Starting WWE1- by grade or skill

[Soror]

I started ds on WWE1 in first grade, although at the time he was not reading that well and certainly couldn't read the sentences. Now I'm thinking perhaps I should wait for dd that perhaps we shouldn't be doing copywork until her reading is better, although who knows what leaps she will make this summer. Or perhaps we will just start w/ my picking selections that at her level.

[Ruby Rose]

I use it a level behind because my DD wasn't ready for the writing aspect in 1st.

[HelenNotOfTroy]

I do not plan to start WWE1 at the beginning of first grade. I do not think my DS will be ready for that much writing. I hope to start during the year, though.

[MeganW]

I have heard a lot of people here comment that you shouldn't start WWE before 1) the child is reading WELL, 2) the child's handwriting is firmly established, and 3) age 7. I am just now getting there with kiddos who just turned 8. We plan to start WWE in the fall.

[Samiam]

I just did WWE1 with:

- my 1st grader (age 6-7) who 1. can not read well, can only do basic CVC words, 2, who can write good, ie handwriting is good, though slow...

-AND with my "4th grader" (age 9-10) who 1. can not read well....dyslexia...has improved much this school year, beyond CVC words though still far from grade level, and 2. has sloppy handwriting.

 

WWE1 was great for us this year. One of the handful of curriculums we completed from beginning to end. The thing is, though neither could read the sentences in copy work on their own, I did read the sentences to them, and then we read them together, with them pointing out the words as we read them. I thought this was great exposure to words that are beyond their current reading level, but it was a way to still have them see/read words to give them an understanding of different words. Does that make sense at all, lol? As our year progressed, they are to the point where they may point out words in the copywork that they are able to recognize on their own.

 

As far as the writing itself, most copywork pages had two options, a shorter sentence, which may be 4-6 words total and a longer sentence,and I gave them the choice of which, they always choose the shorter one. No biggie. I didn't think it was too much writing at that age at all. When it came to narration, both could nail that. Dictation was fine too, they both picked up quickly that the shorter sentences they gave me, the shorter their copywork on that day would be ;).

 

I don't think it's a requirement to have a child reading WELL to do WWE, or even handwriting FIRMLY established. WWE1 is a gentle enough program it can as much or as little as one needs.

[Soror]

Thanks for the thoughts ladies, we will see how it goes this summer and where we are at with our reading.

[boscopup]

I've used WWE1 with one child starting at age 6.5 (halfway through first grade). He did very well with it, and it was a good fit. He was a very advanced reader. Now? He's actually doing WWE3 for 4th grade. We only did about 2/3 of WWE2 in 2nd grade, then switched over to IEW SWI-A for a bit in 3rd, then came back and finished up WWE2 at the end of 3rd. So I have WWE3 waiting here to start 4th in another month. :) We plan to do WWS in 5th if he's ready (I think he will be).

 

I'm about to start WWE1 with my rising 1st grader as well. He is NOT reading independently, but he is capable of copying words/sentences, and he is very much ready for the narrations (I think he can now retell a story better than my 3rd grader). Like samiam, I plan to use the copywork sentences to point out how to read new words. I think it will be good for this child, and it will give him some confidence. I wouldn't have him just copy the sentence without going over it, but if we point out each word, explain the phonics involved, and learn to read that word, then copy it - I think that will be good for him. :)

 

But really, you know your child best, and there is not a right or wrong way to do it - starting in 1st or 2nd grade. WWE4 is optional, so you could start WWE1 in 2nd and still do WWS in 5th if you wanted (or wait until 6th, as some people do). My oldest found the passages very difficult - he had to learn how to listen carefully. My rising 1st grader is better at that (probably because he can't read well yet - he has to listen to everything!). My oldest wasn't a good writer, but the copywork wasn't that bad. We used the shorter sentences.

[Soror]

My daughter is a much better writer than ds was at the same age although with cut-offs and such she will be about 8 months younger than him in 1st. I don't think she is as good of a listener as him though. She will probably be able to read the sentences with my help, whereas he couldn't at all. I need to look at the sentences again because I cannot remember them very well at this point.

[chicagoshannon]

I think if your child is writing well/easily it will be fine. In our case that was the indicator. My dd was reading at a 3rd/4th grade level when we attempted but her writing was K level. We didn't get more than 2 weeks into it before stopping. We started it again towards the end of the school year and she did well. We will continue with it this year.

[Mom2TheTeam]

We started it in the last quarter of 1st grade, but my son has been doing narrations and copywork for all of first grade. He couldn't read more than CVC words in the early part of the year, but he got practice handwriting and learned about capitals at the beginning and in names, ending punctuation and learned how to write a comma and what they are called and was generally exposed to the structure of a sentence. He did great with it and now, WWE1 is a bit below him. He is on the older side for grade level. He is 7.5. I may give him the exit test at the end of WWE1 and start him on WWE2 in the fall even though we won't have technically finished WWE1. And, for what it's worth, he really enjoys it. :)

[MistyMountain]

I started it with my 6.5 year old at the end of kindergarten. I could have started it a little earlier. The copy work is easy for her. I was going to use it for only the narration but she can do the copy work fast so I let her do that too. I am hoping the narration will help with reading comprehension. She is decoding at a 5th grade level but her comprehension isn't that high. I think I'll have her read the passages instead of me because she does a little better with that. I did some narration from it with my 4.5 year old and he actually did really good answering the questions. He isn't anywhere ready for copy work yet but I might do narration with him.

[Bree]

We did WWE1 in first but didn't start WWE2 till 3rd because of the dictation and it has been a lot better fit so second time around I would have no problem waiting till 2nd grade to start WWE1 or doing it slowly over 2 years. I think for us I want to spend time mastering handwriting in first before going into a writing program again.