In the wake of some health issues, I am starting to think of what dd9 needs to be doing in terms of writing. She has done WWE1-3. I bought WWE4, but it is just too much for her. Though she is bright and can remember the passages well, she has huge issues with writing. Nevertheless, I think she really needs dictation, just not on steroids ;) . I have considered gathering my own sentences using the WWE instructor text as a guide. But as I look at the sample for that book, I am not sure I understand how that would work. It appears to provide the passages for you, just as in the Student Text. I also am not sure I'll be able keep up with that level of teacher involvement. I am feeling a lot better, but I still have some bad days, and I still have numerous doctor's appointments. Someone has already suggested to me using the dictation resource that goes with Spelling Plus. I was wondering if anyone has any other suggestions for dictation?

I'm finalizing our plans -- this is Week 0!!! -- and am planning to use WWE4 for reading, comprehension and narration but probably not dictation, 'cause folks find it so frustrating and I haven't heard that that portion is worth the struggle. (A. will be in 4th grade and interleaving the WWE4 with Classical Writing Aesop B; he'll also have copywork from Presidential Penmanship and perhaps science too. I am planning a strong-ish focus on writing this year)

I need some advice as to how to do writing with my newly 9 year old DS. He has ADHD and dyspraxia which I realize challenge him in doing writing work (double whammy- attention to his thoughts long enough to finish writing the words and the muscle tone/control of handwriting). We've done WWE 1 and 2, IEW through writing a paragraph, and now BJU English. The WWE just got so repetitive (for both of us), he had total freak-outs with IEW when we reached the time and intensity of combining multiple paragraphs for storytelling so our most recent effort was BJU English. I thought that would be a gentler product because of the back and forth between writing and grammar. Awesome, we don't have to do writing everyday. Today was our first day in a writing lesson of actually moving thoughts to paper and it wasn't pretty. It was 5 sentences! His paragraph draft probably totaled no more than 20 words as he made them as simple as he possibly could. Example, in explaining how to play "Hide and Seek," he wrote...."Then, the seeker seeks." We've already started typing in hopes that maybe it's the actual hand on pencil on paper that's causing the frustration. I just feel so tired of the ongoing battle. He HAS to do writing, right? At third grade, I really don't think this is too much to ask but I trust the collective wisdom of the group. Any suggestions?

Hello all! My 8DD is really struggling with the longer dictations in WWE3 this year. Last year was great with shorter sentences. The 12-15 word dictations were a challenge, but rarely can she do the 16-20 word dictations in WWE3 with just 3 repetitions of the sentence(s). I've only been doing these dictations about twice a week (rather than the assigned 3) and do dictation from All About Spelling 4 on a third day (I usually do 2 sentences together to get up to 12-16 words, but these are simpler words=easier). I kept thinking it would get easier for her as the year progressed, but I've seen very little improvement. It still takes dictating the sentence at least 4 times with sometimes a 5th dictation. Any suggestions? Anyone else experienced the same thing? I've really enjoyed WWE, but my DD has expressed so much frustration this year (she's also had more difficulty with narrations this year but was doing great last year). I'm trying to decide what to do next year, because she has expressed a desire to do more writing (and not narrations and dictations). On a positive note, she really likes FLL3 and is doing really well with it. I usually skip the narrations and dictations there because of of everything else we are doing. I just took a moment to look at WWE4 an found this description from Peace Hill Press: Writing With Ease, Level 4 is the challenge level! Many students will be read to go on to an expository writing program, such as our Writing With Skill curriculum, after finishing Writing With Ease, Level 3. But some need a little more practice, confidence, and maturity. That's where Level 4 comes in. Has anyone skipped WWE4 and gone straight to WWS? To be honest, I don't think she's ready for it based on the diagnostic tool, but I can't help but cringe a little at thought of doing WWE4 with DD. I'd love some feedback, or if nothing else, simple encouragement would help. :)

Hi all, I'm new here so I hope I don't unwittingly break any rules. :-) I have several children, one (a stepdaughter) is public schooled, I have a toddler and newborn, and 4 that I homeschool. I love and use SWB's tools for history, grammar, and language. We really aren't having any challenges except this: when following the scripted instructions for Writing with Ease, my 4th and 5th grader have MUCH trouble with dictation. I have to read the dictation sentences a dozen times before they can remember them, and they still need my prompting them one word at a time. It's frustrating and I find myself asking, "What's wrong with my children?" It makes me have bad feelings. :-( This year is the first year we've done dictation. Is it simply because it's a new exercise for them? Any advice? Thanks, Carrie

I have 9yo and 6 yo boys (also a 2yo, but he is not "in school" yet) and we are following the WWE curriculum. The dictation completely bogs us down. We all hate it. Its a fight every time, he never remembers it in within 3 reads and it's miserable. What is the point of the dictation? I don't remember having to do this in school, so what is to be learned by it? I like the classical literature selections and the reading comprehension is great, but the dictation....... Any advice, please.....

