Conflicting thoughts on WWE workbooks. Help!

[Medieval Mom]

Is there anyone out there who prefers finding their own sources for narration and dictation, thus PREFERRING to skip the workbooks?

 

I'm trying to decide on whether to get the workbooks for next year (first grade).

 

On one hand, I'll have a little infant; so I'll have far less time to hunt for passages, etc. Although I enjoy finding copywork sources now, having it all laid out for me, esp. the narration questions, for next year sounds tempting. Also, I'm impressed by the books SWB chose as sources.:001_smile:

 

On the other hand, I'm a little hesitant about shifting from one book/source to another every week. Being the perfectionist that I am, I can see myself being tempted to try to read that selection every week as a read aloud-- and I'm just not quite convinced that's feasible. :confused: (And even if we could, should we? Maybe reading fewer books over a longer period of time (AO style) is actually better...)

 

I agree with the WTM words here:

 

"We strongly feel that 'reading texts' (books with snippets of stories and poems followed by comprehension exercises) turn reading into a chore." (Page 57 of the 2004 ed.)

 

Since I agree with that statement, I'm a bit hesitant to use the WWE workbooks. After all, don't they contain just "snippets of stories" followed by narration questions? Hmmm....:glare:

 

Those who have used the workbooks and those to prefer not to, please give your .02 worth! I'd appreciate it! Thanks!!!!

[Annie Laurie]

I see it as two different things.

 

When TWTM speaks of reading texts, I take it to mean that when the focus of the snippet is on reading skills, it can be tedious, instead it's better to give kids real books to read and have them narrate to find out what they know.

 

WWE is using literature to practice writing, which is different from reading. You use those sentences or paragraphs to demonstrate grammar concepts, how good writing looks, and so on. The child is still reading whole books for reading.

 

I guess I look at it in a different way- I want my kids to love reading, I don't want them to have to analyze the writing of every book we read, or use each book for writing exercises. I'm fine with reading them selections that we use for writing practice. Sometimes a selection intrigues my kids and we do then read the entire book, sometimes they decide to read the entire book to themselves. But I don't feel the need to read every book in its entirety that is presented in WWE, and I have liked how it's introduced my kids to a lot of different stories and sparked their interest in reading it on their own.

[Emmy]

I agree with the WTM words here:

 

"We strongly feel that 'reading texts' (books with snippets of stories and poems followed by comprehension exercises) turn reading into a chore." (Page 57 of the 2004 ed.)

 

I struggle with the WWE workbooks because of that statement. They seem to be exactly what they describe as not desirable. That being said - I really like using the workbooks because I am not confident enough to do it on my own and it saves me a lot of time. I wish I was that mom that could do all that naturally through whatever read aloud we are using - but I'm pulled in so many directions between all the kids and all the schoolwork I am pretty sure (no really I'm totally sure) I'd only get to it every once in a while. I am like you though - I feel compelled to read the books to assuage my guilt for using a "book full of snippets".

[Capt_Uhura]

After spending 30min reading through DS's books to find something suitable for copywork, I gave up and opened up the WWE workbook. Something has to give sometimes .... and the kids aren't threatening to mutiny so we'll continue w/ the workbooks for now. And the passages do spark our interest in those books!

[JudoMom]

I see it as two different things.

 

When TWTM speaks of reading texts, I take it to mean that when the focus of the snippet is on reading skills, it can be tedious, instead it's better to give kids real books to read and have them narrate to find out what they know.

 

WWE is using literature to practice writing, which is different from reading. You use those sentences or paragraphs to demonstrate grammar concepts, how good writing looks, and so on. The child is still reading whole books for reading.

 

I guess I look at it in a different way- I want my kids to love reading, I don't want them to have to analyze the writing of every book we read, or use each book for writing exercises. I'm fine with reading them selections that we use for writing practice. Sometimes a selection intrigues my kids and we do then read the entire book, sometimes they decide to read the entire book to themselves. But I don't feel the need to read every book in its entirety that is presented in WWE, and I have liked how it's introduced my kids to a lot of different stories and sparked their interest in reading it on their own.

 

:iagree:

[Veritaserum]

I love the workbooks. I cannot imagine doing the work myself since I've got an infant plus three others besides the one using WWE. :) The workbooks make WWE very user-friendly. While many of the books quoted in the workbooks are on our list to read, it would be impossible to read them all within the same timeframe as doing WWE. So we're not and it's fine. :)

[ELaurie]

because I know that makes it more likely that narrations and copywork will be done each week at our house :001_smile:

 

I'm not troubled by reading "snippets" of good literature to my dc for these activities. If they're from books we've read in the past, the passages bring back fond memories of a shared experience; if they're from books my dc haven't discovered yet, they beg me to check then out from the library on our next visit!

