WWS very slowly?

[librarymama]

Is there any harm in taking 2+ years to do one level of WWS? Will that make the program less solid if I stretch it out so much? 

 

Full story: My plan for 6th grade has been to use WWS1 for my 11 year old DS. It looks intense, but I see so much value in the skills he will learn through the program. I'm afraid if we take the program even at half pace he might freak out and try to quit it all. I've searched the forums and now I am a bit scared at how challenging this could be for him.

 

He is a lover of non-fiction, a dabbler in all things, and he very creative person who typically doesn't care for reading fiction. He goes for breadth over depth in life. I'm thinking to to alternate WWS1 and Mosdos Literature writing prompts (or something else?) to make it all more bearable for my middle schooler.

 

 

[Tranquility7]

Hmm, that is a great question, and I have heard many people on WTM say they take it slower. However, I don't really.

 

I tried to start my DS at 10, and it was too much for him at that point. I considered going at half pace, but ultimately just set it aside for a year and picked it up again last fall (6th grade). It is a lot of work, but it is going great. I'm so glad I waited! We do school year round and so with WWS I tend to have him do about 4 weeks on and then 1 week off (we still school other stuff that week, just not WWS). Some weeks are harder than others, so I just figure out our schedule as I go, but I am roughly trying to finish by the end of June.

 

Honestly, on weeks that are a bit "much" for him, what I tend to do is rather than slow down and spread the lesson over more weeks, I simply sit with him and read through the lesson together and do all but the actual writing project orally. Doing it totally independently would be hard for him, because he can drag it out and feel like it takes longer than it really should. But if I join with him and we just read and discuss as we go, that gives him some good energy and motivation and we get through it together.

 

 

[librarymama]

Thanks for your comments. I also think my son will need me by his side for most of it. He has a very hard time staying on task. 

 

Thumbing through it again, I do think we could aim for 2 lessons per week making it a 2 year program. He has a bit of give-it-up-itis and will try to stop when things get hard, so I think making it manageable for him will be key. It is also possible that as much as *I* love the look of this program, it might not be the right fit for him. 

[PeterPan]

Might just be too soon. My dd didn't do WWS1 until 8th, and at that point she could do it really strongly, double pace, more comfortably. 

 

Writing prompts are a great thing! Have you seen Writing for 100 Days & Fairview's Guide to Composition and Essay Writing  It would be an extension of the prompt writing he's already comfortable with. You could go back to WWS the following year, probably at a normal pace. 

 

He's going to mature a LOT over the next few years. A year can make a huge difference. I would definitely wait, do something that is a better fit now, and go back to WWS later.

 

Can he type to get this thoughts out? That will be huge.

[PeterPan]

Thanks for your comments. I also think my son will need me by his side for most of it. He has a very hard time staying on task. 

 

 

My dd has ADHD, so that's a fair chunk of why she did it later. She's a fine writer now, btw, banging it out in college. When we did WWS, I went through it with a highlighter, highlighting the important parts of the (overly, unnecessarily) verbose instructions to make SURE she would get the point. I wanted her to be able to do it independently, but I wanted to make sure she understood.

 

Bonus was, it quietly helped her learn how to read and notice what was important! :)

[PeterPan]

Has your dc already done outlining from essays? And if you think he has ADHD or issues with attention or organizing or understanding structure, have you taught him how to use mindmapping software? Before we did WWS, I taught my dd to map interesting magazine articles and write summaries (what WTM says to do, woo-woo) using Inspiration software. We also did it on the whiteboard and with free software like Popplet, but then we moved to Inspiration. 

 

Anyways, Inspiration is a powerful tool for complex thinkers who struggle with structure. It allows them to put all their thoughts out there graphically then hit a button and BOOM convert it to an outline. Magic! What's what we did for quite a while before we ever did WWS, and I would make notes in WWS saying use Inspiration here. 

 

You want education to be steps that are within reach. You're saying he might freak out and be overwhelmed, even at half pace, so you can find other steps that are halfway there, more within reach. Outlining well-written magazine articles was AMAZING for my dd, because she was learning how excellent writers craft their work. She saw structure in action and realized it wasn't formulaic. We used Muse magazine, but you could use anything in his area of interest. My ds is into tanks right now, so if I were doing it with him I'd find magazines in that and outline it together during the week and write the summary by Friday. As he got more comfortable, I'd transition more over to him, till he could do the task independently.

