WWEase--do you read the lit along with it?

[Forget-Me-Not]

I'm getting ready to start WWE 1 with my son next week. It just arrived today and I was looking through the reading selections list in the workbook. I realize the pertinent excerpts for the exercises are in the workbook, but does anyone read the entire work with their child each week? Is that even a feasible goal?

[Maverick_Mom]

It's probably not feasible, as many of the books are longer and it would take more than a week to read them. But we have been inspired by some of the selections! I'd never heard of The Happy Hollisters until we were using WWE (can't remember if it was book 1 or 2), but when I read that passage out loud, my son (and his brother, who was listening nearby) said, "We've GOT to read that book!"

 

And so we did!

[Tam101]

We didn't try to read everything, but there were a few books my son wanted to read after doing the exercises.

[Xuzi]

We're reading a few of them, but we've also used Netflix! This week we're on Rumplestiltskin, and we watched the Faerie Tale Theater version of it. DD LOVED it. :)

[Satori]

That would certainly be a noble effort, but not feasible, as mentioned above.

 

We've already read several of the books, and lately we've been getting audio book downloads on long trips, and getting several classics in on one trip. We too try to use Netflix after we read some of the books, but I'd love to let the books "simmer" after the first read-aloud before adding the visuals.

[monalisa]

We read quite a few because they were interesting, but not on the schedule with the workbook.

[Wendy in ME]

We also did not read everything but we have used the selections as ideas for read alouds. They are all excellent choices and my ds has enjoyed them. It makes a great list of books to try to get to.

[lulubelle]

It is my goal to read them to the kids or get them on tape. For WWE I managed about 80%. I finally managed to get them to listen to Caddie Woodlawn tonight. After having it for quite some time and realizing that two boys were not going to pick the cover of a girl in a dress. They said they were willing to give it a try and they were hooked immediately. We love the Happy Hollisters and are on book 8 in the series. For this year, WWE 2, we read the book about the sock eating plant. They loved it and are anticipating the next book and can't wait till it comes through inter-library loan. There has not been one story that my older son has not asked me to read more.

[Homeschooling Hannah]

Thank you all for the info....I start wwe 3 in a couple weeks with my twins!

[boom1128]

Do you use the workbook and the instructor text or just one or the other? I am looking into this and am seeing conflicting reviews. Some say the workbook isn't really needed as you can just use your own paper.

[Maverick_Mom]

Do you use the workbook and the instructor text or just one or the other? I am looking into this and am seeing conflicting reviews. Some say the workbook isn't really needed as you can just use your own paper.

 

Unless WWE has changed since I used it a couple of years ago, the workbook has the actual passages that you read to your child and that you use for narration, copywork, and dictation. You could use just the text, which gives you suggestions for finding passages on your own that illustrate the concept being taught -- and some people do that -- but I found it a tremendous timesaver to purchase the workbook with the passages already selected. The back of the workbook has lined paper for the copywork and dictation assignments.

[boom1128]

Do you still purchase the textbook along with that?

[Maverick_Mom]

Do you still purchase the textbook along with that?

 

Well... you *could* get along without the textbook. The main part of the textbook (and again, this was a couple of years ago -- don't know if it's been updated) is a general guide to the lessons: which concepts you'll be teaching in which lessons, what to look for in choosing passages, etc. IMHO, the real "meat" of the instructor's text is the introduction, in which SWB explains her philosophy of writing instruction -- why students struggle with writing, what's missing in the way they're being taught, what goals she thinks we should be striving for, how to achieve them, etc. There's also a *very* helpful Q & A section in the back of the book that helps you deal with specific situations ("What if my child has trouble recalling details from the passage?", for instance).

 

So you could get along without it. But it adds greatly to the educational value (for you, the teacher!) of the program, I think.

[boom1128]

Last year we just worked on creative writing and daily writing, journaling, some poetry, and touched on letter writing. We also did some "grammar" work, nouns, verbs, punctuation and such...I am looking for something that will guide us a bit more and help them both grow as writers.

 

 

I am sorry for the thread jack! I should c/p that into the thread i started. :blushing:

Edited August 19, 2010 by boom1128

[Mom0012]

I haven't read them to my daughter, but used some of her favorites from WWE2 for her independent reading.

 

Lisa

[alpidarkomama]

That's how we got hooked on Happy Hollisters too! LOVE THEM! :)

 

It's probably not feasible, as many of the books are longer and it would take more than a week to read them. But we have been inspired by some of the selections! I'd never heard of The Happy Hollisters until we were using WWE (can't remember if it was book 1 or 2), but when I read that passage out loud, my son (and his brother, who was listening nearby) said, "We've GOT to read that book!"

 

And so we did!

[robsiew]

We're reading a few of them, but we've also used Netflix! This week we're on Rumplestiltskin, and we watched the Faerie Tale Theater version of it. DD LOVED it. :)

 

Oh! Great idea! We just did this story week too! Thanks! :001_smile:

 

We don't read every book, but the kids have actually decided to read many of the books we've studied in WWE. Sometimes I use those stories for our "audio book" time. There's no way we could do one a week though...

Edited August 19, 2010 by robsiew

[walkermamaof4]

we listened to rumpelstilzkin on librivox.org for free yesterday on my ipod when we went for a walk :)

 

We'll try to do some of them that way.