Life after WWE3

[SereneHome]

I am truly sorry if I /others have asked this before (I am having heck of a time with "search" )

 

If you used WWE1, 2 and 3 - what did you use after that?  I remember seeing somewhere that Susan says WWE4 is not necessary.  I think we are ready to move on to something different.

 

Suggestions, please.  (non christian)

 

Thank you!!

[NormaElle]

How old/what grade is your child?

[SereneHome]

He is 9, so technically 4th grade, but we are still working through WWE3

[TheAttachedMama]

I would suggest a year of Classical Academic Press writing.   Another option would be Treasured Conversations to firm up paragraph writing.   

[Miss Tick]

I mixed in a bit of Bravewriter (Faltering Ownership and Arrows) and some Killgallon (Sentence Composing for Elementary School) along with WWE 4 s and did ALL that over 4th and 5th.

 

With my next I may skip some or all of WWE 4 and instead start WWS 1 at a slow pace in 5th.

 

Late elementary / early middle seems like a nice time to do some intentional vocabulary study with Word Roots it Caesar's English.

 

I'm also doing a short story study with my 7th graders that i think I could start earlier next go-round.

[lexi]

I’m thinking about doing Essentials in Writing with my son. He’s not ready for WWS even at a slow pace. And even though I have the CAP books, he specifically asked me for something a little more independent. So we might jump to that for a few years. Totally crazy!

With my oldest we did CAP for a few years and are now in WWS. That worked well.

[Porridge]

We started Classical Composition (Memoria Press) this year. I was skeptical because there weren’t many reviews (it doesn’t seem like many on this board use it) and it *looks* dry and less “fun†than CAP. However, I’ve been quite impressed. The lessons are broken up well so that writing isn’t too overwhelming. Now that we have the hang of it, my DD can often work independently. The first year is all about variations - learning to say something in many difffetent ways. I can definitely see my daughter improving. Her writing is eloquent and well structured. Caveat— We did dabble in IEW before so she had some basic knowledge of outlining (CC expects outlining but doesn’t teach it) and the idea of strong verbs / adjectives /etc.

[Porridge]

Oh one more thing CC uses some examples from the Bible in the teachers manual, but isn’t overtly Christian or religious.

[wendyroo]

Here are Susan's recommendations.

 

Peter (8.5, mid-3rd grade) is just finishing up WWE 3.  He has also done Killgallon's Sentence Composing for Elementary School.

 

After Christmas we are starting Winning with Writing Level 3.  From the samples, I really like how they approach outlining and simple paragraph writing.  They are teaching a fairly formulaic structure, and sticking to shorter paragraphs, but it looks like a strong introduction, and a good step up from WWE 3.

 

Once he is done with that, he might be ready for WWS 1, but I kind of doubt it since he will still be young.  I think we will probably first do Put That in Writing Level 1,  which also focuses on paragraphs, but much longer, more complex ones.  In their sample document, one example paragraph is over 350 words and is written from a three level outline.  (Compared to Winning with Writing 3 where a typical example paragraph is ~75 words and written from a two level outline.)

 

He will probably be ready for WWS 1 sometime in 5th or 6th grade.  If we start in 5th we might follow Susan's recommendation to take it at half speed.

 

Wendy

[Miss Tick]

I came back to suggest that this is also a good time to solidify typing skills. We used Dance, Mat, Typing from the BBC. It can be low-key practice. My 7th graders use typing very regularly and I'm so glad they are not learning it now.

[SereneHome]

I keep hearing names Essentials in Writing and Treasured Conversations, but haven't done much research on it.  Thank you for all the suggestions

 

[SoCal_Bear]

This is what Susan Wise Bauer wrote about this:

 

http://downloads.peacehillpress.com/samples/pdf/WWEandWWSexplanation.pdf

 

[blondeviolin]

We did the first half or so of Treasured Conversations and then wrote across the curriculum. I wouldn't start WWS unless you're driving it. Not only does it teach writing, but it's teaching my daughter systematic organization and following written directions.

[ScoutTN]

Another vote for Treasured Conversations, CAP or Kilgallon.

[bfw0729]

I have used wwe 2 & 3 and wanted to switch things up at the start of this year. Well, I have been using Treasured Conversations because it was recommended by many. I know many people speak highly about the program, however, I have noticed a decline in writing skills

in 2 of the three kids. Both fifth graders are frankly not writing as well as they did last year. I saw incredible progress in their writing when I had uses the wwe books, but for whatever reason, TC has stifled their writing. We are completing week 19 next week and I will be moving back to wwe. I purchased book 4. I have heard writing tales and writing and rhetoric were strong programs. Something to think about. I keep thinking of trying one of those two programs, but for now, I need to go back to what works for my kids.

Edited December 17, 2017 by bfw0729

[Milknhoney]

We did not use a formal writing program in grade 5 (in between WWE4 and WWS1). At first, I decided to use Creative Writer as a way to keep up writing but have sort of a "fun" break from formal writing. Ds actually liked it but I dropped it after the first couple months only because I felt like we were doing too much. Grade 5 turned out to be the year that I started transitioning ds from taking narration dictation to having him write out his narrations on his own. He started writing out science, geography, and literature narrations in composition notebooks. That turned out to be quite a lot of writing in and of itself. 

 

I also agree with the poster who suggested introducing typing. If you're going to move into WWS, I can tell you that it involves a lot of writing AND revising. I ended up getting a typing program for ds because I realized that having him rewrite his entire composition by hand after making corrections was just too much work.