Next week we begin week 8, and my writing level 9 son's assignment is to do an analytical essay on God teaching the Israelites about His character through the difficult conditions of the wilderness. He's not sure he has enough information from what he's read so far (through week 7) to do this assignment, and since we haven't yet read week 8's reading I don't know if that will cover enough either. I glanced ahead and the reading is from Leviticus and mainly covers the various sacrifices. (This son is trying to get a jump ahead on next week by beginning his writing assignment now, not having read week 8's reading). So my question is both specific and general:
Specifically, should my son be able to cover this topic using what he's already learned through week 7? Will week 8 cover more of what he needs?
In general, especially in these one-week assignments that are history-topic-related, is it expected that the student will do further research - i.e. more than what he's had to read for TOG subjects - to complete the assignment, or are the writing assignments generally able to be done armed with core readings? If so, are they generally lined up with what the student would be reading THAT WEEK (so that he would have to complete his reading in order to do the writing), or the previous weeks (so that he would be able to start his writing assignment at the beginning of the week based on what he already knows)? If it's the former, I'll just start having my kids work one week behind in their writing, since we spread our reading out during the week instead of completing it on Mon and Tues as I know some do.
Thank you!
In His Grace,
Bonnie

My experience is that sometimes the history readings have enough information for the writing assignments, sometimes they don't. And I have my kids working a week behind on their writing, just for the reason that you state.

I do wish that the history readings provided enough information on their own; I really like the TOG writing program and want to use it, but sometimes it really seems like too much to have them do extra research. It's taken us a number of years to really ramp up to the writing program, partly for this reason.

I can't address that week specifically, not having done year 1.

Hi Bonnie,
It would be difficult to give any writing assignment without having completed that week's reading assignments, as well as discussion time. Beth is correct in that sometimes the assignments do require a bit more research. That is by design in order to further develop particular skills. The historical topic for the week is certainly the jumping off point though.

Hope this helps!