Can I hear from folks for whom WWE did not work out?

[peacefully]

.

[Katie.Louise]

What grade is he going to be in?

Katie

[Pata]

My dd started to very much dislike it, that said, her writing has improved tremendously and I'm glad I stuck it out. I made a few changes to make it seem less tedious to her. Instead of using the workbook, we applied the principles laid out in the text to our history and science narrations. We are still doing that even though we are using CW Aesop for our writing program. Dd doesn't even realize that she's also doing WWE3 (sneaky Momma :D). Susan's plan is wonderful and I really believe that what she lays out in the text is very necessary to writing education, I just don't think that it has to be separate. We've found it works much better when we apply the principles to the narrations/writing we are already doing. Hope that makes sense!

[jpklehm]

My dd started to very much dislike it, that said, her writing has improved tremendously and I'm glad I stuck it out. I made a few changes to make it seem less tedious to her. Instead of using the workbook, we applied the principles laid out in the text to our history and science narrations. We are still doing that even though we are using CW Aesop for our writing program. Dd doesn't even realize that she's also doing WWE3 (sneaky Momma :D). Susan's plan is wonderful and I really believe that what she lays out in the text is very necessary to writing education, I just don't think that it has to be separate. We've found it works much better when we apply the principles to the narrations/writing we are already doing. Hope that makes sense!

 

Super advice! We only got about halfway through our WWE workbook...:001_unsure:I think I'll buy the textbook for this next year (ds in grade 2) and integrate it into his other subjects. Again, good suggestions...thanks!

 

Pam

[Satori]

We use WWE but I'm thinking of ditching it, and using its concepts in other subjects, as Paige mentioned. We're already doing most of what WWE does in other subjects anyway, but I do love the literature selections WWE exposes us to. (We are adding Write Source as a writing program though.)

Edited July 15, 2010 by Satori

[Lovedtodeath]

My ds hates writing. Really, really hates it. And I am looking for something simple for him to do. WWE, with its emphasis on copywork and dictation, seems to fit that bill. But it also seems really tedious. As much as my kid hates writing, he hates tedium more, so I am feeling a little stuck.

 

What aspect of writing is it that he hates?

[peacefully]

.

[Negin]

We're on Level 2.

Things we don't like about WWE:

* Some of the literature selections we simply skip, because they're quite boring or written in a very old-fashioned way that is hard to understand.

* He hates answering in complete sentences and thinks it's very annoying

* I can't stand, really can't stand, the FLL style of orally giving him grammar lessons, if you KWIM - of telling him, "now son, this is an indirect object" etc. Boring, boring, boring. He hates it. I hate it. We don't do it. He just doesn't retain that style of lecturing and starts fidgeting. Can't say I blame him. He learns better through actually doing, through workbooks and such; not through being told.

 

Things we like:

* He loves most of the literature selections

* He likes dictations. I never, ever thought that he would. :D

* His writing and spelling is naturally improving. Again, never thought that would, either.

 

We have level 3 already and will likely use that. Not sure about getting level 4 yet.

[Carrie12345]

Sorry that I didn't give enough info in my original post. Ds is almost 6 (in September), and he has sensory processing issues that make some gross motor, fine motor, and vision processing tasks tough for him. His handwriting is abysmal. The physical mechanics (as opposed to the language mechanics) are so taxing for him that it takes all his mental energy to just form the letters, stay on the line and remember to include spaces between words.

 

So I am intrigued by SWB's take on writing instruction, because there's a clear delineation between mechanics (copywork) and expressive language (narration). But man, as a former English teacher, trained to teach the type of writing process that SWB so despises, her approach seems so... well, boring. Almost mechanical. I could put that aside if it is the appropriate approach for ds, but I also wonder if this would fail to excite my kid about writing.

 

I've been listening to SWB's lectures, and in one, she implores parents not to kill the love of reading with too much literary analysis too soon. I wonder if the copywork/narration approach to writing sort of kills the joy of writing. That's why I'm on the fence. I guess I would like to know if that has happened for some of the families who have used the WWE approach.

 

It sounds as though you started with WWE2 (?), since you mentioned dictation. WWE1 does not include any dictation (at least, not in the first 20-something weeks we've completed).