[Medieval Mom]

Thanks for all the positive feedback. Perhaps that's just what I needed to hear in order to add the workbook to my list of curricula next year without feeling so guilty about it. :blushing: Thanks for all the input! I appreciate it!

[LibraryLover]

Coming in late.

 

We struggle with this. What I have been doing is asking the child to pick 3-6 sentences from a current book that resonates.

 

I am out there on this. I don't want it to be a chore, but experience & paractice are wonderful things.

[Sheila in OK]

I also love the workbooks. :thumbup: I can't begin to imagine coming up with all of it on my own--and I don't even have a baby/toddler!

 

We don't try to read all the books (that would be waaay too much), but occasionally ds will want to know "the end of the story" so we will get the book from the library and read more.

[Strawberry Queen]

I'm just chiming in to say go with the workbook. My dd is using book 1 this year and it is the *best* thing. It's also just occurred to me through some board discussions that I can use the lit samples for dictation for my dd in gr. 3. This has made the finding of good sentences for her dictation soo much easier.

 

Have fun with your planning:)

[Medieval Mom]

Do you find that your children become frustrated or enjoy the variety of literature in the workbooks?

[Veritaserum]

Do you find that your children become frustrated or enjoy the variety of literature in the workbooks?

 

We're in week 14 and my dd has enjoyed all of the selections so far. There's a new book/theme for each week. She doesn't get bored. :) ETA: She doesn't get frustrated, either. We've read some of the books already and she says "I remember this!" or she gets interested in a book and wants to read it.

Edited October 25, 2008 by Veritaserum

[Malenki]

We've done 3 weeks of WWE 1 now and are enjoying it immensely. It's getting done, it's easy on me, and my son really loves it. So far he's known all the stories but has had no trouble with it being a new section of a story every week.

 

We don't use the worksheets as he's doing cursive so we have to rewrite. BUT, even though I thought I'd be wasting my money because of that, the truth is the biggest benefit to me is that everything is laid out and chosen already. It's open and go so I could care less whether we use those worksheets now! I would not have come up with the questions they ask for dictation, that's for sure.

[Medieval Mom]

We don't use the worksheets as he's doing cursive so we have to rewrite. BUT, even though I thought I'd be wasting my money because of that, the truth is the biggest benefit to me is that everything is laid out and chosen already. It's open and go so I could care less whether we use those worksheets now! I would not have come up with the questions they ask for dictation, that's for sure.

 

Ahh! We're using cursive, too! (No problem! I enjoy getting some use out of my Educational Fontware investment...) ;)

 

I think the narration questions are one of the main reasons I'd love to use the workbooks! Never having done this before, I think I'd appreciate the hand-holding.

 

I must say, too, that I really LOVE the selections SWB has chosen for the workbooks so far. They look fantastic! I hope, as so many of you have found, that my ds will be inspired to read from these books (or have them for read-alouds)!

 

Thanks, everyone, for being so candid. I think I'm just driving myself nuts trying to come up with the mythically perfect curriculum for next year:rolleyes:

[GailV]

Dissenting opinion here. I'm the queen of seat-of-the-pants schooling, a true lover of scripted lessons, of open-and-go schooling that I can do on autopilot. And I am SO GLAD I DID NOT GET THE WORKBOOK.

 

I never, ever ever did dictation and copywork on my own before because I had no confidence in my abilities to pick appropriate passages. But the whole thing just clicked in my brain when I read the WWE textbook, and I realized that the workbook wasn't going to be "just right" for us -- it was always going to be a wee bit off. (Also, the level I needed wasn't available at the time we were ready to start, so I couldn't have gotten it if I wanted it.)

 

I pick passages out of books we are interested in, and match the copywork and dictation precisely to what we need to focus on -- sometimes it's tied to what we're working on in FLL, other times it's something I've noticed that dd hasn't quite nailed down. I usually pick out passages while dd is doing other school work -- WWE is our 3rd subject, so I have a bit of time during French while she's doing a workbook page or listening to the CD. Since I'm using books we like and read anyway, I'm familiar with them.

 

Also, dd would want to use every book used in the workbook examples as a read aloud. I'd be on overload with a new book every week. Eek! I've been sticking to the same book for several weeks.

 

And listen, folks, if *I* can do this, anyone can. I am a dud at writing programs, I have no clue about literature, grammar confuses me, I'm horribly inconsistent about cursive, language arts is the toughest subject for me to teach.

