hlee Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Hello everyone---I have a DS10 who is an avid reader and a natural writer. I have been struggling with finding the right curriculum for him, however; we used WWE back when he was in 2nd-3rd grade, then used Writing Strands which I didn't like so much last year. This year, I switched to Writing With Skill as it seemed to offer teaching in areas that he hadn't learned much about yet (outlining, etc.) He has NOT enjoyed it, to the point where he says, "I hate writing!" which is a dagger to this writer-mom's heart! What do your kids who are similar to him enjoy using? We are finishing up FFL4 and may start using R&S, which I understand has composition exercises as well as grammar. Would that be sufficient, what would I be giving up if I abandon WWS at this point? I hate to keep switching on him, but I don't want him to hate his writing program! I would love any suggestions...feeling a little in despair about it. I looked over IEW but felt its approach was too formulaic for someone with his natural abilities. But he does need to learn more about structuring his writing and about some typical usage issues. Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions! I have also posted this on the K-8 Writing forum board so for some of you, this may be a repeat post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalypso Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 :bigear: I have the same problem with WWS. I like it, but my ds11 doesn't. He,too, is an avid reader and natural writer. I'm trying to figure out what to try next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 While I think that WWS has fantastic content, my natural writer is finding the presentation of WWS tedious. I would prefer that DS write across the curriculum, so I have my own frustrations with WWS. And yet there is SO MUCH great content in the book. I am going to try using WWS as a framework, but choosing the assignments myself. Kind of like using WWE without the workbook. We are going to try this for the next two weeks, and then decide if we should return to WWS as written. I can let you know how the experiment goes, it you'd like:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hlee Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 Yes, Penguin! Please do come back and report back on this thread. Would love to know how it went. "Tedious" is exactly my son's experience with it all. Some of the assignments have really just dragged him down (i.e., underlining all the chronological words, etc.) So I will be interested to see how your approach goes. Thanks much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 We will be using Jump In! For 6th and 7th grades. The author has published a high school Curriculum, available on her own website, not Apologia's. Jump In! Appeals to my son because it is funny, witty, with little illustrations and it has an interesting conversational tone to it. It doesn't focus on outlining. I personally don't see why outlining is so important. I am teaching my son to outline in his grammar book and I know he will use it especially when writing reports. To slow down Jump In! And supplement both this year and next, we are using Karen Andreola's Story Starters. I highly recommend this book. My son really loves it. We are helping him find joy in writing again. The book is very large and especially written to appeal to boys. It is very well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 We will be using Jump In! For 6th and 7th grades. The author has published a high school Curriculum, available on her own website, not Apologia's. Thank you for sharing this! I wasn't aware the Jump In author has a high school program as well. I just looked up her website in case anyone else is interested. I ordered Jump In just last week (still waiting for it to arrive) for my DS to use for the rest of this year after he finishes IEW (love it! he just finished it more quickly than I expected). We did Writing With Ease in elementary and we're planning to try Writing With Skill 1 next year, but I really hope Jump In works for us as a bridge as well as IEW has. If it does, the follow-up high school program may come in very handy too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clear Creek Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 I didn't know that the author of Jump In had a high school program (as well as a creative writing program for high school) either! Awesome! My daughter is doing really well with Jump In, and I plan on stretching it out for the full two years. I was excited to see that the teacher's guide for the high school program was laid out similar to Jump In...the Jump In TM is extremely helpful, especially the example essays and grading guidelines. It is one of those rare TM's that actually makes me a better teacher of the subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Just thought that I would follow through and let you know that our modified approach to WWS has worked out great! We are both much happier with the program now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Just chiming in to agree with Penguin - before totally bailing on WWS, do try modifying it. You can take breaks (one week on/one week off, with the week off spent writing across the curriculum), or you can let your dc choose their own topic for the topos assignments (my dd was bored with the thought of writing about Daniel Boone, so she wrote about Sacajawea instead). You can also let them dig deeper, and spend more time, if a topic interests them - my dd spent two weeks and wrote a much longer paper on the Titanic, after doing a ton of research on the topic. I guess my point is, my dd and I feel your pain, but I also know that she is learning so much from this program, so much that I am not able to teach explicitly without its hand-holding, that I would try to modify it before I would totally bail on it. OTOH, your ds is 10, right? You could just put it on the shelf for a year or two, and come back to it later. I really think this program can be profitably used anywhere between 5th-8th grade, or even later, and if it's too much/too tedious now, it might be just right in a year or two. Best of luck with whatever you decide! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbanSue Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 My kids aren't there yet but it often comes up on this board that WWS is optimally started for most kids around 6th grade. So maybe just shelve it for a bit and come back later? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebacabunch Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Try it in a year or 2 when ds is a bit older. Also, it can be tedious, but it is those fine details that kids aren't learning anymore that make wws so great, imo. My dd has learned outlining from wws. Before she learned to outline her papers were unfocused, rambling messes. Her work is so so much better now. I do other things for her that she enjoys more to keep her interest in writing. WWS will help so much as a preparation for high school and college writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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