by Janie B. Cheaney

WORDSMITH APPRENTICE 1995, Common Sense Press; 2nd ed. 2003

Wordsmith Apprentice is featured in Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum.

Note: Wordsmith Apprentice is not a WriteShop product. We carry it to help meet the writing needs of your nine- to eleven-year-olds.

FREE gift! Get a 1-year schedule with purchase of Wordsmith Apprentice. Download link to the PDF will appear in your email receipt.

• Wordsmith Apprentice is a great pre-WriteShop curriculum for younger students (grades 4, 5, and 6). It lays an excellent foundation in concrete writing by teaching children to choose vivid, descriptive words. You'll watch them develop a love for writing as they express themselves through sentence and paragraph writing, persuasive writing, and creative exercises.
• An easy to use course, Wordsmith Apprentice encourages students to develop their newly-emerging writing skills as they participate in every role on a newspaper staff, including editor, reporter, and writer.
• Student-directed lessons.
• No teacher's manual needed. Not parent-intensive.
• Consumable. Please respect the author's copyright by ordering one workbook for each student.
• 8-1/2" x 11". Spiral-bound and laminated for durability. 120 pp.

Parent Testimonials

"We liked it very much. The program ... is paced gently and it's incremental. My capable yet reluctant writer took to it well and enjoyed Ms. Cheaney's engaging prose." --Michelle, BC

"I have used this program with two children, a girl who loves to write and a boy who doesn't. Wordsmith Apprentice met both children's needs for an effective and interesting writing program. In fact, our family created our own family newspaper based on the ideas we learned from this program.... Wordsmith Apprentice is one of my top five favorite homeschool resources." --Heather, homeschooling parent

"My daughter . . . showed very little interest in writing, and each writing exercise we attempted ended in failure.... Then, I found Wordsmith Apprentice ... and everything changed. From the very first page, my daughter was engaged, happy, and eager to move on. Now, the only problem I face is getting her to STOP writing! . . . Wordsmith Apprentice has been a lifesaver in our home!"  --K. Davis, VA

More About Wordsmith Apprentice

Wordsmith Scope and Sequence

View sample lessons