my 8 yo does his own narrations (I don't write them). Should we skip ahead in WWE3

[Halcyon]

We began WWE3 a couple of weeks ago. When we come to the day of the week where he's supposed to "narrate" to me and then I write down his narration, he actually prefers to write it himself. He was actually doing this in WWE2 as well, towards the latter third of the course. Here's how he does his narration: he thinks of his first sentence, then writes it down. Then he thinks of his second sentence, and writes it down. Finally, he thinks of his third sentence and writes that down. I am trying to figure out whether SWB wants the student to be able to hold the ENTIRE narration in their head before moving to WWE4. Even at the end of WWE3, she is having the child repeat ONLY the first sentence of the narration back to the teacher. So I'm confused as to where my son is at.

 

Having read SWB's audios, I know that this "remembering" of the narration, and then the student writing it down him or herself, is actually a "step" in the skill building of narration. It seems that _I_ remain the writer of the narrations for the duration of WWE3. Am I having my son do his narrations "incorrectly"?

Edited February 4, 2011 by Halcyon

[Penelope]

My 8 yo is the same. We are halfway through WWE3 and for the most part he was writing his own narrations. I've stopped using the workbook as of a couple of weeks ago. I use it as a guide and we do the written narrations and dications from our history/science/literature. I figure if the goal of WWE is to get them to write a summary paragraph and he can already do it, then why not?

 

One thing I am trying to think about, though, is asking him other narration questions rather than just asking him to summarize. For example, I can think of one time the wb asked him to describe the garden mentioned in the passage, with several sentences of detail, rather than talking about the plot sequence.

[lauracolumbus]

I just skip that step for the week and move through the text--mostly b/c I like her lit. selections. Laura

[robsiew]

I would say do what works for you. It sounds like you've customized it to your child... I don't think there's a "wrong" way to do it. I would be careful if you skip ahead to make sure dictation is up to snuff. The dictations get much harder toward the end of WWE3 and on into WWE4. Personally, I would just continue having him write his narrations. If you don't like the way she's having the child write the narration change it to what you want him to do... JMO...

[Manamana]

We're halfway through WWE3 and dd9 writes her own narrations. I noticed when I looked at WWE4 that SWB says near the beginning that if they want to write their own narration, let them!

 

I've not really considered skipping ahead because I want her to improve in dictation and some of the passages are very challenging. She's enjoying dictation and has embraced the process. I don't know if this would have happened if we'd skipped ahead.

[abbeyej]

I think it's not the remembering, but the planning that's a useful step to work on at this point.

 

But my dd wrote all of her narrations herself (days 2 and 4) from some time in WWE2 (and she's now doing WWE4). I didn't skip because I think the selections are good and the practice is good. We just do a narration and a dictation each day. As we were transitioning, I would ask her to tell me her narration before she wrote it, and we would count the sentences (all done orally), so she would get in the habit of thinking through what she wanted to say before she started writing. If some of the wording changed, but structure remained the same, that was fine. I no longer ask that stage of her, but I think it's a useful habit. Yes, many kids don't *need* to do that with these simple paragraphs, but I think developing the habit is worthwhile, and it helps with the transition to thinking through longer papers (at least in terms of structure -- not every word) before sitting down to write those, when the time comes.

[Cindyz]

We're still in WWE1 and when working through the workbook, my son is happy to let me write his narrations. He has however figured out that on certain days he will be copying his narration that I that I have written, and I've noticed the he makes it shorter and uses easier words because he knows he is going to have to copy it!! On the days where he does not see the student area for copywork from a narration, he will narrate longer.

 

In other subjects outside of WWE when I ask for narration. I will ask for his narration and am prepared to write it on the white board for him to then copy. Often he will think of his narration and just begin to write. Sometimes I will interrupt him and ask him to tell me his narration so I can write it, but when I do so, he doesn't bother to look at what I wrote. So now I ask him for his narration and am ready to write, but if he chooses to begin writing it on his own, I don't interrupt him.

[Marie in Oh]

is writing her own in WWE 2, and my 9 yo is writing her own in WWE 3. I think that if they are capable, just transition the level their in. The problem with jumping ahead is the dictations kick the you know what's. They get really hard in 3 and in level 4 the are ridiculous.

[Halcyon]

I heard about how the level of dictation gets really hard-we're not using the workbooks though, so I think I need to go to the bookstore and take a look at the narrations. I don't think I am making them challenging enough LOL.

[abbeyej]

I heard about how the level of dictation gets really hard-we're not using the workbooks though, so I think I need to go to the bookstore and take a look at the narrations. I don't think I am making them challenging enough LOL.

 

Okay, I didn't realize you weren't using the workbooks. If you're not, then you're not really "skipping" anything, you're just moving on to the next level of challenge. And that, I think, is perfectly appropriate.

 

I still think it's useful to spend some time at a stage where you ask him to think through his paragraph completely before he begins writing. Part of using WWE is learning to plan ahead, so the whole makes sense. But that doesn't have to mean that one never changes the wording as one writes.

 

But in terms of how much you ask him to do (writing, etc), just move ahead.

 

Personally, though they require some adaptation, I do love the workbooks...