It looks exactly like what I want-dictation, but with constant review of previously learned words. Has anyone used this that can comment (positively or negatively) on it? http://books.google.com/books?id=-vIAAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

My son who is 8 has such a hard time with dictations. He is an excellent reader and loves to write creatively, but trying to do some elements of the WWE process is sometimes maddening. We started homeschooling when he was in 2nd grade and used CW Primer last year, so we have backtracked with WWE so he is actually finishing up WWE 2 right now. Sometimes I have to recite the sentence to him way way more than 3 times for him to remember it. We were trying to do the "challenge" sentence today and it nearly killed us both. Any suggestions on how important it is that they remember the whole sentence by memory? Does he have to do it all from an aural listening of the sentence, or can I have him look at the passage first (he is a visual learner so I think this is particularly difficult for him.) He gets all frustrated that he is "bad at dictation" because it takes so many times to be able to repeat the passage. And I have no idea if he is supposed to be able to memorize it all by this point. He can memorize other things fine, such as Bible verses for AWANA, but these dictations are another story. I believe in SWB's overall process in teaching children to write, but these dictations are so hard for us. I don't know where I can be flexible...Help!!!

How did you modify it? Did you use the same material for copywork & dictation as for narration? If you also added in typing from dictation, how did you schedule it? Tell me all about it please! ETA I really hate to use the word 'behind', but couldn't think how else to fit into the title to describe a large discrepancy between writing & verbal ability!

For ever, the rule in our house has been, "If you see Mama or Daddy writing, walk quietly away. Never interrupt a person who is writing!" The children are mostly good about this, but they've never understood it. Now that my nine-year-old has had experience trying to hold an entire paragraph in his head long enough to get it down on paper (as is required in Writing With Ease Level Four), he completely understands why we enforce this rule.

I have been following the recent spelling program threads, as I am really up in the air about spelling. I have a an accellerated dd5 who has just completed SWO A and started SWO B. I am not happy with SWO, as it seems a lot of busy work that doesn't do much to help her learn to spell. She almost always gets 100% on her tests, but I feel that it is because of the oral review that I do with her rather than because of the workbook assignments. My original plan was to go ahead and finish SWO B, just because we have it and then move on to a different program. Then I heard about Spelling Power and learned that you get all 12 grades when you purchase it. So it seemed silly to me to trudge through SWO B when I would make the same purchase of SP, regardless of when I bought it. Then I just read this post about spelling programs that use dictation, and now I wonder if I am just going down the wrong road with SP. I love the idea of using dictation eventually, but dd5 is not ready for dictation yet. However, I don't want to invest in a K-12 spelling program now if I am going to do something different in a couple of years. Thoughts?

In the WWE thread, posters mentioned 60 words being too much for a child to retain. Does this mean you read the whole passage once, and then kiddo lifts pencil and does it all from one hearing? Not a sentence at a time? How do you do it?

I have always wondered just how important dictation is. I have to admit that a lot of the times I skip it. I would like to hear how it has helped your children as I am seeing the benefits in the long run. I will soon be starting a spelling program that uses dictation.

Does anybody know what French dictation is? What about reverse dictation? I've heard these terms before but don't know what they are. I even did an internet search for them. Thanks!

Hi, I am using WWE with my 3rd grader and all is going well so far. My question refers to dictation. Dd can write down the dictation well, but her spelling needs help. How do you check spelling on dictation work? Correcting as she writes would seem to defeat the purposed of dictation, so we have been checking over her work at the end, and I point out and we correct mistakes. However, I don't want her to begin to feel badly about misspelling words that she may not have learned yet. Thoughts? Thanks, Kristine in VA

I am a little confused about how often to do copywork vs. dictation.Until a light bulb just went off a moment ago(its almost midnight so it is a dim bulb right now)I had been thinking that by this time, 4th grade DS, would be doing only dictation and not copywork. However, in reading over posts tonight , I think we do are supposed to both. This will be my first year to HS so I am trying to get all of your best practices down and really appreciate all the input so many have had on my many posts. Jessica at Trivium Academy had great copywork from SOTW2 for her second grader posted on her website. I dont know if sentence is long enough for a 4th grader or if it should be a paragraph by this age. I remember reading someting about this in TWTM but I thought it was dictation only at this age. Thanks and goodnight! Trisha