Hitting wall with WWE 4

[Kidlit]

My fourth grade dd has hit the wall with WWE 4.  She's around lesson 20 and has been through every level of WWE.  I feel good about the skills she has learned from the series, but at this point I feel like the frustration she experiences over the lengthy dictations is counterproductive.  She writes a history narration (1-2 paragraphs, detailed) weekly and we work on revising it, etc.  I'm pleased with her writing over all.  I'm wondering now if I should finally, finally just go with my gut and drop WWE completely.  Has anyone done this, or did you use something else?  

 

(I know that the workbooks were developed by SWB because there was a need for more hand-holding, etc.  I guess what I'm asking is if I should pick up some other writing program now.)  

[Roadrunner]

Drop it! We haven't used the level 4, but I have seen dictations in there that I couldn't do. You can use another program that focuses on paragraph writing as a bridge to WWS.

[Kidlit]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure with my limited memory that I couldn't do the dictations!  I've been off the board for weeks, and I just discovered SWB's updated (?) recommendations.  I'm looking at Kilgallon right now.  

Thanks for the input!

[Chrysalis Academy]

Or check out CAP's Writing & Rhetoric program - it's wonderful!

[warneral]

Hear it from SWB herself

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/509138-if-youre-using-wwe-or-wws/

[Aloha2U]

You could always just use the ones that you feel are too lengthy to dictate as copywork for the day, with the stipulation that if the sentences are not transposed correcting—paragraph not indented, capitalization or punctuation errors, etc.—then you will follow through with making it a dictation exercise after all.

[idnib]

http://downloads.peacehillpress.com/samples/pdf/WWEandWWSexplanation.pdf?utm_source=Catalog&utm_medium=Print&utm_content=Page%2B9&utm_campaign=2014%2BCatalog&page=10

 

SWB's updated recommendations.

[hollyhock]

Count how many words long they are. The instructor text says 25-30 words max for level 4 and I think the selections in the workbook are much longer than that. So either shorten them, or drop it. If you are satisfied with the skills she's learned, you can move on.

[Tracy]

We stopped 5 weeks short of finishing WWE3 after I bought and saw WWE4.  I also feel really good about what dd9 has learned in WWE.  But we are deep in the LA doldrums now, and we needed to have a little fun with what we have learned.  I bought Wordsmith Apprentice and Unjournaling, intending to use it for next school year, but dd9 was so excited that we just jumped right in.  

[Aloha2U]

Tracy has a good point. We completed the first half of WWE 4 during our second semester last year. This year I decided to have us try W&R Books 1 & 2 during the first semester, and now we're finishing the 2nd half of WWE 4 during our second semester. I'm glad we did both programs this year—worked out nicely.

 

Similarly, next year I plan for us to start with W&R Books 3 & 4 during the first semester and then begin WWS 1 in our second semester.

[Forget-Me-Not]

We dropped it about halfway through. My son hit a wall too. I went a little unschooly with writing for the rest of this year and we will likely pick up with WWS next year.