is there stand-alone lit. analysis in WWS2 & in WWS3?

[serendipitous journey]

I am doing the literary analysis bit of WWS with A. and I think it is great for him and for me: he is not naturally a literary analysis kind of fellow, and as we work through the WWS lessons I can see that they will help me do a much better job of doing the WTM-style literary analysis work during the rest of our year. 

 

As in, do it at all -- I'd never figured out how to explain the nuts-and-bolts of even a beginning WTM-style literary paper.  After 1 week with WWS and Rikki-tikki-tavi both he and I are figuring out how to approach the assignments. 

 

I don't _think_ I want to do all of WWS, though.  I'm almost certainly going to use Classical Writing for formal instruction.  (As an aside to folks thinking through what they like to do, I've found that doing the WTM-style outlines, summaries &c is invaluable writing during our subject classes, but using a program like WWS or Classical Writing really pushes the child: it improves his writing, his reading, his thinking, and also keeps him from getting bored with writing.  So my Ideal Vision includes both.  Reality does intrude!)

 

Are there similar sections in WWS2 and WWS3 that can be used alone?  I did skim the table of contents in WWS2 at Amazon, but (maybe because I'm sick and fuzzy-headed) couldn't figure out the answer to my question. 

 

thanks in advance! 

[Miss Tick]

Ye-ess. I mean, if you have WWS1 you know that there is some building of skills from week to week, but the topics tend to be covered in one or two week chunks, and I think of those as standalone. So, I think the answer to your question is that there are two weeks that talk about short stories (The Open Window and The Monkey's Paw), later there are two weeks on The Legend of Robin Hood, and in between there is a week comparing two Robert Frost poems.

[serendipitous journey]

Ye-ess. I mean, if you have WWS1 you know that there is some building of skills from week to week, but the topics tend to be covered in one or two week chunks, and I think of those as standalone. So, I think the answer to your question is that there are two weeks that talk about short stories (The Open Window and The Monkey's Paw), later there are two weeks on The Legend of Robin Hood, and in between there is a week comparing two Robert Frost poems.

 

Thanks so much!  That is just what I meant. 

 

You are spot on about the skills-building, which is why I mentioned that we'll be doing other writing instruction too -- I think that if we are actively engaged in teaching writing, then we can pick up those weeks of literary analysis and adjust as necessary. 

 

ETA: since you so kindly answered the OP, may I ask you a follow-up?  Are you teaching WWS2?  How is it going?  One concern I have is the sheer amount of time spent writing that uses materials that aren't central to what I'm teaching.  Some of the readings are wonderful additions -- reading about Helen Keller, or the literary selections -- but I'm ambivalent.  I'd be grateful to hear a bit about your & your student's experience, or whatever you think is relevant. 

 

ETA #2: just remembered!  My other concern is how many people seem to feel a need to give the child breaks from WWS.  We are not exactly "behind", but I do not want to plan pauses in my child's writing education.  To get where I want to go, we really need to work at a full pace.  I am fine if some assignments take more days than planned: what I want to avoid is taking breaks from WWS on a regular basis. 

Edited February 26, 2018 by serendipitous journey

[SanDiegoMom]

Well, we take "breaks" but we are always doing something else that furthers their progress. So we took a break last week to write an essay from Big History, where they applied some of the skills they had learned in WWS 2, and this week they will take a break to do another project from Big history that they are interested in. I probably will cut out a couple of weeks of WWS rather than plop them back in st the point they left off. It's not perfect, but I feel that even if they only have 70 percent finished of WWS they will still have learned a ton. This being said, they did all of WWS 1. That was a little more foundational.

[Miss Tick]

We are working on WWS2. I do not plan breaks, but we also can't keep up with the scheduled pace. I don't know if we are slow, thorough, or just don't spend as much time on writing as others do. I keep our writing time to 1-1½ hours a day during the week. I am planning to spend the next two years finishing WWS2 and working through WWS3 (8th and 9th). I'm hopeful that we will have time in 9th grade to apply the skills to writing in other subjects during "writing" time.

 

 

It seems like we "lose" the most time during note-taking which I wouldn't have thought, so I'm working on strategies for making that process more efficient. When a writing assignment stretches into a second week we add at least one cycle of editing and corrections.

 

I feel like the program builds in breaks with the variety of weekly topics.

 

I do think you would be fine picking out the weeks you want to do. The text always refers the student back to relevant weeks when needed, "include a conclusion by personal summary, if you need a reminder, refer back to week xx, day x"