Did you debate between CW and WWE? And what did you choose?

[hlee]

So, I am stuck in a decision to make with writing curriculum for my 3rd grader. I had used CW Primer last year and generally liked it. But I am finding myself swayed by WWE. I have both curricula here and have read through both and I still can't decide. We start school next Monday (was going to start today but busy weekend, church retreat, lots of deadlines, etc....I gave myself some extra time to get things sorted out!)

 

If you have faced the same decision, I'd love to hear which you ultimately chose, why, and how you've felt since with your choice!

 

Thanks a bunch!

[Mosaicmind]

I have looked at both and ended up with WWE. I like how it's very scripted in telling me what to do each day and the lessons are easy to understand. Honestly, with CW I didn't like how I wasn't so sure what they were supposed to be learning. I also like to teach grammar separate from writing instead of combining the two, just my way of doing things. My kids seem to get too confused when we are trying to figure out grammar from their writing.

[Pata]

I have both and I choose CW, we are 10 weeks into school right now. If I had to do it all over again, I would choose to do WWE 3 & 4 in one year for 3rd and then do CW Aesop A & B in one year for 4th. I say this not because we are struggling with CW, but because I think that it would be better to do CW Aesop in one year instead of two and because I believe that WWE gives a great foundation for writing. In fact, we are adding WWE principles to the rest of our day.

[hlee]

Paige--that is a fascinating approach! Getting the best of both worlds! Do you think it would be hard to combine WWE 3 and 4 in one year, though? I guess there would be no way to find out unless I try it. But I find your idea intriguing and something I would have never thought about myself! Thanks for posting. And thanks to Lisa as well. Enjoying the different opinions as always!

[Pata]

It has been interesting, basically I use history and science to do WWE style narration/dictation. It's a bit of work on my part, but I don't think that CW has enough narration/dictation in it, especially if you stretch one week into two. I just use the directions in the WWE text to help me pick out my passages and I suspect that's what I'll do for the next go around, but we'll see, that is quite a ways off :).

[SilverMoon]

I don't find them exclusive of each other, either. :001_smile: I've done WTM style writing with my kids from the start, but without the WWE, since I've been doing this before WWE existed.

 

If you wait until fourth grade to give you more time in WWE, you can do Aesop A and B in one school year easily. Each Aesop level has 18 lessons, which can be done in one week to finish both in one school year, or really stretched out to two weeks so one level lasts a school year.

[Suzannah]

I used CW with DS a few years ago and had intended to use it again with DD this year. WWE wasn't around when DS was at that level, but we did the WTM recommendations for the most part. Ultimately I decided that based on our earlier experience with CW, we could, and probably should move through Aesop more quickly than I did with DS. This fits with SWB's recommendation too in the most recent edition of WTM.

[Kathie in VA]

Something to keep in mind. CW offers some combined courses. So if you look at those, you could do WWE and always pick back up CW. Using the Older Beginner courses will allow you to still get it all done.

 

just a thought

[siloam]

My first question is does he have problems summarizing at all? If he need work on that, or with putting his thoughts on paper, then WWE would be my first choice hands down. He will use those summarizing skills extensively in Homer.

 

If the summarizing and putting thoughts on paper skills are already in place then I would consider Writing Tales. It is based on the same philosophy as WWE and CW, but takes two years instead of one. Once you are done with WT Aesop you would just go straight into CW Homer.

 

Some people do make the CW Aesop levels last a year by doing the analysis and writing on separate weeks, but I prefer to do them at regular pace and finish them in a year. Mostly because Homer is just a jump in work load to begin with, also going from half pace to normal would make it even more noticeable.

 

Heather

[hlee]

Heather, the problems that my son has with summarizing (you mean narration, right?) are more along the lines of his having trouble narrowing the details. This being our first year of homeschooling and first year with the classical approach, he is still learning the skill of summarizing as opposed to reciting everything he remembers. He doesn't have a problem, generally speaking, with putting words down when necessary.

 

For a 3rd grader who hasn't done WWE at all before, would it make sense to go into WWE2 or WWE3? I have looked at the samples online but they don't help give much guidance with the decision. I may post a separate question about this on the boards!

 

Thanks everyone!

[miracleone]

Heather, the problems that my son has with summarizing (you mean narration, right?) are more along the lines of his having trouble narrowing the details. This being our first year of homeschooling and first year with the classical approach, he is still learning the skill of summarizing as opposed to reciting everything he remembers. He doesn't have a problem, generally speaking, with putting words down when necessary.

 

For a 3rd grader who hasn't done WWE at all before, would it make sense to go into WWE2 or WWE3? I have looked at the samples online but they don't help give much guidance with the decision. I may post a separate question about this on the boards!

 

Thanks everyone!

 

You described what my daughter was last year when we started WWE2 midway in our school year. This year she is 8 and is a new 3rd grader. We're picking up where we left off and continuing on with WWE 2. I've noticed that she is starting to get it and knows how to narrate back using 2 sentences :) Instead of letting her do her usual copywork in print, she's now doing it in cursive. WWE2 is for 2nd and 3rd grade anyway (I think I saw that online and decided not to rush it.) It worked better for us. HTH!

[siloam]

Heather, the problems that my son has with summarizing (you mean narration, right?) are more along the lines of his having trouble narrowing the details. This being our first year of homeschooling and first year with the classical approach, he is still learning the skill of summarizing as opposed to reciting everything he remembers. He doesn't have a problem, generally speaking, with putting words down when necessary.

 

For a 3rd grader who hasn't done WWE at all before, would it make sense to go into WWE2 or WWE3? I have looked at the samples online but they don't help give much guidance with the decision. I may post a separate question about this on the boards!

 

Thanks everyone!

 

I would start with level 2, because that is where it really teaches summary narration. Now I didn't go on to WWE 3 because that was all my 2nd dd needed. She didn't have problems putting thoughts on paper either.

 

Heather