WWS Level 1- time per day/week? Difficulty?

[matrips]

We are looking at WWS 1 next year, for 6th grade. Kids finished WWE 4 in fourth grade, and are doing IEW this year (our third year of IEW).

 

How much time/effort does WWS 1 take on a daily and weekly basis? What is the hardest part? Where do kids struggle, if they do? Our co-op teacher suggested doing it at half speed (taking two years for one level) but is agreeable to do the whole program in a year if we want (my preference I think since that seems to be the normal path on here). She's concerned about going too fast and kids not getting it because of rushing through it. thoughts?

 

My kids like this teacher and I like the idea of an experienced English teacher working with them in middle school.

Thanks.

[tmstranger]

My 6th grader is doing WWS1 this year.  The work is scheduled for 4 days/week and the weeks have a rhythm to them that changes a bit as the course moves forward, so the time per day changes.   

 

For the first few weeks, day one would be a narration, day 2 an outline, day 3 learning the topos (usually they read a lesson and examples and copy a chart for their notebook), and day 4 is practicing the topos which includes a longer writing session (200-300 words or so).  The "heaviest" day is day 4 and I let my kiddo spread that over 2 days using Thursday for a rough draft and Friday for revisions/final draft.

 

The time it takes to do those things would vary by child.  My son has not done any WWE in the past (this is only our 2nd year homeschooling, so his 2nd year with any writing instruction at all) and he is doing ok with the pace.  We are not at full speed since we slow down and work on the day 4 assignments longer if we need to do so, but we are not moving as slow as half speed.  (We are in week 22 of our school year and he's on week 19 in WWS). 

[Athome]

I would completely echo the post above. It seems very similar to what we're doing as well. 

 

My son is 6th grade and in WWS 2 (I love this curriculum!) We went straight from WWE level 4 in 4th to WWS 1 in 5th grade since I figured that was what was intended. Later SWB seemed to suggest waiting till 6th. I'll play it by ear for my next two kids.

 

I think the pacing of her book is fine. It's challenging but not overwhelming. I do feel overwhelmed that is is a 36 week curriculum with no wiggle room when you get behind. At least you are getting all the bang for your buck! We are currently in school week 21 and only in week 17 of WWS 2. That's just life though (seriously, we've had a major move this fall). We also factor that day 4 will usually take 2 day to completely. I would think stretching it out for 2 years would feel too drawn out.

[happypamama]

We started doing WWS1 with DD in sixth, and while I think it was good, it was a lot of hand holding. She had not done much writing beforehand, and she needed me to go over a lot of it with her. That year, I also had a newborn, and so we didn't get to writing every day. We did split some of the writing assignments into two days, and we did WWS1 over two years. We did find that the second half was easier; maybe she found her groove and was more comfortable with it. We also started interspersing The Creative Writer with WWS1 once a week. This year, in eighth, she is continuing the same pattern, four days of WWS2 and one day of TCW, but we don't always do writing five days a week. She will finish WWS2 sometime in ninth grade.

 

I think WWS1 is doable in one year for a sixth grader, but I also think it's totally okay if it needs longer than that.

[RootAnn]

We're taking WWS1 (with dd#2) at her own pace. She usually only does it three days per week and sometimes needs an extra day to revise/edit a lesson that didn't go as planned or didn't meet all the requirements. She's a huge creative writer, but does have background doing SWB-type narrations through SOTW & WWE. Thus, she's only on week 12 in WWS1 even though we are on Week 21 in school this year. I don't see an issue with spreading out WWS a little bit & then just continuing with the next book whenever you finish the first.

 

Some lessons don't take very long -- and we try to just move onto the next lesson when that happens. We spend a certain amount of time (say 30 minutes) vs. completing a lesson/day.

[UnlikelyHomeschoolingMama]

We are looking at WWS 1 next year, for 6th grade. Kids finished WWE 4 in fourth grade, and are doing IEW this year (our third year of IEW).

 

 

 

 

So do you do WWE with IEW?  My daughter will be in 3rd grade next year and we will finish up WWE2 probably around Nov/Dec.  I thought I would start IEW at that point, but wasn't sure if I should do it with our without WWE.  Do you have any input?  I was going to do IEW SWI A.  

 

Thanks!

[kirstenhill]

My 6th grader is doing WWS1 this year, and is basically keeping up with one lesson per week.  In the first half or so of the book, day 4 is the "writing day" where the topos is practiced by writing a short composition, then the topos writing day switches to day 3 about half way through the book, with day 4 being a day for practicing things like sentence variety.  I'm not sure if that pattern continues all the way to the end, since we are only on week 21 right now.

 

Typically. the days other than the topos writing take about 15-20 minutes for DD to complete, with the topos writing day taking 30-45.  Sometimes she needed to split it up over two days.

 

I'd say the most challenging part for my DD has been taking a somewhat unfamiliar topic and not only being able to summarize/outline it, but also to understand it well enough to write about it.  So, for example, not just summarizing the life of Isaac Newton, but being able to take a piece about his strengths and instead turn it into a composition about his weaknesses.   There was a week where the writing assignment was about deep sea ocean vents, and my DD just had a hard time really understanding the science of what was going on well enough to write about it.  It was right before Christmas, and if we would have had more time I would have really needed for her to do more research -- watch videos or read from other resources -- if she was going to independently finish the assignment.  As it was since we were pressed for time, I spent some time explaining it for her well enough to write about it, and it was not her best work...LOL! But with the holiday busyness, we just called it "good enough" and moved on. 

 

Overall, I would say it has been an appropriate level of challenge, but it is definitely her most challenging subject right now.  We don't have 36 weeks in our school year (most likely only 34).  We are going to skip the poetry for now and do that section some time over the summer. 

