Combine 3rd and 5th in IEW SWIA or divide, keeping one in WWE3

[Trilliumlady]

I have done WWE with both of my olders, now in fourth and second. DD9 will finish WWE3 this year and DS8 will finish WWE2 this year. They haven’t done really any other writing, but DD does decently. DS complains somewhat about just writing in general and struggles a bit more with summarizing, etc. I think this difference I note between them is also due to the fact that DD9has been a year “behind†the level just because I didn’t find it soon enough.

I am planning on IEW SWI for next year and had been thinking of having just DD do it (will be in fifth) and keeping DS (will be in third) in WWE for one more year. Now I’m wondering if I should combine them. Would SWI A be too young for a fifth grader? Or too old for a third grader who is t loving WWE? Or would it be good to switch him before he gets too much more bogged down and frustrated by it? I had originally planned on switching DS into IEW in fourth grade, but maybe I should consider it now?

 

 

Edited to make corrections on title.

Edited January 8, 2018 by Trilliumlady

[SebastianCat]

My kids did SWI A when they were in 5th and 3rd grades, and it worked well for us.   I watched most of the videos with them so I'd know exactly what the assignments were, and required more from my then-5th grader.   I found that a few of the source texts were a little "light" for my 5th grader, so I did swap a couple of them towards the end, but the program was flexible enough to make that easy.   They went on to do the SWCC A after SWI and both did well with the program.

[cintinative]

You can combine them. You might need to do more of the scribing/provide more assistance to your younger child. Also some of the videos are long. Consider breaking them up into two sessions. Fifty minutes is a long time for a 3rd grader to focus on one subject. 

[Trilliumlady]

Would there be any benefit to keeping him one more year in WWE? For those of you who have used both, does that extra year make a huge difference, do you think, before going to IEW? If there doesn’t seem to be a clear benefit, and there does appear to be at least a logistical benefit to moving them both into IEW then I guess I ask myself why not just switch? I’m not opposed to keeping him in WWE though if anyone can show me a good reason to!

 

 

Edited for a correction.

Edited January 9, 2018 by Trilliumlady

[mirabillis]

we did not. we started to when my ds was 5th/dd 3rd, but realized it was a bit over her head. and it really is very open and go, and less parent-intensive with pudewa teaching. and this way ds 5th can go at their own pace. plus if you start 3rd grader now, you'll be pushing into higher level stuff a bit too early imo. we continued with wwe until switching to swi-a in 5th. it's worked great for us.