IEW: The Definitive Guide

This post contains affiliate links. Learn more in my disclosure policy. With the exception of free items received during the Twelve Days of Christmas Giving event, we have purchased all of our IEW curriculum.

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Since its founding in 1994, the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) has become a premier resource for language arts curriculum. When we began using IEW in 2016, I wasn’t exactly sure where to start. With a little help at a convention booth, we soon found our footing.

I created this guide to IEW with new and veteran teachers in mind. Because affordability is often one of the biggest factors when buying curriculum, I begin there and then dive into all things IEW.

If you are new to IEW, this detailed review will help you decide if IEW is a good fit for your language arts curriculum. If you’re already using IEW, this guide can help you decide your next steps.

Saving Money with IEW

In this section I’ll share the best times of year to buy curriculum from the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW), why buying directly from IEW is generally best, buying bundles if possible, shopping clearance items, and where to find free shipping codes.

The Best Times of Year to Buy from IEW

IEW runs two big promotions each year.  While IEW never puts its products on sale, these two promotions do offer free shipping.

Twelve Days of Christmas Giving (December 26 – January 6)

The best annual IEW promotion is the Twelve Days of Christmas Giving.  Beginning on December 26^th each year, IEW gives a new gift each day over a span of twelve days.  The gifts during the first eleven days are streaming digital media and downloads such as PDF lessons of curriculum, audio and video items, etc.

The twelfth day is a gift of one of their physical products that they ship for free.  Notable twelfth-day gifts from past years include:

• A copy of choice of Fix It! Grammar
• Fix It! Grammar Cards
• Portable Walls:
  • Grammar on the Go
  • for Academic Writing
  • for Structure and Style Students
• Strengthening Structure

The gifts change from year to year, but I’m always impressed with IEW’s generosity.  During the Twelve Days of Christmas Giving, IEW also offers a code for free shipping.

Here are the gifts from Christmas 2024:

• Day 1: Getting Started with the Two Most Important Things
• Day 2: Getting Started with Structure and Style for Students
• Day 3: Getting Started with Theme-Based Writing Lessons
• Day 4: Getting Started with Fix It! Grammar
• Day 5: Getting Started with The Phonetic Zoo
• Day 6: Getting Started with Primary Materials
• Day 7: Getting Started with Poetry
• Day 8: Getting Started with Introduction to Public Speaking
• Day 9: Getting Started with College Preparation
• Day 10: Getting Started with Methods for Learning Differences
• Day 11: Getting Started with Premium Membership
• Day 12: Getting Started with a Surprise Gift

NOTE: You have to sign up for the Twelve Days of Christmas Giving email list in December to receive the gifts from IEW.  Each daily gift must be “accepted” before it expires.

Freedomshipping (July 1-10)

Another promotion that IEW does on a yearly basis is Freedomshipping at the beginning of July.  Since IEW doesn’t usually offer free shipping, this is a great time of year to buy your language arts curriculum.

Why You Should Buy Directly from IEW

100% Satisfaction Guarantee

IEW’s 100% Satisfaction Guarantee is one of the best return policies in the industry.  When you purchase your curriculum directly from IEW, you can return it at any time for a full refund even if it has been written on.  For more information view the 100% Satisfaction Guarantee and IEW’s Return Policy.

While I haven’t returned any IEW items due to dissatisfaction, I did return a broken binder which IEW replaced promptly.  IEW provided a pre-paid shipping label for the return.

Product Updates

Twice I’ve observed IEW implement a major update to an existing video course.  In a move that was mutually beneficial to both IEW and its customers, IEW offered a steep discount to customers who upgraded to the new version of the product.  IEW removed outdated material from the homeschool resale market, and its customers received the latest materials at a favorable price.

I purchased Teaching Writing: Structure and Style (TWSS) when the new version was released in 2015.  At that time, I noticed the update offer provided to anyone who had purchased the original version of TWSS.

Then in 2020, IEW replaced the Student Writing Intensives with Structure and Style for Students.  I was able to return two levels of the Student Writing Intensive DVDs and received steep discounts on two levels of the new Structure and Style for Students video-based curriculum.

