WWS in High School

[EMC]

If you use WWS with a high school student, do you supplement?

 

I think we are going to use WWS1 next year (10th grade). I really think my son needs it. We are new to homeschooling. He has ADHD (inattentive) and hates to write. He has difficulty organizing his thoughts.

 

I think WWS will help him with the basic skills he lacks. Is it enough for 10th grade? Should we use the 5th day to supplement with something else?

[Lori in MS]

I think WWS is fine for 10th grade. I used it this year with my 10th grade and 9th grade sons. I combined it will Essentials in Writing which taught various types of essays and the research paper. We didn't get to all of it this year as they had an outsourced speech class that required a lot of time, but I plan to have them complete it this summer. Next year (11th and 10th grades) we will do WWS 2. I will also have them do Lit analysis SWB style with the literature they will be reading, I hope to squeeze in WWS 3 if it is ready in time. Or I might do Advanced Communication Series from Excellence in Writing. I am going to do a better job teaching writing with my younger children. I love SWB's writing materials. She just didn't quite have them written in time for my oldest ds.

[MomsintheGarden]

I'm using WWS I with my 9th grader this year. I wish I had been able to have him do the program in middle school, but he was busy doing other things. :) I thought it was valuable enough for him to go through it in high school. In addition to WWS I, he's doing many of the writing exercises in the R&S English 9/10 Book 1, and writing and presenting speeches in speech club and at tournaments. He reads quality literature, but it hasn't been very much (wish I could have squeezed in more this year; something had to give). He's also been writing essays for AP US Government. I think it's been enough.

 

My 9th grader has found WWS to be very easy, but I want him to have the tools SWB has presented so well in the program. I hardly ever have to help him.

 

Here's my plan for the rest of his high school:

10th Grade: WWS 2, R&S Engish 9/10 Book 2, Ancient & Medieval Literature (I'm condensing my 9th & 10th Grade plan into one year, selecting only half of the readings my two oldest did), Essays about literature WTM style (using SWB's lecture for instructions), Speech writing & presenting

11th Grade: WWS 3, Early Modern Literature, Essays about literature WTM style, AP English Language, Speech writing & presenting

12th Grade: Modern Literature, Essays about literature WTM style, AP English Literature, Speech writing & presenting

 

Don't feel you have to follow someone else's plan, and don't be intimidated into doing more than your student can handle. It's best to do less well than too much. Hope this helps!

 

GardenMom

[Sue G in PA]

This is my plan for my rising 10th grader. We are starting Monday with WWS 1 (for him and his 7th grade brother). Ds14 has written a variety of essays this year and the one theme I've noticed is his poor sentence structure and lack of "flow". He isn't afraid to put his thoughts on paper, but her writes like he thinks. He needs some of the basic building blocks that WWS will give him. I might also get EIW for him. He will be reading and writing about American Lit next year using Notgrass Exploring America with our co-op and I am hopeful that WWS and EIW will help him with his essays and research. I started a thread about writing curriculum and somebody actually suggested using WWS with him...that it was certainly appropriate for high school.

[EMC]

Thanks for your responses. I just got WWS1 yesterday and have been reading through it. I am excited to get started.

 

I am going to look at some of the other programs suggested such as EIW as well. I appreciate any and all recommendations. We are new to homeschooling and the amount of curriculum available is very overwhelming at times.

[EMC]

Don't feel you have to follow someone else's plan, and don't be intimidated into doing more than your student can handle. It's best to do less well than too much. Hope this helps!

 

GardenMom

 

 

I was just rereading the replies and wanted to say thanks to GardenMom. I needed a reminder to meet my son where he is.

[laughing lioness]

I had a 9th grader in my WWS class last year. It should work great for your ds. If he is bored or gets things really easily, just go at a faster pace. It's all great info and sequential- so it's not like he'll be getting lots of full or extraneous info by doing it (and it just might help him like writing again!)

[PeterPan]

EMC, whatever you end up using, you might want to look at Inspiration software. There's an app and then the full computer software. Amazing stuff. Let's them map out all their thoughts visually (including dragging in pictures, quotes, etc.) and then the software CONVERTS the visual map to an outline. Most adhd people are VSL and not linear at all, which is why writing programs get so frustrating.

