Writing with Sharon Watson: The Power in Your Hands - Writing Nonfiction in High School Review

This post may contain affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog and homeschool! See my full Disclosure statement for more information.

My baby is now a high school student! Eeeek! I don't know about your other homeschool parents, but whenever one of my kiddos hits high school age I get a little nervous. I can feel time counting down, and I know that every class matters even more than before. So imagine my excitement when I had the opportunity to review a curriculum from Writing with Sharon Watson called, The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School 2nd Edition. 

What I received:

The student book - Let me just say that before breaking this book open, I had tried quite a few different curricula. Each one seemed to be missing bits and pieces that I felt was very important and even critical to the education quality that I wanted for my girls. 

Part One: Before You Write

In this section, your student will find out important things about how to "start" writing. Anyone that has written anything knows that the beginning can be the hardest part sometimes!! LOL! My daughter found the "Writing Self" test interesting and fun. Since she doesn't really enjoy writing, she found it encouraging for there to be questions like: __ I have trouble coming up with good ideas, or __ It's hard for me to know how to begin and end my essays or reports...but I think her favorite was...__ I would rather walk across a burning desert at high noon with buzzards cicrcling overhead while I drag a bone-dry water bottle than write anything whatsoever. LOL! I know that it seems strange that she should find these statements encouraging, but she said that it made her realize that she isn't alone. We found that from the start, she was able to relate to this teaching and that was her "buy in!"

Part Two: Persuasion

There are six chapters in this section. Sharon Watson goes in depth and walks your student through persuasive writing from beginning to end. 

Part Three: Proofreading

Proofreading is an important part of writing. Beginning with proofreading marks to punctuation mishaps, this section has got you covered. I tend to be slightly addicted to exclamation marks, so I have a lot to learn from this section! ha ha!

Part Four: Exposition

Your student will touch on writing good essays, plagiarism, writing for a newspaper, biographies and much more through this section. By the time you have reached this section, you have laid the ground work and have finally reached the meat of the matter. You will see the previous work done in this course start to pay off. 

Part Five: Description

Part Six: Narration

Part Seven: Reference

The Teacher's Guide - This course is designed to prepare high school students for college writing and the Teacher's Guide gives you as the homeschool parent the tool you need to direct your student successfully.

I am very excited that in this, the 2nd Edition, Sharon Watson added evaluation forms/rubrics for each essay assignment to help make the grading process easier. I love that! I always found grading essays to be the hardest part of high school literature, but not anymore! The Teacher's Guide gives you the tools for each and every lesson, and will help you and your student understand the expectations for each assignment!

My Bottom Line - 

My daughter loved this curriculum! I always love curriculum when my girls love it! That makes the hard work that we put into schooling our children at home completely worth it! My daughter has never really liked writing, so it was wonderful seeing her not only understand, but compose writings that were age appropriate! This was a win...win for us!

Check out the Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School 2nd Edition for yourself right here! You will be glad you did!

Social Media LInks:

Facebook
Pinterest