I do not recall if these update offers were available only to customers who purchased through IEW.  However, I’ve found that when it comes to homeschooling, purchasing curriculum directly from the creator can make it much easier to track curriculum purchases.

Bundles = Savings

IEW combines several products into bundles that can save you a great deal if you need all of the components in the bundle.  For example, if you’re on the fence about buying Teaching Writing: Structure and Style, you can save a lot on it and Fix It! Grammar by buying a Structure and Style for Students Premier Bundle.

Copies and Copyrights

IEW has a generous copyright policy for homeschool use.  This often extends to being able to make multiple copies of a student workbook for use within the home.  Each product lists its individual policy on the copyright page.

If you have a printer that creates inexpensive copies, this may help you save money on materials for siblings.  I have done this a few times, but it does require time and patience.  Most often I order additional sets of student materials.

Clearance Items

While IEW doesn’t put items on sale, it does put like-new items on clearance from time to time.  After trying out a few clearance items that looked brand new, I’ve taken to searching the clearance section for the products that I need. 

Simply type the word “clearance” in the search bar and scroll through the results.  Read descriptions carefully to ensure that you are buying the correct product.  Some items will be marked as “discontinued,” but most are current products that are also available at full price.

Other Ways to Get Free Shipping Codes from IEW

Homeschool Conventions (dates and locations vary)

Each year when I attend the Great Homeschool Convention, I stop at the IEW booth for two reasons: (1) to get a closer look at products I’m interested in and (2) to grab a coupon code for free shipping.  While I cannot guarantee that IEW will be at your homeschool convention handing out free shipping coupons, it doesn’t hurt to check.

Premium Membership (one-time use free shipping code)

If you have the Premium Membership with IEW, you will receive a one-time use code for free shipping valid for the current member year.  A premium membership is not required to use IEW.  I’ll circle back to the premium membership later in this guide.

Structure and Style: IEW’s Proven Method for Writing

Structure without style is dull.  Style without structure is nonsensical. This is why IEW combines structure and style in an intuitive and incremental format.

Students build upon their writing skills both during the current academic year and in subsequent years. IEW always works through the structure and style components in each level, so students are exposed to every concept year after year.  The pace and expectations do increase in the upper levels.

IEW Structural Units

IEW has nine structural units that teach students how to write well for academics and life in general.  Creative writing is addressed in units 3, 5, and 7, but this is not the main goal of the method. 

Of my four children two appear to be natural writers. One of these excels with ease.  Yet all four of my children have been learning to write with IEW since the second grade, beginning with Bible Heroes Writing Lessons.  It took many years for my oldest to rise to the standards set by IEW, but it is watching that slow and steady growth that tells me it’s working.

In 2025, IEW released a new product called Strengthening Structure – Models for Teaching IEW Structural Units.  I received this resource for free as part of the Twelve Days of Christmas Giving.  It quickly became a go-to resource in our homeschool as it gives detailed information about each unit and exemplars from all three levels of writing.

Unit 1: Note Making and Outlines

All Units of IEW’s Structure and Style method depend upon a key word outline (KWO).  The focus of Unit 1: Note Making and Outlines is to learn how to create a KWO or to continue perfecting the KWO process.

Students of all levels begin with Unit 1.  They write and test multiple key word outlines before moving on to Unit 2. 

Unit 2: Writing from Notes

In Unit 2: Writing from Notes, students take their key word outlines one step further by writing paragraph(s) from them.  They also learn how to correctly format their papers.  Younger students may need help from someone who can act as their scribe by writing their words down for them. 

Paragraphs in Unit 2 will closely resemble the source texts used to create the key word outlines.  That’s okay.  In this unit, the goals are to learn how to write from a key word outline and to follow the checklist.  Nearly every assignment in IEW has a checklist so that the student and teacher know exactly what is required.

Unit 3: Retelling Narrative Stories

In Unit 3: Retelling Narrative Stories, students use the story sequence chart to create the key word outline.  First, they read a story such as an Aesop fable. Then they write a three-section outline focusing on the characters and setting, the conflict or problem, and the climax and resolution.  They use a set of who, what, where, when, and how questions to complete the outline.

