lindsey Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 I'm having a great internal debate and wanted to see what others have done. I'm looking to buy WWE 1 and 3 for my kids for next year. I thought about buying the text with all four levels in it, but I don't know if I want to be responsible for coming up with all of the quotes and poems and things. But then I sort of cringe thinking about eventually buying the workbooks separately for four kids. :/ I thought I'd just have them write on separate paper and reuse the workbooks, but is that silly? If you have the text, is it pretty clearly written out what kind of quotes and things you need to find? How long or short, etc? Do you find it challenging to get it all done? Do you ever wish you'd just bought the workbooks?? Ahhh language arts is just getting expensive, and I'm only buying for two! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forty-two Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 (edited) You can copy the kids' worksheets for use within the family with WWE. (Or you can buy a pdf of the kids' worksheets and print them out.) Meaning you only need one copy of each level - you don't have to re-buy for each kid. I also look to buy them used on Amazon - to get a definitely clean copy you only save $5 or so off the new price on Amazon, but every little bit counts - I got WWE 1, 2, 3 for an average of $20 each, including shipping. I have the instructor's text (also available used, for a decent discount), and I thought it was pretty well laid out wrt what to look for, but in practice I needed open and go - I just didn't have the time or energy to do any prep. I'm very pleased with WWE 2 - no-prep open and go, and both dd9 and I like the selections chosen. (In fact, she wanted to read the entire books the selections were taken from - I just got a few from the library for her. It makes for a nice lit list for independent reading - bit more complex vocab and sentence structure than usual for books aimed at her age group.) ETA: Also, it would be entirely doable to write the work on a separate sheet - for the most part all the kids' workbook pages are just lined paper with a themed line drawing (plus the copywork passage typed out), and so it wouldn't be much trouble at all to do the work on your own paper. (Sometimes that's not so true - for example, the student workbook for FLL3 saves a lot of time and trouble compared to doing the work on your own paper - but for WWE I think it's very doable.) Edited January 14, 2016 by forty-two 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyhock Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 If you have the text, is it pretty clearly written out what kind of quotes and things you need to find? How long or short, etc? Do you find it challenging to get it all done? Do you ever wish you'd just bought the workbooks?? Ahhh language arts is just getting expensive, and I'm only buying for two! I have used just the text for 4 kids now. Two have finished level 4, one is in level 4 and one is in level two. I don't ever wish I'd bought the workbooks. I really like using the text. Each year of WWE is broken up into about 4 sections in the text (I haven't actually seen the workbooks so I don't know if they are similar). So one section is Week 1-10, the next is Week 1-18, etc. At the beginning of each of these sections is an explanation of what these weeks are supposed to work on, how many paragraphs the child should narrate from, how many words the copywork or dictation should be, other little tips AND a full week of lessons with the passages chosen for you, so that you have an example of how it should look. Then for the remaining weeks of the section, you choose the passages yourself. There are suggestions for the remaining weeks of what kinds of grammar elements to look for and include in the passages, but I ignore these because they are a little bit ahead of what my kids are usually learning in grammar at the time. So I just use the length suggestions. Very often, my kids narrate from the history or science lesson we've just completed. So, for example, I read a chapter of SOTW and then we go straight to their notebook and do a narration. If that doesn't work out for whatever reason, I have Pathway readers or Nature readers lying around. I pick a few paragraphs, or a sentence or two, and use that. It's really quite easy if you don't incorporate the suggested grammar elements! Maybe look at sample pages of the text. That might give you a better idea of how it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondchen Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 I have both, and despite my intentions to use just the text, I realized that it was just too much. Yes, all the guidelines for choosing appropriate passages are laid out clearly (the above post from hollyhock is great), but it would have taken too much time and effort for me to choose them. I'd rather spend my prep time on something else. So I opted for the workbooks, which I love. They get it done with ZERO prep, which is important to me. I have Levels 1 and 2 so far. I understand the cost issue, so yes, at least levels 1 and 2 could easily be done on separate paper. But you only have to buy each whole workbook once, in any case. The teacher pages are non-consumable, so you just get a copy of the student pages for subsequent children. Or, you buy the pdf version and print as many copies as you want. Not sure how that applies to levels 3 and 4, which MAY be more integrated. Someone else will have to chime in on that, since I'm not there yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My3girls Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 We used just the text. It wasn't really that much prep. I just used the book we were currently reading as our source. It actually tied our language arts and reading together nicely. Some books we used were Charlotte's Web, Little House in the Big Woods, Trumpet of the Swan, and Cricket in Times Square. We bailed about half through 3rd grade and moved to Writing and Rhetoric, not because there was anything wrong with the text but because we had gotten what we needed from it. My girls made huge improvements with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsey Posted January 15, 2016 Author Share Posted January 15, 2016 Ohhh you guys are all so convincing. ;) I just can't decide. I think sometimes I'd enjoy coming up with stuff on my own, buuut in reality 'open and go' will probably be necessary. :P I did buy huge packs of 1sr and 3rd grade paper, so we will probably use that instead of writing in the books. Thanks all! I'll keep watching for sales. