Bridging WWE and WWS

[NormaElle]

I'm trying to figure out how to bridge these two programs. I'm looking at Introduction to Composition (Memoria Press) and the Killgallon books (the Sentence and Paragraph books). Can you lovely people offer me any insights into using these books?

 

My daughter is finishing WWE3 and is in sixth grade. She is very resistant to starting WWS despite being a pretty decent writer. I was trying to figure out what to do with her now, as well as my other kids down the line (who, having started homeschooling earlier in their educations, will probably finish WWE3 earlier than sixth grade). I'd so appreciate information about grade levels, how you've used these, etc.

 

Please don't recommend WWE4; that thing scares both of us. :)

 

Thanks!

[ScoutTN]

We used CAP Writing and Rhetoric. SWB's recommendations are posted here somewhere.

[The Governess]

Here is an idea:

 

1) work on the two Killgallon books

2) use the summarizing skills taught in WWE and summarize passages from literature, science, and history each week

3) buy WWS level 1 and do the lessons on outlining in advance, then work on outlining skills throughout the year. You could spend one semester on one-level outlining and another on two-level outlining.

4) Shore up typing skills

 

The above will be very helpful as prep for WWS.

Edited April 16, 2017 by lovelearnandlive

[Hunter]

I downloaded WWS 1 from my library and have been reading it just this week.

 

For WWE, I just have the TM and not the workbooks. I prefer the option of making up my own lessons using the books we have and like.

 

For the average student, I would never try and complete WWS in one year. I'm not sure where I would cut off for the first year, but pretty darn early. And repeat and repeat and repeat, in the style I prefer to be used with WWE.

 

A student would never know when I hopped from WWE to WWS as I don't intend for them to ever see the books.

 

The Kindle WWS student workbook in in my wishlist. I think that is all I need.

[lexi]

We went through several of the CAP books. They were great and not too overwhelming. I felt like they were a great bridge. We're going to try WWS this next school year. We'll see how it goes!

[blondeviolin]

We worked through killgallon this year and my reluctant writer loved it.

[PeterPan]

My dd did WWS1 in 8th and WWS2 in 9th. I really wouldn't stress over when she does it. Writing Tales would be a really nice bridge between WWE and WWS. Has she done any narrative writing? WT2 would be fine for 7th. I would supplement with editing exercises and have her outline non-fiction reading. At that age we used mindmapping software (Poplet, Inspiration) or did it on a whiteboard. We mapped in that way (visual outline) magazine articles from Muse. They're typically very intelligent, mini-essays, with supporting points, intro and conclusion paragraphs. I remember her having this really funny moment of "Mom, why did they bother to put that paragraph. They just retold everything from the rest of the essay!" Like hello, that's the POINT, lol.

 

Prompt writing is another fun thing for that age. I didn't use Jump In completely (not sure why, just didn't), but the writing prompts from the Jump In tm were TERRIFIC for that age. She has a list of maybe 20 for each month. I printed the pages and put them in page protectors. So then for January I could just pull out and have writing prompts for the month. It was at a time when one of my goals was just to bulk up!

 

For my dd, getting typing going was HUGE. Does your dd type? I really think this is a good age to get all those foundational skills to come together. So if she can work on typing, write from prompts, just get her comfort up in getting out ANY writing, that can be a really good thing! Then, when the developmental readiness comes together, they have the skills and they pull it together. 

 

The skills we developed during that gap (typing, mindmapping with software, getting out quantity, comfort getting your thoughts out, realizing what environment you need in order to write and be comfortable, etc.) were instrumental in making WWS work for us. We continued using the software, etc. etc. right on into WWS. Also, we did it at a faster pace than normal. You can google site search to find my old posts on how we did it. Main thing is, don't feel intimidated into doing something too early. You can flex it and make it work for you. Do it faster, do it with more supports, skip things she doesn't need, etc. etc.

 

One reason kids don't enjoy WWE is because it's working memory intensive. You can work on working memory as a separate gig. Having strong working memory actually really helps with getting your thoughts about, but when kids have deficits sometimes connecting it to the physical act of writing makes it really tedious. You can work on it separately with board games like Ticket to Ride (anything where they need to hold their thoughts and plan!) and also more overt things like digit spans, metronome work, etc.

Edited April 19, 2017 by OhElizabeth

[Aloha2U]

I definitely recommend the Writing & Rhetoric series by Classical Academic Press!  :thumbup:

 

While my little man didn't exactly love WWE, it was worth the the time and effort. In hindsight, WWS was just short of a train wreck for us. If I had to do it all over again, we'd still begin with WWE and still use W&R afterwards, but I would not leave W&R to go back to WWS; I'd stay the course with W&R. It looks as though W&R Books 7 & 8 cover the same material as WWS 1, but more efficiently and enjoyably. That's what we'll be working through next year—Books 7 & 8—after completing Books 5 & 6 this year.