Initially, students simply retell the story using their outlines.  As their storytelling skill improves, they are encouraged to create their own variations of the story by changing the characters, setting, conflict, or resolution.

Unit 4: Summarizing a Reference

When summarizing a reference in Unit 4, students learn how to identify topics and facts that support those topics.  Their goal is no longer to recreate a source text in their own words as in Unit 2 but to create a shorter version of the original source text.  Rather than selecting two to three key words per sentence, they now look for several facts about a topic and choose key words for those facts that they find most interesting.

Students learn to write a topic sentence that introduces the paragraph.  They include facts that support the topic, but they do not use all available facts from the source text. Finally, they end the paragraph with a clincher sentence that repeats or reflects two to three key words from the topic sentence.

Unit 5: Writing from Pictures

Like Unit 3: Retelling Narrative Stories, Unit 5: Writing from Pictures encourages students to be creative with their writing while still following a structural model. This time, students base their key word outline on a series of three images. 

After writing a central fact that tells what they see in the picture, students use a series of questions to fill in the details of the event in the picture.  Then they create a clincher sentence that brings them back to the central fact.

Some Unit 5 lessons purposely leave out one or two of the pictures so that the student can create a unique beginning, middle, or end of the story.

Unit 6: Summarizing Multiple References

As one might guess from the name, Unit 6: Summarizing Multiple References builds on Unit 4: Summarizing a Reference.  Students learn to identify multiple topics about a subject.  They then locate those topics within multiple sources.

The student writes a key word outline for each chosen topic and source with that topic.  So if topic A appears in three source texts, the student writes an outline for topic A three times, one for each source.  Then, the student creates a fused outline for topic A, merging relevant facts from each of the source outlines into the fused outline and ending it with a clincher.  This method is then repeated for each topic/paragraph in the paper.

Creating a fused outline may seem hard at first, but it is a skill that will get easier with practice.  Be prepared to help your students in this process until they can do it on their own. 

Unit 6 is the first unit that may require additional sources not already provided in the curriculum.  Before any online research or trips to the library are required, the curriculum will generally provide enough lessons so that the student is comfortably familiar with finding topics and creating fused outlines.

Unit 7: Inventive Writing

IEW saves writing from prompts for Unit 7: Inventive Writing so that the student has had practice with asking questions as in Unit 3: Retelling Narrative Stories and Unit 5: Writing from Pictures.  Given a prompt (topic) and a blank page, the student will follow the method to create a five-paragraph essay, complete with an introduction and conclusion.

This time the students ask questions of themselves about topics they already have knowledge about.  The answers to their questions become the details in their outlines.  Once they write their three body paragraphs about their three topics, they create a key word outline for the conclusion that restates the topics, tells what is most important about a particular topic, and gives the reason why.

The introduction is saved for last since it involves a little more work. Students create an outline with an idea for an attention getter, some background information not already found in the paper, and a list of the topics in the paper.  Then they write the introduction.

Unit 8: Formal Essay Models

Unit 8: Formal Essay Models covers essays of varying length and types.  Students may be asked to write expository, descriptive, argumentative, persuasive, or compare and contrast essays. 

Unit 8 builds on the methods introduced in Units 4 and 6 for summarizing references.  It also continues with the introductions and conclusions first introduced in Unit 7: Inventive Writing.

I wish I had had the benefit of IEW – especially Unit 8 – when I was in elementary, middle, and high school.  Would I have enjoyed writing these essays? No, of course not!  However, I would have been much more prepared for college and my career.

Each time one of my children completes a Unit 8 essay, especially a super essay (12+ paragraphs), I am thrilled with how much learning takes place.  It’s not about the final result as those essays will be long forgotten. It’s about learning to write and having that knowledge and process spill over into everyday life.

Unit 9: Formal Critique

The Unit 9: Formal Critique teaches students how to do literary analysis.  In addition to stories and novels, the formal critique can be applied to plays, movies, and narrative poems.

Unit 9 returns to the Story Sequence Chart which was introduced in Unit 3: Retelling Narrative Stories.  Students use IEW’s Critique Thesaurus* to add literary terms like setting, character, conflict, climax, and resolution to the retelling of the story.  The Critique Thesaurus also provides a list of quality adjectives that are more specific to literary analysis.

