Writing With Ease--Which level should I use?

[Elfinlady]

My DD and I have decided to use Writing With Ease. I am unsure where to start with her. She's just finishing up third grade, which would put her in Level 3. She's never done any sort of narration or dictation work though, so I'm wondering if I should start her in Level 2 instead.

 

Thanks for any opinions or advice! :lurk5:

 

Cris in Woodstock, GA

[JennyW]

We're in the same boat, mostly. My daughter is starting 4th grade next year. We have done a bit of narration and copywork, with a tiny tiny bit of dictation. So I'm starting her in Level 2, and will skip some of the lessons.

[Elfinlady]

Thanks Jenny! That's about what I've decided to do too. :tongue_smilie:

[Aconnolley]

Here is a link to the diagnostic evaluation on the Peace Hill site. It might give you better idea of what level to choose.

 

http://wtm-pdfs.s3.amazonaws.com/wwe/wweevaluations.pdf

 

I hope that this helps.

 

Angela

[Katie.Louise]

I used 1 & 2 with my 4th grade dd last year. I just skipped through each in order. I had a 1st grader that I was using level 1 with anyway. Otherwise I would think you could start at level 2.

HTH,

Katie

[robsiew]

I would suggest level 2. You could always speed up/skip some lessons if it got too easy. You may want to consider the PDF so you only print what you need...

 

I have a friend who is just starting to hs her daughter going into 4th grade. She started in Level 2 and was amazed at what her daughter couldn't do.... they are making good progress pretty quickly though.

[TKDmom]

I had to move my 3rd grader back to level 1 this year. I had the text (as opposed to the workbooks), and we were basically able to use the sample lessons to move through levels 1 & 2 in a few months. If she doesn't have the skills to do narration and dictation, it really is best to move through them sequentially. The advantage of using the text with an older student is that when they make those jumps in ability, you can just move on to the next thing, rather than feeling locked in to completing all 36 weeks of a workbook. When you hit a point at which dd needs more work, you can either find your own material and model lessons after the sample lessons, or you can buy the workbook for that level.

 

ETA: I had originally tried dd in level 2 (as a 2nd grader) then level 3 (as a 3rd grader). She whined about how dumb and boring WWE was. I thought maybe it was too easy, but I took the advice of some on this board and backed her up to the beginning. Voila! All her whining stopped. Turned out it was boring b/c it was too hard.

Edited July 29, 2010 by bonniebeth4

[Elfinlady]

After reading all the replies and considering further, I decided to "start at the very beginning, a very good place to start," to quote Julie Andrews.

 

I suspect we can do two lessons in a day, and so finish levels 1 and 2 in one year. I'd rather start her on something a bit easy than something a little too hard. Plus, she'll be exposed to some great literature. :D

 

Thanks everyone for your input!

 

ETA: We did our first lesson, and I think the first book was a good choice. She had a little trouble remembering what I read in order to answer the questions. She really enjoyed it though. I've tried several different things for writing, hopefully this program is a keeper!

Edited July 29, 2010 by Elfinlady