How do I place my daughter into the correct level of Writing with Ease?

[Heart_Mom]

She's a rising 4th grade and we have not done much in the way of formal writing. She does copywork daily, but has not done narration (except spontaneously when she is reading an exciting book) or dictation. **I'm editing to add that we do lots and lots of reading aloud here. So no formal narration, but she is getting lots of good literature in her everyday. 

 

I found this on the website (http://downloads.peacehillpress.com/pdfs/samples/wwe/wweevaluations.pdf) but it seems like an evaluation to see if a student has learned the concepts in the current level or not. Is this also appropriate for me to use to place my rising 4th grader? 

 

Based on what I see there, I'm guessing Level 2, but I haven't tried any of it with her yet. 

 

Also, a somewhat-related question: I have an rising 7th grader who has done 3 years of IEW and is a quite competent writer. Is there a reason that she couldn't go right into Writing with Skill? (I'm only asking because we did not do very much of the types of exercises that are in Writing with Ease.)

 

Thanks for any help you can give me! :)

Edited April 27, 2016 by Heart_Mom

[UnlikelyHomeschoolingMama]

If I were in your shoes I would start with WWE 2.  We are doing that now with DD and it looks like a huge jump in skill to WWE 3.  It seems like it would be too much if she has never done those things.  If you find it is "easy" for her, you can always take it double time.  I did that with WWE 1 for my DD.  We just did two days in 1.  Slow up if you need to later on. :)  

 

We love WWE!!!  I hope it works well for you!!  I'll tell you it has helped my daughter's listening skills tremendously.  She is not a strong auditory learner...at all! But has honed those skills using WWE.  And it has reminded me of classics I read as a child that I had forgotten about (The Borrowers is the latest) that we now read together or my daughter reads on her own.  

 

Enjoy!

[Heart_Mom]

If I were in your shoes I would start with WWE 2.  We are doing that now with DD and it looks like a huge jump in skill to WWE 3.  It seems like it would be too much if she has never done those things.  If you find it is "easy" for her, you can always take it double time.  I did that with WWE 1 for my DD.  We just did two days in 1.  Slow up if you need to later on. :)

 

We love WWE!!!  I hope it works well for you!!  I'll tell you it has helped my daughter's listening skills tremendously.  She is not a strong auditory learner...at all! But has honed those skills using WWE.  And it has reminded me of classics I read as a child that I had forgotten about (The Borrowers is the latest) that we now read together or my daughter reads on her own.  

 

Enjoy!

 

Thank you so much for this. I would rather go a little easy, than too hard, especially with skills like these. I edited my above post to mention that we do lots of reading aloud, so that should help her to be able to jump in. 

 

May I ask you about how long each day this takes of your time? (Since I'm teaching 5 children, I have to be careful with how much one-on-one time I schedule.)

Edited April 27, 2016 by Heart_Mom

[mamamoose]

I started my 4th grader in WWE3 at Christmas and the dictation is very difficult. The narration is relatively easy for her, but she is intimidated with the length of the dictation passages. Some days, depending on her attitude going in, we do about half, which means we are progressing but I am having to modify. I like the stories, though and I'm confident WWE2 would have been too "simple" for her reading level.

[Heart_Mom]

I started my 4th grader in WWE3 at Christmas and the dictation is very difficult. The narration is relatively easy for her, but she is intimidated with the length of the dictation passages. Some days, depending on her attitude going in, we do about half, which means we are progressing but I am having to modify. I like the stories, though and I'm confident WWE2 would have been too "simple" for her reading level.

Hmmm ... this is interesting. My daughter is a very good reader, but spelling/writing are not strong. 

[mamamoose]

I guess it depends on how much you are willing to manipulate a program to suit your needs, lol. I am not very good at that, so I think God is trying to tell me to flex! 😂

[Heart_Mom]

I guess it depends on how much you are willing to manipulate a program to suit your needs, lol. I am not very good at that, so I think God is trying to tell me to flex! 😂

I'm not very good at manipulating a program either, though I'm a little better than I used to be. 

 

I did give her part of the level 1 ending evaluation yesterday and she was able to answer 2 of the 4 questions easily. I've not stressed remembering details when I'm reading aloud, so I'm thinking the the first step might be to just start asking some questions after I read a chapter. 

[UnlikelyHomeschoolingMama]

Thank you so much for this. I would rather go a little easy, than too hard, especially with skills like these. I edited my above post to mention that we do lots of reading aloud, so that should help her to be able to jump in. 

 

May I ask you about how long each day this takes of your time? (Since I'm teaching 5 children, I have to be careful with how much one-on-one time I schedule.)

 

It only takes us about 10 or 15 minutes per day.  The fourth day takes longer, so maybe 20.  It is normally a little more challenging of a passage and I expect a little more that day since it is the second time she has heard a passage from the same book.  She has to narrate and take dictation that day.

[lindsey]

I'd start with 2--I bought 3 for my rising third grader, who HAS done a lot of writing in PS, but the dictation in level 3 was just way too long/challenging for him to start with. I went and got 2 last week and feel much better about it. 

 

Edit for typo. :)

Edited May 1, 2016 by lindsey

[Heart_Mom]

It only takes us about 10 or 15 minutes per day.  The fourth day takes longer, so maybe 20.  It is normally a little more challenging of a passage and I expect a little more that day since it is the second time she has heard a passage from the same book.  She has to narrate and take dictation that day.

 

Thank you. And this is all one-on-one time, right? 

 

I'd start with 2--I bought 3 for my rising third grader, who HAS done a lot of writing in PS, because the dictation in level 3 was just way too long/challenging for him to start with. I went and got 2 last week and feel much better about it. 

 

Thank you, lindsey. I think 2 will be best for my daughter. I don't want her to be overwhelmed, especially since the only dictation she's ever done is the short sentences in All About Spelling.