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How do you know if your kid is ready for WWS?

 

I'm considering using it with my will be 6th grader next year. He's a reluctant writer and wants me to tell him what to do rather than read instructions thoroughly. :O I have three younger kids and don't want to do WWS yet if it's going to be too time consuming for me.

 

Looking at the samples I see, I think he could do it. It would definitely stretch him tho. The WTMA classes are tempting too, but I'm not sure how he'd feel about that.

 

The options I'm considering are:

1) use IEW SWI-b with him next year and use WWS in 7th

2) start WWS next year, but do it half pace, spreading it over two years. Maybe use SWI-b half pace too, alternating weeks?

3) put him in Expository Writing 1 next year

4)ELTL 4 next year and WWS in 7th

5) doing WWS next year, regular pace

 

I really feel he's ready for more, but I'm just not sure if a little time with IEW would help move him beyond bare facts summarizing?

 

Eta: he's currently doing ELTL 3 which has almost no writing instruction at all. I may start using IEW SWI-b now to see if it's going to work for us

Edited by vaquitita
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WWS is harder than it is billed. DD is in 6th and is quite bright (135-145 tested) and just this year has it been something she can use mostly independently, with just help from me with new ideas.  We tried it in 4th, when she was reading at a 9th grade level, and while she could do it, the doing of it required all of her brain and there was not much left for internalizing the lessons, if that makes sense.  It is a lot smoother this year.

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I can't really speak to using it for 6th graders, since we tried (and failed) at using it in 5th grade before successfully using it now in 7th. My DD does have a hard time figuring out what is being asked of her, so for a week or two I had to go through and highlight the areas that were asking her to do something, but she eventually got the hang of it. It's not super obvious in WWS where the assignments are. But it wasn't too time consuming and only temporary.

Edited by Amilschen
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I think I need to get WWS in my hands so I can better tell if he's ready for it. :)

But I'm leaning towards holding off till 7th, at the very least I think he'll be ready for an online class by then. I'm already making changes for next year, stepping up work load and responsibility required, so I'm hesitant to add something so new/different. This kid hates change. Lol. Tho I have seen signs that this homebody is starting to need more external interactions, so it's possible he'd like it.

 

Which still leaves me unsure what to do next year.

 

IEW... I see some good stuff there. I'm thinking as long as we use the dress ups as guidelines/suggestions, and not hard and fast rules, it'll be a good choice.

 

OTOH, as I look thru ELTL 4 I see it guides kids to make an outline and then rewrite from the outline. I really wish I'd done level 4 with him this year. But I was scared to jump in to the grammar at that level. I wonder... I have ELTL 4, I could find what grammar he's covered so far this year and jump him into that chapter in level 4 and finish up the year with that? That way he could get some of the outlining and rewriting practice now, as well as the retell the story from different perspectives. Then he could do ELTL 5 next year and WWS in 7th. Or it might be easier to add those activities to level 3 myself? If I sat down with both books I could sick in post it notes with reminders of when to do what.

Edited by vaquitita
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