The conclusion of the Unit 9: Formal Critique is unlike previous unit models.  The focus of the conclusion is the student’s opinion of the literary piece and the reasoning behind that opinion. If the story includes a message or moral, the student states this as well.

The introduction follows the format of previous unit models with an attention getter and background.  However, it does not state the topics since the body paragraphs are not three distinct topics.

*The Critique Thesaurus is a single-page resource available in the Structure and Style for Students video courses that include Unit 9.  It is also part of IEW’s latest edition of Portable Walls for Structure and Style Students.

IEW Stylistic Techniques

Style goes hand-in-hand with structure.  You can have the right content and order of presentation, but unless you add style, it will be dull.

Just as IEW works through the nine structural units incrementally, it also adds style in bite-sized pieces.  IEW has four types of style elements: dress-ups, banned words, sentence openers, and decorations.

Dress-ups

IEW has six basic dress-ups.  Each is introduced one at a time so that students can become comfortable with a dress-up before adding a new one.  As the dress-ups are added, they appear on the checklist.  Each paragraph must have the required dress-ups.

• -ly adverb
  IEW provides students with a list of possible -ly adverbs (and a list of imposter -ly adjectives).  Adding an -ly adverb before a strong verb or a quality adjective makes the assignment more vivid.
• who/which clause
  The who/which clause is an easy way for students to add a dependent clause to their assignments.
• strong verb
  A strong verb is an action verb that clearly indicates how the action happened.  Rather than using a word like “go,” students could say “gallop,” “leap,” “sprint,” “race,” etc. IEW provides strong verb lists to help students complete their assignments.
• because clause
  The because clause is another easy dependent clause to add to an assignment.  If a student struggles to add one, simply ask why such-and-such happened.
• quality adjective
  Similar to a strong verb, a quality adjective provides a clear description.  Once again, IEW provides lists of quality adjectives to help students add style to their assignments.
• www.asia clause
  The www.asia clause is a dependent clause that begins with one of these words: when, while, where, as, since, if, although.

Banned Words

Yes, IEW does ban certain words from appearing in assignments.  It’s not that these words are inherently bad inferior.  In fact, you’ll find these words in professional writing.  However, by banning certain verbs and adjectives, IEW automatically helps students find potential places to insert strong verbs and quality adjectives in their writing. 

As with everything IEW does, banned words are added over time.  Because I have four students using IEW across three different levels, I always have to confirm the banned words with the checklist as it can differ across levels and lessons.

Occasionally, I add my own banned words including some -ly adverbs like “amazingly.”  This helps my kids branch out when they begin to repeat the same words in assignments too often.

Sentence Openers

Another way that IEW adds style to its structure is by requiring different sentence openers within the same paragraph.  Again, these are introduced over time so that students have time to master one sentence opener before adding another.

Each of the six main sentence openers is listed below with an example sentence to demonstrate the openers.  Some IEW resources will also refer to a [Q] question opener and a [T] transitional opener.

1. subject/verb
   Jack ran up the hill to find his sister Jill.
2. prepositional phrase
   In search of his sister, Jack ran up the hill.
3. ly adverb
   Hastily Jack ran up the hill.
4. -ing opener
   Searching everywhere, Jack ran up the hill.
5. clausal opener (www.asia.b)
   Because Jill had wandered away, Jack ran up the hill in search of her.
6. vss (very short sentence)
   Jack ran up the hill.

Decorations

Decorations are yet another way to add style to writing.  In addition, decorations make great attention getters for the introduction paragraph of an essay.  They are introduced only after a student has had sufficient practice with dress-ups and sentence openers.  When decorations appear on the checklist, only one is required per paragraph.

IEW decorations include the following style techniques:

• alliteration
• question
• conversation
• quotation
• 3SSS (three short staccato sentences)
• similes and metaphors
• dramatic open-close

Advanced Style

Some upper-level theme books and video courses may include advanced style techniques.  While I will not attempt to list all of the advanced style techniques here, you can learn more about them in the following podcast episodes.