[Lovedtodeath]

A couple of months ago I would have told you to skip the workbooks. I bought the main text and was pretty confident that I had it covered. But, we are not doing WWE at all. Would we with the workbook? Possibly at half pace. My plan is to go through all of the FLL scheduled for the year in half the time before I worry about adding another program in. It is just easier for me to do it this way then to switch between different subjects/programs.

 

I am leaning toward buying the workbook.

[Allearia]

I love the workbook. We have level 2. The questions and the sample narrations are so useful as I am trying to get ds to really learn to summarize and pick out the main points. Very similar to the narration questions in the SOTW AGs. So that is something that you don't have if you just pick your own selections.

 

We are using the level 2 because level 3 is not out so we are doing it a bit differently. We are just doing some dictation and some working on ds to write his own narrations but it helps so much to have those chunks from great books ready with questions for me as I learn to help him.

[Medieval Mom]

The questions and the sample narrations are so useful as I am trying to get ds to really learn to summarize and pick out the main points. Very similar to the narration questions in the SOTW AGs.

 

Excuse my ignorance-- I don't have the SOTW AG yet. (We're beginning next year.) But if we're doing narrations from SOTW from the AG (following the given questions), and copywork from something else in our curriculum (such as lit. or read alouds), isn't that enough? Do we really need a separate course for just narration and copywork? :confused: Couldn't we just use the WWE text as a guidebook for how much/ at what level, etc. we need to do?

 

I'm truly not trying to be difficult, but I have so many things I want to include in our curriculum for next year, that I'm really having to look at my list to assess what is imperative, and what is just extra busywork...

 

Thanks!

[Medieval Mom]

Since I'm using books we like and read anyway, I'm familiar with them.

 

Also, dd would want to use every book used in the workbook examples as a read aloud. I'd be on overload with a new book every week. Eek! I've been sticking to the same book for several weeks.

 

These are both points I'm seriously considering. Thanks GailV for your imput!

[Allearia]

But if we're doing narrations from SOTW from the AG (following the given questions), and copywork from something else in our curriculum (such as lit. or read alouds), isn't that enough? Do we really need a separate course for just narration and copywork? :confused: Couldn't we just use the WWE text as a guidebook for how much/ at what level, etc. we need to do?

 

You know, I hadn't really thought of it but you could definitely do this as your wrting program. The passages in SOTW would be longer than those in WWE but you could adapt it to your own child's level. You could use the guidelines in the main WWE book to help you figure out what to emphasize or how long of a sentence to do. Thinking about it, that is a lot of what we did last year - we mostly did copywork from my son's narrations for history.

 

We are doing this as just part of our writing program because a) I am a curriculum junkie and already have the WWE2 workbook as well as SOTW and Writing Tales 1 and b) we are just ready for more writing - I am trying to get ds to write at least a nice paragraph a day, so we combine different things.

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

if we're doing narrations from SOTW from the AG (following the given questions), and copywork from something else in our curriculum (such as lit. or read alouds), isn't that enough?

 

Couldn't we just use the WWE text as a guidebook for how much/ at what level, etc. we need to do?

 

so many things I want to include in our curriculum for next year, that I'm really having to look at my list to assess what is imperative, and what is just extra busywork...

 

I've been watching this thread with interest because I plan to use the WWE text exactly as you describe--as a guidebook. I knew I didn't want the workbooks because, exactly as you said, I think it is enough to pull from the reading and narrations we're already doing anyway. I'm VERY "matchy-matchy" (my husband's term for my OCD about liking things to go together!). For people who aren't hung up with my matchy-matchiness and who want to increase the ease of the program even more, it seems that the workbooks are a great choice. I chuckled when I read what you wrote about assessing what's imperative because in my head that translates into, "But there are so many other books I need and want to get so I'm willing to put in a little legwork to get my own passages so I can buy that great book on science."

 

Funnily enough, I wasn't even convinced I needed the WWE text but bit the bullet and bought it because I knew it would offer me the convenience of a schedule for introducing the different elements of writing. I'm a Charlotte Mason homeschooler using classical elements with a dash of Ruth Beechick. Before I bought the WWE text, I thought I would just use the handy-dandy Scholastic Writer's Desk reference that I picked up a while back to select different elements of grammar, punctuation, spelling, vocabulary, writing style, etc. to focus on, one at a time. Then, after figuring out that I can't be an expert on every subject and the timing of when to introduce what, I decided that using the WWE text as a guide would be exactly the kind of middle ground I was looking for. After reviewing it, I quite like it for that purpose. After experimenting with finding some of the copywork examples it calls for, I really don't think it's going to be a big struggle to use it as a guidebook. Of course, in these early years when most of our kids' school books are used as read-alouds, it's easy enough to make a mental note to yourself before you read about keeping on the lookout for passages with quotation marks (for example). In later years, when kids are doing more independent reading, I think it will be more of a chore to find appropriate passages but still not a big deal. In fact, as the years go by, I've got a notion to start putting a bug in my kids' ears to be on the lookout for appropriate passages themselves.

