Wordsmith Apprentice

Wordsmith Apprentice

This book features all the practicality, humor, and fun of Wordsmith but is written for the younger student, ages 9-12. It's an easy-to-use writing course encouraging students to develop their writing skills as they participate in every role on a newspaper staff: editor, reporter, writer, etc. Children develop a love for writing as they express themselves through sentence and paragraph writing, persuasive writing, and much more.

About the Wordsmith Series

Have you ever felt overwhelmed with the slew of creative writing programs available for homeschoolers? As a curriculum provider, we have seen more writing programs than any sensible parent would ever want to see, and candidly, after a while, they all look pretty much the same. So what stood out about the Wordsmith line?

No Slick Promises

To start with, the engaging exercises and doable assignments are pertinent for reinforcing the systematic process of thinking, organizing, writing, evaluating, and re-writing that is critical to any creative writing program. But ultimately, at the very core of the Wordsmith program is the honest reality presented by the author, Janie B. Cheaney, a regular columnist for World Magazine, that while her books will not always produce an enthusiastic and prolific writer, the Wordsmith series, the actual skills of creative writing can be acquired by anyone. So if you need a language arts program that addresses creative writing in more depth, the Wordsmith series is the most effective, painless approach we have seen.

From the Publisher:
Writing is a tough subject to teach and, for many students, an even tougher subject to learn. Not every 9-year-old is ready to tackle 3-point essays or 2-page short stories. Pushing students to do so may well be counterproductive. The purpose of Wordsmith Apprentice is to expose youngsters to many kinds of writing in short bites, through the medium of a local newspaper.

True, the newspaper business is changing rapidly and the morning edition or Sunday comics may not be a part of your family routine. But in the little world of Wordsmith Apprentice, our faithful editor is keeping his staff in line and is eager to take on a new cub reporter. The student gets into the spirit by filling out an application (using lots of nouns, both proper and common) then moves on to writing help-wanted ads (action verbs, anyone?), captions using declarative, interrogative and exclamatory sentences, ads with lots of descriptive adjectives, household hints, and much more. Cub reporters even get to contribute to the games and features page! Along the way they’ll learn how to apply the basic parts of speech and sentence structure. They’ll also enjoy the frequent comic-page tutorials from the editor.

Awards and Endorsements:

review by My Life on a Taffy Pull

"I’ve reviewed writing material before but I have to whole-heartedly agree with this description, it truly is self-directed. I have reviewed other writing curriculum and hand’s down this is my favorite because of the ease of teaching. It lines up well with my goals to nurture independent learners and I love the enthusiasm that Blue-Raspberry has about the program!"

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review by Pebblekeeper blog

"Jon was able to read through the 'To the Student' portions independently. He was able to complete the assignments without help or clarification questions. One of our goals for writing has been to develop a stronger larger written vocabulary bank for both boys. I am very glad that this is also the focus for the Wordsmith products as well. This is a thumbs up for Petra School!!"

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review by Our Homeschool Reviews

"I knew right away after receiving this book that Funny Bunny would LOVE it...and she does!! She is enjoying this writing curriculum so much that we plan to continue it throughout the year."

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review by Home with Purpose

"The simplicity of design is nice. A variety of fonts and black and white illustrations make it pleasant to look at, and the conversational writing style is clear and direct. It's practical, self-directed, and creative. Wordsmith Apprentice is simple, practical, effective, and affordable...a great combination!"

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review by Weiser Academy

"What Genius! My boys were hooked right from the start. Somehow, Wordsmith Apprentice has enticed them with comics, humor, role play, and suspense, and they look forward to the next assignment. I think this is a great product and I recommend it for homeschool, afterschool, tutoring, and coop writing and acting classes."

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review by Our Village Is a Little Different

"This is mainly a student directed program. Since my boys enjoy it, they are moving through it fairly quickly, but a younger student or a truly reluctant child may require a bit of gentle direction. It is NOT a teacher intensive program at all. There are some notes to the parent in the first pages, but there is no teacher text at all. All of the information the boys need is right in the workbook."

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review by Ben and Me

"Each lesson is presented by a cartoon (and what boy doesn't love that?), with lots of tips and suggestions peppered throughout. Wordsmith Apprentice has inspired Ben to write by making it fun and interesting. He highly recommends it. And so does his mom!"

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review by Home Grown Hearts Academy

"When she started into the book, she would hardly put it down. That was encouraging, especially from the daughter, who does not, and I mean does NOT, like writing. Well I should say, who didn't like writing, because now she has a new found confidence in her writing."

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