Yet another WWE and WWS question

[Alice]

I’ve searched and seen threads similar to my question but not exactly so I’m just going to start a new one.

 

We are doing WWE4. My son hates writing. He calls the program Writing Without Ease. :) I’ve kept with it because I see HUGE improvements every year in his skills. I’ve also come to realize that writing is just not his thing. I don’t think it’s the program he hates as much as the subject. My goal for him is to be able to write clearly and correctly but not really to develop or nurture a love for writing. I realized this year that what he really hates is the dictation and I have to admit that with the long sentences in WWE4 I have felt that it’s a little ridiculous. I’m not sure I could do the dictations as described (hearing three times and then writing from memory).

 

So...I’ve decided we can skip the dictations. We do the narrations and I do have him do the original sentence dictation. I’m having him write more in other subjects.

 

By question is whether this will hurt us down the road? I haven’t seen WWS but from the little research I’ve done we’ll likely use it. Will not doing the dictations this year make WWS all that much more difficult?

[Dinsfamily]

Did you do WWE2 and WWE3? Just curious since your ds is the same age as mine according to your siggy and the progression between the levels has really helped him. He is just starting WWE3 and has not struggled with any of the leaps in ability that the program requires. I haven't seen WWE4 yet since we'll do that next year.

[Alice]

Yes, we did WWE 1, 2 and 3. He has never liked dictation and it’s always been a bit of a struggle but he could do it. It started to get harder in the second half of WWE3 and the first few weeks of WWE4 the sentences are crazy long. In general I’ve realized that I probably try to do too much and so I’m looking to cut some things out. I have just felt like maybe it’s not worth struggling so much over the dictation. I’m ok with that, unless those who have BTDT with WWS tell me it’s really going to hurt us later.

[Dinsfamily]

Yes, we did WWE 1, 2 and 3. He has never liked dictation and it’s always been a bit of a struggle but he could do it. It started to get harder in the second half of WWE3 and the first few weeks of WWE4 the sentences are crazy long. In general I’ve realized that I probably try to do too much and so I’m looking to cut some things out. I have just felt like maybe it’s not worth struggling so much over the dictation. I’m ok with that, unless those who have BTDT with WWS tell me it’s really going to hurt us later.

 

I'll be listening. Ds8 doesn't like dictation much either, but hasn't struggled much with it YET. I'll probably take it slow with him since he loves to write letters and journal entries. I wouldn't want to kill that.

[BrettW]

I do WWE2 with my ds8. We also was hating the dictation. I recently watched a video link (that someone posted on another thread) of Susan Bauer doing a dictation from WWE4 with her son. I noticed that they first spoke about the quote and then she repeated that quote (many more than 3 times) until he had it down. Then she asked him to write it. Watching this has helped me and my son TREMENDOUSLY. I don't follow the 3 times rule...but he now is able to do the dictation "with (more) ease", anyway. :001_smile:

 

Hope this helps.

[Alice]

:bigear:

 

Bumping. Anyone who has used WWS?

[Amira]

Dictation isn't necessary for WWS. There isn't any in WWS and even though it's a good skill to practice, I don't think it's a problem if you don't do all of it in WWE. Just do what works for you.

[PookieMama]

We are in WWE 3 and my almost 10yo ds (starting 4th grade on Monday) hated the dictations, too. I noticed he did a lot better with dictations from his own narrations of the story, so we are only doing narration days and dictations from his narrations. He is still not crazy about WWE, but doing it this way gets the job done and with a lot less heartache. We are just going to finish WWE 3 and then do a couple of short writing books (Igniting Your Writing is one of them) before we start WWS in 5th grade.

[Alice]

Dictation isn't necessary for WWS. There isn't any in WWS and even though it's a good skill to practice, I don't think it's a problem if you don't do all of it in WWE. Just do what works for you.

 

Thanks!