Do I need WWE? Need help streamlining.

[Annie Laurie]

I already have WWE on preorder and love the description and samples I've seen, it sounds perfectly in line with what I want.

 

My 7 and 6 year olds write for math and HWT, and spelling for ds, and their little hands feel like they've had enough after that, so some of my issue is that they're at ages where the act of writing can be tiring, and I need to streamline how much writing they have to do.

 

We're doing MFW Adventures and so we practice narration and copywork almost every day through that. We make a notebooking page with our narrations for history and science, I often write it down and they copy it.

 

Do you think that's enough narration and copywork for 1st and 2nd grade? My gut feeling is yes, and I don't want to overload them. But I do want to practice those skills sufficiently this year, that's one of my main goals for them.

 

Thoughts?

[Pata]

This was my gut feeling too! I'm still planning on getting the WWE book so that I can read about how SWB suggests to teach writing. Hopefully I'll be able to apply that to what we are already doing! Hope that helps!

[abreakfromlife]

I'm still not sure of all the acronyms of programs I don't use, but isnt' HWT a handwriting program?? Could you skip doing that and just use copywork, narrations, and WWE for their handwriting?

[Strawberry Queen]

I think that for the 1st grader that it is enough writing. However, as the 2nd grader progresses you might need to up the ante. My dd started gr. 1 with some fine motor delays. She had to concentrate on the physical act of writing so much, and it did hurt. But, by the middle of 2nd I had to look at her more objectively and she was fine. In my concern of not overloading her, I sometimes let her get out of doing things that she was capable of.:glare: So, I had to step back and take off my mommy hat and put on the teacher hat again and spur her onward lest she become lazy.

I guess all of that was to say that you'll probably need to reevaluate things throughout the year (as you most likely do) and increase the level of expectation when necessary.

[Annie Laurie]

I'm still not sure of all the acronyms of programs I don't use, but isnt' HWT a handwriting program?? Could you skip doing that and just use copywork, narrations, and WWE for their handwriting?

 

You got it, hwt is a handwriting program. My thought was I didn't want them to have to focus on the mechanics of handwriting so much when they're supposed to be focusing on the narration or on proper sentence structure, etc. That is a good thought though, I suppose if we're already remembering things like proper punctuation during copywork, it wouldn't hurt just to remind them to write neatly. My ds wants to learn cursive though, so that will require the hwt workbook.

[Tabrett]

 

Years One and Two: Practicing Narration

 

 

 

Before requiring the student to write, teach him to narrate. Narration happens when the student takes something he’s just read (or heard you read) and puts it into his own words.

 

 

 

Years One and Two: Copywork and Dictation

 

 

 

Separately, and preferably at a different time during the day, the student begins to master the second part of the process: putting words down on paper. This is not a simple task. It requires physical labor, fine motor coordination, and an understanding of the rules that govern written presentation: capitalization, punctuation, spacing, letter formation.

 

 

This skill is developed through copywork and dictation.

 

 

 

 

I copied this from peacehillpress.com

 

 

 

 

It is my understanding, from the above passage, that the book is going to teach you how to teach your child to narrate and how to choose good copywork. SWB talks about the "physical labor" of writing. This would probably suggest that she isn't going to expect too much writing from that age child. I would guess a sentence? Here again a guess.

 

 

 

 

I really want to read this book!