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsey Posted January 15, 2016 Author Share Posted January 15, 2016 Oh, I also reserved the single text from our library so I will check it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I used the same set of workbooks, WWE 1-4, with both my kids. It was no trouble. I only had to buy it once and we were done. I have since given it to a friend to use with her kids. I read from the book and they have their own paper to write on. It was dead easy. We never used the workpages in the back of the book. I mean, they are cute, but we just used whatever lined paper was developmentally appropriate for them at the time. For copywork I just wrote it at the top of the page. I kept it all in a single binder. So, it was just the one book that I used and the kids had a binder to hold their writing. No prep, no thought. Just turn the page and do the next thing. It was one of my favorite resources. And my kids LOVED the literature suggestions. We ended up reading a whole bunch of them because my kids enjoyed the excerpts so much. And Oh My Goodness, they were SO excited if the selection was from a book they had already read, lol. That was so exciting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I used workbooks 1-3 with DD11. DD6 is now using WWE1. Since the blank pages in the back have all been used, she writes in a composition book, which works well because I'm having her do hers in cursive. I write the sentence at the top and she copies below: easy peasy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Just like you, I have three boys (6, 4 and 2) and one little girl (newborn). I considered using the text, and actually looked through it at a conference, but decided that I needed something absolutely open and go. I did buy SWB's lectures on writing which did a wonderful job explaining her philosophy on teaching writing and gave me a big picture view on what WWE and WWS would be teaching and why. My oldest is currently working through WWE1 and we both love it. Since I'm hoping to use it with all the kids I bought the pdf. I printed out all the work sheets and Proclicked them into a notebook. Instead of printing out the teacher pages I just read them to DS straight from the pdf on my tablet. Wendy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Just like you, I have three boys (6, 4 and 2) and one little girl (newborn). I considered using the text, and actually looked through it at a conference, but decided that I needed something absolutely open and go. I did buy SWB's lectures on writing which did a wonderful job explaining her philosophy on teaching writing and gave me a big picture view on what WWE and WWS would be teaching and why. My oldest is currently working through WWE1 and we both love it. Since I'm hoping to use it with all the kids I bought the pdf. I printed out all the work sheets and Proclicked them into a notebook. Instead of printing out the teacher pages I just read them to DS straight from the pdf on my tablet. Wendy I absolutely think that it is very important to understand the philosophy behind the WWE & WWS series. I have the lectures and find them very helpful. The opening chapter (or chapters?) of the WWE text also do a beautiful job of explaining SWB's approach and philosophy. I believe that Peace Hill Press has the opening chapter, and some more, available as a sample to read as a PDF. If you don't get the full text I strongly suggest you at least read that sample. Otherwise, it is very difficult to understand why you are doing what you are doing in WWE. It feels very different from what kids in public school do, and at times I felt pressure to make my kids composition program feel more like what there peers were doing in public school. Just doing copy work and narration and dictation can feel odd if you don't understand why you are doing it. You find yourself thinking, 'Is this it? This is all I do? What does this have to do with writing a essay?" Then you see that your friend's kid in third grade is writing a 2 page research paper and you get worried your kid will NEVER learn to write doing these easy peasy narrations. But, if you know why you are doing it, and understand why writing research papers in third grade is ridiculous, then you have confidence to just focus on what you are doing. And, as someone who is on her second trip through WWE and WWS, I can promise you that they do indeed learn to write and that the elementary years can be that simple. It turns out that those foundational skills of narration, dictation and copy work, can be surprisingly effective. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Just like you, I have three boys (6, 4 and 2) and one little girl (newborn). I considered using the text, and actually looked through it at a conference, but decided that I needed something absolutely open and go. I did buy SWB's lectures on writing which did a wonderful job explaining her philosophy on teaching writing and gave me a big picture view on what WWE and WWS would be teaching and why. My oldest is currently working through WWE1 and we both love it. Since I'm hoping to use it with all the kids I bought the pdf. I printed out all the work sheets and Proclicked them into a notebook. Instead of printing out the teacher pages I just read them to DS straight from the pdf on my tablet. Wendy Is the PDF both the teacher pages and the worksheets? I thought this was just the worksheets and really didn't want to buy the book and the worksheets. I think I am going to plug away using her text Writing With Ease and our own composition books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyroo Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Is the PDF both the teacher pages and the worksheets? I thought this was just the worksheets and really didn't want to buy the book and the worksheets. I think I am going to plug away using her text Writing With Ease and our own composition books. The pdf's (like this one) are exactly the same as the hard copies (like this one). They both include teacher pages (explanation of what writing concept is being taught in that week's copy work sentences, narration passages and comprehension questions) and student pages (lined sheets with all the copy work sentences pre-printed and sheets for the oral/written narrations). Wendy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Is the PDF both the teacher pages and the worksheets? I thought this was just the worksheets and really didn't want to buy the book and the worksheets. I think I am going to plug away using her text Writing With Ease and our own composition books. It's one big book. You need the teacher pages in the WWE workbooks. Just the student pages would be half the program. The book has the dictations and the instructions for you to use the program. The first half is for the teacher to use, to read out of. The back part has the reading assignments for narration and the pages for writing copywork and dictation. For a narration assignment, you had the book to the student to read. When the student is done you take the book back and read the narration questions. For the dictation sentences you read directly from the book. It gives instructions for those as you go along. It really is an entire years worth of writing in one book. That is what made it so nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondchen Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Is the PDF both the teacher pages and the worksheets? I thought this was just the worksheets and really didn't want to buy the book and the worksheets. I think I am going to plug away using her text Writing With Ease and our own composition books. The pdf includes the teacher pages and the student workbook pages. You can buy the student pages separately in either pdf or print, but you can't buy JUST the teacher pages in either format (unless you buy the print edition used, which I did for WWE1 and paid only about $10 for it). I have the pdf for WWE2. I printed and proclicked the student pages, and I read the teacher text from my tablet, which works well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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