I was wondering if anybody knows about EIW and IEW?
Is IEW a full language program or does it focus on writing only?
Is EIW a full language program or does it focus only on writing?
I am looking for Language that includes Grammar (punctuation etc…) and writing, I’m not worried about handwriting or spelling as I have other things that can help with that.
TIA
Voyages is a great Grammar/Writing program … there has been quite a bit said about it on other posts. I can share more with you, or you can search around this forum for what I/others have said 
I don’t have any experience with EIW or IEW - good luck!
Hi @triton17. Thank you for the suggestion. I haven’t really heard of voyages. I’m going to go and check it out. Is it very teacher intensive? I have changed some subjects to be more teacher intensive, so now I am looking for subjects where I can loosen the reigns a bit and know that my children are still learning.
@triton17 @Proverbs31 I spoke to a consultant at Rainbow Resource yesterday for about 30 mins about grammar. She had nothing but positive things to say about Voyages! We went over the scope and sequence and she said that it was developmentally appropriate for the grade we looked at (2nd grade). We spoke about some other grammar programs being to high for my sons grade level. She always said that the writing portion of Voyages really was great! It focused on the nuts and bolts of writing, but also on some story elements! Voyages is definitely a front runner for us for next year:)
Thanks @triton17 for your suggestion that I take a look:)
@Proverbs31 When you look on Voyages website, be sure to look at the teacher resources! LOTS of free sheets! Daily proofreading sentences, free lessons plans (grade 3 and up), and some handy charts, etc…
When I called and spoke to a consultant at Rainbow Resource, I told her what other grammar books we were considering and we talked and compared all of them! The representative at Voyages was not as much help 
Yes, Voyages is not as well known in the HS world because it was developed for schools. I just know about it because I’ve used it at a number of schools when I was a teacher. After I and a few other Voyages users recommended it on here, a mother contacted me to request pictures of the inside of the teacher manual. She was concerned that the manual was nothing more than answers for the sheets in the student workbook. This couldn’t be further than the truth - the manual has the same pages as the student book, but it also has a large number of resources for the parent/teacher (including daily edit prompts, daily sentence/story starters for writing, extra books to read during each unit, etc.) It also includes a test for each unit, as well as a teacher and student rubric for each unit (and a break down calendar of how they suggest you schedule the teaching of the unit - we don’t follow this - found what works for us, but it’s there if you need it). I always tell people to look in the BACK of the teacher book, because there it has a specific lesson plan for every single lesson/page of the student book - with activities, games, etc to present before the child does the assigned work. You do NOT NEED to do this, but it’s there if you need it (I taught with this curriculum for an entire school year before I knew the teacher lessons were in the BACK of the manual… makes no sense… ) The units have a grammar focus (for example, the focus may be adjectives and sensory writing) - so all the grammar sheets will focus around adjectives, then the writing assignment would match it - being sensory writing, using descriptive words that tie with adjectives and senses. Each part of the writing process is broken down into separate lessons (at least for the younger grades). So day one of the writing portion may be brainstorming a topic… put it away until day 2. Day two may be brainstorming 3 possible ideas, locations or characters for the writing pieces and drawing pictures of them then put it away. Day 3, etc… until in the end, you have a beautiful written piece that wasn’t overwhelming because it was broken down into small manageable steps. I don’t find this curriculum overly teacher taught - it can be how you want it - lots of involvement using the extra lessons in the back of the manual, or have students bounce along working on the grammar piece and written piece of that particular day. My daughter was tickled when last autumn her writing assignment was “friendly letter” - she could have written to any number of friends or family members, but she chose to write to Mary Pope Osborne (author of Magic Tree House series) - it took 6 months, but she just received a lovely letter back from Mary Pope Osborne - couldn’t have made my daughter happier Let me know if you have any questions… and I’m sorry that after all of this I have NO idea about EIW or IEW, but good luck either way (btw - @Luvmyboys in case you haven’t heard about some of these features… happy to share teacher manual pictures if desired)
@Luvmyboys - I love all the research you do for the curriculums by calling and getting information - you could teach all of us a thing or two! Inspiring!
@triton17 THANK YOU, it’s all for my sons:) your support and guidance has been worth more to me then words can even express. Thank you my new friend❤️
Triton17- I also want to thank you for all the information you share. I appreciate it so much. I purchased the voyages for 1st and 4th grade. I got it in the mail last week and am very happy with it. This should be another thread but what do you use for reading comprehension? Thank you again…
We used IEW (SWI B)this year. It’s focus is writing. It does have a “fix it” grammar supplement. IEW has a money back guarantee. We like it. I actually looked into EIW it’s focus is writing also but has some grammar more so in early elementary. It is on dvd with short lessons. It is around $60 where IEW is more expensive depending on if you get. Student Writing Intensive ($109)and or Teaching Writing (both are $250). We really just used SWI this year. I do plan to watch the Teaching Writing. I hope this helps. IEW just this year issued new versions of these. EIW is very affordable and IEW has money back guarantee. Not a bad risk either way.
