Annoyed about Writing With Ease pages!

[Guest bookwormmama]

Ok so I bought Writing With Ease workbooks at the convention. I got workbook #1 and #2. And the way they have the workbook set up I basically have to copy the pages off... so I went online and found that PHP sells the student pages separately so I don't have to copy them all, so I bought those too... but I admit I am a little upset about having to either copy or buy more student pages.. what is the deal with the way this is set up? Is anyone else not happy with the way this workbook is set up? I mean... I can't give my daughter directions and have her work on her page at the same time unless I have an extra copy of these student pages. And if I rip them out of the book, then my book ends up half the size and looks horrible.

Ok, I know this is a silly thing to complain about ... but this is one expense I wasn't counting on...

[Guest bookwormmama]

I meant to say one more thing... the student pages should just be separate from the instructions... keeps everything neat and clean...

[Karie]

I took my book to Office Depot and had them cut the binding off. Then I had them take the teacher pages and bind with a spiral binding. I took the student pages and put them in a 3 ring binder-I can't remember if they already had the holes in them or if I had to punch them myself. Worked out great!! I do the same thing with SOTW activity book, too.

[CookieMonster]

Ok so I bought Writing With Ease workbooks at the convention. I got workbook #1 and #2. And the way they have the workbook set up I basically have to copy the pages off...

 

Actually, the way I understand it is that WWE is set up as a teacher manual. The student is supposed to do the work on a completely separate sheet of paper. No photocopying. This way you can use whatever handwriting paper your penmanship program calls for - and then eventually just lined binder paper.

 

In other words, you don't have to buy the student workbooks at all. Those were created for parents who didn't want to have to do the above.

 

Does that make sense? :)

[JudoMom]

I took my book to Office Depot and had them cut the binding off. Then I had them take the teacher pages and bind with a spiral binding. I took the student pages and put them in a 3 ring binder-I can't remember if they already had the holes in them or if I had to punch them myself. Worked out great!! I do the same thing with SOTW activity book, too.

 

This is exactly what I do, too.

[JudoMom]

Actually, the way I understand it is that WWE is set up as a teacher manual. The student is supposed to do the work on a completely separate sheet of paper. No photocopying. This way you can use whatever handwriting paper your penmanship program calls for - and then eventually just lined binder paper.

 

In other words, you don't have to buy the student workbooks at all. Those were created for parents who didn't want to have to do the above.

 

Does that make sense? :)

 

The hardback book only has 4 (?) weeks of lessons for each level. Unless you want to find passages, etc. on your own, the workbook is necessary. The workbooks have scripted plans for the whole year, in addition to having student pages.

[dandelion18]

We take our SOTW books and have the spine cut off and then hole punched. It is a minor inconvenience but it works out fine. I planned on doing the same with the WWE.

[CookieMonster]

The hardback book only has 4 (?) weeks of lessons for each level. Unless you want to find passages, etc. on your own, the workbook is necessary. The workbooks have scripted plans for the whole year, in addition to having student pages.

 

Thanks for clarifying! I thought she was referring to the hardbacks.

[twogirlsmommy]

I took my books apart myself and put them in a 3 ring binder. I just carefully tear out the pages, cut a bit off the edge that was torn out, and then 3 hole punch them and put them in a binder. Yes, seperate teacher and student books would be idea.

[amsunshine]

The nice thing about the extra student pages is they are already hole-punched for you! :)

 

Now, I am actually annoyed by how big the lines are on WWE2, which makes them un-useable for us. But that's a whole 'nother thing. :tongue_smilie:

[siloam]

I took my books apart myself and put them in a 3 ring binder. I just carefully tear out the pages, cut a bit off the edge that was torn out, and then 3 hole punch them and put them in a binder. Yes, seperate teacher and student books would be idea.

 

That is what I did.

 

The instructions fit nicely into one of those report binders once you remove them from the bulk of the original spine.

 

Heather.

[Guest bookwormmama]

I noticed the size of the lines also and I think they will be too big for my daughter. Hmmm As for my 2nd grade son I think it will be ok for him for now... but I don't know what to do... I guess she will have to use different paper. Ugh. This is turning out to be more complicated than I originally thought.

[LizzyBee]

I type the pages into StartWrite and print them. That way, I can adjust the font and line size.

[Capt_Uhura]

Both my sons just use the middle and bottom lines and ignore the top line. Works well for us. I do wonder why she made the lines so large for that age range. My newly-6yr old, who started WWE1 as a 5yr old, didn't write that large.

[abbeyej]

We just use a plain notebook for student writing. I found the lines in the WWE workbooks far too big anyway. This works just fine for us.

[Mommy22alyns]

After getting the idea from someone here, I pulled out all the student pages and had the binding cut off the teacher pages and had it spiral bound. Much nicer - I did it with my SOTW too.

[Sew happily ever after]

I gave each child a composition notebook. Before we begin each lesson I write the date and what we are doing (dictation, copywork, narration, etc.) Then if it is copywork, I copy legibly and neatly for the child what I want them to copy. I use the passages etc. from the workbook. Then they copy directly underneath what I just wrote. I do this b/c copywork is not a handwriting exercise although many people use it as that. This way my children are just focusing on the writing and how it is written instead of worrying about how to form letters neatly, etc. I do encourage them to be neat and if it illegible they have to do it again.

 

For dictation and narration I write the date and what we are doing then they write their dictation according to the rules in the book after I have read it to them 2 or 3 times. For narration they narrate to me and then I write it on the lines in the composition notebook. This also saves me from having to type things into start write and print it out. The only thing that takes a little extra time is that I have to write out their copywork but even that only takes a few seconds. It is an extremely efficient and effective way to use the workbook.

 

So basically I got the wb for the passages etc. without having to actually find stuff on my own. We totally ignore the actual student pages. I'm highly doubtful that the student pages would benefit my DC anyway. I like our method...hope it helps someone else!