Apologia Writers in Residence : A Homeschool Writing Curriculum

Learning to write well has been a struggle at our house for the past few years. I have always loved writing, but my nine-year-old has never been overly excited about it. Actually, I did well to get him to write two sentences before we started Apologia Writers in Residence. This program is nothing short of amazing. My nine-year-old actually looks forward to writing.

Apologia Writers in Residence

Writers in Residence Volume 1 was created by Debra Bell. This easy to use, all-in-one writing curriculum recommended for grades 4-8. It includes writing and grammar using a four-day week schedule. This hefty 576-page student text and workbook includes an Answer Key when the full set is purchased.

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Apologia Writers in Residence is divided into six different units. The four types of writing tasks in the Writers in Residence series are:

Remember

Writing prompts ask students to think about different experiences they have had in their life and write it down as a narrative following the format used in When I Was Young in the Mountains, written by Cynthia Rylant.

Imagine

With this, students look at fictional work to see how the author pulls inspiration from their own lives. They will also learn that a narrative arc is an important strategy that writers use to keep their reader’s attention.

Investigate

These writing prompts introduce research skills and writing with a twist. The research project mirrors the world of investigative journalism. They learn how to detect bias in their sources and even their own writing as well as learn how to include their voice in what they write.

Think

The writing prompts teach students about argument writing. This final section in the book is the first step to more formal arguments in later volumes.

Throughout this curriculum, you will also find six different Christian writers in the spotlight. It begins with Bill Myers and his spotlight story really impressed my little dude. I love that he mentions that as a child he never had any interest in writing and even talks about some of the projects he did that weren’t that great. This to me shows kids that it’s alright if at first, it isn’t perfect. If they keep trying and asking God for guidance, eventually they’ll get there.

Here he’s taking his sentences he wrote and putting them in different orders to see what works best for his story.

We follow the four-day schedule as written in the book. I choose to do this program along with him due to his age and for the fact that prior to starting this program, he cried if he had to write one sentence. This curriculum has completely changed his outlook on writing and it makes this mamma very happy. We have had so much fun with this program so far. From acting out our vigorous verbs to brainstorming about his story. Even his little five-year-old brother chimes in while brainstorming.

Overall thoughts

I love how this curriculum gently introduces them to writing and gives them fun topics that interest them. One of the short stories prompts that they were asked to write was using the vigorous verbs they had been learning about. This writing activity was so much fun for my nine-year-old. They were asked to invent a story in which one character is a fictional version of themselves with a superpower and another character was the archenemy. He was super excited to write this story and even asked to put the finish project on his own blog. Here’s his story:

“One morning in my New York City apartment, I was working on an important project. Suddenly, I heard a thundering noise and looked out my window. To my surprise, I see the annihilator destroying the city. People were cowering in fear and building were crashing to the ground. Me, being the Invincible Man, had no choice but to defend the city that I loved. I jumped up and scurried to the closet to change into my SUPER SUIT! When I did, the Annihilator and I battled for what seemed like hours….and in the end, I annihilated the Annihilator and saved the city.”

I was pretty impressed with this little story considering he has always dreaded writing. Sure, you can tell that it’s written by a nine-year-old, but this little story along with others he’ll be doing is going to be placed inside his writer portfolio for him to have for years to come.

Along with the short story, the first of the book focuses on a writing assignment titled “When I Was Young”. They are asked to write down some of their favorite childhood memories and as we go along, it ends up in a story format similar to the book, When I Was Young in the Mountains , by Cynthia Rylant.

Writers in Residence 2 Earlier writing was a struggle in our house, but something about this curriculum has completely turned that around. He is right now writing a story outside of this curriculum. While I can’t say if this curriculum would be a great fit for your family, I can say that it’s been amazing for ours!