Getting Started
Parents, these videos for WriteShop® I and WriteShop® II do the teaching as you sit with your scholar to watch. Please close your Teacher’s Manual.
As homeschoolers, we usually follow the TM. Thus, it’s hard to ignore that book. This time, the videos contain the core material. You don’t have to add exercises from the TM. In fact, reading the Lesson Plan first will confuse you.
Trust me, the movies teach the steps mentioned in the Lesson Plans. When you look back after, you’ll see that the course is organized accurately.
Sit back and enjoy! Allow the video to take the lead.
The movies start with a pleasant introduction and present many examples, jokes, and games as they guide you from brainstorming on through to the final draft. Now that you have put away the Lesson Plans, relax. View the shows with your kids. Together, you will learn to polish their papers.
Our Three Most Important Tips:
The 1st Important Tip
The 2nd Important Tip
The 3rd Important Tip
The 1st Important Tip
The videos serve as your guide throughout the course. You will not follow the Lesson Plans! The movies teach ALL the exercises for you. Later, the TM helps you with mechanics and answers. First, close your Teacher’s Manual and view a video.
- Watch the first movie together with your students.
- Ask them to complete the assignment in the Student Workbook. Stay available to answer questions or lightheartedly play with ideas aloud. Give as much help (or as little) as your individual needs.
- Consult your Teacher’s Manual for the answers.
- Repeat!
- The course requires that your scholars use the Skill Builder techniques in each paper. You’re grading it, so you need to learn that content, too. Some parents continue to watch the movie with the student all year. Others allow them to look at it independently while those parents also see it on their own. It’s up to you.
Why do the videos start with the Skill Builders when the Lesson Plans do not mention them?
On page 7 of your Teacher’s Manual, it tells you to start each lesson with the Skill Builder. Then, it says that the Lesson Plans don’t mention Skill Builders because they are self-explanatory. Thus, the video course follows WriteShop®’s plan perfectly.
Why don’t I follow the Lesson Plans at first?
The videos teach all of the content FOR you. So, you do not have to gather any materials for pre-writing activities or any of the topics listed on pages 15-18. You do not have to labor to write a Practice Paragraph because a sample done by a student is presented. The videos cover every section in the next two or three movies.
You will use other chapters in the TM to find the answers for the Skill Builders and to get tips for helping your students by editing their papers. The Lesson Plans come into play when you get to page 19. You might want to review those directions with your student AFTER you have watched the lesson. Then, follow the suggestions in the “Teacher/Parent Editing Day” section on page 20, and for all the other lessons.
The 2nd Important Tip
Choose your schedule. Examine the overview, then scroll to the Daily Plan section of the schedule page for vital guidance.
The 3rd Important Tip
Schedule Alert—Your WriteShop® Student Workbook begins with one lesson that is longer than the others. All the Lessons take two weeks except Lesson One. It takes three weeks because the book contains two sections:
- Lesson 1a: Concrete Writing Worksheet (one week)
- Lesson 1b: Describing an Object (two weeks)
Starting Guide
Get to website and sign in:
Get to course:
Get to the video:
Get to the other tools here:
Get to website and sign in:
1. Receive receipt!
You will get two emails with access information.
Look for the sender named Play With Education
from contact@playwith.education.
You will probably have use your email’s search feature and look specifically for: “contact@playwith.education.”
Subject line: Your Play With Education class order is inside.
2. Find email with important enrollment and login information from contact@playwitheducation.
Most spam filters hide our emails.
3. Click link in email from Playwith Education or use Set password link in receipt.
4. Set password.
Get to course:
1. Click on the Student Portal tab. You can choose the “Sign in/Register” button to get to your Account.
2. Or, scroll down more to go directly to your course.
Get to the video:
The movies do the teaching for you (don’t open your Teacher’s Manual yet!)
- View the first video together.
- Do the assignment in the Student Workbook. (This first one is a Skill Builder.)
- Use the answers in your Teacher’s Manual to edit the Skill Builders (p. 171) and grade papers.
- Repeat the above steps! Watch a movie; do the assignment. Allow the slides to guide you (rather than the Lesson Plans in the TM).
- You will find your Daily Plan detailed in the Course Schedule.
Get to the other tools here:
1. Carefully consult the Video Course Schedule. Choose the normal rate where you complete one book per year (one lesson takes two weeks). Or, follow the accelerated (close-to-graduation schedule) of one lesson per week. Important: that page lays out your Daily Plan.
2. Watch the course for parents: Edit Fearlessly (it’s on your “My Account” page). You’ll find tips and tricks to edit your student’s writing. It’s not as pretty as WS I is yet, but it will be updated after the work on WriteShop® II has been completed.
