, they don't have like any like edit marks And I really forgot like all the edit marks When I edit in like a writing assignments and things like that So I had to like familiarize myself with like some proof reading marks and I just laminated mine So at the end of each week when I was editing my daughter's paper I had kind of like a point of reference to a look at when I'm editing her papers So you guys now let's go ahead and get into my pros and my cons of this overall program So my first pro of IUW structure and style is that I really feel like this program really took the pressure off of me As far as giving like my daughter formal writing instructions Writing is really like my weak area when it comes to homeschooling and things like that And I know I needed a curriculum that was really going to hold my hand and teaching her formal writing So I really liked that all of the instructional pressure was taken off of me I was really just coming in on the back end as like editor and as like helping aid her throughout this program One thing I definitely will say is that if you're doing this with an upper elementary kiddo My daughter was in the fifth grade when we did this program I really felt like she was able to work through this program very Independently and she didn't really need me much after we went over like that first unit together She was able to really go online Start up her videos She was familiar with the weekly checklist that they gave us each week for how we were doing each of the assignments So after we kind of like got over the initial hump of getting used to the curriculum She was like off on her own and it really gave me like I guess a sense of peace One another thing I really really liked about it again Like I said is this teacher's manual you guys is very specific in the instructions The teacher's manual also has like all of the notes that Andrew Poudawa has in the video lesson So if it's any point that your kiddos may have missed something You can always point them back to your teacher's manual with like all of the class notes and things like that Which was really really helpful Another thing that I really liked about this program is I liked how Simple and gentle the program started off to really be honest you guys when we first started this iow structuring style I really thought that I picked the wrong level for my daughter Because it started off very very easy But I think that um the program is built that way to really build the kiddos confidence when it comes to writing And now that we have completed the program I'm really happy that they kind of like eased The kiddos into the formal writing instruction And after they completed each week it was really amazing to see how Those building blocks was building on each other when it came to like all their writing Something that I really really appreciate was all of the stylist stylistic techniques and the dress ups that iow used In or throughout the whole writing program Now I know all these stylistic techniques and things like that They will be using it in the later programs because this is the first level I know when each of the levels they will build off of the previous level before so it was really really nice to see her papers Become stronger and stronger as she was learning the different stylistic techniques Now brielle actually told me that the stylistic techniques was the most challenging part of iow Because it really got her out of the box when it came to uh writing her papers Especially when it came to like the band words adding her ly adverbs She had her who which because clauses and her um which clauses She had her topic clenches and sentence openers her prepositional openers So towards the end of the uh writing program. It was just amazing All of these foundational skills that they taught taught them to like really make their papers really really strong And um, I was really really uh proud of brielle for all of the effort and the hard work that she put into this program Especially when it became challenging during like the second half of the program Now the first half of the program brielle really breezed through it But that second half uh should we really begin to take our time some of the weeks we uh took two weeks to do towards the second part of this program and I'm really really happy that we did uh slow down on those harder weeks So she can really gain the skills that andrew puddle while was teaching now I definitely will say andrew puddle while is a great instructor. Um, a lot of times you guys I will hear brielle upstairs laughing while she was uh working on her iow and listening in on the videos It was really really funny like uh seeing her really enjoyed this writing program and um, He really has a knack for what he does and he's very engaging. Um, especially the videos that I sat in on They were really really good and I'm really really. I'm happy with the quality of the videos as well Now for the video streamings that comes with iow you can do either the Forever streaming or you can get to dvds. I decided to go ahead and do the forever streaming since I do have like Really good internet access where I am at so um, I will always have the streaming portion So if I do want to go ahead and do this program again with my younger kiddos I will have everything that I need I may need to buy like another student pack But other than that like I would be ready to go for multiple children. Um One thing I will say is that iow really gave brielle like a lot of confidence when it came to her writing now brielle is a strong writer, but um, she's a strong writer when it comes to creative writing She really worked on creative writing for her third and her fourth grade year So coming into this program already having her voice in writing was a really key for us to be very successful in this program Um, I definitely will say when it came to brielle actually writing like more structured paragraphs Like if I was to give her a topic and say hey brie write me a paragraph about zebras and do Some research on zebras. She would clam up on me and I noticed her doing that a lot in the fourth grade And I knew uh that I did want to go ahead and add in like this structure So she wouldn't clam up when she was given like a specific topic I wanted her to be able to translate her voice into specific topics that she was given because Writing is really going to be an essential skill for her just from now high school college really From now until you know the end of her adult life Writing is just really really important And I knew I wanted her to be able to translate those things On paper and I didn't want her to clam up and I knew I really had to target those areas And I definitely will say after completing structure and style I am able to translate different writing assignments throughout the courses of our other subjects Especially when it comes to like history and science I was able to translate all the things that she learned in iow this year When she was writing a small paragraphs and science or small paragraphs in history And it was really amazing to see how fluid her writing became especially towards the end of the second semester She was just really writing structured topics Easily and she was just used to that process and I really have to attribute that to iow structure and style At the end of this program, there was a 20 minute timed essay that she had to do Where she had to make a quick outline for her Paragraphs and then she had to actually write them They they said that the timing was optional But my daughter wanted to do the challenge and she ended up writing three paragraphs in 20 minutes And it's just so crazy because I would never have thought that she was she would be able to do a timed essay like this Especially um when we began the program with her like clamming