Should I stick with Sonlight LA, or switch to FFl and WWE?

[rachelkelly3]

Hi all,

 

I am switching from Sonlight, and I am stumped on what to do about LA.

 

I have a 2nd and 1st grader doing school right now.

 

We were just getting ready to do Sonlight Level 2 Intermediate LA, mainly because I have it already. I have been unimpressed with Sonlight's LA, through Level K, Level 1 and Level 2 beginner.

 

My 2nd grader loves writing, but my 1st grader is iffy on writing. Sonlight LA is not really helping, it's VERY drudgy.

 

Do you think FFL and WWE would be a better fit? We're switching to classical, so I'm trying to figure out what we want to do. Money is tight, and we already have the Sonlight. But, like I said, I'm not crazy about the program and I agree more with the WTM's views on writing, reading, etc.

 

What do you think?

[Jennay]

I am using both...I will try and write something more detailed but right now I need to tend to my 2yo.

[siloam]

Hi all,

 

I am switching from Sonlight, and I am stumped on what to do about LA.

 

I have a 2nd and 1st grader doing school right now.

 

We were just getting ready to do Sonlight Level 2 Intermediate LA, mainly because I have it already. I have been unimpressed with Sonlight's LA, through Level K, Level 1 and Level 2 beginner.

 

My 2nd grader loves writing, but my 1st grader is iffy on writing. Sonlight LA is not really helping, it's VERY drudgy.

 

Do you think FFL and WWE would be a better fit? We're switching to classical, so I'm trying to figure out what we want to do. Money is tight, and we already have the Sonlight. But, like I said, I'm not crazy about the program and I agree more with the WTM's views on writing, reading, etc.

 

What do you think?

I use all of them. :D

 

I like the dictation in SL (I have the old LA with twice the dictation), but always hated the writing and I no longer agree with the light grammar approach. Thus I also start FLL in 2nd and don't follow the script to a T, but focus on the big concepts. I also start WWE in 2nd, but all my kids are writing phobic and need extra fine motor work in 1st. None of them did well on the fine motor portion of the DEL books, they would go off the line more than the 2 (or is it 3) times allowed, but they would nail the rest of the skills. :001_huh:

 

I really like using all 3, but if SL really isn't a good fit then feel free to drop it. You probably can sell 2 Int and get around 70% of what you paid.

 

Heather

[Heather in VA]

Hey Heather - have you looked at CW Primary? If you like three writing programs already - why not like four :-).

 

As far as the OP question, sorry to hijack the post - I personally prefer WWE to Sonlight LA, especially if you are leaving SL as your core. If you are in LA 2 it's your last year without it being connected to their cores so you'd either have to live with all of your models coming from their reading or switch anyway so why not switch now and get more out of WWE?

 

(the other) Heather

[Jen+4dc]

First I would ask if you are familiar with WWE?

Basically, each week is set up in 4 days worth of work: day 1 copywork (2 sentences, one longer one shorter: you choose which the student copies). Day 2 narration (passages of varying lengths starting with a paragraph or two and working up to 10 or more paragraphs) where mom reads it outloud and then there's scripted questions to ask which they need to answer in complete sentences. Then, you ask "What's one thing you remember from this passage?" and you write down their answer. You can have them copy their sentence or not. Day 3 is just like day 1 and day 4 is a repeat of day 2. As the year goes on the skills get more difficult (as it should be).

 

Now:

I have only used SL 3 LA (and tossed it after 13 weeks!) so take this for what it's worth: I *really* disliked SL's LA. I found it too general and "out there" for my kids: not enough structure for my dd who could write 10 pages of a story that only needed 1 page and not enough instruction for my ds who is writing phobic. There was also little to no grammar unless you use grammar ace which is in no way appropriate for the ages you're talking about.

 

About WWE: I bought the book that's the overview of the entire program last spring. Read it and loved it. I really think SWB is spot on in her theory and approach to writing. My olders are using IEW this year (our first year with it) but they are 5th and 7th. My ds7 (grade 2) just finished WWE 1. We didn't start it till last April and I had him doing 2 days worth each day (1 page of copywork and 1 page of narration). That was the perfect amount for him. We would go over the sentences he needed to copy, pointing out whatever was in the instructor's portion that they were supposed to be practicing that week (capitalization, punctuation, proper names, etc. etc) and then he would copy them carefully (both sentences). Then we would read the narration story, discuss the questions and he would narrate a sentence back to me to write down about the passage. Somedays I had him copy the narration sentence also, sometimes not (depending on the effort he put into the copywork sentences, were they neat or sloppy? and my patience level that day;)). This week we are having an "early release" week in prep for Christmas break next week (math, memorization review and reading everyday, nothing else) and ds7 has been asking for narration!!:D I just ordered WWE 2 workbook to do with him the rest of this year. Ideally, I'd come up with narration passages and copywork from his history and science, but my plate is full! Realistically, I decided the workbook is worth the $20 I paid for it on amazon! Less stress on mom = happier homeschool = work actually gets completed!

 

If money is an issue, you can easily buy just the workbook and skip the overview hardback text until you have a little more cash:001_smile:. (Or try the library, a lot of them have it!) The workbook won't explain the theory behind what you're doing, but you can probably find that by searching archives on these boards!;) But, the workbook would be all you need to get started. There are sample pages up on peacehillpress and amazon so you could determine which level you needed for your dc.

 

HTH!! Good luck!:D

[siloam]

Hey Heather - have you looked at CW Primary? If you like three writing programs already - why not like four :-).

 

As far as the OP question, sorry to hijack the post - I personally prefer WWE to Sonlight LA, especially if you are leaving SL as your core. If you are in LA 2 it's your last year without it being connected to their cores so you'd either have to live with all of your models coming from their reading or switch anyway so why not switch now and get more out of WWE?

 

(the other) Heather

Yes I did, and if I didn't own so much stuff I might have gone for it, but the fact that it doesn't have much dictation was a huge negative to me, enough to keep me from buying it. I am a dictation freak, and I love how with SL (and AAS) the passages are based on reading/spelling ability so they aren't too difficult for the child.

 

Plus I have no idea how I would squeeze it in, given I don't start WWE till 2nd grade. Pumpkin is doing WWE 2 right now at double pace and Aesop A at about half pace (or less). While she is getting better at summaries she still needs practice. I just haven't decided if it would be better to focus on Aesop, and have her do summary work there, or if she should do WWE 3. To complicated the problem she is slightly OCD, but for some reason reading has because her main problem area. I tried using a reading fluency program because while she was reading well, she was bothered by the dyslexic tendencies she has to transpose words, use them for they or he for his sort of thing. The program required she read it perfectly, and if she didn't she had to re-read it. Well she took that and now is re-reading everything till she gets it perfect. :blink: Or was for a while. I had to start recording her books onto mini-recorder so that she could get her literature done-and ban her from using the rewind button. Thus if I do WWE 3 I will have to either record all the passages, or modify the program and read them aloud to her.

 

 

Nothing around here is ever simple. ;)

 

Heather/siloam

Edited December 17, 2009 by siloam

[SewLittleTime]

We have done SL LA K, 1, 2, and now 2 int. I have a love hate relationship with SL's LA. I really liked 1, 2 was okay, and I ditched 2 intermediate. We switched to WWE. I was already using FLL to supplement SL. I'm glad we made the switch. LA is going so much better. I have the freedom to allow my ds to read his readers at his own pace which was half of the issue. He constantly read the readers way ahead of pace in the IG.