{Product Review} Writing NonFiction in High School from Writing with Sharon Watson

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Writing may come easy to me but it is not a subject that I can teach well. So I was delighted to be able to review The Power in Your Hands: Writing NonFiction in High School 2nd Edition from Writing with Sharon Watson. Isaiah needs all the help he can get, and this was the perfect fit for our homeschool.

The Power in Your Hands: Writing NonFiction in High School 2nd Edition

The Student Workbook is a glossy covered paperback book that has 396 pages of work with 9 extra pages of toolbox help at the back.

There is a total of 7 parts that this writing book covers:

Before You Write
Persuasion
Proofreading
Exposition
Description
Narration
Reference (toolbox)

Each of the 7 parts goes deeper into explanation and breaks the part into chapters and lessons. There are so many different areas of writing that are covered in this course! It covers even the most basic, but often forgotten, areas in life such as email etiquette, letters of condolence, and how to write how-to’s. This are just as important as being able to write a descriptive essay, narrative essay, and persuasive essay.

The text is easy to read and is well written. The lessons are easy to follow along with, and the extra fun personal quips sprinkled through the text making it more enjoyable to use. Sharon brings this level of writing down to the level of the typical teenager and it resonates well with them, at least it does with my teenager.

The practice sections are located in the book, unless the student needs to write a longer passage. Having the writing practice sections in the book help to keep everything more organized, which I like and appreciate.

The Teacher’s Guide is a little bit smaller but holds all of the answers and more in depth answers. I like the way that that the answers were clear and concise but left me wiggle room in how I answered them for Isaiah.

How This Worked for Us

Since Isaiah is just finishing up his 9th grade year, he is pretty much able to work independently. Which is a huge relief for me, as I never thought he would make it to this point!

The way that we used this Writing NonFiction was fairly basic. Isaiah would read over the required pages for the day, complete any practice sections that he came across in his class time. Once he was done, we would cover all of the work he completed that day together.

At first it was a tedious chore to get Isaiah to complete his work, diligence in schoolwork is not always his strongest suit, but alas, he remembered why he enjoyed Sharon Watson’s previous courses! He loves her sense of humor and the way that she writes with humor, cracking jokes long the way. He “gets” her when he does his work. The first day we began the review for this course, he read the first 5 pages to me, because he enjoys the way she writes. What better way to reach a budding writer?

I saw a marked improvement in Isaiah’s writing from the beginning of the course through to where we stopped for the review. I believe that the fun way that Sharon approaches writing nonfiction has encouraged Isaiah to take a chance and not rely so heavily on fiction writing.

This is a wonderful course of study for any high schooler that will be required to use writing on an ACT or SAT. I feel that once Isaiah is finished with this writing course that he will be completely prepared to take either of the writing requirements for graduating high schoolers.

My fellow Crew members reviewed this course and more from Writing with Sharon Watson, visit now to read their reviews: