iammommy Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 I like both of them and can't decide which to use this year with my 5th grade reluctant writer. Is there a difference between them that I am missing, or are they pretty much the same concept? Thanks! Nan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Oh joy, the reluctant writer. No, they aren't at all the same. I suggest you do WWE (test and work through the main book, a 5th grader doesn't need the workbook), then see where you're at. He may kill the whole year just with WWE, or he may finish it in a month. If you do the other types of writing WTM recommends (outlining, book reports, etc.) plus the WWE stuff, you'll have plenty for the year. When you finish WWE, you could move on to the 5th gr WTM recommendation of outlining and use something exceptionally interesting like the Sterling Point biographies. I found them at the convention earlier and thought they'd make a GREAT option. (I have a pencil-phobic rising 5th grader too! :) ) Really, my dd doesn't enjoy CW. WT2 she tolerated, and I thought WT2 was so fabulously great that it was worth the effort. I'm really up in the air about Homer, not even sure I'm going to make her finish it. We started it this year, and it's really just so-so. The models are long, the style dry, and it just creates overkill and torture of the whole process for the pencil-phobic kid. That's why I'm putting my eggs in the WTM basket and focusing on outlining and rewrites from outlining, as WTM says. If we get to more, we do. She actually LIKED Wordsmith Apprentice, which we started when the baby was born and never finished, and in reviewing my brand-spanking-new 3rd edition WTM I see the Wordsmith series is recommended highly for pencil-phobes. (Did you know SWB's ds#2 is pencil-phobic? So she knows where we're coming from when she makes that comment in WTM.) I figure since my dd likes it, I might as well go that direction... So if my answer got lost in all that, I'm suggesting you do WWE, rebuild his foundational skills of narration, summarizing, and dictation, THEN pick a writing program that you think will fit him. SWB is so right on when she says some kids have all these great thoughts then just blank and can't remember what they said to get it down on paper. The dictation component of WWE works on that, but it's a skill that takes time to develop, not something that will happen instantaneously. The summarizing came more quickly to my dd, once she realized what she was supposed to do. Then you can carry that skill forward with the 5th gr WTM-recommended outlining. If your history is already in place, you can outline biographies or anything you want. SWB said she has older pencil-phobic ds still outlining and writing from those outlines. It's just the most sane way to keep them moving forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iammommy Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 (edited) It makes much more sense now! I'm going to stick with WWE 2. I also bought Apprentice, so we should be fine. I really appreciate the time and effort you took to explain things to me! Great post!:thumbup: Nan Edited July 8, 2009 by iammommy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 I just got a copy of WWE from the library and this makes it sound even more promising. We got CW Aesop and started it this past year with my now rising 4th grader, but ended up dropping it. She is great with reading, vocabulary, etc, but writing is a *huge* struggle for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanaTron Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Really, my dd doesn't enjoy CW. The models are long, the style dry, and it just creates overkill and torture of the whole process for the pencil-phobic kid. This was my ds's experience with CW Aesop a few years ago. It is very affirming to hear someone else say that! (sorry to the OP for the hijack) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 I like both of them and can't decide which to use this year with my 5th grade reluctant writer. Is there a difference between them that I am missing, or are they pretty much the same concept? Thanks! Nan Nan, They work on different skills. WWE 2 works on narration by summary and CW Aesop B (writing portion) works on re-writing the whole piece at roughly the same level of detail, then adding quotations and descriptive detail to make it more interesting. Though you do need the skills learned in WWE 2 for CW. Homer works on a lot on synonym substitution, changing tense, changing the opening word of the sentence, changing between singular and plural and such to give yourself a lot of options. You also learn how to break down the model into scenes and summarize those scenes (this is where the skills in WWE 2 pay off). There are quite a few of the models where the point is to remove all the accidental details (unnecessary details) and do a shorter re-write. My pencil phobic oldest does well with CW. We tried the TOG writing for a while, and the first half that was very structured and simple worked well for her, but the second half of the year is usually a big project: play or a newspaper, and that totally overwhelmed her even though I had gone in and broken it into really small pieces. :001_huh: Now she doesn't love Homer because it is a lot of work, but she doesn't hate it either. She is proud of her work when she has finished the week. She is loving the Beginning Poetry, and I couldn't get her to quit that if I tried. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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