We were given the opportunity to use  “Daily 6-Trait Writing Grade 4”  by Evan Moore from Timberdoodle this past month to review it for my readers.

“Trait-based writing is an impressive method educators have developed to determine if a child’s writing is skilled or not. The six traits or characteristics that shape quality writing are content; organization; word choice; sentence fluency; voice; and conventions, which include grammar, spelling, and mechanics. It may sound ominous, but Daily 6-Trait Writing has made it effortless.” Timberdoodle’s Review

Our Background? – Our 4th grade son, Jon, has not had a lot of “writing class” experience.  He is quite prolific in his sketchbooks, narrating his photos, both verbally and written. He has been taking a Grammar class this year and is learning the mechanics of writing. However, he has not had any Proof Reading classes to find errors in other’s writing, as I have been allowing him creative artistic freedom when he puts pen to paper.

Who would love this book? Daily 6-Trait Writing jumps right out of the gate at more of a Level 4 experience rating.  I am hearing of so many folks pulling their children from the public/private  school setting into the home for learning.  If you have a child who has been involved in the setting described above by Timberdoodle, then this would seem to be a fluid step on the home front to continue with that writing.   If you have a young child, and are looking to establish the writing skills younger – I would think of starting at Grade 1 or 2 and working through the books. 

Ease of use? There is quite a bit of easy to understand text to the teacher on how to implement this workbook including a very comprehensive scoring rubric.  They give ideas for incorporating the “idea” of the lesson into your other studies. If you have a child at this writing level – it should be rather effortless to go through the book in 10-15 minutes per day.

Will we continue using it? If I had the choice, I probably would start with Grade 2 or 3.  However, at this point in Jon’s life, it would be easier if it said Level 2 or 3 on the book, as he is quite aware of Grades now with his friends in town. For the level of proof reading that one needs to do  in this book – I would actually think my 7th grade son, who has taken quite a few writing classes this year might benefit with the book to keep him over the summer.  In all honesty to my readers – I will have to say no, although I am glad to know about this product and will recommend it to others based on their skill level, I will not continue with it for my boys.

Jon has been using this book for a couple of weeks for free from Timberdoodle.com in exchange for our honest review of the product.  Please keep in mind our Relaxed Learning Naturally Unschooling ways – and how this “Educators” created book may not line up with our Literature, Unit Study, Lapbooking to Notebooking type of writing style. If you would like to ask a question based on your child’s skills, please leave a comment, email me – or Always feel free to contact Timberdoodle – They are great with the email and want to give your family a curriculum that matches your individual child!