The only physical writing my dd has done with WWE1 is the copywork. She dictates the narration to me, and I write it and have her read it back.

 

My understanding is that WWE is set up specifically so the physical mechanics and language skills are separated at first, allowing the child to concentrate on one aspect at a time. It has been great (so far) with my 7yo and WWE1 for that very reason.

 

In WWE2, some of the dictation is too hard for my 8yo dd, so we adapt it. But one of my favorite aspects of WWE2 is the copywork from their own narration. It's a perfect "in between" step for that particular dd.

 

Personally, I would ditch the dictation at his age all together. I think the program is strong enough without it, and I do consider it an advanced skill. The narrative aspects are where my focus is with both of my girls - the one who hates to write, and the one who is so-so about it.

[Lovedtodeath]

My daughter has had trouble with the mechanics of writing as well. We had to drop the copywork portion of WWE and focus on the narration only for a while while using a handwriting program and some remediation. We love, love, love the narration aspect and I just had her do the copywork every day instead of every other day when she was ready, and she was not ready at 6, even though she started reading and writing at 3. I vote "WWE is great, but he is not ready."

Edited July 15, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[Lightly Salted]

Instead of using the workbook, we applied the principles laid out in the text to our history and science narrations.

 

We're doing that too. DD LOVES it; DS is ambivalent but prefers it greatly over the forced creative writing assignments in our previous LA. I might also consider backing up to level 1 if you haven't done it before.

[Ann@thebeach]

I honestly wouldn't do WWE with a barely 6 yr old if he's resisting writing that much. It doesn't sound like he's ready, which is not uncommon for boys that age. I think I'd wait until he was more ready for it.

 

If you push it hard now he WILL continue to hate it.

 

You can still do lots of oral lessons and narration which is important.

[deeinfl]

I started using WWE 1 with a 2nd grader. He did well with it that year, but the following year when I received WWE 2, I knew my son was not ready for it. After a year of spelling dictation and more practice in oral narrations, we are ready to start WWE once again, but this time we are also integrating it into whatever we are presently doing. (now starting again with a 4rth grader in level 2-using the textbook only)

 

I see no need to add the separate subject of writing at this point when we can do it naturally from our Bible reading, literature selections of our own choosing, and history/science. I'm a bit nervous about going forth without the crutch of the workbook, but I'm determined to give it a try.

 

It may not look exactly like what WWE has written down, but the principles will be there. I'm hoping it works out for us!

[MamaReads]

I agree with the pp who said at almost six it is ok to wait to start a writing program. HWOT (Handwriting Without Tears) has worked with my dd to get the mechanics of word spacing and letter formation down. When we did WWE 1 last year I re wrote the copywork following the HWOT principles on the HWOT paper. By the end of the year my dd's skills really improved.

 

She has always liked the narration aspects of WWE & we apply those across our curriculum.

 

As far as wanting to make room for creative writing in his schoolwork how about having him narrate stories to you, or making a picture book of an original story or something from a read aloud or history?

 

Good luck!

 

Jesi

[sassenach]

Sorry that I didn't give enough info in my original post. Ds is almost 6 (in September), and he has sensory processing issues that make some gross motor, fine motor, and vision processing tasks tough for him. His handwriting is abysmal. The physical mechanics (as opposed to the language mechanics) are so taxing for him that it takes all his mental energy to just form the letters, stay on the line and remember to include spaces between words.

 

So I am intrigued by SWB's take on writing instruction, because there's a clear delineation between mechanics (copywork) and expressive language (narration). But man, as a former English teacher, trained to teach the type of writing process that SWB so despises, her approach seems so... well, boring. Almost mechanical. I could put that aside if it is the appropriate approach for ds, but I also wonder if this would fail to excite my kid about writing.

 

I've been listening to SWB's lectures, and in one, she implores parents not to kill the love of reading with too much literary analysis too soon. I wonder if the copywork/narration approach to writing sort of kills the joy of writing. That's why I'm on the fence. I guess I would like to know if that has happened for some of the families who have used the WWE approach.

