WWE 1- can we skip around?

[mountains27]

I have an 8 year old who would be in 2nd grade this year if in public school. This is our first year at home and I picked up WWE for her and went with level 1 since I didn't want her missing anything before going on to level 2. Well it seems easy for her and I am wondering if it's OK to breeze through this book at a faster pace and skip some things that she already seems to get? I feel like maybe I am missing something though and don't want to skip anything vital towards the overall goal of the program that is in this level.

She is a good writer and also does poetry copywork and memorization, HWT cursive and KISS grammar.

[ForeverFamily]

The lessons in WWE build upon each other, especially the grammar concepts.   The passages also get longer as you go on.  I wouldn't recommend skipping around in the book, i.e. doing lesson 20 and then lesson 10, etc.  But going faster or skipping a few lessons here and there, if you know your 8yo is understanding it and doesn't need the extra practice, should be just fine.  Towards the end of level 1 I actually ended up havning my Dd do two weeks worth of work in one week, so for example Week  20 Day 1 & 2 on monday, Wk 20 Days 3 & 4 on Tues, Wk 21 D 1 & 2 on Wed, and Wk 21 D 3 & 4 on Thur, etc. 

 

If I remember correctly, level 1 is for mostly practicing and getting down narration skills, and copywork skills.  As well as starting to transition from the teacher writing down all the narrations by having the student use some of their narrations as copywork.  Level 2 gets more difficult with dictation and longer passages.  It also starts working on learning to summarize.  We ended up slowing down in Level 2 and only completed half of it for 2nd and we are finishing up the rest for 3rd. The dictation and summarizing ended up being a challange for my Dd, who otherwise is a pretty strong writer. I would say just go at the pace you think your daughter needs/can handle, whether that is speeding up or slowing down.  Keep in mind as well that the pace may be different for each level, she may breeze through level 1 and need to slow down with level 2, etc.  If you still aren't sure, it may be helpful to pick up a copy of the insructor text, it talks about all four levels of writing with ease and what skills should be learned in each of those levels.  Also SWB has a couple of great audio lectures on teaching writing that I found very helpful. HTH :)

 

ETA: If level 1 is really too easy, you could always test the waters and see if you Dd is ready to handle level 2.  If she struggles you could always go back to level 1.

[redsquirrel]

First of all, many kids do WWS a year 'behind' their grade. Both my boys, who are very strong readers and great with grammar, did WWE a year 'behind'. I felt no need to push it because WWS really does work on important foundational skills.

 

 

Anyway, if you own WWE1, there is an exit 'test' at the end of the book, the last week I think? If she can do that easily then move on to WWE2

[Mswin15]

I wouldn't skip it. I would just do a week in one day. I often do more than one day and many times the whole week in one day. (We have used it as a supplement to school writing in the past). That amount of copy work is still very easy for a 2nd grader. You would miss out on some great passages of literature if you missed the whole book and it builds those narration skills so nicely. 

[hollyhock]

I think you can skip around if you like. I started my oldest in WWE 2 when he was in 2nd grade without having first done level 1 and he was fine. The skills build slowly so I think there is no problem getting her up to the point where she's comfortable and it doesn't seem too easy.

[mountains27]

OK this makes more sense. Also I went back and looked through the book more carefully and am grasping the idea and method of this program a little better now. I tend to rush into new things and need to remember to slow down and "read the directions"! I was having my daughter do her own narrations- asking her something she remembered about the passage and write it down. I thought this seemed simple enough but am understanding now that it is actually hard for her (she gets super frustrated over this exercise) and the way they have the teacher write it first and then have the student copy it sounds like a better place for us to start out. I thought the copywork looked so easy but I am understanding now more about the process of learning to write that comes out of this repetition and learning writing by seeing how writers write!