Jump In is a homeschool writing lesson guide. It works through the complexities of writing essays and the finer points of writing in small increments as to not overwhelm students.

Jump In – Homeschool Writing Review

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Today I am reviewing Jump In, 2nd Edition – digital version. This textbook, from Writing with Sharon Watson, is a homeschool writing lesson guide. It works through the complexities of writing essays and the finer points of writing in small increments as to not overwhelm students.

Jump In is a homeschool writing lesson guide. It works through the complexities of writing essays and the finer points of writing in small increments as to not overwhelm students.

What Is Jump In?

Jump In, 2nd Edition is a textbook designed to improve writing skills.

This homeschool writing program contains 98 daily lessons which can take anywhere from 5-20 minutes. There are also additional assignments and checklists. Students will learn how to write paragraphs and the different components of a paragraph (topic sentence, thesis statement). They will learn to write different kinds of essays as well as research reports, poetry and narration.

Jump In is designed for grade 5-8 and can be used over an extended time frame. There are 3 different plans suggested for implementing Jump in into your routine. The plan you choose will depend on the amount of time you want to dedicate to the textbook and the level of your student.

The Plans

The one year plan suggests how to use the textbook to maximize your benefits if you only have a year to complete your homeschool writing program. The two-year plan works at a more leisurely pace to complete the textbook. It suggests certain parts for year one and others for year two while using other aspects of the textbook year-round for both years. If you have a young or inexperienced writer, then the three-year program suggests a plan to help those students as best as possible.

These plans are just suggestions and are not set in stone for how you have to use the program. There is a strong emphasis that these are your plans and need to fit your lifestyle and your students.

Rarely do we ever go to plan, so let me tell you how we have been using Jump In, 2nd Edition.

Teacher’s Guide

With Jump In, 2nd Edition, you receive both the teacher’s guide and the student book.

I found the teacher’s guide, for me, to be the most helpful part of this product. The worksheets in the student book are wonderful but because of our learning style, the teacher’s guide benefited us the most. It really opened my eyes to new ways I could approach homeschool writing, as unschoolers.

Teacher’s Backpack

One section that I found very helpful was the Teacher’s Backpack.

I am a homeschooling mom but I am also a life learner. I love learning new things and learning along with my children. This textbook allowed me to learn new concepts about how to approach writing with my children.

We are not the type of homeschoolers to sit down and do book work. It is just not our style. But I love learning how to help my children learn, and the Teacher’s Backpack suggests some wonderful approaches for different challenges you might encounter.

One section talks about breaking down writing assignments into different tasks. Instead of doing all the work at once, break it down into smaller tasks. This allows their brains to focus on one task and encourages them to take the time to work on each part of the task. Breaking an assignment down into brainstorming, writing, and reviewing allows the child to focus and learn more about the process.

I love that the focus is on learning how to do the individual aspects of writing properly and not just the final product. Too often I hear of the importance of the final product but I think the journey to get there is most important, which is why I like this textbook.

Progress over perfection is our motto.

10-Minute Writing Plunges

Do you ever have nothing to write about? It seems to happen to my children quite often. They are either overflowing with ideas or cannot think of a single thing (despite the desire to write a story).

Mom, I want to write a story. What should I write about? I don’t have any ideas!

Included in Jump In, are 10-minute writing plunges. These simple writing prompts are designed to be completed in less than 10 minutes. From forecasting tomorrow’s weather to writing from your pet’s point of view, there are fun and interesting prompts to give your children ideas for writing.

Each month, September through May, is separated into 4 weeks and each week has 4 writing prompts. You can use these prompts in your homeschool writing program in the order they appear or pick and choose what works for you.

To make this work for us, I got creative. I selected the prompts that fit our lifestyle at the moment. As much as we love Christmas, we have no desire to write about it in May. I print them out and put the individual prompts into a container and now, whenever the children have “nothing to write about”, they can pull a prompt from the jar. Sharon Watson also has more writing prompts on her website.

We recently came up with bumper sticker slogans as per one of the prompts. That was so much fun!

Honk if you like pizza!

(or comment down below if you like pizza!)

Jump In is a homeschool writing lesson guide. It works through the complexities of writing essays and the finer points of writing in small increments as to not overwhelm students.

Student Book

In addition to the teacher’s guide, we also received the student book. The student book is almost 300 pages of homeschool writing activities.

I am glad that we received the digital version of this textbook. Large workbooks on one subject can be very overwhelming for my children. We can become lost in the immensity of the project. Even if I tell them that it is intended to be used over many years., it can still be overwhelming. Because it is digital, I was able to print out select pages for them to do that fit their interests at the time.

Jump In is a homeschool writing lesson guide. It works through the complexities of writing essays and the finer points of writing in small increments as to not overwhelm students.

We started with the Get Your Feet Wet pages. These pages are designed to give you, the educator, an insight into how your student is doing and where they feel they could use some help or are doing well.

I thought it would be interesting to have them fill out these sheets. The sheet does say that this page will not be graded and for the child to be honest with their struggles or their success. Because I want to protect the privacy of my children, I do not want to share the filled in form. But as a parent, and as an educator, it really gave me some valuable insight into how I can plan homeschool writing for next year.

There are interesting things I would never had considered. Do your children prefer to write at a desk, on their bed or the kitchen table? Do they prefer pencil over pen? All of these things can give you more information and tools to help your child thrive.

Homeschool Writing Can Be Fun

I am not a fan of forced work. If a child is not enjoying the experience, or if you are not enjoying the experience, then no one leaves with enthusiasm for the next task.

Honestly, when I first found out about this review, I was a little nervous. I thought we were not going to like it and that it was not going to fit into our lifestyle.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Despite the immensity of the digital books we received, we have been able to integrate this textbook into our unschooling lifestyle. Never do my children feel like they are being forced to sit down and learn something. We use it to supplement the activities they are already doing by choice. There is no stress. We are able to use it in conjunction with our lifestyle to improve the learning environment.

Admittedly, my children are big fans of reading and writing. They love creating stories and reading books. It certainly is a passion for them. Having another tool to aid this passion is great.

If you want to read other reviews about Jump In, check out these other reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew by clicking the following image!

Jump In, 2nd Edition {Writing with Sharon Watson Reviews}

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