 

I would wait another year. I think not yet six is too young to start the program, especially for a child who doesn't love to write. I would stick to a simple handwriting program and call it a day. Have you read the book Writing With Ease (not the WB)? In the beginning she talks about what to do in with your kids before they are ready to start WWE. I believe the emphasis was on modeling complete sentences, and having your kids speak in complete sentences in everyday life. For example instead of saying, "Want some cereal?" You would say "Would you like a bowl of cereal?" Instead of allowing your kid to speak in fragments, you would repeat back complete sentences and have them repeat. Her point is that in everyday life, we use a ton of incomplete sentences and if we want our kids to start thinking and writing in complete thoughts, they need to get the input from us.

 

I also agree with those who have folded the program into their other studies. We used the workbook for the first year, but I now feel like I can handle applying the program to our everyday curricula without having a separate program. I think it helps with any resistance, especially with the narrations.

[Colleen in NS]

My ds hates writing. Really, really hates it. And I am looking for something simple for him to do. WWE, with its emphasis on copywork and dictation, seems to fit that bill. But it also seems really tedious. As much as my kid hates writing, he hates tedium more, so I am feeling a little stuck.

 

I'm hoping that if I hear what the potential issues might be with WWE, I might be able to figure out a way to work around it.

 

This is an interesting thread to me so far, because no one has said yet that WWE absolutely did not work out! I wonder if it's because WWE contains principles that really are needed for a writing foundation, we recognize that, and we have been able to make WWE work for us?

 

Instead of using the workbook, we applied the principles laid out in the text to our history and science narrations.

 

This is what we do, too. It's working out great. The text-only is my guide.

 

The physical mechanics (as opposed to the language mechanics) are so taxing for him that it takes all his mental energy to just form the letters, stay on the line and remember to include spaces between words.

 

So I am intrigued by SWB's take on writing instruction, because there's a clear delineation between mechanics (copywork) and expressive language (narration). But man, as a former English teacher, trained to teach the type of writing process that SWB so despises, her approach seems so... well, boring. Almost mechanical. I could put that aside if it is the appropriate approach for ds, but I also wonder if this would fail to excite my kid about writing.

 

I've been listening to SWB's lectures, and in one, she implores parents not to kill the love of reading with too much literary analysis too soon. I wonder if the copywork/narration approach to writing sort of kills the joy of writing. That's why I'm on the fence. I guess I would like to know if that has happened for some of the families who have used the WWE approach.

 

OK, so. Your ds will be a young 1st grader in Sept.? Well, WWE level 1 is full of copywork. Very easy copywork, and very easy narration. The whole year is like that. Now, this might seem boring to *you,* esp. if you were trained the other way. But for him, who is having so much physical trouble, it could be perfect. Why does he, at age 5, hate writing so much already? Have you asked him to write out sentences, stories, etc. previously? Perhaps this was too much for him. It is the case for many kids this age - my son was like this. I started off trying to get him to write things in a journal when he was in K or grade 1....it was useless. It took me several years to realize that I needed to let him copy short sentences and build up, and take dictation of short sentences and build up, in order for him to have success in his writing and for him to improve his handwriting and build up his hand muscles. Reading the WWE text a few years ago helped me to see the overview of the whole process.

 

Anyway, my experience has been that trying to get him to write several sentences, or a paragraph, or a story for us to go back through and edit, at ages 5-9 or so, was useless. It resulted in so much frustration, handache, sloppy writing, jumbled thoughts. I guess I just say all that to say that for us adults, simple copywork and narration seems boring, but for struggling young kids, it means SUCCESS! "Look! *I* wrote something on paper that actually has meaning! I wrote it neatly! I stayed within the lines! I remembered to capitalize and put a period!" Even if it's just a three word sentence. It is a beginning, and if you work at it, it will build from there, successfully. A little bit every day probably isn't going to kill the joy of writing - he might need to get past a mind block at first, but if you just let him do the simple things in WWE 1, he might come to see success and start to enjoy it. Esp. if you fold the principles into interesting reading.

 

WWE spends four years (or so, depending on how you structure it) building from simple copywork and narration, to moving the kids to being able to read a passage, summarize the main details or storyline in grammatically correct sentences, and writing those sentences down themselves. There is a lot of thought that goes into being able to do this well, and it sets the stage for higher level writing that isn't frustrating anymore.

