X-post: WWE to supplement ps writing?

[Sue G in PA]

I'm not thrilled about sending my 4 oldest back to ps. But, it is what it is right now and something I must do. Writing and math concern me the most. I've worked so hard to get ds10 to a place where he is actually "getting" math, only to throw him to the Everyday Math wolves. Ugh. I do NOT, I repeat, do NOT agree with the amount and type of writing required in ps, esp. in elementary school. Ridiculous to ask a 2nd grader to write for 5 minutes on "What is your favorite thing?" (that was the "test" they gave to my ds's entering elem. school 3rd and 4th gr.). They said my kids were grossly behind in writing b/c my upcoming 4th grader only had 4 sentences written (good ones, by the way) and my upcoming 3rd grader only had 2 (okay, he's never had any type of creative writing...only copywork and some dictation). Anyway..I digress. Could I use WWE to supplement at home? Would it take too long? I don't want to pile on the extra work, but do feel strongly that we continue the classical method of writing instruction at home. KWIM? I am getting so anxious about school starting next week that I am physically ill today. I just HATE that this is what we have to do. HATE it. And, I hate it even more that dd12 and dsd10 WANT to go back. Ds9 and ds8 are torn. I think ds9 is getting excited but ds8 is still very hesitant...except that he loves his new Mario backpack. Anyway, I ramble again...Thanks for your suggestions.

[angela&4boys]

Oh Sue! I give you all due credit. It's so hard putting them where they have to meet standards that are just so absurd! My 12yo would struggle to write for five minutes about his favorite thing.

 

That being said, I think WWE is excellent and shouldn't be overwhelming. Perhaps you could have them narrate orally. (Here's what Ambleside Online has to say about that topic.) There is so much to be said about oral narration and it would give their little hands the needed rest. Of course the dictation exercises would need to be written out, but maybe they could do them when there's no homework that night or on the weekend?

 

Many blessings on you and your littles, :)

[Sue G in PA]

Yeah, it irks me beyond belief, but it is what it is, kwim? Thanks for your advice...I think I'm going to do it and just see how it goes. Ds10 is afterschooling math, so the others will just afterschool writing and that will be that. I expect arguments, but oh well...i get those anyway! Anyone else want to chime in?

[BabyBre]

Sue, we might be the same person! :001_huh:

 

My dd entered ps before I had a chance to strengthen her in writing. She's strongly verbal and loves to write, so when they give her five minutes at school, rather than write a few very good sentences, she spews out five pages of the most cluttered up gobbledegook you've ever seen. Her teacher loves it because of the quantity. I'm convinced ps teachers know nothing of quality in writing anymore, with few exceptions. You should see what my poor ds16 turns in for A's in high school. Absolute garbage! They don't even expect proper punctuation and capitalization!

 

I love SWB's approach to writing. It makes more sense than I can express and makes me realize how backwards the ps approach of quantity over quality is (listen to her audio CD Writing Without Fear). So in this respect, I love WWE. The problem I found last year, however, is that there was SO much writing pushed on them before they'd been properly taught that it was difficult to make much progress with WWE's gentler method. True, they both found their respective levels of WWE fairly easy to do (we used level 1 for ds7 and level 2 for dd8) because it was quantitatively so much less than what they're required to do in school (even for my 1st grader!), but our WWE lessons made them think in a way they weren't used to thinking during writing, and that's the part that I think is important for them to keep practicing.

 

And, no, it won't take too long to afterschool with WWE. I do ds7 and dd8's lessons simultaneously and allot about 1/2 an hour for it. We also only use it two days a week and so combine two days' work into each lesson. Still, we often finish sooner, and if you're teaching only one level it will go faster.

 

We're going to keep using WWE, and like many other things in ps, I try to explain to dc that just because it's supported by the schools or the majority (i.e. most of their friends or friends' parents) doesn't make it right or right for us. In fact, ps has given us countless oportunities to reinforce this point in countless different ways!

[mchel210]

I use IEW SWI with my 8yo. (since her brother uses it) and she does that at least 2 times a week. She is one of the only kids in PS that comes to school with a banned word list...and strong adj. list. LOL.

 

If I can alter her assignments to fit in our writing assignments...I just do that. I find it is very easy to use IEW with PS. Now we use tons of outlines for projects. She is the only kid in her class that has 3 word outlines for speeches that I know of. I would highly suggest you continue using your own writing program if she needs it. I think little time is spent on writing in PS....but I wouldnt do it daily. It ends up becoming a bit too much.