Today I’ll be sharing a review of Bear’s writing curriculum for the upcoming school year by Writing with Sharon Watson. This middle school composition course has been updated to enhance your child’s writing skills and reignite their enjoyment of the task. So, let’s take a closer look at Jump In, 2nd Edition printed Student Textbook and Teacher’s Guide.
Jump In features short lessons that teach your child how to write nine types of essays. The 98 lessons are designed to follow any scheduling plan and can be easily catered to your homeschool. We opted for three lessons a week during our review period. There is also an outline schedule available detailing how to use this course for one, two, or three years. The lessons are short and the assignments offer plenty of practice opportunities. Jump In, 2nd edition has been updated with added paragraph practice and charts before continuing on to essays. This course is available in print or PDF download.
Teacher’s Guide
This guide includes answers to all the student lessons, copies of each assignment, and copies of all the checklists. Teaching tips can be found throughout this book with special mentions for each writing style. Grading grids for each essay assignment are also provided along with examples on how to assign the perfect letter grade. The 10-Minute Writing Plunges are prompts for an entire school year. We used these for morning warm-ups and journal entries. A free preview of this book is available on the website.
Student Textbook
This paperback textbook comes with 98 daily lessons, practice sessions, and assignments. The student will learn the importance of picking a topic, supporting the main idea, and citations. Each lesson builds on the other to help the students write articles, biographies, book reports, poetry, narratives, and more. The essay assignments include a writing schedule, checklist, and proofreading tips. Several reminder worksheets are located in the “My Locker” section, located in the back of the book. There you’ll find proofreading reminders, a Mistake Medic assessment tool, various writing forms. A free preview of this book is available on the website.
Final Thoughts
I like the structure of the lessons and how each style of writing has a separate section in the book. The pace was great for us but we will definitely slow down when poetry is introduced. I’ve got a six-week plan for that section all ready to teach. The “My Locker” section is extremely helpful, especially for those students that prefer a clear space to refer back to. The Teacher’s Guide is perfectly organized for instruction and as a resource. I also like how the specialized essay grading grids help you objectively evaluate essays. Sharon Watson‘s curriculum clearly portrays her belief that the student is more important than the material in the textbook. She also provided parents with plenty of tools to instruct and evaluate our children. We enjoyed using the Jump In, 2nd Edition writing curriculum and will definitely continue it through the upcoming school year.Click the photo below to read additional reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew about the print and PDF versions of this course.
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Make this week spectacular,
Ta’Neisha K.
Marriage, Motherhood, & Homeschool 
Ta’Neisha, thank you for this review. I enjoy seeing the boxes checked for the things that are true about writing for your student. Looks like you have a cozy writer. 🙂
That is the perfect description of his style
just stopping in the check out some of the other Jump In Reviews. 🙂
Thanks for visiting