 

If you are having a hard time seeing how this boringness is going to work out in the end, I suggest you listen to SWB's writing downloads - there are three: one for grammar stage, one for logic stage, and one for rhetoric stage. I can say that for us, so far so good. And this is with me starting out with a hates-writing boy. He doesn't hate it anymore, and finds satisfaction in being able to put his thoughts clearly down on paper, in a way that interests him and others.

 

My daughter has had trouble with the mechanics of writing as well. We had to drop the copywork portion of WWE and focus on the narration only for a while while using a handwriting program

 

This is a great idea.

 

* I can't stand, really can't stand, the FLL style of orally giving him grammar lessons, if you KWIM - of telling him, "now son, this is an indirect object" etc.

 

This must be in the workbook only, because it's not in the text. There *is* instruction in the text to include certain grammatical principles, but I don't even notice it half the time - I just try to remember to include things, when giving dictation, that dd is learning from her R&S grammar instruction.

[Aoife]

my older kids (my DSDs) HATED WWE. I had the text and then tried the workbooks. They found it boring and so did I honestly and I LOVE writing! Neither of my girls absorbed anything from it so we switched around until we found writesource and writeshop now we are all much happier! So when the boys go through it I will start with writesource K then writeshop primary, back into writesource for 4th and 5th then go into the full writeshop program for 6th. When we finish writeshop I'll probably use some IEW stuff but I have a year or two to worry about that with my oldest DSD as she is just going into writeshop now and we are going to be taking it SLOW. overall though I am much much happier with these choices then I am/was with WWE! I love SWBs ideas and we use a lot of WWE methods in our other studies but for some kids it is just too much or too dry.

[rlowetx]

My son hated writing! Hated, Hated, Hated.. We started WWE1 in 2nd grade and did it twice a week (we only do the workbook). Although it wasn't SOTW (which he loves), he got used to it and started to do it well and concentrate because he didn't have to gather his thoughts AND write - just write... and just write 1 or 2 sentences. Again, we started at 7 and slowly, but consistently. I swear it is what has turned his writing around. He has now written stories and can do narration and dictation work as part of SOTW...just in one year. In addition, some of the stories peaked his interest and were added to his reading list. We only did part of WW1 and skipped to WW2 when it started getting too easy. We are very glad we stayed with it and just did it in bits. One of his tutors hated it, and talked to me about dropping it..but we stuck with it. I really bought into the idea of separating analyzing and learning to write accurately into two learning paths. At the end of the year, she admitted that she thought it did work, helping him grow as a writer and gain more confidence and hand strength.

 

My mother is a pediatric OT and swears by Handwriting without Tears for learning to write letters.

[Cindyz]

My son is 5.5 and we like wwe. Sometimes he sighs when I ask him to give his answer in a complete sentence but as time goes on, he is doing it more and more without a prompt. I like how there are shorter sentences for younger children to give them just a small taste of copy work. I also like how most of the time their narration is written by the instructor (parent). Also, whatever he says for his narration, I do not criticize as long as he says it in a complete sentence and has something to do with the story. I don't expect him to truly narrate the entire jist of the passage. For instance today's lesson was a passage about Marry Poppins giving all of the children medicine and how it tasted different for each person who took it. His narration was, "Jane thought the twins were too young.". Good enough for me! Sometimes when I'm writing his narration, he will want to mess around and not pay attention and I tell him that if he isn't watching what I'm writing to make sure I do it properly, then he will write it instead. Of course he sits right up and watches. :tongue_smilie: I also sometimes make "mistakes" when writing his narrations. For instance, I will not make a capital where it should be or forget a period. When I'm done he reads over what I wrote and corrects any "mistakes" I might have made. He LOVES correcting Mommy's mistakes. ;)

 

I also like the little line drawings on every other page. While I'm reading, I have him color the line drawings with colored pencils. He enjoys doing this and it makes the pages look nicer for his notebook and gives him something to do while I'm reading instead of humming or looking around or rolling around on the floor. :001_smile:

 

We also do narration and copy work with our other subjects as well. I feel like he's really learning a lot from the method about not only writing but listening skills, putting his thoughts together, forming correct sentences, practicing his handwriting, spelling, grammar and punctuation. It gives us something to look back on later for review. Plus it's so simple and easy to use.