 

I'm using WWS with my dd this year for 8th, and yes I think it could be worthwhile for you. What I *like* about it is that it approaches organization conceptually rather than linearly. (Is that a word? lol) I think that can be a workable, long-term solution for a person with executive function and organization issues. However, even with his problems I still think you can up the ante. Don't be afraid to double up lessons. I've had my dd doing double lessons for much of the book. If there's an actual writing project, obviously you just do one lesson. But if it's something simple and short, double up those lessons. If you do that and work 5 days a week and skip the copia exercises in the latter part of the book (which hopefully your grammar program already covered, if it didn't then do them), then it's going to take you less than a year. At that point plow forward right into WWS2.

 

See what I've noticed is the people who get frustrated with WWS sometimes slow down. I knew my dd wasn't going to be happy about (which you may be feeling), so I figured we'd just go FAST. It's reasonable to push an older dc a bit to sit down and work. I'm not saying tears, but it's ok that it's work. Push it just a little bit. And by going fast, we sort of got over the I don't like this hump because she went in expecting it to be a challenge if that makes sense.

 

The other thing we did to make it work is to underline key points in the text. Yes, I literally sit down on Sunday and go through the lessons with a highlighter. I use the colors to chunk up what lessons for what day. So on her checklist it might say WWS blue or WWS yellow or WWS pink, and she knows to do the next lessons that are highlighted in blue or yellow or pink. I don't want to have to sit down and make SURE she got it and SURE she understood it (and wasn't impulsively flying through and missing important instructions), so I preread quickly and highlight those things. Sometimes, like some of the other ladies on the board, I'll just notes in the margin to emphasize that it really needs to be xyz. Just because someone else's dc uses it independently doesn't mean yours has to.

 

That mix has worked well for us. It has been a good year for writing, and the brisk pace (plus some maturity growth) has really helped her sprout. If you're still feeing nervous about it or feel like you have to HELP him too much to have writing work, look at Jeffrey Freed's book "Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World." He espouses a parent-driven writing process where you write and he watches. Next time you write and he helps a little. Next time you write and he helps a little more. Some people really need to wrap their brain around where it's going and why they're doing it and how before they can get there. You could sit with him during his WWS time (if you have time) and do the exercises and then compare each other's drafts. The ladies of Analytical Grammar have a couple writing programs based on this guided form of writing. It can be helpful for some kids and it's ok to carry over that help to whatever you're using. My dd doesn't need to use Inspiration for her WWS writing, because (at least so far) it's usually in her head and ready to go. But if he needs to go through that step, do it! Inspiration is AWESOME software, can't recommend enough. And if you need to sit with him for a while and do it together so he sees how to use it and how to get his thoughts out, that's ok too. Inspiration comes with templates for many types of writing (science labs, essays, book reports, on and on), so it's easy to use it to implement whatever you're trying to do.

[Colleen in NS]

If you use WWS with a high school student, do you supplement?

 

I think we are going to use WWS1 next year (10th grade). I really think my son needs it. We are new to homeschooling. He has ADHD (inattentive) and hates to write. He has difficulty organizing his thoughts.

 

I think WWS will help him with the basic skills he lacks. Is it enough for 10th grade? Should we use the 5th day to supplement with something else?

 

I LOVE WWS. My son is working through the beta-test for level 2 now. I haven't quite implemented this regularly yet, but I plan to have him apply his acquired WWS skills on the 5th day to a short writing project based on whatever he is reading for history, science, or literature that week. To me, that is what WWS is all about. Applying it to what they are reading about.

 

We won't do that application every week, but ideally it would be on a Friday - maybe twice a month or so. It's simple, thorough, relevant to real learning, and I won't have to worry about incorporating other programs.

[EMC]

EMC, whatever you end up using, you might want to look at Inspiration software. There's an app and then the full computer software. Amazing stuff. Let's them map out all their thoughts visually (including dragging in pictures, quotes, etc.) and then the software CONVERTS the visual map to an outline. Most adhd people are VSL and not linear at all, which is why writing programs get so frustrating. He is a very visual learner. This software looks great. I think this would really help him with his history notes and maybe science.

