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Thank you so much for the feedback! My 9yo DD is just wrapping up with WWE3 and usually needs 4-5 repetitions for dication. I am so glad to know that this is not unusual. I was struggling with my decision on what to do for 4th grade and this feedback really helps. Also, I hadn't quite decided what to do with my 6yo DS (I don't think he's quite ready to do WWE1 in one year), so we'll just spread it out and take it slow. Thanks again!

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Guest Karen J M

Susan,

 

I just finished listening to your audio lecture "A Plan for Teaching Writing: Focus on the Middle Grades" and wanted to know how that compares to WWS? Would I only need to do one of them or both? I'm comtemplating using WWS 1 and/or 2 next year, but I'm not sure if I would also follow your recommendations from this lecture?  Specifically I want to know if my eight grader would follow the schedule in WWS and in addition to that do a 1-3 level outline 2x/week in history or science and then select one of the outlines and turn it back into a composition?  Does this make sense?  Do the assignments in WWS1 & 2 replace the recommendations from the audio lecture?  

 

Thank you,

Karen

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  • 2 weeks later...

Susan,

 

I am curious as to why you didn't recommend any of the Classical Composition books after WWS3.  

 

Sheri

Yes, I agree -- and I'm hoping by bumping this, she might see it and come back to us :)

 

Also, I'll add my own inquiry.

I have a 6th grade avid writer (who, yes, baulks at times to "engineering writing assignments," but who nevertheless is a diligent writer as well as a creative one) has completed IEW's SWI-A plus the followup Geo-Based, KG SC for El., MCT's Island & Town, and has faithfully worked through the skills in WWE1-4 and part of WWS1.  His younger sister is going to feather in some W&R I and II this year with her WWE3/4 work+KG.  I'm on the fence as to whether to place the 6th grader in the Classical Composition mode or whether to have him join her in book III or IV of W&R when she gets to it.  My understanding is that W&R III can be really great transition to WWS1, or just fun reinforcement after completing it.  He is definitely going to be continuing to work through WWS1 + some KG middle school; I just don't know whether MP's CC would fit well into our paradigm, or whether I should go the W&R route with him.  Plus, my other frustration is debunking the placement in MP's CC because their recommendation is that all children start in book 1.  In his situation, that would be ludicrous.  I was thinking level 3 (Chreia/Maxim), but don't want to overestimate his mastery of Narrative, since much of WWS is still teaching Narrative.  

 

I hope this isn't too case-specific in order to garner some thoughts and advice.  I'm all ears :)   TIA!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I love R&S for grammar.

For writing I think I would go back to WWE4 and make sure narration and dictation were under control.  Your 7th grader will probably go through it pretty fast unless they need work here.  WWS1 assumes you have this down.

 

Sheri

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My dd grade 6, started WWS last spring. We approached it slowly, half speed. Then this summer WTM academy was announced with WWS classes. I could not sign up fast enough! Week 3 started today. It has been wonderful. My daughter was a little unsure and attend her teacher office hours for extra help. She left her private session feeling confident and happy. I could not be happier.

 

I am posting to share that my daughter is barely 11yrs old and handling WWS with ease. My daughter has completed MCT Town, and briefly worked on WWE long ago. The teacher is teaching and my daughter is moving forward.

 

I am a happy homeschool mom!

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The information is very helpful. We're using WWE 2 with my 7YO. It's going well. He ends up liking the book excerpts so much we get the books out of the library and read some of them. We've read "The Borrowers," "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH," and others. Thank you so much for your guidance and curriculum!

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How do you handle writing in other areas of the curriculum when using WWS? I think dd9 can handle the material, so I'm thinking of going on to WWS1 next year (5th grade) at half-speed. I'll probably incorporate some Killgallon and The Creative Writer as well (maybe 2-4 times/month? she enjoys those). The history curriculum we're looking at also includes outlining, and our science curriculum wants her to summarize what she's reading, and then there are the writing exercises in her R&S grammar book...

 

At what point is it overkill?

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Thank you for the updated recommendations!

 

What progression might be recommended for a 12-year-old (grade 7) who has never done narration, copywork, or dictation before? Should I start her with WWS, or should I go back to Level One of WWE and hope to hurry through all that, first?

 

Start with Level 2 of WWE?

 

I tried her on the Level 4 dictation work in WWE and could see that that is a skill that must be built up more slowly, but I don't have time to take her through several years of narration, dictation, and copywork.

 

How does one get a student this age ready for WWS, when they have never done any WWE?

 

Thanks for any pointers.

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Thank you for the updated recommendations!

 

What progression might be recommended for a 12-year-old (grade 7) who has never done narration, copywork, or dictation before? Should I start her with WWS, or should I go back to Level One of WWE and hope to hurry through all that, first?

 

Start with Level 2 of WWE?

 

I tried her on the Level 4 dictation work in WWE and could see that that is a skill that must be built up more slowly, but I don't have time to take her through several years of narration, dictation, and copywork.

 

How does one get a student this age ready for WWS, when they have never done any WWE?

 

Thanks for any pointers.

 

Has your child learned to write a summary in the past? If so, it may be very frustrating to go back and do copywork, narration, dictation from the very beginning. If your 12-year-old knows how to briefly summarize a passage, and can hold a sentence in mind long enough to write it down, then narration and dictation are probably unnecessary. My 6th grader already understood the basics of those skills from public school, so I just started him with WWS 1 and he's doing OK. On the other hand, my 4th grader definitely hadn't acquired those skills, so we began in level 2-ish of WWE (I just used the foundational text The Complete Writer and chose my own dictation and summary selections) and progressed at her own pace. She picked up on it well so now we are doing level 4-ish work, after 5 months of catch-up. I probably will have her do Kilgallon before beginning WWS, though.

 

Maybe try out WWS (the first 10 weeks are available for free at Well Trained Mind Press). If your child struggles with the first 3 weeks of WWS, but going back to WWE isn't practical, perhaps a good idea might be to do the Kilgallon texts (Sentence Composing and Paragraph Composing for Middle School) this year, and WWS 1 the next.

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  • 3 months later...

Thank you for WWE and also FLL.  They -- along with frequent reading of quality literature -- have really helped develop my kids' language, analytical and comprehension skills.  I often find my eldest writing on his own even when it is not part of his assignments. 

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I am curious what an updated version of this would look like since this was made in 2014. Are there options out there that didn't exist then? For example, now that the Rhetoric Alive series is available, would it be a possible choice in the third progression (rather than the Writing & Rhetoric books), or if there might may be be a SWB Rhetoric book in the works? Thanks!

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  • 4 months later...

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