 

I like prompt writing btw. I think it's great to explore all kinds of types of writing. Jot It Down has a list of prompts by month in their tm. They were engaging to my dd and good for that just bulk, get comfortable at cranking it out, kind of writing. I also like book summaries or the How to Report on Books series, which does have a grade leveled 5/6 book. 

 

I personally think that WWS is best done when the student is ready to imbibe it and process and make it their own and OWN it, rather than so early that you're going to have to drag them through. It's ok to challenge a student who's ready, and it's ok to wait when your gut says their not. We've got a wide range of ages on the board where people are using it, and I'm probably at the upper end. Go with your gut. :)

Edited February 21, 2018 by PeterPan

[RootAnn]

Some lessons, especially at the beginning, are quicker than others. I'd set a timer (maybe 30 minutes and build up to more after awhile) and put the book away when it goes off.

 

Also, don't be afraid to switch to something else as a break or to shelve the program for a bit if it gets overwhelming (tears).

[Miss Tick]

I don't think there is any harm in taking it slow. Most of the lessons are stand-alone weeks or groups of two or three weeks. Looking at the table of contents in the teacher's book it is readily apparent which weeks should stay in proximity and when you can easily insert a break.

 

My kids often need a second week for weeks that include writing assignments. A generous hour a day, five days a week just does nut seem to be enough for them to finish the work laid out. That's ok. I'm hopeful that they continue to increase in speed for accomplishing the tasks - I've seen some. If I increase the time on task for writing it will be at the expense of something else and I don't feel the need to make that trade-off right now.

[Tranquility7]

Some lessons, especially at the beginning, are quicker than others. I'd set a timer (maybe 30 minutes and build up to more after awhile) and put the book away when it goes off.

 

:iagree: Also, as a variation on this, we like the Pomodoro Technique. We look at the assignment, and estimate how long it should take. Say, 20 min max for outlining an easy passage, IF DS11 is focused and not dragging it out. Then we set the timer for 20 minutes, and it is heads-down working on that until he is finished with the task or the timer goes off. Usually he finishes before the timer goes, but if the timer goes off first, he is usually close enough to completion that he will work another couple of minutes to get it done.

 

For larger tasks, like a several-paragraph essay, we split it up into multiple small chunks (e.g., one chunk for outlining, one chunk for each paragraph, etc.) and use the Pomodoro Technique on each chunk.

[librarymama]

Thank you all so much for the comments and suggestions. It has given me a lot to think about.

 

I am going to go through and highlight (excellent suggestion!) because I do think that would help make it more manageable for both of us. The good news is we do have flexibility and can start/stop as needed. He has been in public school for almost 3 years and I am having a hard time figuring out what he knows and does not know. He says he has never outlined, but he does have memories of us doing narrations together in early elementary. He recently wrote a 3 paragraph essay using notes he took from an article as part of a school assignment. I love the idea of starting with something like that before jumping head first into WWS.

[Soror]

If you look at the suggested sequences of WWS doing it half-pace is one of her suggestions. I'm not using it with my 5th grader this year she isn't ready and I won't be using it next year in 6th either. I *think* I will do it slowed down in 7th and 8th, maybe not exactly half paced though. The first half is considerably easier than the second half, I can see doing the first half at the regular pace and doing the longer projects at 1/2 or 1/4 pace, we'll see. Ds is using it this year at 13 and it is certainly not too late at all.

[PeterPan]

Thank you all so much for the comments and suggestions. It has given me a lot to think about.

 

I am going to go through and highlight (excellent suggestion!) because I do think that would help make it more manageable for both of us. The good news is we do have flexibility and can start/stop as needed. He has been in public school for almost 3 years and I am having a hard time figuring out what he knows and does not know. He says he has never outlined, but he does have memories of us doing narrations together in early elementary. He recently wrote a 3 paragraph essay using notes he took from an article as part of a school assignment. I love the idea of starting with something like that before jumping head first into WWS.

 

He sounds pretty ready! I'll bet he does better than you think. :)

[scootiepie]

I am doing it slower- paced with my 6th grade boy.   He's doing fine and catching on.   We edit, redo, edit, redo, a lot.   It's really his first how-to-write curriculum

and I want to take it slow and hand-hold a bit.

[librarymama]

I decided to sit down and spend time reading the instructor text and student workbook. What concerns me most is that the wall of text could be intimating, as my son looks for reasons to say something is too hard. The actual content is gold. I wish I'd had this program 25 years ago! I do think he'll be able to handle it, even if we only make it to chapter 22 in a single year.

 

Thank you all for the encouragement and support.