Checklists: Your Guide for Editing and Grading Papers

Nearly every writing assignment from IEW has a checklist.  The checklist is a guide for the student, the editor, and the teacher.  If you’re teaching IEW at home, you may have a dual role as both editor and teacher.

The checklist helps the student ensure that every required structural, stylistic, and mechanical element is included in the assignment.  By checking off the boxes next to each required element, the student knows the final draft of the assignment is complete and ready to hand in.

Similarly, the editor and teacher use the checklist to confirm that the paper met the goals of the assignment.

IEW Structure and Style is a spiral teaching method. Every element of structure and style will be retaught in subsequent years.  It’s okay if your student doesn’t master everything the first, second, or third time around.  I speak about this from experience.  After several years of IEW, my oldest son finally grew confident and capable of completing his assignments with little input from me.

The Checklist Can Be Your Friend or Foe

IEW creates a checklist for each assignment based on the structure and style elements that have been presented thus far.  It is possible for a student to find the items on the checklist to be too hard, just right, or too easy.

The teacher has the right to add to or remove from the checklist.  If a student isn’t ready for the newest dress-up, draw a line through it on the checklist.  Alternatively, if a student needs a greater challenge, add to the checklist.

Grading IEW Writing Assignments

IEW Structure and Style is taught in homeschools, co-ops, and schools.  With such a broad customer base, one might wonder how Andrew Pudewa, the founder of IEW, recommends grading student work.

In our homeschool I’ve chosen not to give letter grades for writing assignments.  Similar to Mr. Pudewa’s recommendation, an assignment either meets the checklist and is complete, or it requires more work.  Once an assignment meets all the requirements on the checklist, I give my kids the coveted smiley face at the top of the checklist.  That’s it. 

So, what will I put on their transcripts should they decide to attend college?  Most likely, they will receive “A”s for their writing courses because they have mastered each assignment.  However, if they are characterized by having a poor attitude or they require an immense amount of help while in the more independent years of high school, I may decide to assign a lower grade. 

For the record, I don’t track grades prior to high school unless it is a high-school level class like Algebra 1. Since I check my kids’ work every school day, I know exactly how they are doing in each subject.

Structure and Style for Students Video Courses vs. Theme-Based Writing Lessons

IEW has two types of writing curriculum: video courses and theme-based writing lessons.  Both formats have evolved over time, improving with each iteration.

Structure and Style for Students Video Courses

Lessons: 24 weekly lessons

Levels: A, B, and C

Assignments: Lessons are not specific to a theme although some lessons do relate to a similar subject.

Instructor: Andrew Pudewa (founder of IEW)

Requires TWSS? It depends. Andrew Pudewa does a great job teaching the Structure and Style method to the students in the class.  However, from a teaching perspective there is much to gain from TWSS.

Video Courses: Level A (Years 1 and 2), Level B (Years 1, 2, and 3), and Level C (Years 1 and 2)

Theme-Based Writing Lessons

Lessons: ~30 weekly lessons (varies by theme book)

Levels: P, A, B, and C

Assignments: All lessons are related to the theme of the book.

Instructor: parent or teacher (co-op, hybrid school, 5-day school, private tutor, online class with IEW, etc.)

Requires TWSS? Yes.  The instructor should be well-versed in IEW’s method of Structure and Style.

Theme-Based Writing Lessons:

• Level P
  • Bible Heroes
  • People and Places in Our Community
• Level A
  • Adventures in Writing
  • Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales
  • Discoveries in Writing
  • Frontiers in Writing
• Level B
  • Wonders of Science Writing Lessons
  • Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons
  • Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons
  • U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons
  • Canadian History-Based Writing Lessons
  • Modern World History-Based Writing Lessons
  • Following Narnia® Volume 1: The Lion’s Song
  • Following Narnia® Volume 2: Aslan’s Country
• Level C
  • Bible-Based Writing Lessons
  • Advanced U.S. History
  • Classical Rhetoric through Structure and Style

You Can’t Do Them All

With seven Structure and Style for Students video courses and seventeen theme-based writing lessons, IEW offers enough curriculum to cover twenty-four years of writing instruction.  This list doesn’t even include other IEW writing courses like University-Ready Writing or The Elegant Essay, which my children will likely do in their Level C years. Obviously, no student can do them all.