 

To make a long story short (too late!), using the WWE text as a guidebook seems like the perfect middle ground between the immense challenge of doing every bit of planning yourself and having everything laid out for you, albeit disconnected from the theme of what you're studying at the time. Honestly, I'd kill for the FLL workbooks to have their own FLL text so I could use it in the same way.

 

Kristina

 

Oh, and I guess I need to do some sort of signature for myself. In the meantime...

 

Like you, I have a 5 year old son doing Kindergarten this year. I also have a 4 year old pre-K daughter and a 2.5 year old son nipping at their heels.

[jonnia]

I just got my copy of WWE in the mail a few hours ago! I did not opt for the workbooks, because I really prefer having the flexibility of choosing copywork and narration passages myself that best suit where my little one is on any given day. Truthfully, I was a little nervous that this might be too much work, but after reading through year one in WWE, I feel confident that I can handle it. I am a serious tweaker/customizer, and I just felt I'd be straining against the workbooks before too long.

 

Ask me again in a few weeks, though! I know at this point that I can always go back and order the workbook if I change my mind. :tongue_smilie:

[Crimson Wife]

I've been having my DD do Charlotte Mason-style narrations in history, science, and after attending arts performances for over a year now. These are pretty different than the WWE Level 2 narrations she's also been doing for the past 3 weeks. In the former, she retells in her own words what she's just read or heard relating as many details as she can remember. By contrast, the focus of the WWE narrations is getting her to summarize only the most important points in just 2 sentences.

 

She finds the CM narrations very easy and the WWE ones a lot more challenging. But there's value to both approaches and I'm glad she's getting practice in doing both.

[Medieval Mom]

Thank you all for your continuing imput and opinions! I love it!

 

While I'm definitely going to purchase the WWE text, and am still somewhat undecided about the workbooks. Hmmm... At least I have several months to decide!;) I'm happy to hear both from those of you who LOVE the workbooks, as well as those of you who have chosen your own passages without too much trouble. Looks to me like WWE is a great program, no matter which path you choose!

[Medieval Mom]

I chuckled when I read what you wrote about assessing what's imperative because in my head that translates into, "But there are so many other books I need and want to get so I'm willing to put in a little legwork to get my own passages so I can buy that great book on science."

 

So true, so true! :001_rolleyes:

[Haiku]

This thread has been very helpful to me. Thanks for starting it, Medieval Mom!

 

Tara

[Medieval Mom]

This thread has been very helpful to me. Thanks for starting it, Medieval Mom!

 

Tara

 

You're welcome!:)

[Gailmegan]

Excuse my ignorance-- I don't have the SOTW AG yet. (We're beginning next year.) But if we're doing narrations from SOTW from the AG (following the given questions), and copywork from something else in our curriculum (such as lit. or read alouds), isn't that enough? Do we really need a separate course for just narration and copywork? :confused: Couldn't we just use the WWE text as a guidebook for how much/ at what level, etc. we need to do?

 

That is exactly what we do. After reading WWE text I realized that between SOTW and FLL (not to mention scripture and catechism memorization that we copy sometimes) my son has more than enough narration/copywork/dictation to meet the weekly suggested amounts in WWE. And on the rare occasion that a given week doesn't have enough I supplement from a book we are reading. This has only happened once in the 9 weeks we've been doing school.

[Medieval Mom]

After reading WWE text I realized that between SOTW and FLL (not to mention scripture and catechism memorization that we copy sometimes) my son has more than enough narration/copywork/dictation to meet the weekly suggested amounts in WWE.

 

Ahhh! I was wondering about that! We gather copywork from our McGuffey readers (which sometimes includes "slate work") and various Mother Goose rhymes, etc., now. I rather like these old-fashioned sources :) Next year, we'll have even more sources for copywork ( esp. if we purchase Harp & Laurel Wreath or another poem-memorization program...). Narration is the main reason I'm contemplating the workbooks, but I imagine it's a lot less intimating than I think it is, right? After all, the WWE text would still give suggestions for narration, correct? Since I'm planning on using SOTW and FLL and/or PLL next year, too, it does seem like rather enough at this point! Still, having everything already laid out *does* have it's appeal....

 

Hmm... Much to contemplate. I'm about four weeks away from my due date, and unable to "nest" because we're in the process of moving. I think I'm "nesting" by sorting out next year's curriculum! (And I'm probably making everything much more difficult a decision than it really is.:blush:)

 

I'm so appreciative of this board. Thank you!