WWE, SWB's LA, planning, etc

[Nakia]

Hi! I sent this to Colleen in a pm, but I wanted to post here, too, and get everyone's thoughts.

 

We are happily using WWE. I am using level 1 with my 2nd grader, and level 4 with my 5th grader. I have some questions. The fact that we started halfway through the year is making me nuts. Part of it is my type A personality about school. I do not like the fact that we will not be done with it by the end of the year, and we won't be ready to move on to the next level in the fall. I do actually feel like I could move into level 2 with my middle dd for next year when she is in 3rd grade, and she would do fine. In fact, the copywork and narration is pretty easy for her right now. I have WWE 3, so I *might* even look at doing that with her next year. What do you think of that? Would it be unwise to skip level 2? Either way, I'm not too worried about her progress. Things like spelling and writing just seemed to come easy for her.

 

It's my current 5th grader I'm stressing about. She had a very hard time with WWE 4 in the beginning. She is definitely my reluctant writer (although she excels at math, go figure, she is just like me, lol). We are just into week 4 of it. I KNOW I need to let go of the whole "she is in 5th grade and this is level 4" mindset. But I would like to have your opinion on the next steps. Would it be a good idea to just keep plugging along in level 4, even doing it part time through the summer and see how far we get? I know SWB doesn't have a writing curriculum yet for after WWE, but I'm pretty sure she is planning to release something soon, correct? I really don't think I can plan my own writing curriculum. I tried, and failed, lol. I love the ease of using WWE. And the price is great for what all you get!

 

Any suggestions/recommendations you could give me would be great!! Thanks so much!!

 

Oh, one more thing. Do you have opinions on R&S grammar vs. SWB's LA? We use R&S starting in 3rd grade, and I've been very happy with it. I'm just wondering if SWB's LA might be better. If I do decide to switch I would need placement help for a 6th grader (who has done R&S grammar 3 years on level) and a 3rd grader who hasn't had a lot of formal grammar other than what's in WWE and Queen's Language Lessons.

[boscopup]

The fact that we started halfway through the year is making me nuts. Part of it is my type A personality about school. I do not like the fact that we will not be done with it by the end of the year, and we won't be ready to move on to the next level in the fall.

 

I hear ya on this, and I've had to just deal with it in myself, because I started *everything* last week. :lol: Well, except math, which we were doing last semester, and we ended up skipping much of the second semester, so we're starting a new grade level book in a couple weeks.

 

One thing that has helped me get a grip on "It's ok to not finish xyz at this particular time" is to school year round. Afterall, I can't imagine having all my kids in the house all summer long with nothing planned for them to do. It'd be chaos! Yes, they'll be getting tons and tons of outside play time (if it's not too hot :glare:), but I think they'll do much better if we somewhat keep our "school schedule", even if it's lighter than the rest of the year (and actually we'll probably make spring and fall be "light" and summer and winter be "heavier", since spring and fall are when the weather is nice for being outside all day long).

 

The other thing is that I've just had to force myself to let go of this notion of things having to end at a certain time. Easier said than done, I know. ;) Some of the things I'm doing will be done before the end of the May (when traditional schools end their year around here). Some things will definitely go into the summer (history!) and possibly even into the next school year (again, history!). It's ok. We'll deal. :) The fact that we'll be schooling during the summers means that it won't matter so much, because I'll probably end up ahead in many things at some point anyway.

 

I know SWB doesn't have a writing curriculum yet for after WWE, but I'm pretty sure she is planning to release something soon, correct?

I believe it's supposed to come out October 2011? So I'd probably try to just get WWE 4 done by around that time. If you're done early, she gets a break until WWS arrives. If you're not done yet, she gets to move right into WWS when she gets done, right? :)

 

Oh, one more thing. Do you have opinions on R&S grammar vs. SWB's LA?

My understanding is that they're both pretty much the same as far as rigor goes, so it's just a matter of personal preference (you and your child). I'm using R&S with my son, and I really like it so far. I looked at samples of FLL, and it looks really good too. I wanted to do both. :lol: But I didn't particularly want to do FLL1. Too much "This is a noun" week after week. FLL2 looked like we'd probably have enjoyed it. In the end, I chose R&S 2 to start with, though I was tempted to also buy FLL (it's like $10-11 on Amazon, right?). I may do that at some point. :blush:

[Mallory]

I think the jump between 1 and 2 is big (from no dictation to pretty tough dictation). Then the jump between 2 and 3 seems pretty big (for some reason those longer passages that they read on their own and longer dictations is hard to switch too). But the jump between 3 and 4 isn't as big (it just seems to be more of the same, just a little harder).

 

Has your 5th grader done level 3? If not I might go back and get that level done well. You might even be able to double up or just do every other week. Like I said above it is a little easier, but if you can do the narrations and dictations from the end of 3, I feel you are pretty solid on those two skills, level 4 just takes it a little farther (quite frankly the dictations in level 4 seem farther then they need to be ;)).

 

I also think they would be just fine going into Writing With Skill 5 after WWE 3. We are doing the beta testing and, although he could never get throught the WWE 4 dictations, he can do the oulines and narrations in there just fine. It is supposed to be out by Oct. 2011!

 

For your 2nd grader I would just keep going. Like I've said already, I feel that level 4 is the best one to skip. Make sure those basic narration and dictation skills are down. Sure you could probably stop when ever your year is done and start with level 2 next year (skipping the end of level 1), but I probably wouldn't jump to level 3. Or start skipping week or condensing now. Do you have the text? I always jumped between sections of the workbook by how it was layed out in the text. So weeks 11- 18 are the same section, if they were doing fine by week 14 or 15, then we would jump to week 19.

 

I think being secular is a good advantage of FLL (or ALL) compared to R&S, but I do think they are both good solid grammar programs. In FLL I think you are just fine starting at level 3 for your 3rd grader. I don't think any of the FFL would work for your 6th grader, and if only ALL 5 comes out it probably would be behind your 6th grader too.