"Best" age for starting WWS with the average student

[2squared]

For those who have started and/or finished WWS, what age do you think would be ideal for starting the average student in WWS? Not what age would or could work, but what age do you think would be ideal as far as maturity, ability to work independently, time to work through the series, etc. If you put all the many factors into a magic hat and shook it, what age/starting grade would come out?

 

I know everyone is different and all that, so I'm looking for a wide range of opinions. I see some people thinking it's great to start in 5th grade and some who think it would be better to wait.

 

And, as always, I'm hope to get many enlightened comments. :D

[Chrysalis Academy]

Oh darn, where is the obligatory other?? ;)

 

Seriously, it's so hard to answer in terms of grade level, because kids can be in so many different places with their writing at the same grade level. My dd is a language-accelerated young 5th grader (just turned 10) who has been writing with great joy (and no complaints or difficulty) since she was in first grade. She isn't a great speller, but seems to be a natural with grammar - I've seen her make style or usage errors, but never a grammatical error in her writing. She started WWS during the spring of her 4th grade year, when she was 9, after completing about half of WWE3. It's been perfect for her. Is that the ideal age for everyone? Of course not, but it was the perfect age for her. I can't say what would be ideal for any other kid.

 

I really, really think the more important question is, "What skills should be mastered before beginning WWS?" and the answer, IMO, is that narration/summarizing and dictations skills should be *solid* before beginning WWS, and you should plan on spending time before beginning, or at the beginning, doing some extra work with them on paragraphing if they don't already know how to paragraph. I say this because the one weakness that I've seen in WWS is that while it defines paragraphs and topic sentences in the first lesson, it doesn't have the student work with them explicitly - i.e. no creating topic sentences and/or making choices about paragraph divisions per se, although outlining does eventually teach this skill. My dd needed some more explicit instruction in this before being able to apply it; an older or more experienced student might have picked it up without explicit instruction. (We have been reading through MCT Paragraph Town while doing WWS, and that has helped solidify this specific skill).

 

So . . . I didn't vote, but there are my enlightened comments, FWIW! ;):D

Edited November 14, 2012 by rroberts707
clarity

[MicheleinMN]

I answered 7th grade, but only because my most *average* child is in 7th this year and doing WWS1 quite well. She still needs my input, but is able to do the assignments without the gnashing of teeth (most days). I don't think that would have been the case last year.

 

HTH

[my2boysteacher]

I bought WWS with the intent to use it with my boys who are in 5th and 6th grades this year, but after looking through it decided it best to wait a year. They are both reluctant writers, so we are using Bravewriter this year just for some fun free writing. They are also doing longer written narrations this year, so hopefully it won't be to difficult for them next year.

[Joani]

I voted 6th. My oldest used it in 8th, when he was already a fairly strong writer, and I think that was too late to get the most out of it. Some days felt like busywork and some days were so short that he combined them without even asking me.

 

My 7th grader is using it this year and is finding it much better, but she was in public school until now and hasn't had any real writing "instruction".

 

My younger kids will likely use it in 6th.

[justLisa]

We are not there yet, but I am saying 6th. I am using IEW until then, and we have completed WWE2 and working on 3.

[sassenach]

Thanks for this poll! I plan to have ds use it in 6th and this is confirming that choice for me.

[5LittleMonkeys]

I voted 6th.

 

BUT my second oldest wasn't ready in 6th and needed to spend a year with IEW (after having used WWE 3 and part of 4) before she could handle it. Now, in 7th, she is doing wonderfully with it. Now, my 4th grader, who has done WWE 1, 2 and 3 and is using IEW this year, will probably be ready for it next year in 5th.

 

I agree that skill and maturity have more to do with readiness than age.

[Katydid]

I'm sorry if this is too off topic, but I was wondering if Serl's Intermediate Language Lessons would prepare a student well enough to jump right into WWS?

[5LittleMonkeys]

. My oldest used it in 8th, when he was already a fairly strong writer, and I think that was too late to get the most out of it. Some days felt like busywork and some days were so short that he combined them without even asking me.

 

 

:iagree: My 9th is using it this year, and she consistently does a whole weeks worth of lessons in 1 or 2 days. It is serving it's purpose though in getting her to actually think about what she is writing instead of just stringing a lot of big words together.

[....]

I voted 6th. My 5th grader is almost halfway through WWS 1 and she is really struggling. And she's normally a very good student. She's actually struggling more with WWS than she is with pre-algebra. I put WWS away until January and we can try again at that point. My son is 13 months younger than my daughter and I'm not even going to try WWS next year (with him). He will need to wait until closer to 6th grade.

[Mommy22alyns]

Okay, I'll bite. Why 6th and not 5th? Wasn't it meant to be WWE 1-4 in grades 1-4, then WWS in 5th? Just looking for clarification as I'm trying to move quickly through WWE 4 so Becca can be in WWS for 5th grade.

[....]

Okay, I'll bite. Why 6th and not 5th? Wasn't it meant to be WWE 1-4 in grades 1-4, then WWS in 5th? Just looking for clarification as I'm trying to move quickly through WWE 4 so Becca can be in WWS for 5th grade.

 

Your daughter might be fine using it in 5th. Mine is struggling for a few reasons. First, she's having trouble reading through the directions and explanations on her own and applying that to the writing assignment for the day. I have no idea if this is because I've always been there while she wrote (she used 3 years of WWE after I pulled her out of school) and she's not used to working "that" independently... Also, I just asked her what she thinks is difficult about WWS and she said that the writing steps are very tedious (sorry SWB - I hate to even post that!). My daughter is someone who skips alot of steps when she works - like for math, she will skip 2-3 steps when she solves the problem and still get the answer, but will sigh in despair when I tell her to write out the steps. She seems to be experiencing the same thing with WWS.

 

Don't think from my comments that WWS is not a great program. I think it is AWESOME. I plan to stick with it long-term, but I'm going to let my daughter take a break until January and then see if that makes a difference.

[Crimson Wife]

The first part of WWS is deceptively easy compared to the later parts. I think the typical 5th grader who is solid on WWE-type skills will have no problem with the first 11 or so weeks. However, there is a pretty big jump up at week 12 and that's where I paused with my DD. We'll try WWS again in the spring semester.