up when it came to structured writing This right here is like an attestament to how well this program actually worked out for uh brielle Now you guys I have my list right here and um, I'm not even gonna act like I have this uh all down but As far as the cons of iow structure and style I definitely will say that the video lessons can be very lengthy and if you are doing this with a younger kiddo I definitely think you may want to like split up the videos and really make this program fit for you Um, but because my daughter is older She did have the stamina to sit in a longer video and andre pudo. Like I said, he's very entertaining So um even though the videos was broken up into two parts like so for one week the video might be an hour Long so she will do part one will be 45 minutes and like the second part will be like an additional 20 minutes remaining So um, it was long, but she enjoyed it. Um, so I definitely think that that is a con Another con I definitely will say is sometimes I felt like um I needed a little bit more hand-holding when it came to like actually edit in her papers at the end of the week um, they do give you a checklist at the end of each week of What you are looking for in the kiddos writings Like here is an example of one of the composition checklist that I will have During this week to be able to use and what I'm looking for in her paper But sometimes I felt like just this checklist wasn't enough for me to really check those like grammatical errors That bria was working on this year a lot of the errors that or the grammatical errors we was working on this year was like run-on sentences fragments and negatives double negatives was a lot of things that we were working with in her writing and um Sometimes I felt like I may have been a little bit too hard on her. Um, but then I really don't know So I definitely will say that that was like the most challenging part for me as parent was like editing her papers Uh, especially like when the kids are not used to you editing the papers. Um I definitely got like a little bit of kickback when I was editing my daughter's work because she felt like when her work Was getting edited that she was doing it wrong And I really had to explain to her the editing process and how it worked and towards the latter end of the program She began to get used to like Getting her rough drafts back and that's going over it and like fine-tuning her papers But in the beginning I felt like it was a hard hit for her to kind of see me really uh critique her work because When it came to uh, her creative writing in her earlier years I just would say oh good job great story and I never really gave her constructive criticism But while we did the iow construction style, um, I really uh challenged her and sometimes I don't know if I was a little bit too hard on her So um, I definitely would have liked to see like more examples in the teacher's manual of Maybe how they would edit a student's work and uh, the different uh editing areas that I needed to specifically look for So that is like one of my cons. Um, another one of my cons is that I said this in my previous video When I did my initial 30 day review of iow construction style is that I really don't see, uh How iow is really helping the kiddos with their own voice and writing. Um And I heard from a lot of you guys on my channel is that iow especially like in the later years They really work on the kiddos voice in their writing and in the beginning years They're really just focusing on that um initial structure So I don't have any experience with any other levels other than this but um As you guys said having that like that voice and writing is to come But I do know having like their own voice and writing is really really important And I didn't really see it uh in this level However, I was able to take like the structure and the styles that he taught And translate it with my daughter and other writing assignments for her to Create her own voice by still using the guidelines that iow gave so um, I guess it was like a Hit and a miss is what I definitely would say when it comes to the kiddos voice in their writing And the last thing I would say about iow structure and style you guys is that iow was the most expensive curriculum That I purchased this homeschooling year And I definitely know you will hear that over and over again because this program is $169 and uh, do I feel like it Was worth $169 uh at the beginning I was questioning it But after we have completed this program, I feel like I got like every sense worth out of this program I feel like because my daughter was a lot older and doing this program She was in like the latter end of this level in the fifth grade I feel like I really was able to squeeze out every little bit of juice That Andrew Pudewa was teaching and overall I am honestly more than pleased with the growth in her writing and um, I will continue with iow structure and style throughout the course of our homeschooling year Now after iow structure and style level 1a the next level is actually 2a But when I looked at the program and how briel is writing I decided to put her in iow 1b, which is the middle school level The only difference between 2a and 1b that I seen was that the source texts are a little bit challenging in 1b then they are in 2a, but other than that they are going to go over each like the same stylish techniques in level 2a and 1b if that makes any sense. So Like I said in my curriculum picks videos if you guys have already seen it This iow structure and style is really an honorable mention because I don't know if We are going to be able to commit to doing another level of iow structure and style because the curriculum that we are using is heavy in writing But if we do pick this up We will pick it up either in second semester or the summer of her seventh grade year We will go ahead and do a second level of iow structure and style because I definitely seen like all of the benefits of this program Um, I cannot end this video guys Without talking about fixit grammar for this homeschooling year We completed fixit grammar book two town mouse and country mouse And then we also completed fixit grammar robin hood you guys I love fixit grammar is very very short and effective I definitely will say a brio is really really good in grammar. So this these two books was really a review for her She didn't really start learning new grammar skills until the second half of robin hood But i'm really happy that I solidified those grammar skills for her And I definitely seen by her using the fixit grammar with the iow program. It was beneficial I don't know if you guys know this but at the back of iow's fixit grammar There is a portion where the kiddos are Taking different strong verbs from the actual passages and they're making lists with all of those strong verbs that they see And also like any quality adjectives and things like that And what brio was doing with these lists was she was taking these lists and using it with her iow structure and style So she was able to really get some inspiration from some of the strong verbs that she was finding in both of these fixit Uh grammar levels. So um, I'm definitely happy that we benefit or that we used that portion of fixit grammar because it very it paired very well with um Iow structure and style. So you guys this is my final review of iow structure and style. It was absolutely worth it I absolutely loved it. We had a few hiccups, but other than that, um, I'm pleased with this program I really hope today I answered all of you guys's questions about iow if you have any more Just go ahead and leave them down below and I will try my best to get to all of you guys's questions Um, but as always you guys, thank you so much for watching and I look forward to seeing everybody in my next one Bye