Scheduling CW-Aesop

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I'm starting to plan for next year and one of the curricula I'm going to use with my oldest is CW-Aesop. I've heard that some people spread out each lesson over two weeks, doing the analysis and imitation one week and the writing project the next. Part of me likes this idea, as it would allow dd to have more experience with the model before re-writing it. But does this give the student enough practice writing? The core text seems to say that you should aim for one writing project a week, which would mean 36 projects for a school year. What do other CW users think?

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

:bigear: I know some people here use CW.

[Snickerdoodle]

You can do the lesson over two weeks and drop in some writing across the curriculum SWB style (a la the audio lectures). I think it will be plenty.

[Tress]

We do the lessons in one week, *for my dd* stretching it out over two weeks would get boring. And we alternate weeks with a focus on writing (in Dutch, we do CW Aesop in Dutch) or learning English (foreign language). In the weeks we don't do CW Aesop, we do copywork and narration.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

We do the lessons in one week, *for my dd* stretching it out over two weeks would get boring. And we alternate weeks with a focus on writing (in Dutch, we do CW Aesop in Dutch) or learning English (foreign language). In the weeks we don't do CW Aesop, we do copywork and narration.

 

I see that you have several littles as well. I'm not so much concerned about what dd can handle, but how I would fit everything in. In addition to my third grader using CW, I'll have a first grader, preschooler, toddler, and baby. How do you find time to fit in a whole lesson each week?

[2squared]

I am going through Writing Tales I with my 4th grader right now, and I really like the pacing of the lessons. I was pushing two weeks into one week, but it was too much. The lessons were rushed and overwhelming. The slower pace is much richer for us. Anyway, I recommend looking at WT1 since it is basically CW Aesop but laid out by day. We really, really like it. Dd is working through WWE3 as well, and I we like WT1 better than WWE3.

 

I have many littles, and I need to keep things simple. We focus on the core skills and try to them well.

[Tress]

I see that you have several littles as well. I'm not so much concerned about what dd can handle, but how I would fit everything in. In addition to my third grader using CW, I'll have a first grader, preschooler, toddler, and baby. How do you find time to fit in a whole lesson each week?

 

The lessons are not long. At least not for my daughter.

 

On day one, she reads the fable aloud to me, we talk about any difficult words (usually none), talk about the meaning of the fable, she narrates the fable and she makes an outline. The making of the outline is the most time consuming, but even that takes only minutes.

 

Day two, you are supposed to work on spelling, but she is a good speller, so we usually skip that. She writes a first draft. Depending on her mood, this can take minutes or half an hour ;). She has shown me that she can easily rewrite the fable, so when she asked me this morning if she could write about something else while still working on quotations (week 9), I was okay with that.

 

Day three, you work on specific topics, week 9 it is quotations, and you edit the first draft. This is also a short day for us.

 

Day four, dictation (2 sentences) and writing the final version. Also a short day.

 

I think it really depends on your child. If you have a good speller and a reasonably willing writer, the lessons are short (15min). If you have a struggling speller, it will take longer.

 

Maybe you can start with stretching it out over two weeks and see how it goes? BTW, I do understand the worry about fitting everything in, my 5yo is doing first grade work and my 3.5yo is chomping at the bit to start...it does make me worried about next year, the days are already long :tongue_smilie:.

[TKDmom]

With a 3rd grader, I would stretch it out over 2 weeks--doing the workbook exercises one week and the writing project the second week. This is one of the suggested schedules in the core Aesop book.

 

I did CW Aesop with my dd at the end of 4th/beginning of 5th grade. I mostly tried to do each weekly assignment in an actual week, and it seemed like a lot. It was okay for her, but if she had been any younger, it would have been too much. As it was, I ended up stretching some weeks out because she couldn't get it all done in a week. She is a slow worker, and we have a lot of distractions at our house (aka younger siblings). It's difficult for me to fit in all the one-on-one work that my 1st and 2nd graders need, keep the toddler happy, and still sit with dd to keep her on task for her writing assignments.

 

It sounds like you probably have a lot of "distractions" at your house too, so I'd stretch the lessons out, so that they are less stressful for you. You can always pick up the pace if it seems too easy. I think the last thing you would want to do is get stressed over not keeping pace with the lessons and then conveying the sense that writing is a stressful, unpleasant subject.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Thanks, everyone. I think I'll start the year aiming for one lesson over two weeks. If we can handle more we'll add more. If not, she'll still have plenty of writing in other subject.