In our homeschool we’ve used both theme-based writing lessons and Structure and Style for Students video courses.  All of my kids began with Bible Heroes Writing Lessons in second grade.  This was a very gentle introduction to writing, and I acted as their scribe. In the years that have followed, we have generally alternated between the video courses and theme books.

IEW continues to produce new content year after year, so I am constantly evaluating which resources to reuse and which to remove to allow room for new content.  We currently own six levels of Structure and Style for Students (all except Year 3 – Level B which was released last).  Because I value Andrew Pudewa’s teaching so highly, these have taken priority over theme-based writing lessons in our home.

I still value the theme-based writing lessons.  We will continue to interleave these with the video courses as needed.  I especially like how IEW has begun streamlining the theme-based writing lessons so that they all fit the same format.  Earlier editions (and those that have not yet been updated) were sometimes harder to follow as the format largely depended on the author.

One other note about theme-based writing lessons is that they can often be used at multiple levels.  For example, Wonders of Science Writing Lessons includes two PDF files to adjust the level of difficulty.  The first file has simplified source texts for students who aren’t quite ready for the source texts that appear in the student book. The second file is called Advanced Additions, and it provides instruction and checklists for introducing style elements earlier.  With these two files, it’s possible for a parent to use the same theme book for children at three slightly different stages of writing ability.

What Are IEW Levels?

IEW uses levels to help parents and teachers quickly identify the curriculum that may be most suitable for their students.  These levels represent general grade ranges, but they are guidelines rather than hard boundaries.  For example, my son completed Structure and Style for Students Year 2 Level B in ninth grade.

IEW Level	Suggested Grade Range
P	Kindergarten – 2nd grade
A	3rd – 5th grade
B	6th – 8th grade
C	9th – 12th grade

If beginning with Structure and Style for Students rather than theme-based writing lessons, read this helpful guide on how to progress through the levels. Additionally, keep in mind that your goal is always progress rather than perfection. It’s okay if your child is working at an IEW level that is below suggested grade level.

Teaching Writing Structure and Style (TWSS)

If I had to guess, the question IEW gets most often is: “Do I need to buy Teaching Writing: Structure and Style?”

I get it. This isn’t just a budget question. It’s also a question about the time commitment required to begin using IEW.

Here’s my perspective.

I found IEW early in our homeschool journey thanks to several family friends who recommended it.  This was before the Structure and Style for Students video courses.  At that time there was a video series called Student Intensives, but it was not the same 24-lesson, full-year format of the Structure and Style for Students video courses.

As a homeschool mom who needed to know how to teach the theme-based writing lessons and the Student Intensive course, I found Teaching Writing: Structure and Style to be very helpful.  I didn’t watch the entire series at once, nor does IEW recommend doing so.  Instead, I watched the videos on an as-needed basis.

By learning the Structure and Style method, I felt surer of myself when teaching my kids new writing concepts, editing their papers, and using the checklist to “grade” their work.  If I had a question about the method, I could find the answer in Teaching Writing: Structure and Style. 

As my kids have progressed to higher levels of IEW with higher expectations, I am thankful to have TWSS as both a quick reference and a thorough guide.

What’s Holding You Back: Budget or Time?

Buying Teaching Writing: Structure and Style is expensive.  Here are some ways to reduce the cost.

• Ask other families in your homeschool community if you can borrow TWSS.
• Attend curriculum sales and buy a used copy.  Make sure to get the second edition which was produced in 2015.
• Purchase TWSS as part of a premier bundle with Structure and Style for Students.  This bundle provides a significant savings and includes a level of Fix It! Grammar.
• Access TWSS video streaming through a Premium Membership.  Note that this is a yearly subscription.  A free 3-month Premium Membership has also been part of the Twelve Days of Christmas Giving in past years.

Boasting fourteen hours of viewing time and a 240-page seminar workbook, Teaching Writing: Structure and Style is more than a traditional instructor’s guide.  Maybe this prospect excites you.  Maybe it terrifies you.

Remember, you do not need to watch Teaching Writing: Structure and Style all at once.  The Structure and Style for Students video courses and theme-based writing lessons will tell you when you should refer to TWSS for teacher instruction.