 

In my opinion if a child hates writing, wwe I is the perfect place to start. It's so gentle, and there really isn't that much writing. Most of it is done by them orally and it gives them a chance to learn what is expected without actually having to write a lot. As they get older, more writing will be expected and at that time, they will have to juggle putting it all together and writing at the same time which will be much more difficult. With Level 1, they do narrations and the parent writes it and once in awhile they copy what the parent wrote (again not having to come up with what to say and write at the same time), and copy work. So far, he hasn't been asked to create and write all at once so there really is no pressure.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Cindyz

[msjones]

We're on Level 2.

 

* I can't stand, really can't stand, the FLL style of orally giving him grammar lessons, if you KWIM - of telling him, "now son, this is an indirect object" etc. Boring, boring, boring. He hates it. I hate it. We don't do it. He just doesn't retain that style of lecturing and starts fidgeting. Can't say I blame him. He learns better through actually doing, through workbooks and such; not through being told.

 

 

 

:iagree:

 

With my son, nothing at all is gained from this type of 'lesson.' I skip all the 'grammar lessons' in WWE, and focus on the summarizing, mechanics, spelling, and complete sentence writing practice.

[Susan in TX]

I honestly wouldn't do WWE with a barely 6 yr old if he's resisting writing that much. It doesn't sound like he's ready, which is not uncommon for boys that age. I think I'd wait until he was more ready for it.

 

If you push it hard now he WILL continue to hate it.

 

:iagree:

 

I don't think WWE is developmentally appropriate for most 6 year olds. It was a perfect fit for my 9yo. I wouldn't use it before 2nd grade.

 

I liked WWE but we dropped it because with three different kids on three different levels, it was just too teacher intensive. And my older kids learned how to write just fine with Rod & Staff English alone.

 

Susan in TX

[siloam]

Sorry that I didn't give enough info in my original post. Ds is almost 6 (in September), and he has sensory processing issues that make some gross motor, fine motor, and vision processing tasks tough for him. His handwriting is abysmal. The physical mechanics (as opposed to the language mechanics) are so taxing for him that it takes all his mental energy to just form the letters, stay on the line and remember to include spaces between words.

 

I would delay doing WWE in your ds's case. In fact my ds is in a similar boat (dyslexic, auditory processing problems, small motor problems) and I won't even think of starting with him till fall, at which time he will be 7 and 2nd grade.

 

For 1st grade I have been doing a lot of work to get him up to doing WWE. Lots of Kumon books on cutting, tracing, folding, ect...to develop find motor skills. Lots of working with sand and playdoh to learn letters and letter sounds. Sand it great because they don't have to stay in any lines but they still learn letter formation.

 

So I am intrigued by SWB's take on writing instruction, because there's a clear delineation between mechanics (copywork) and expressive language (narration). But man, as a former English teacher, trained to teach the type of writing process that SWB so despises, her approach seems so... well, boring. Almost mechanical. I could put that aside if it is the appropriate approach for ds, but I also wonder if this would fail to excite my kid about writing.

 

Yes but at the same time, especially with an LD child I would bet they couldn't do the "fun" stuff. Sonlight has more creative type writing, which sounds fun, but it wasn't. The first assignment was to describe a piece of dirt. I did the writing, so here I sit with pencil in hand waiting for words to gush from my child. "....um its dirt" Note this is my child with the least LD issues. She is language centered and struggles with dysgraphia and dyscalculia, but still only slightly compared to other kids. So I start asking questions:

 

"What color is it?"

"Brown"

 

"How does it feel?"

"I have to touch it?"

 

(How is it you can't go outside without being covered in mud but you won't touch it now?)

 

"Yes"

"Like dirt"

 

"Yes but what does dirt feel like? Is it hard, soft, pebbly, wet, gooey or something else?"

 

"gooey"

 

"What does it smell like?"

"Ewww, I have to smell it?"

 

"Yes"

"It smells like dirt."

 

"Yes but what does dirt smell like? It is fresh, moldy, musty, damp, or something else?"