@Norsk I’d love to hear the pros in your opinion of Voyages! I’m looking into it for grade 2! Where did you purchase it? I’m interested in knowing 2 specific details about the grade 1 book: are there 2 distinct halves of the book (the first half being the grammar, and the second half of the book being the writing part…or is the writing just mixed in with the grammar pages)? And, does it appear that the student would be working on writing each week?
I really hope that makes sense;) thanks!
@Norsk - I’m so glad your like the Voyages program (thus far… I hope you enjoy using it whenever you begin). So now I have a question for you! I have used both first and second grade Voyages extensively. I have seen third grade years ago, and haven’t seen the older grades (though teachers I worked with raved about it as much as we did in the younger grades). Now that you have a fourth grade and first grade version of both (I assume you have the teachers books too) can you tell me if/how the two grades differ? I have no intentions on changing from using Voyages in the older grades, but I’m just beyond curious to know if/how the older grades differ from the younger. Thanks!
@triton17 I really like the look of Voyages. I now remember having looked at it in the beginning of the homeschool journey although I have no idea how I stumbled across it. I seem to be one of those people who finds random curriculum etc…
I am going to wait until our conference at the end of the week and look over some of these ideas (although I’m not sure if Voyages is available there). I really wanted to spend less time looking by knowing ahead of time what program I will be looking for. It’s never that easy though right? lol
@Luvmyboys - I know you directed your question to @Norsk - and I look forward to hearing her take, but I wanted to chime in also. The book has 8-10 units. Voyages recommends each “unit” takes about 1 month to teach. Each unit is broken into 2 parts - grammar and writing. They have a recommended schedule (I can email it later) suggesting that the first 7 days you do 1 page of grammar each day. Beginning on day 8 you do 1 page of grammar and 1 page/step of the writing process until the end of the month. When you finish you will have a completed writing project, completed grammar pages, completed test and 2 completed writing rubrics. You can modify this to suit your needs. Instead, we do 2 pages of grammar from day 1 - when all the grammar pages are finished, then we do the writing project - this means for about 2 weeks we focus on the grammar pages, then for the second 2 weeks we focus on the writing project… works better for us, but can be done any way that works best for you. (btw you also have an optional daily edit - a jumbled sentence you write in a notebook or on a marker board that students edit using skills they have learned in past lessons and units, and an optional writing prompt - the beginning of a sentence that they finish or add to).
@Proverbs31 - hahaha! You’ve got that right - it’s NEVER easy! We do it to ourselves, don’t we?? I’m CONSTANTLY second guessing myself on most things - not sure if it’s because I’m truly dissatisfied or just because I love curriculum - love holding it, researching it, etc… and I’m slower than a snail to make a decision! PLEASE I’ve NEVER been to a conference (YET!) If you find anything super interesting (in any subject), please message me and let me know about it 
I will do! And I believe I am just like you… it may be that we are curriculum addicts! lol Can’t get enough of it.
I can’t believe you’ve never been to a conference, you have so much info up your sleeve. I go every year and probably have less knowledge than you!
You’re doing a great job! 
I love the daily edit! They have it on their website for grades 1-2 for free! I’ve already printed those for my sons “morning work” notebook:) I love morning work notebooks! It’s not busy work to me, but just a quick 5 min review of something he needs a reminder on or practice with:) I’m sure your familier with them!
@Proverbs31 - haha! Thanks sweet lady! No, not a ton of knowledge here - just a google/curriculum addict (and I was a classroom teacher for a bit, but I don’t count that as being totally all that helpful when it comes to HS) Looking forward to hearing from you after your conference!
@triton17 @Proverbs31 Can I ask for both of your opinions? Can you compare Voyages to Shurley English, grade 2, and let me know what you think? We are currently using Shurley 1 now, but I’m seriously looking into switching to Voyages! I think I will post an ad to see if anyone has Voyages 2 they want to sell:)
I too LOVE curriculum! But have impulsively bought WAY to much! Look at how much I have sold/given away just on this forum, lol😋
I’m happy that I am taking the time to really think ahead to the next few years and decide what our goals are for our sons education:) it will help to shape what curriculum we use going forward.
BTW @triton17 I emailed you a few questions tonight😉
