I just wanted to share with you a success story about my 16 year old son. He has been using Essentials in Writing since 7th grade and has gone through two years of Essentials in Literature. He did great on his dual credit entrance exam and had a near perfect score on the writing section. Additionally, he passed his English Language AP test and will now receive 3 hours credit for English 101/1301. Thanks for designing an amazing program that has been such a blessing to our family!
Mr. Stephens, I thought I’d pass on the following from my son (who is in 7th grade) as a way of letting you know how much we appreciate your program. He said “No offense mom, but Mr. Stephens is my favorite writing teacher EVER!” He also commented that you are fun and he likes your sense of humor and also that you seem like you really love teaching and care about your students succeeding. Blessings on you and yours and a Happy Thanksgiving to you.
Dear Mr. Stephens,
Today I opened everything up, viewed the first lesson and read the “suggested approach” letter.
You’ve bought peace to our high school writing. Thank you for helping me choose the level that I should buy for my son. He’s in 10th grade, but you had me begin with 9th. I am glad that I took your word on where to begin teaching. This is exactly where we need to be this year. We will probably do more lessons, one lesson right after another, in order to finish this level a little earlier in the school year. That way I can bump up into the correct level and work through the summer. We’ll have to see, I don’t want to make this a dreadful thing for my son.
I also bought grade 2 for my daughter in 3rd grade. (By the way, I appreciate how we hear you thinking and how we hear your thoughts when your plan changes as your writing on the whiteboard.)
I will continue to share with other homeschoolers and online reviews.
Blessings.
My daughter loves you, Mr. Stephens. During school, she can’t wait to do her writing for the day. I’m so happy to have found this curriculum. When she heard you were going to be at our convention, she was so excited to meet you.
My son is doing well with Essentials in Writing. In fact, he was so excited to meet you after finishing 4th grade and was ready to purchase 5th. I like the way the lessons are laid out in small, easy to understand and apply sessions. My son loves this writing program! Thank you, Mr. Stephens!
We met Laura at the Greater Saint Louis Area Home Educators Expo. After hearing how Essentials in Writing has blessed her family, we just had to share it with you!
“Thank you so much, Mr. Stephens, for the way you reteach the same material year after year starting with stuff that’s already familiar to the kids. When my son started his level 2 book, he felt like he was miles ahead because it was not new material right off the bat but reviewing things he had learned in the previous lessons.
I have never had anything but wonderful service from your company and my kids and I love Mr. Stephens. Thank you so much for what your team is doing to make writing and composition fun and educational!”
Our family has been using the Essentials in Writing program for the past home school year. I cannot thank you enough for finally, after 14 years of home schooling, giving me what I need to guide our children in writing. Your program has been a treat to us all.”
Thank you so much for this scoring service! I use Essentials in Writing for my 11th grade son because I don’t feel confident enough to teach my son writing so that he is prepared for college. This year we added the scoring service and I’m so glad we did! Not only did it save me time not having to grade all his essays, but I was also relieved to have someone with a degree giving him feedback all throughout the year. When he finished his final paper, he told me that he had learned so much from the scorer and that his writing had improved so much! Thank you!
I used this program with my 9th grader last year. LOVED IT! I did the graded option (Scoring Services). Ms. Lerner’s feedback made my son work harder and change his writing style to improve. He would have never done that with ol mom here. How wonderful it was NOT to have to teach this subject since I am a math whiz.
Dear Mr. Stephens, My children (grades 5, 7, & 9) completed Essentials in Writing for the first time last year. I have to say I wish I had known about this excellent program sooner. We have tried other writing programs that were “okay”, however, not only do I like the program, but the children do too.
Our transition to Essentials in Writing was very easy. I watched every single lesson of all three grade levels with each of my children and I like the clear, systematic, sequential approach along with clear expectations. The program is paced so that it is not overbearing and for us, the timing
was perfect as we are finishing up research projects/papers in May. I felt that each lesson was well thought-out and I’m confident that my children will have a solid foundation for writing when they graduate high school. I have and will recommend this program to anyone in the homeschool market!
On a side note, I also want to mention that your program has helped my seventh grade son who is a reluctant writer. The step-by-step approach with clear expectations helped him tremendously. Thanks again!
Hi, First, let me say that I am really enjoying your writing program. The kids are doing the work, not complaining (too loudly), but most of all they are learning. Thank you for producing a writing program that offers instruction for those of us that struggle in this area. For the first time in this homeschool journey, I feel like I am heading in the right direction with our writing skills.
I am currently using your writing program with my 4th, 6th, and 8th grade students (using 7th for my oldest). I am starting to plan ahead for next year. I plan to continue using your program next year with all three of my older ones and adding in my youngest (1st grade).
Dear Matthew, this email testimonial is long overdue. Yet here it is. First, I want to “thank you” for all your information and personal help to get started with Essentials in Writing mid-year. This step was best for our daughter. She is really enjoying the writing process for the first time. Since she is in 5th grade, one can only imagine how grateful we as parents are to have our creative daughter enjoying a subject that will serve her throughout life.
First, our daughter’s perspective. Mia appreciates how the lessons are taught in sections. She likes the example and hands on approach for learning writing. She shared that she is learning how to write and how to be a better writer for her reader.
Again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You have brought a smile to our face as we learn how to write to our readers! Smiles are so much better than tears.
Dear Mr. Stephens, I cannot thank you enough for providing this program. The changes I am seeing in my oldest son’s writing (6th grade) assignments have been amazing. You have managed to really get across to him with your step by step directions and examples that he has finally made wonderful progress. I will be starting my younger son on your program for the upcoming school year (1st grade) and just want you to know what a huge blessing you are in our homeschool family. I highly recommend your program to everyone. The results have been priceless. God Bless you for being a wonderful teacher who was always willing to stop and help when I needed you. Thank you.
