This is our first year of homeschooling and my son is in 2nd grade. He is a very smart boy and is reading at about a 2/3 level. This whole year has been a struggle though when it comes to any type of writing. He really, really hates it. I do let him dictate to me while I write for half of his assignments, but he still whines when it comes to him doing the writing.
Anyway, I have been looking at Growing with Grammar and Winning with Writing for next year. I really like the ways it looks, but was wondering if anyone else has used it? We are currently using sonlight and it is not working for him.
Iāve used growing with grammar and my sons all really seem to enjoy it, but Iām not familiar with their writing. I have reluctant writers too, so this coming year Iām going to try Essentials in Writing, itās a grammar and writing all in one program. Iāve read some homeschool moms say it not a grammar course, so if not Iāll probably just supplement it with Editor in Chief.
HTH! 
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Hi,
Iām wondering if the struggle is with the physical act of writing or writing itself?
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He has always had poor muscle control in his hands. So I do know that is a factor. It is a lot better than a couple years ago. He does fine writing his spelling words and with grammar type stuff. When itās time for writing anything else though, he just doesnāt want to do it. Iām ok with the fact that he doesnāt write as much as my daughter did at his age. Because it is something that he needs to learn, I want to find something that makes it fun and not so daunting for him. Some of the sonlight stuff has been good, but overall I think itās too vague and expects too much for his age.
I actually end up skipping some of the writing assignments each week if I look at it and think āthis is going to end in tears for him and frustration for meā. I really want to find something that will get his mind off the fact that heās writing. Also, i canāt spend $100 on a writing program. Is that even possible to find? Lol
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Ok so now I understand have you looked into Essentials in Writing?
I had Sonlight LA this year and the writing/grammar wasnāt working for us either, I didnāt bother to use it. EIW though made a huge improvement in a short space of time for our writing. This year I am splurging on Institute for Excellence in Writing. If it doesnāt work out I know Essentials will be our go-to.
I like EIW because it focuses on doing one thing at a time, step by step rather than telling the child to just write a letter, or just write a description, the teacher gives an example of his. Then in future lessons they will go back and make some changes to their work until it is good enough to be āpublishedā. Depending on the child it may be frustrating to keep going over the work but that needs to be done regardless of the program you choose. I have seen the results so far. Hope you find what you are looking for.
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Hi. I have a 3rd grade boy who is a voracious reader and not sooooo crazy about writing. I figure 2 things are going on: the actual mechanics of writing combined with getting his ideas down on paper at the same time. Thatās pretty major when youāre 8 and 9 years old. We do a lot of reading and discussion around grammar, style, literary elements, drawing and illustration for his own story telling. Weāre focusing on developing the skill of narration through discussion and verbal storytelling and reporting. Then he does fine with some other workbook pages. We also do two weekly writing exercises: copy work from a favorite book ( to practice mechanics only), and free writing on a fun topic (to practice ideas only - no stress, no correction). I have found a lot of writing programs are too much too soon and can ruin the creativity of it before kids even get a chance to see how fun it can be. It can squash their self confidence (āI canāt do thisā - āI am a terrible writerā - āI hate thisā). I figure it will all come together at the right level of development if we encourage a love of reading and separate fun muscle development exercises 
( just a thought outside of the main stream writing curricula). Brave Writer has some free resources to try before you buy. Lastly, I will add that because my son has an interest in learning cursive, I do have a handwriting workbook. That is great for muscle development without the stress (like drawing!).
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This is where I am at with my son and writing too! Awesome reply, sounds good to me!
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