happycc Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Well we are just finishing up WWE3. We started it in the Fall and now have ten lessons left. Yes I fast paced it. We do a whole lesson a day. We took a break during Nanowrimo and after the baby born blah blah. Back at it and now finishing it up. The kids have been cruising through it just fine. Nothing really stumps them. Should do WWE4 or move on to something else? And what would that something be? My kids have been liking all the WWEs and go running off to the bookstore/library to find the books to read completely. I am tempted to just continue with WWE4 just for that-exposure to new books but maybe we should add something else? Suggestions..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhomemaker Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Are they able to write down their complete narrations? If not, I would work with them on it until they get that skill down. You can either use WWE 4 for that or just do it across the curriculum. I just took a few months with dd to solidify her written narration skills. I knew she didnt need a whole year to work in it so we just used our regular lit and history for selections. Then I would make sure they had some good paragraph skills before launching into WWS. We have been taking WWS slow and steady, and it has been wonderful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 I agree with the previous poster about solid narration skills and paragraph skills. I'll share with you what our path has been: We did most of WWE4 last year but I decided DS10 wasn't ready for WWS just yet. (Various issues on his part: level of maturity, lack of enthusiasm about writing, pencil-phobia and wanting proficient typing skills in place first.) I didn't want to have to go slowly through WWS because he wasn't really ready for it; I guess I'd rather go through it at "normal" pace at the right time. So, anyway, we took this past several months to do IEW's SWI-B and one of their theme units. (IEW really improved his confidence and enthusiasm for writing. IEW develops a different skill set than WWE/WWS, and it was very valuable for my DS.) Next, as there have been several recent threads on WWS-preparedness, which I've taken to heart, after finishing IEW we're now doing some other things for the next few months. We're alternating between 1 - selections of WWE4 (mostly for the great stories, as you mentioned), 2 - doing well-written (rough draft, edit, final draft) narrations "across the curriculum" in history and literature once or twice per week, and 3 - developing outlining and paragraph skills with Paragraph Writing Made Easy (recommended here on the boards). I am now anticipating DS will be well-prepared to start WWS a couple/few months from now. I hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 Yes. These girls have been writing five paragraph essays for awhile now. It is required writing prompts from their homeschool charter school. I think they are ready to add in something else. I am debating SWI-A .I think that is what it is called.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Yes. These girls have been writing five paragraph essays for awhile now. It is required writing prompts from their homeschool charter school. I think they are ready to add in something else. I am debating SWI-A .I think that is what it is called.. Is this for the 10 year olds in your sig? If so, you might consider SWI level B, instead of A. (You don't have to start the SWIs at the beginning, just jump in based on age/reading level. Some of us here on the boards agree that IEW's recommended ages are a little too high. I've posted in recent threads about this as well, or if you want to know more, just ask.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 yes please inform me further... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 This recent thread may help, esp. posts 8 & 9 explaining more about SWI level A vs B: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/456621-twssswi-a-wws/?do=findComment&comment=4736465 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 Would i need the TWSS videos in order to do SWIB? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 Ok now that you have solved my writing issues....what about grammar? I am debating Hake or Analytical grammar and what grade/level? What is the difference between the two? FLL has been working out for us but I do notice that it spoon feeds them a bit and they get lazy and don;t think on their own with it. They are capable of much more than what FLL is asking them to do. They have been bored with FLL but we push through regardless. I want something that really makes them pause and think. They are 10years old, Finishing up FLL4 and entering 6th grade. They did FLL3 last year and was in PS prior to that. We also did The Sentence Family last summer for fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Would i need the TWSS videos in order to do SWIB? IMO, no. I think most people do well with either TWSS OR SWI. You don't really need both unless you are very uncomfortable teaching writing. TWSS teaches you how to teach your students and then you teach them on your own. SWI includes the hardcopy student and teacher pages along with DVDs of the instructor Andrew Pudewa teaching to a classroom of kids, so he does the teaching to your students as they watch. We did SWI without TWSS and I just watched the video lessons along with DS. IEW came out with TWSS first, to instruct teachers on how to teach from their own source materials. I guess more people wanted more hand-holding than that (kind of like SWB's complete writer hardback vs. the WWE workbooks), so they later came out with the SWIs that include the teaching as well as all the source materials you will need to do the lessons. You can search for Andrew Pudewa videos on YouTube to see if you like his teaching/presentation style, before you buy anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Ok now that you have solved my writing issues....what about grammar? I am debating Hake or Analytical grammar and what grade/level? What is the difference between the two? FLL has been working out for us but I do notice that it spoon feeds them a bit and they get lazy and don;t think on their own with it. They are capable of much more than what FLL is asking them to do. They have been bored with FLL but we push through regardless. I want something that really makes them pause and think. They are 10years old, Finishing up FLL4 and entering 6th grade. They did FLL3 last year and was in PS prior to that. We also did The Sentence Family last summer for fun. LOL, I'm not sure I'm solving anything, but I'm glad you find it helpful! I've never seen Analytical Grammar and don't know anything about it. Hopefully someone else can help you there. We are using Hake Grammar this year (we don't do the writing portion). Hake Grammar is often mentioned here on the boards as a secular alternative to Rod & Staff. (SWB recommends R&S in WTM.) Hake is very spiral in nature, thorough, solid, includes diagramming, not exciting, not colorful. My DS hated spiral review in math, but he likes it in grammar. Even so, I usually have him skip every other review question in Hake. Looking ahead, it seems that Hake repeats the same concepts every year, but goes into more depth and uses more detailed examples in the lessons as you go up in the levels. You can see Hake samples on the author's website in my signature. Prior to Hake, we used Easy Grammar, which I also liked a lot, but my DS seems to need more thorough review than EG provides, plus EG doesn't teach diagramming, which I wanted. Your DC, going into 6th grade, and coming out of FLL4, could probably easily move into Hake level 6, but check the samples and TOC to be sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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