 

I'm using WWS with my dd this year for 8th, and yes I think it could be worthwhile for you. What I *like* about it is that it approaches organization conceptually rather than linearly. (Is that a word? lol) I think that can be a workable, long-term solution for a person with executive function and organization issues. However, even with his problems I still think you can up the ante. Don't be afraid to double up lessons. I've had my dd doing double lessons for much of the book. If there's an actual writing project, obviously you just do one lesson. But if it's something simple and short, double up those lessons. If you do that and work 5 days a week and skip the copia exercises in the latter part of the book (which hopefully your grammar program already covered, if it didn't then do them), then it's going to take you less than a year. At that point plow forward right into WWS2. I don't know why I didn't think of working it at a faster pace and using WWS on the 5th day. I think that would work well for us. I had thought about giving him a writing assignment on Fridays, but I think it would not always get done.

 

See what I've noticed is the people who get frustrated with WWS sometimes slow down. I knew my dd wasn't going to be happy about (which you may be feeling), so I figured we'd just go FAST. It's reasonable to push an older dc a bit to sit down and work. I'm not saying tears, but it's ok that it's work. Push it just a little bit. And by going fast, we sort of got over the I don't like this hump because she went in expecting it to be a challenge if that makes sense. My son needs quite a bit of pushing in some areas.

 

The other thing we did to make it work is to underline key points in the text. Yes, I literally sit down on Sunday and go through the lessons with a highlighter. I use the colors to chunk up what lessons for what day. So on her checklist it might say WWS blue or WWS yellow or WWS pink, and she knows to do the next lessons that are highlighted in blue or yellow or pink. I don't want to have to sit down and make SURE she got it and SURE she understood it (and wasn't impulsively flying through and missing important instructions), so I preread quickly and highlight those things. Sometimes, like some of the other ladies on the board, I'll just notes in the margin to emphasize that it really needs to be xyz. Just because someone else's dc uses it independently doesn't mean yours has to. This is a great idea. He really responds to color and breaks on a page. He say he has difficulty reading texts that are "blobby". :laugh: I may use this idea for WWS and some other areas too.

 

That mix has worked well for us. It has been a good year for writing, and the brisk pace (plus some maturity growth) has really helped her sprout. If you're still feeing nervous about it or feel like you have to HELP him too much to have writing work, look at Jeffrey Freed's book "Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World." He espouses a parent-driven writing process where you write and he watches. Next time you write and he helps a little. Next time you write and he helps a little more. Some people really need to wrap their brain around where it's going and why they're doing it and how before they can get there. You could sit with him during his WWS time (if you have time) and do the exercises and then compare each other's drafts. The ladies of Analytical Grammar have a couple writing programs based on this guided form of writing. It can be helpful for some kids and it's ok to carry over that help to whatever you're using. My dd doesn't need to use Inspiration for her WWS writing, because (at least so far) it's usually in her head and ready to go. But if he needs to go through that step, do it! Inspiration is AWESOME software, can't recommend enough. And if you need to sit with him for a while and do it together so he sees how to use it and how to get his thoughts out, that's ok too. Inspiration comes with templates for many types of writing (science labs, essays, book reports, on and on), so it's easy to use it to implement whatever you're trying to do. I have read "Right-Brained Children". I think I need to check it out from the library again. I will probably work with him on WWS some. I have a 2 and 4 yo also, so I may not be able to do all the exercises with him.

 

 

Thanks for all the information OhElizabeth. You have given me much to think about.

[PeterPan]

Btw, the SN (Learning Challenges) board is a super hip, fun place to talk about these things too. :)

[Tiramisu]

Btw, the SN (Learning Challenges) board is a super hip, fun place to talk about these things too. :)

 

 

:iagree:

 

Come on over! :hurray:

 

(Am I super hip by association?)

[PeterPan]

:iagree:

 

Come on over! :hurray:

 

(Am I super hip by association?)

 

With a name like yours, ABSOLUTELY! :drool5: :drool5: :drool5: