I've asked before, but here we go again... Not ready for WWE4

[lulubelle]

My 10 year old is not ready for WWE 4. I like everything about it, but it is just too much for him. He is not good at remembering detail from a passage. He is awful at remembering long passages for dictation. It is just too stressful! We took an extra several months to plod through WWE3. Summarizing plus dictation was too much in one day for him.

 

Please give me an all-in-one similar to it. Closer to WWE 2 and WWE 3. I want him to be ready for WWE 4 next year.

 

I've actually considered remedial stuff like Visualizing and Verbalizing.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

[3peasinapod]

Could you do something like the following for as many months as needed until he is ready for WWE4? You could possibly use selections from read alouds or readers that he is using and use WWE3 to highlight certain parts of speech. Also ask questions during history readings without narration just to sharpen his listening skills.

 

Day 1 - narrate and copy

Day 2 - dictation

Day 3 - narrate

Day 4 - dictatation from the narration on day 3

 

I would be interested to know what others say too. :lurk5:

[blessed3x]

:lurk5:

 

Ds10 *LoVeS*LoVeS*LoVes (get the idea?!;) ) MCT.

 

When we finish the Town Level we will go through WWE 4 picking and choosing where he needs to work, and get as much as we can done before the school year ends. Some will be reinforcement and others will be what was not covered in MCT.

 

That is the plan anyway. :001_smile:

[kbpaulie]

If you search hard enough you'll find posts that show that even SWB suggests at times that you can skip from WWE3 to WWS. We are in WWE3 and own WWE4. I don't think jr. will ever be ready for 4. Not sure I could even do it. Sorry not finiding any of these postings.

[5LittleMonkeys]

Would you consider taking a break from WWE for awhile and having him use something fun that will get him writing and build up his confidence?

 

If so, take a look at IEW.

 

You could still work on dictation on the side, maybe using poetry which is often easier for dc to hold in their mind. Units 1 and 2 of IEW work on creating key word outlines from models and writing summaries from those notes. Unit 3 focuses on creating summaries from narrative stories. Once he completes just those three units he may be ready to go back to WWE if you feel you still want to use it. Or, if you spend the year with IEW he may then be ready to move right into WWS.

 

WWE is good but it is tedious, and I think sometimes holds dc back from experiencing other ways to think about writing.

Edited August 25, 2012 by 5LittleMonkeys

[TheCoffeeChick]

We would be doing WWE4 this year and I've decided that in the name of streamlining were not going to use the workbooks, and just incorporate WWE into our history(SOTW) using the textbook and SWB's writing lectures. If you did this, you could use passages that fit your ds better. I think that it will be way less stressful for us. Next year I plan on moving to WWS.

[hollyhock]

We would be doing WWE4 this year and I've decided that in the name of streamlining were not going to use the workbooks, and just incorporate WWE into our history(SOTW) using the textbook and SWB's writing lectures. If you did this, you could use passages that fit your ds better. I think that it will be way less stressful for us. Next year I plan on moving to WWS.

 

I was going to suggest something like this. Are you using the workbooks or the instructor text? I am fairly sure that the length of passages, especially for dictation, in the workbooks are much longer than the instructor text even recommends. By the end of level 3, it says students should be able to write an approximately 20-word sentence from dictation. It could be that the workbook is too much for him but if you used other sources, he might be ok.

[Forgiven]

Does your child get the gist of dictation? My DD9 doesn't get it word-for-word. She'll substitute with synonyms or rearrange the sentence, but keeps the meaning the same. I'm okay with this. I'm not sure if SWB would be, but for me, it's all about being able to get it from her head onto the paper, so if she's keeping the meaning, I'm okay.

 

I do agree with others about doing narration/dictation, etc from history and science. I didn't understand what the difference between the teacher's book and the workbooks were and bought both. We're going through the workbooks because we have them, but next year, for my son, I'll be having him narrate from history and/or science and doing dictation from those subjects as well. I like that idea better than the workbooks. Although, I will say that I've enjoyed the excerpts that SWB chose for the workbooks...

[Alte Veste Academy]

If you search hard enough you'll find posts that show that even SWB suggests at times that you can skip from WWE3 to WWS.

 

:iagree: I was in heaven when I read her words about this. Did a double take to be sure she was the one posting. :tongue_smilie:

 

I was not looking forward to WWE4, frankly. I've purchased WWS and I think it exactly what DS9 needs to start moving into. We will go slowly but I looked it over pretty thoroughly last night and he's ready for it. Ironically, he's more ready to move into WWS than he is to continue into WWE4.

 

ETA: I just reread the OP and saw...

 

He is not good at remembering detail from a passage. He is awful at remembering long passages for dictation.

 

Sorry. I spoke too soon. Problems with long passages wouldn't keep me from moving into WWS but struggles with remembering detail from the passages definitely would.

Edited August 26, 2012 by Alte Veste Academy

[Mom0012]

I've used WWE with my dd and I really like it. That being said, I never tried it with my son because I knew from past experience he would never be able to handle the long dictation passages and we would both wind up frustrated. So, if I was going to use it with him, I'd have to really modify things by just dictating a few words at a time. My son would be the opposite of yours in that he would remember ALL the details of the passage and have had a difficult time summarizing the main idea. The only way I could see WWE working for him would be to use it well beyond the recommended age range.

 

IEW has been great for ds. That may be worth looking into.

 

Lisa

[kalanamak]

My 10 year old is not ready for WWE 4.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

After WWE 3 we have taken a detour through WRiting Tales, which I've done without the teacher's manual. It has some grammar reinforcement sprinkled in, and a bit of dictionary work, but we focus most of our time on the writing and *the intro to outlining*. We are 3/4 of the way through 2, and intend to go on to WWE4 when he's done. We've also mixed in some reading comprehension, using Jane Ervin's books (which as a bit of writing at the end of each session), and McCall Crabbs.

 

I think we'll be ready for 4.

 

P.S. WT has copy work you can use for dictation.

And, I wanted to add I really like WT and I'm very happy we've done it. I got the idea here, of course.

Edited August 26, 2012 by kalanamak

[PookieMama]

We are in WWE 3. We were doing all of it each week, but the dictations were really giving my son fits. He could write what I asked, as long as I repeated it many many times. I noticed that he did WAY better with the dictations from his own summaries. In other words, he could easily remember and write the sentences he had made up himself to summarize the story he had read. I guess because he had a "connection" with it. So anyway, we are totally skipping all the straight dictation days now and only doing the summarizing/dictation days. It's going a lot better. I plan on finishing WWE3 this coming year (probably halfway thru the year) and then using something else for the rest of 4th and some into 5th. Something simple like Igniting Your Writing and Paragraph Writing Made Easy. Then we'll just jump into WWS. If SWB says that WWE 4 is not totally necessary, I will believe her. :)