TOS Review: WriteShop Junior Level D

Award-winning WriteShop offers quality, parent-approved writing resources for kindergarten through high school, helping new and veteran homeschoolers alike teach writing with confidence. Engaging, step-by-step lessons present students with the building blocks of the writing process—pre-writing, brainstorming, writing, and revising—and help you edit and evaluate their work.

Teaching writing has never been easier!® - WriteShop

I was SUPER excited to have the opportunity to review this product as part of The Old Schoolhouse review crew! It's a PERFECT fit for my less-than-enthusiastic writer, Sugar Maple! We received WriteShop Junior Book D program for Grades 3-4 and/or struggling Grade 5-6 (ages 8-10).

WriteShop Teacher's Guide, WriteShop Activity Pack and
WriteShop Time-Saver Book

A few days before we started the program, I perused the Teacher's Guide, reading the introduction sections. Not only does it have step-by-step CLEARLY EXPLAINED lesson plans, but examples of flexible weekly schedules, lists of materials needed by lesson and descriptions of each activity set included in the WriteShop Activity Pack. 

Lesson 1: Letter of Invitation

Schedule Suggestion WE Followed for this Review

Lesson 1 Material List

WriteShop Junior Level D includes these areas:


Letter of Invitation
Humor 
Adventure 
Science Fiction 
Mystery 
Poetry/Haiku
Folktales 
Historical Fiction
Personal Narrative
Expository Writing: Factual Article
Identify and use proper grammar and punctuation
Narrow a broad topic to a specific topic
Brainstorm before writing
Structure a sentence
Write a paragraph
Choose strong words instead of weak ones
Use emotion words to develop voice
Use the five senses to add descriptive detail
Self-edit and revise their work


I immediately found the WriteShop Activity Pack, with  tear-off pages, and the Time-Saver Book, with creative games, spinners and flashcards, invaluable! These activities are hands-on learning TOOLS for this program AND BEYOND. And guess what? You can photocopy the pages for your own single-family use! 

WriteShop Junior Activity Pack with 2 Tear-off Booklets for
Worksheets and Grammar

The first thing Sugar Maple and I completed was a Fold n' Go folder. It's a GREAT resource for early writers! It provides a quick visual resource for Grammar concepts during writing assignments...and Sugar Maple LOVES stuff like this!

Sugar Maple worked through Letter of Invitation, Humor and Adventure before our review was due. We found the 2 week schedule per lesson worked perfectly for us. The workbook pages were easy to pull out ahead and paperclip to the lesson plans ahead of time, and the lessons themselves did not take long to complete (so you could finish up 2 days of work in 1 if needed). WriteShop takes a gentle, multi-sensory approach to writing that Sugar Maple enjoyed! 

Pondering WriteShop for your young writers? Head over to their website here or click any of the highlighted links above, or see what other TOS members are saying here!

(Psst! If you decide to purchase any WriteShop Primary or Junior products from the WriteShop store (including e-books) save 15% with this code: CREW15. Offer good until June 15, 2012!)

Disclaimer: As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew, Our Side of the Mountain was provided this product free in exchange for our honest review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.