Thank you so much for contacting me directly. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed using your curriculum for the past several years. I appreciate your explanation and it makes perfect sense to me. I feel like I, myself, have learned a great deal by watching your videos while my girls have been doing their school work.
Our first year of EIW, and LOVE it! My girls find it interesting and love to see Mr. Stephens’ “snazzy outfits” each day. ha. Thank you, we will be using EIW from now on. Currently on level 5…going all the way through 12!
Both of my children are doing Essentials in Literature Level 9 and are loving it. Even my son who has dyslexia and has not enjoyed any of the other reading program we have done has loved it. I am so glad it popped up on my Facebook feed one day!
Mr. Stephens, your writing program is so easy to use! I love it that all three of my children can just put the DVD in and watch the lesson and do the work. And you know what? I have gained so much time because I’m not having to prepare to teach the writing lessons anymore. This has been an answer to prayer! Thank you so much!
I just wanted to tell you how thankful I am for your help scoring Danielle’s and Erica’s compositions this year. Your input was invaluable. Both girls have gained confidence in their writing skills. I think it is safe to say that even Erica enjoyed writing this year and Danielle learned a great deal from you. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Hi Matthew, I just wanted to let you know that I finished grade 1 with my 4 kids-they loved it, the lessons are so easy to follow and they came away with being able to write a paragraph! We are starting Grade 2! Thanks!
Dear Matthew, We love Essentials in Writing, and I hope your showing at conferences goes well. I met you last year at the Midwest convention in Cincinnati (I was working with Marie Rippel at the All About Learning Press booth) and was so impressed with your curriculum (and your son!). Essentials in Writing is by far the easiest program to implement and teach that I’ve ever used, and I can’t wait to see your high school materials. I routinely encourage people to check out your program. The only negative I have found is that the sound quality on the DVD’s isn’t the best, and I hope that can be improved in time.
I’m using your 7th grade level with my 9th grader, and his only complaint is that he doesn’t like the banana next to the white board, LOL! Otherwise, your clear explanations and examples have really helped him with his writing, and he’s encouraged to keep using it.
Thanks for all of your work!
Hello, we received the first grade Essentials in Writing curriculum quickly and put it to use right away! My 7 year old son loves to watch the lessons and asks to watch more lessons even after we have completed our assigned lesson for the day. When it came time to write his own personal letter, he wanted to write the letter to Matthew. When I was taking the photo for the contest, his hand went up in response to a question. I think it’s safe to say he’s engaged. ? Thank you.
Abbie is in the 5th grade and is almost finished with the curriculum. She has enjoyed it. This is a picture of her with her poster. She loves having the DVD’s to watch, since I am so unsure about much of this subject!
Jennifer shared her daughter’s comments about Essentials in Literature Level 9:
She says that it’s all easy to understand; the stories, the expectations, and the lessons. She’s the type of student that needs clear expectations and guidelines so she appreciates that each lesson is quick, to the point, and there is no guessing in what she is suppose to do. She’s a reader, and so far she likes all of the stories.
My daughters just got their research paper assignment from you today. I shared this post (“How to Survive a Research Paper”) with them and asked if they would like to watch it. They both said, “Why? It’s no big deal!” I’m positive they feel that way because they have been using your curriculum for a few years! Thank you!
I certainly would like to encourage you! Before we began using your curriculum my high schooler would throw pencils and crumple papers at the mention of a paragraph and now she is very matter of fact (or even a bit excited?!) about a research paper. I am grateful!
“[My son] is doing well in literature because he likes to read. I am really enjoying the literature as well. I have home schooled for 36 years and there is nothing that compares to Essentials in Literature!
My daughter just finished Essentials in Literature Level 9. I want to say that I’ve been very impressed by well this literature curriculum has been put together. The lessons are short and to the point and each activity is very clear. She wasn’t too fond of me adding a literature program this year, but over the year she has learned so much! In the past we just read through a lot of novels and completed study guides. I know there’s nothing wrong with that, but she now understands so much about what goes into literature; plot, conflict, setting, characters, etc. She has even been talking about this with the novels she reads for pleasure! Most of all I’m so glad I don’t have to teach it. You do a great job and I just want to say, “Thank you!”
Last summer we purchased 24 copies of EIW 10 for our 9th grade co-op students. After 16 weeks of EIW instruction, our students were enrolled in a college Intro to Communication course. The students were required to write three papers in MLA format. At the conclusion of the college course, the professor was impressed with how well prepared our students were for the writing assignments when compared to other high school students. After using the entire EIW curriculum and adding a bit more MLA instruction from Purdue OWL, our students were very well prepared for their first college class. Thank you for creating a concise, relevant college prep curriculum!
We have been using Essentials in Writing for four years in our homeschool and my son just finished his first year of college and writing was a breeze. After he submitted his first essay, his English professor pulled him aside and asked him where he attended school because his essay was written so well. I can write well, but I really struggle teaching writing to my children and with Essentials in Writing, I don’t have to. The small chunks, as you call them, and the video lessons make writing so easy. I was a little worried because he only completed levels 9-11, but I can see he was well prepared. I just wanted to let you know! Thank you Essentials in Writing!
After struggling through other curricula and REALLY not enjoying grammar and writing, we decided to try EIW last year. Not only does my son actually like this program, but comparing his first and last assignments of the year makes it clear how much he’s improved! We’re happy!