IEW’s Premium Membership

A Premium Membership with IEW is intended as a resource to support you on your journey with Teaching Writing: Structure and Style.  It is not required, but you may find it helpful.

You can obtain a Premium Membership in a few different ways.

• If you purchase Teaching Writing: Structure and Style, you’ll receive a code for a full year’s access to the Premium Membership.
• You can also buy the membership directly.
• If you join the Twelve Days of Christmas Giving, you might receive access to three months of Premium Membership for free.

Perks of the Premium Membership

The IEW Premium Membership includes a variety of content.  Some is downloadable like PDFs and audio mp3s.  Other content is streaming. IEW generally adds to its library of premium content each year.  The list below was last updated in March 2025.

• IEW Checklist Generator – create new checklists or edit existing checklists for IEW assignments (only available through Premium Membership)
• Streaming access to Teaching Writing: Structure and Style (does not include seminar workbook)
• Streaming access to Teaching Tips with Andrew Pudewa (TTAP) – These are short videos made to accompany lessons from Structure and Style for Students
• PDF Files
  • Fix It! Grammar Glossary (found in each Fix It! Grammar teacher manual)
  • Reading list (recommended books for various ages)
  • Mini Posters (available for purchase)
  • Printing with Letter Stories (a Primary Arts of Language resource)
  • Student Resource Packet (this has been an invaluable resource for our family)
  • Spanish translations of TWSS workbook and Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons
  • Writing Source Packet
  • Timeline of Classics – I purchased this PDF file just before it was added to the Premium Membership.  At my request, IEW refunded my money because I have the Premium Membership.
  • Dress-ups, Decorations, and Delightful Diversions – I purchased this in 2021. It is now available exclusively through Premium Membership.
  • More than a dozen articles for teachers.
  • Over two dozen articles for parents (some overlap with articles for teachers)
• Audio Talk mp3 Downloads (Andrew Pudewa, Adam Andrews, Anna Ingham, and Shirley George)
• A coupon code for a free copy of However Imperfectly (book) and streaming access to video talk
• A coupon code for free shipping (one-time use each year of membership)
• Access to upcoming Master Class Webinars with Andrew Pudewa and links to recorded webinars
• Level 1 of Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization

Because IEW is a generous company, you may find that some of the resources in the Premium Membership overlap with gifts in the Twelve Days of Christmas Giving.  In addition, you may have noticed that the PDFs and audio talks are all downloadable.  Thus, even if your membership expires, you can keep these files.  The caveat is that they will no longer appear in your account dashboard, and you will miss any new files or updates.

Fortunately, the renewal for a Premium Membership is steeply discounted.  For just $39 a year, you can renew your membership and retain access to online TWSS and TTAP videos, the checklist generator, a yearly free shipping code, and master classes with Andrew Pudewa.

More Arts of Language Resources

Fix It! Grammar

IEW’s Fix It! Grammar curriculum goes hand-in-hand with its Structure and Style method for teaching writing.  Style elements like dress-ups and sentence openers appear in both. 

The difference between Fix It! Grammar and most other grammar books is that Fix It! Grammar tells one classic story for the entire year of study.  Students edit the story one passage at a time.

We’ve used all six levels of Fix It! Grammar.  Not only have my children learned a great deal about grammar, but so have I.  I love that it only takes about ten to fifteen minutes a day to complete, and I do not have to prep anything.

The Phonetic Zoo – An Auditory Approach to Spelling

I would be remiss not to mention IEW’s auditory-based spelling program, the Phonetic Zoo.  Because IEW uses All About Spelling in its Primary Arts of Language: Writing packages (Level P), I purchased All About Spelling when my oldest child was in first grade.  All my kids did so well with All About Spelling that we just kept going with that program.

Being the homeschool mom who loves all things IEW, I do have a copy of Phonetic Zoo in my basement that I purchased at a curriculum sale.  I just couldn’t pass it up.  I love the idea of a spelling program that allows for more independence.

Introduction to Public Speaking

Every time I attend the Great Homeschool Convention, I make sure to catch at least one of Andrew Pudewa’s talks.  I’m thrilled that he has created a 12-week video course for public speaking.  I already bought a copy of Introduction to Public Speaking and hope to begin it with my oldest two children (middle school and high school) in the summer of 2025.

