I recommend that families use a comprehensive writing program alongside EWS at least through Level F (US grade 5). Why? Isn’t EWS “enough” for writing?
EWS is a world literature curriculum, not an all-in-one language arts program. In the primary grades, EWS is scheduled for one lesson a week to allow students plenty of time for instruction in phonics, spelling, and handwriting. However, young students also benefit from regular practice in narration and copywork to prepare them for academic writing in the later grades. Writing with Ease provides this practice in an open-and-go format, making it the perfect complement to EWS. (First Language Lessons provides age-appropriate instruction in grammar and writing mechanics, and I highly recommend it as well.)
In the elementary grades, EWS is scheduled for two lessons a week. While Levels D-F teach important writing skills, students in grades 3-5 still benefit from the explicit instruction and practice a dedicated writing curriculum provides. By this age, students should be writing on a daily basis, not just about literature, but across the curriculum. For that reason, I recommend Write By Number, a flexible, mastery-based writing curriculum that allows families to tailor writing instruction to the student’s level. (It also saves money since multiple students can use it at different levels with no extra purchases.)
If students have successfully followed this curricular progression from K-5 and are comfortable writing informational and expository paragraphs in all the major content areas, they may be able to dispense with a separate writing curriculum and learn essay-writing with the advanced levels of EWS.
There are, however, three circumstances in which a student at this level might still want or need a dedicated writing program in addition to EWS:
(1) The student is an able writer, ready to delve into specialized academic writing tasks. For this, I recommend with Writing with Skill, which can be used in grades 7-10.
(2) The student needs continued support in sentence- and paragraph-level composition, in which case I recommend WBN and the middle school Sentence and Paragraph books by Killgallon. These students may also benefit from EWS-Writing Skills for Older Beginners.
(3) The student is 11+ (US grade 6 and up) and has had little or no previous formal writing instruction. EWS-Writing Skills for Older Beginners was developed especially for these students and should be taught before Level G. These students will need continued instruction, however, and for that I recommend WBN and daily writing across the curriculum to further develop the their skills and confidence.
Copyright 2024 by Drew Campbell, PhD. All rights reserved.
Drew Campbell is the author of Living Memory, I Speak Latin, and Exploring the World through Story, and co-author, with Courtney Ostaff and Jennifer Naughton, of How to Homeschool the Kids You Have. She is a veteran homeschooler and has worked as a classroom teacher, private school administrator, and independent tutor.