H. L. Mencken said of Henry Hazlitt that he was "one of the few economists in the history of the world who could really write." Whether he would include Daniel Weber in that category is beside the point--Weber can certainly teach writing through economics.
Economics-Based Writing Lessons is part of IEW's family of products designed to be used in conjunction with Teaching Writing: Structure & Style. It is not a student-directed course, and will only be effective if parents or teachers guide students' work and grade papers with the goal of encouraging and directing improvement. This book (like all the others in the series) can also not be used alone, but forms a series of lessons that fit within the Structure & Style model.
Weber's text serves as an introduction to basic economic history and theory, as well as tohigh school-level composition. Students begin by practicing note-taking, progress to writing from notes and summarizing, and end with creative writing and essay composition. Each assignment is based on an economics-oriented source text; texts become longer and more difficult as lessons progress.
This is a very progression-oriented course. With each new assignment students' previously gained knowledge of writing is expanded or deepened. Bear in mind that this is not primarily an economics text; if it's economics you want your kids to study, we recommend Economics in One Lesson by the aforementioned Henry Hazlitt, or Exploring Economics by Ray Notgrass (not aforementioned), or Economics, 2nd ed. from Bob Jones Press. If you want your students' writing abilities to improve and they (or you) are also interested in economics, we recommend Economics-Based Writing Lessons.
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