University-Ready Writing

In 2024, IEW released a 12-week video course geared toward high school and college students called University-Ready Writing. The aim of the program is to help students learn effective note-taking strategies to help them succeed on their college-level assignments. 

Although I have not yet purchased this product for our family since my kids aren’t old enough for it, I do have the Portable Walls for Academic Writing, which I received for free through IEW’s Twelve Days of Christmas Giving.  Right away, I could see that University-Ready Writing will be a must for any of my children who decide to attend college.

Poetry Memorization

IEW’s Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization is not only a mouthful, but it also sets the bar extremely high.  Yet my children have risen to the occasion, memorizing between thirty to sixty poems each.  I am convinced that their vocabularies are so much richer because they have been working through this program one poem at a time.

Literature Resources

For many years IEW carried a product by Adam and Missy Andrews of the Center for Lit called Teaching the Classics.  It is now sold exclusively by Center for Lit. We are in the process of watching this series in our home to help us discuss literature as a family. 

In addition, my highschooler and I are currently using Windows to the World: An Introduction to Literary Analysis. IEW provided a helpful syllabus that combines Teaching the Classics with Windows to the World.

In many of its theme-based writing lessons and in the Structure and Style for Students video courses, IEW recommends books that students can read alongside their writing instruction.  If you are wondering what books your students would enjoy and benefit from, these lists and the Timeline of Classics (a Premium Member benefit) are a great place to start.

Primary Arts of Language and Other Level P Curriculum

The only Level P (grades K-2) curriculum from IEW that we have used in our homeschool are Bible Heroes Writing Lessons, Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization, and All About Spelling Level 1 which is included in the Primary Arts of Language: Writing packages.  This is largely because I was introduced to Sonlight, a literature-based curriculum, before I learned about IEW.

IEW’s reading and writing curriculum for kindergarten through second grade is called Primary Arts of Language.  It combines phonics with a small selection of sight words to help your child begin to read quickly.

Although there are no Structure and Style for Students video courses at this early age, IEW does have two theme-based writing lessons for Level P: Bible Heroes and People and Places in Our Community.

IEW’s Magalog and Magnum Opus Magazine

IEW’s promotional Magalog is part magazine and part catalog. Because it is easier to navigate than the website, I always prefer checking it before ordering curriculum for the next homeschool year.

In addition to the Magalog, IEW prints a magazine called Magnum Opus that showcases the written work of IEW students. My children always enjoy reading Magnum Opus when we receive a copy with our latest IEW order.

Conference Talks by IEW Founder Andrew Pudewa

I love to hear Andrew Pudewa speak in person when we attend the Great Homeschool Convention.  That’s why I’m delighted that IEW has made many of his conference talks available on their website to stream in video format and/or download as an audio mp3 file.

• Nurturing Competent Communicators
• By Heart: The Goodness of Memory
• Mastery Learning: Ability, Development, and Individualized Education
• Fairy Tales and the Moral Imagination
• Cultivating Language Arts
• However Imperfectly
• Culture, Curriculum, and Care
• Preparing for Persecution: A Curriculum Proposal
• From Copywork to Composition
• Hacking High School
• What Are We Really Doing Here?
• Principles of Motivation
• But… but… but…What about Grammar?
• Reaching the Reluctant Writer
• The Four Deadly Errors of Teaching Writing
• Spelling and the Brain

When you get to know the heart behind the creator of a curriculum, you can buy into the method of instruction much more easily.  This has been true for me with both IEW and Math-U-See as I’ve gotten to meet both Andrew Pudwea and Steve Demme at the Great Homeschool Convention.

Additional IEW Reviews

In addition to this in-depth guide to IEW, I’ve also reviewed several IEW products that we’ve used in our homeschool.

Conclusion

Congratulations on making it all the way through this comprehensive guide to IEW!  I’ve done my best to highlight every aspect of IEW to help you decide if this curriculum is the right fit for your needs.

With nine years of IEW experience and counting, I am happy to help if you have any questions.  Just email me directly and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.