WWS or IEW U.S History Based Writing Lessons for my dd?

[mazakaal]

I'm planning dd's 6th grade year and I'm undecided on what writing program to use. She did WWE 3 in 3rd grade and WT 1 in 4th grade, and she is doing WT 2 in 5th grade. I have IEW U.S. History Based Writing Lessons sitting on my shelf as I used it for ds several years ago and had planned on using that. It will sort of line up with history, which will be world history from the mid 18th century through the late 19th century. But WWS 1 just looks really good to me. Is it a grass is always greener thing or should I really consider WWS because it's such an excellent program?

[mazakaal]

bumping

 

any opinions or comparisons?

[TarynB]

It's been a while since I looked at Writing Tales, but I seem to recall that it taught similar skills to what we learned in IEW's SWI-B and IEW's ancient history unit. Unless the IEW American history unit teaches skills that your DD hasn't learned yet, I'd probably skip that and start WWS next instead as long as her narration skills are solid and she has learned basic paragraphing and outlining skills. Those things need to be in place in order to succeed once you get past the very beginning of WWS. In other words, I think Writing Tales & IEW are fantastic, but our goal is to move past those to the writing taught in the WWS series.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Well, I'll try to get a conversation started, but I truly feel there are others who would be able to give a much better answer than I can. I've used both. IEW will teach traditional paragraphing starting with key word outlining. Each paragraph will have a topic sentence, supporting details and a concluding sentence. IEW teaches traditional 5-paragraph essays and has the student use a specific formula to ensure "style". Their reasoning is that if a student learns the formula, he will eventually wean himself from the formula and be able to find his own style. Their formulas are only there to learn the method for a period of time. After that, the student (hopefully) won't need the them.

 

WWS is much different. we didn't practice any kind of formula writing similar to IEW. Instead, the student learns how to write different kinds of paragraphs such as description of a person, chronological narrative of a past event, scientific discovery, description of a place, scientific description, etc... The student learns these different kinds of writing and then eventually puts them together to make a composition.

 

As far as deciding which one to use, consider how your child learns best. IEW is easier for me to "see". Although WWS was very good, and boy did it teach my ds how to read and follow directions, it was harder to understand where the teaching was going- what the end result was going to be.

 

Another way to think of it- IEW may be easier to at first because it teaches in a parts to whole manner, but some might say that the end product doesn't produce mature writing (at least at first).... If their formulaic teaching works, however, and the student finds his own style, his writing will hopefully mature over time. On the other hand, some might say that WWS teaches in a deeper way so that once the different kinds of paragraphs are combined into one essay deeper, more mature writing is produced. WWS is more like whole to parts. Yet, whole to parts learning might be difficult to learn when you can't "see" where you are going.

 

Try doing a search on IEW vs. WWS. Also, search on Lewelma's posts about writing. You should be able to find a better answer to your question if you'll read posts from these searches.

[SweetandSimple]

We will do IEW U.S History next year for 5th grade. I am planning on using WWS in the future, but I'm not sure if my son will be ready in the 6th grade. It is likely that we will do 2 years of IEW and then WWS in the 7th grade.

 

They both seem wonderful! Good luck with your decision!

[purplelily]

I have used IEW American History Vol. 1. I like the content of the course and the history it makes you think about. As far as WWS I have not used it. If you get a chance look at both curriculums and the details of the assignments, to see which one would feel the needs of your students.

 

[purplelily]

I have used IEW American History Vol. 1. I like the content of the course and the history it makes you think about. As far as WWS I have not used it. If you get a chance look at both curriculums and the details of the assignments, to see which one would feel the needs of your students.

 

[purplelily]

I have used IEW American History Vol. 1. I like the content of the course and the history it makes you think about. As far as WWS I have not used it. If you get a chance look at both curriculums and the details of the assignments, to see which one would feel the needs of your students.

 

[mazakaal]

Thanks for all the responses. It's given me a lot to think about. I think I'm going to have a long, hard look at dd's writing at the end of this year and evaluate whether she's ready for WWS or whether it would benefit her to spend some time in IEW first. I love that I can get WWS as a download, so can start it even mid-year if I want to, so if need be, I can do part of IEW and then switch her into WWS. I love the flexibility of homeschooling. Thanks again!