"moldy"

 

Thus went the whole session and in the end I felt like all I did was give her multiple choice questions and she chose an answer and we called that her writing. It was the first and last one we did, mostly because I have too many kiddo to do anything fun or flashy. That which teaches the skills and gets done wins.

 

Now WWE wasn't out when my oldest was young. She ended up doing dictation almost daily, and lots of lapbooks, which would be similar to summary narration. After that we have done CW, which again is not flashy. Meantime, on the side, in her own time she has written several books. Those are like gold to me because nobody asked her to, it wasn't an assignment, she did it just because she enjoys it. Gold. The methods may be boring but once they have the skills they can run with it...

 

BTW my 2nd dd did WWE 1 and 2, then I started applying the methods to stuff we were already doing. She isn't a strong reader, so using something that I already read aloud to her in other areas of hsing worked better. My 3rd dd is doing WWE 1 now. She has comprehension issues that I will use it to help remediate. She only missed one on the infernal section of comprehension but missed half on the concrete section. :glare: She has issues with fine details, so the way they often have the concrete section set up with choose the BEST answer throws her for a loop. She will get an answer that works but is not the best. I am going to do Visualizing and Verbalizing principles with WWE to help her improve her attention to detail.

 

Also remember that you are welcome to buy the hardback and find other ways to apply it that might be more fun.

 

Heather

Edited July 15, 2010 by siloam

[mindygz]

So I am intrigued by SWB's take on writing instruction, because there's a clear delineation between mechanics (copywork) and expressive language (narration). But man, as a former English teacher, trained to teach the type of writing process that SWB so despises, her approach seems so... well, boring. Almost mechanical. I could put that aside if it is the appropriate approach for ds, but I also wonder if this would fail to excite my kid about writing.

 

I've been listening to SWB's lectures, and in one, she implores parents not to kill the love of reading with too much literary analysis too soon. I wonder if the copywork/narration approach to writing sort of kills the joy of writing. That's why I'm on the fence. I guess I would like to know if that has happened for some of the families who have used the WWE approach.

 

Is he your oldest child? I ask, because you sound like you have that "He needs to be AWESOME at _______ right NOW!" that I have felt too often with my oldest. :D Personally, at almost 6, I wouldn't stress it. We only started WWE1 this last fall (my daughter was in 2nd grade), simply because her reading and writing wasn't ready. We went through the last 1/3 of the book doubling up (2 lessons a day) and are now into WWE2. I think copywork for your son might be too much too soon. Better to hold off until he is capable and it isn't such a struggle. But that's just what I've seen for us. My dd8 has improved so much doing the WWE approach, and I feel like it is simple and progresses at a decent pace.

 

HTH!

[Lovedtodeath]

OK, so. Your ds will be a young 1st grader in Sept.? Well, WWE level 1 is full of copywork. Very easy copywork, and very easy narration. The whole year is like that. Now, this might seem boring to *you,* esp. if you were trained the other way. But for him, who is having so much physical trouble, it could be perfect. Why does he, at age 5, hate writing so much already? Have you asked him to write out sentences, stories, etc. previously? Perhaps this was too much for him.

:iagree:I have been watching the PHP videos on youtube and Susan says that our writing goal should be 3-5 sentences per day for a 9 year old.

[peacefully]

.

[Colleen in NS]

It also just cracks me up that whenever I ask for the negative angle on any of SWB's stuff, all the folks who *love* her program come flooding in. :D:laugh::001_tt2:

 

That's why your thread title caught my eye - I was curious to see if WWE didn't work out for anyone! I wanted to know why. Since I love WWE and SWB's ideas on writing, I wasn't going to post here, because of what you asked in your title. But then, a couple of things caught my eye, and you were open to how WWE could work for your ds. So I posted. :lol:

 

I thought a gentle exposure to copywork would be good handwriting practice for him.

 

he gets soooo frustrated by not being able to do everything perfect all the time that he will shut down.

 

He just wants to write perfectly RIGHT NOW!

 

So do you think the gentle copywork of WWE 1 would satisfy him? Would he be receptive to you sitting at his side, watching him as he copies, you correcting if need be as he goes along, if he knew that a perfect (short) sentence would appear from his own hand at the end?

