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Is Writing With Skill Enough To Prepare for Highschool?


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That's my question. Ds will be in 8th grade next year, but the following year; he will be going to high school. We've done Essentials In Writing this year, with ok results, but it's not something I want to continue.

 

If not WWS, what other options do I have for it to be more student led and still get a solid writing program?

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Well, my son got through WWS3 in 8th grade and he has done fine in high school. But, YMMV of course.  We worked through WWE 1-4 and he also had a very strong grounding in grammar, we used FLL 1-4 and then R&S.  We also did a lot of outlining in history and writing from the outline. So, his writing wasn't just WWS. We studied composition consistently throughout his schooling.

 

I'm not convinced it's so much any one program as it is a consistency and a method that works for your student.

 

And, again, YMMV, I am not convinced that WWS is really all that student led. You have to stay on top of it as the teacher. It's important to go through the assignment with the student and make sure s/he understands the instructions.  It's also good if you know the program and understand where each step is heading.

 

DS2 is taking the class through WTMA and it has been wonderful.  They do offer a class for older kids who haven't done WWS 1-3 to get them ready for high school writing. It's sort of a WWS bootcamp...well..bootcamp might be overstating things.  It's called "crashcourse for rhetoric writing" and it's for kids who didn't have WWS 1-3 before high school. It might also work as an 8th grade course to get a kid ready for 9th grade.

 

If you aren't interested in the class, where would you start him with WWS? Would you just have him jump into WWS3? Or start with WWS1?  

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I have two sons who are writing phobic.  One did most of WWS1 over several years in grades 6-8.  (No, that is not a typo.)  The other resisted every writing program I gave him and essentially avoided doing much formal writing at all.

 

Both are doing just fine in their co-op English class this year.  I am the teacher so I look at their writing and am aware of exactly how much parental help they are receiving (almost none for the first son mentioned and minimal help for the second son).  We have done Windows to the World with the Jill Pike syllabus.  Both sons are squarely in the middle of the pack or better in my class of 10 as far as their writing ability goes.  Neither has any interest at all in creative writing or in writing beyond what is required for academics.

 

They have been exposed to good literature, both read aloud for many years and read by them.  The vast majority of one son's exposure was through read alouds, as he didn't care to read for pleasure. They have been taught grammar, literary devices, and literature analysis, mostly by me and mostly in context.  Language arts is in my wheelhouse.

 

I can't tell if the OP's plan is to put her son in brick and mortar school in high school.  If that is the plan, then all bets are off because I don't know.  But I share my experience because it appears different from others.  

Edited by texasmama
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Its going to be enough here.  We haven't even worked all of the way through WWS yet and are about to start 9th in the fall.  I am putting off WTM rhetoric writing til 10th grade, and we are going to finish up WWS over this summer and into the beginning of 9th grade.  We also are a year behind in R&S grammar, so she'll be working through its writing assignments as they come up.

 

But like others said, this isn't the only writing she's had.  We've done a co-op speech and drama class that required a lot.  She's always done the WTM style writing in history: copywork, then narrations and dictations, summaries, outlines, and reports, etc.

 

So after we finish up WWS and R&S 8 as a freshman, we'll start rhetoric writing and she'll be ready I'm sure.

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For the record, DS did WWS 1, part of WWS 2 and then straight into Comp I at community college. He got an A last semester as a junior in high school.  He's running at about a 93% currently in Comp II with one paper left to go.

Yes, it's enough.

Edited by BlsdMama
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It's enough.  Mine did WWS 1 in 8th, pulled straight A's in English comp in high school, and is pulling A's in his cc course.  This was my reluctant writer who hated the whole process, but WWS helped him learn how to write and organize his thoughts better than anything else we ever tried.

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