[redsquirrel]

Well, my 5th grader is taking the online class at WTMA, Intro to Expository Writing, which uses WW1. He is able to keep up with the workload with a minimum of fuss. However it does mean he has to budget his time with some of the longer assignments. He usually does a bit of work on Saturdays to get his work handed in before the Monday class.  We haven't found that to be a crisis. We knew that would happen before the class started and ds2 agreed to it.  He could do it all on weekdays if he were willing to work longer during the week, but he's not, so Saturdays it is.  Yes, the class isn't cheap, but my son adores it and I am LOVING having someone else keep him on track, lol.

 

I did WWS with my older boy, he was a 6th grader at the time, and we fell far behind. I wasn't able to keep to the schedule and the book was stretching into 7th grade and it all felt a bit demoralizing. When 7th grade started we just picked up with WWS2 and did manage to finish that on time. Having seen my younger boy take the class, I strongly feel the issue was with me, not my kid. I was very, very quick to let him put off an assignment. I was also adverse to the idea of him doing "homework' or schoolwork outside of our normal schedule. I also feel like I didn't give him enough support. All of that came together to drag us down with WWS1. It is very much one of those 'if I had it to do over again' issues for me.

 

I am not sure there is a need to take WWS1 half speed with a 6th grader. I think some of the exercises go very quickly and it could get frustrating. I can almost see taking WWS1 slower with a 5th grader, but again, there is generally only one exercise per week that might take more than half an hour/45 mins. And it's not every week that there is an assignment like that. Also I am not sure there is a need to take WWS2 or WWS3 slower, but YMMV and so might your kid and your family. :001_smile:

 

There are different types of assignments throughout the year and so what takes longer varies from unit to unit. Generally, but not always, it is the day four assignment that takes a bit longer. However, that is not a guarantee. Right now, the day four exercise is a 'copia' exercise and that has been something my son can do on his own with a minimum of input from me. It's been pretty easy.

 

The hardest part is the FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS, lol.  If a mistake is made, that is usually where it will start. This is not because the directions are difficult to follow, but because middle school kids have a tendency to get ahead of themselves and not bother with directions, or only half listen when things are explained.  Right now, it's not so bad with my 5th grader...but I know from hard experience that will be very, very different when he is a 7th grader.  The teacher's guide is extremely helpful, and necessary for the program, and in the "If your student is having trouble' section, the first suggestion is always "Have the student read the directions out loud". This is because most of the time they haven't read them or didn't really pay attention when they did.

 

However, this is a problem that is universal in the middle grades and it must be addressed before high school. It will come up across the board.

 

There is a lot of repetition in WWS1, and I have come to see is a good thing. It's ok if they don't 'get' outlining for the first couple weeks...or months... because they will do it again and again and again. They are going to do it in WWS2 and WWS2. My son gets it now, and doesn't mind doing it again and again and again. He sees it as 'oh, good, it's an outline so that's not a difficult assignment, yay" lol. So, things get addressed again. They don't have to master writing in WWS1. They have WWS2 and WWS3 ahead of them...and even then, it is only getting them ready for rhetoric, which they are not expected to master in 9th grade.  So, it's ok if something isn't necessarily grasped right away. In fact, its expected.

Edited February 9, 2016 by redsquirrel

[Reefgazer]

My DD did WWS I in 6th grade.  She is verbally adept and finds English courses and related material easy.  While the lessons were not difficult, we found them very time-consuming, but they were time-consuming in an irregular way.  I agree with the above poster that the weeks have a "rhythm" to them, but the rhythm means a few days of fairly light writing and one day a week of ridiculously long writing.  WWS II is more of the same.  It's an excellent teaching tool, but a lot of work.  You could always do it at half speed.

[matrips]

We did, yes. We started IEW SWI a at the end of second grade while finishing up wwe2. Completed wwe3 and swi a in third. And wwe 4 and SICC a in 4th. Math and LA have always been my two biggies. We do two maths and usually two LA (at least in the younger years). Wwe didnt take long for us, do adding iew was fine.

We tried cc essentials this year and are doing Iew ancient history, but won't do essentials again. I just bought WWS for next year and I love what I'm seeing in it. It seems perfect for where we are at.

 

So do you do WWE with IEW? My daughter will be in 3rd grade next year and we will finish up WWE2 probably around Nov/Dec. I thought I would start IEW at that point, but wasn't sure if I should do it with our without WWE. Do you have any input? I was going to do IEW SWI A.

 

Thanks!

[matrips]

I still can't figure out how to 'like' on my iPhone, so I want to say I am so appreciative of your posts. I did end up buying it because I'm convinced on doing it for 6th, preferably as written speed wise then. And thanks for the extra notes and tips. Especially about the directions. I now know to keep clued in to what my kids will be doing for each step.

[LisaKinVA]

My 6th grader is doing WWS half speed, and doing Killgallon Sentence Composing on his days off from WWS.  My goal is to finish up WWS3 in 9th, which seems to be working well pace-wise. We have always used WWE about 1 grade lower than it was intended for, and even though my kids are generally accelerated, doing WWE/WWS this way has been much less frustrating for everyone.  My oldest (10th) has no difficulty writing 5-10 page papers over a couple of weeks, or two 1-2 page papers a week.  That is exactly where I want my kids to be a this point.  My oldest is ready for AP-level English Comp next year, and is no longer "scared" by long research papers.  

 

Find the routine that works best for you and plug away. 

 

FWIW, all of my children have balked somewhat at WWS, but have not balked at Killgallon's imitation approach -- especially when younger.  I like both of them for different reasons, and the mixture has proven quite delightful.