We are half way through the first book in the Writing with Skill series, which includes 2 books, one for the teacher and one for the student. You do need both of these books to complete the curriculum.
The approach is similar: you read the passage and the child works with that passage, completing 4 lessons in one week. The lessons are a bit more advanced, however, and my child reads the passages on her own now.
There is no narration. Instead the child is outlining the passage and learning how to work with outlines.
Just like in the elementary series, the lessons are all the same in approach (read a passage and narrate/dictate) but the concepts being learned are different.
We have learned about chronological narratives, how to identify and write them, science narratives, descriptions and the like. We will be moving on to characters biographical sketches, research and poetry next.
My daughter is really enjoying this curriculum. She likes how the student book is written for her and while the passages can get a little long to read, she is able to stay with them and not give up. Sometimes I’ll read a little with her to keep her motivated.
She is also able to write fairly decently for a 6th grader. She is very good at understanding how to move stories forward, how to use descriptive words and dialogue to show action.
She enjoys writing and this curriculum doesn’t make her hate to write, as some tend to do. For me, that’s a huge win because I do not want my kids to hate writing, even if they don’t love it.
It’s necessary in our world and I want them to be eloquent communicators with writing and speaking, as well. This curriculum has definitely helped us in those goals.
If you are coming into this curriculum in jr high or high school and have not completed the elementary series, you will not have a problem with this curriculum.
Your children should be able to pick this up and go. It is very gentle and is still scripted for you, so there should not be too many gaps.
Narration is not a necessary skill to have to complete the Writing With Skill series, even though it was a foundation laid in the earlier years.
If you’re looking to put your child in this who is 7th grade and above with no writing whatsoever, I think they would be successful in this curriculum.