Jump to content

Menu

Using CAP W&R before WWS


Freya
 Share

Recommended Posts

I read somewhere that CAP's W&R book 3 flows nicely into WWS. I anticipate finishing up CAP W&R book 3 before my daughter is ready for WWS and was thinking of going through W&R book 4 before moving on to WWS. Would there be too much overlap between book 4 and WWS?

 

It looks like W&R books 4-6 do cover roughly the same material as WWS. Any opinions on whether one does a better job of it than the other?

 

 

Edited by Freya
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do not have books 5 and 6, but books 1-4 take a very different approach to writing than WWS (which I have levels 2 and 3 of). The scope and sequence of each series is different, so I don't know that I could compare who does a better job - they do different jobs.

 

WWS does a good job of teaching different building blocks of academic writing - biographical sketches, chronological narratives, etc - and combining the building blocks into a longer academic work, complete with how to outline your paper and site your sources. But the longer work is more the style or a report or monograph. It also teaches basic literary analysis. WWS does not teach essay or argumentative form of any kind. W&R teachers narrative writing elements as well as several other elements of writing, and it is all directed towards argumentation. In books 4-6 there are a couple of essay types taught. Really, all of the activities in the W&R series are intended to develop the thinking and writing skills necessary for reasoned argumentation (rhetoric). It does not teach how to write a report style paper, nor does it teach literary criticism/analysis.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do not have books 5 and 6, but books 1-4 take a very different approach to writing than WWS (which I have levels 2 and 3 of). The scope and sequence of each series is different, so I don't know that I could compare who does a better job - they do different jobs.

 

WWS does a good job of teaching different building blocks of academic writing - biographical sketches, chronological narratives, etc - and combining the building blocks into a longer academic work, complete with how to outline your paper and site your sources. But the longer work is more the style or a report or monograph. It also teaches basic literary analysis. WWS does not teach essay or argumentative form of any kind. W&R teachers narrative writing elements as well as several other elements of writing, and it is all directed towards argumentation. In books 4-6 there are a couple of essay types taught. Really, all of the activities in the W&R series are intended to develop the thinking and writing skills necessary for reasoned argumentation (rhetoric). It does not teach how to write a report style paper, nor does it teach literary criticism/analysis.

Thanks. That's very helpful. 

 

Would you then recommend covering all of the W&R books in addition to WWS? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks. That's very helpful.

 

Would you then recommend covering all of the W&R books in addition to WWS?

If you are planning to use WWS regardless, I think using something to teach essay driven writing is important. You could use W&R prior to WWS, and it wouldn't be repeating very much. Several people have mentioned Lively Art of Writing and Writing with a Thesis after WWS. My oldest has used WWS (she also did W&R book 3), and we are reading through Essay Voyage together, and next year will do Writing with a Thesis as well as a logic course to help develop her writing.

 

I have heard Lost Tools of Writing suggested as a good program for developing thesis and then writing about them. It is usually used in 7th-9th grade range.

 

My DS is using W&R, and I don't have plans to do WWS with him, but will teach him the basics of report writing and citation when he begins writing in his content areas, and literary analysis writing when we start doing formal analysis, in high school.

 

I think using all of W&R and all of WWS would be a lot of writing! I don't recommend that. I think you could pick on or the other as your writing program, and supplement with any additional writing skills missing from the chosen program. Writing is an art, and there will always be more skills, techniques, and genres to cover.

Edited by Targhee
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember thinking that doing CAP's Narrative 2 before starting WWS would be really useful - it had a little bit more explicit instruction about paragraphs and topic sentences.  I didn't get real far in CAP, my older dd liked it but was too far along for it, and my younger dd doesn't like it.  But yes, I thought at least the first 3 books (which I have experience with) would have been a better transition to WWS than going straight from WWE was.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...