 

But he also wants to write his own comic books, letters to friends, and even long rambling stories. Of course, he isn't capable of doing these things right now, but that's where he wants to be, and it completely makes him nuts that he can't do it.

 

What about making WWE 1 copywork and narration his required short and sweet daily writing lesson, but letting these other things be his free-time fun? Casually let him know that whatever he puts on paper as a story, comic, or letter is just fine. Maybe he's uptight about putting pencil to paper because of having to keep a journal? If he still is perfectionist about it, volunteer to type while he narrates a story to you? Don't try to correct any of this - let it be fun - then maybe he'll relax and do his own writing once he sees it's OK and no one is going to correct his fun writing. Let him know that you don't consider this to be "school" - it's "fun," just like Legos are fun, and you aren't going to judge any of it. And I wouldn't even make myself available to type every time he wants to write a story/comic/letter - I would sometimes, but most times I would encourage him to do it on his own while you busy yourself with something else. Correct and help him with his fun writing only if he asks.

 

The WWE training, combined with spelling and grammar, over the years will leak into his other fun writing, where you'll see improvement. My 9yodd has had the hardest time with spelling, but she loves to write all sorts of things. In my mind, I kept her formal writing lesson separate from her fun writing. I've tried not to correct her fun writing that she shows me. Occasionally I will say, if she is sending a letter to an adult, "Do you want me to help you with fixing spelling?" And I accept her yes or no. Kids receiving her letters don't seem to care - they are just happy to receive a letter from a friend! And most adults don't care either, they realize that a letter from a child is precious. But anyway, all that to say that her short formal daily lessons in writing, grammar, and spelling are starting to positively affect her fun writing. So I continue to leave her fun writing alone.

 

hth

[Lovedtodeath]

We tried copywork from WWE and other handwriting approaches, but they just didn't work for DD until we did two Zaner-Bloser books and added in air writing. After that, what she needed to do her own writing was spelling skills.

[Catherine]

My ds, as a 8 yo third grader, struggled with some of WWE 1. Ulp.

 

He had trouble remembering the entire passages to answer the narration questions. He cannot copy to save his life, though, with super-close supervision, he is slowly improving. Maybe my standards are too high, but for copywork, I want it to be pretty much perfect-capitalized in the same places, words in the same order, punctuated, etc. He cannot do this yet, consistently, without close supervision. But we went through much of WWE 1 in the second half of third grade, and in the end, I decided to move on to WWE 2 for fourth grade, and slow it down if necessary.

 

No complaints whatsoever about the program, but you have to adjust for the child's level of ability. I would consider the numbers very loosely, not necessarily as grade levels. Work at your child's pace.

[kalanamak]

Sorry that I didn't give enough info in my original post. Ds is almost 6 (in September),

 

I guess I would like to know if that has happened for some of the families who have used the WWE approach.

 

I had a very wiggly boy, and didn't dream of starting WWE until he was printing without agony, and reading at least a beginning 2nd grade level. I started WWE 1 about halfway through 2nd grade, at 7 1/2. We cooked right through it and are 1/3 of the way through WWE 2. Kiddo is just finishing second grade and is pushing 8.

 

It has not been tedious. Kiddo is p-r-o-u-d to do narration that is as good as the samples in the book, and takes it as a personal challenge to get all the answers right. We don't dwell on the grammar part, because he has already learned it with GWG (e.g. today was contractions...I use it as a "quiz" rather than teaching).

 

I, too, couldn't stand FLL's method. But we like WWE and it is not boring. Kiddo has really gone for reading the whole book the samples are from. I think that is very nice, too.

 

HTH

 

psssst: don't push until he's ready....you aren't behind.:)

[Hedgehogs4]

We use WWE but I'm thinking of ditching it, and using its concepts in other subjects, as Paige mentioned. We're already doing most of what WWE does in other subjects anyway, but I do love the literature selections WWE exposes us to. (We are adding Write Source as a writing program though.)

 

While I agree that it is good to do writing from what you are already studying, I love the literature exposure that WWE gives. My DS 8 (almost 9) LOVES the selections and will often ask to read the book after he hears the excerpts. he doesn't love writing, but he tolerates WWE because he loves the story and lit selections. go figure.