[Soliloquy]

Interesting.

Monarch assigns writing assignments and paragraphs and they get sent to me to grade. Only takes a few minutes a day. But I don't think Monarch does well at teaching writing. Even if we use Monarch again next year, I'm going to do my own writing instruction. Because just telling kids about the basic mechanics of good writing isn't enough.

One of my kids was given the stupidest writing assignment ever. They had a list of vocabulary words from the unit. They were pulled from the Bible story about the sower. So they were kind of antiquated words because Monarch uses KJV (don't get me started on KJV for young kids). It's good to learn those words but there's no reason for them to be required to use those antiquated words in their writing.

The writing assignment was: Write a story about a boy, a dog, and a spider. Include at least 5 of your vocabulary words. Those words would not have fit into ANY creative writing that any typical 3rd grader would do. Words like sower, reaper, harvest. And a story about a boy, a dog, and a spider? Just weird. It was so contrived and that's just not a good way to help children enjoy creative writing.

So, with switching between modes--

Can I switch to tutor mode, un-assign certain lessons, and then switch back to homeschool mode right away? Or do I have to leave it in tutor mode until they get passed the lessons I want skipped?