My child having hard time with Writing with ease narration

[Noelle2018]

Hi, I have a 6 year old child, whom I just pulled out from public school recently.  I am using First Language lessons Level 1, Writing with ease Level 1, and Phonics Pathways for our language arts curriculum.  All is going well except the narration portion of Writing with ease. (we are at week 3 )  My child seem not be able to understand the narration easily, and not be able to answer back to my questions often.  I think this is due to the fact that the passage in the Writing with ease is too difficult for her.  (because with The Rabbit and the Turtle and Lion and Mouse passages from First Language lessons, she was able to answer to the questions very well.)   Does this indicate that the writing with ease is too difficult material for her or I should keep at it so that she will eventually learn to be able to answer?  English is not my first language, and I even don't know some words in the passage, and I feel very discouraged about this whole thing....I am wondering if anyone has some advice, even maybe some other curriculum to recommend etc.  Thank you!

[OneStepAtATime]

:grouphug:

 

Narration is a skill that can take significant time to master and is largely developmentally based.  She may not be ready for this skill set or she may need significantly easier passages and very short lessons.  Please don't be discouraged.  She has a long time to learn these things.   Give her that time.  This is not a skill that must be mastered at the age of 6.  Or 7.  Or 8....

 

Shift what you need to, adjust the material as needed, switch out material if what you have isn't working.  Come back to it when she is a bit older.

[JIN MOUSA]

Full disclosure: We only did FLL1 when DD was 5/6 in first grade. And now, for second grade, we do only FLL for a quarter, then only WWE1 for a quarter, trying to do copywork, narration, or dictation every day. For WWE, I don't use the workbook, but select copywork and narration passages from a book that my DD is interested in (currently the American Girl historical character books). 

 

So obviously you can take a break from WWE and go back to it in a few months, to see if a bit more age/maturity helps. 

 

Also, it's a bit more work, but you can do narration with different texts. Find a book that she's interested in, that you think is within her skill level. Read a few paragraphs (an amount similar to the WWE passage), and ask her questions about it. Then write down her one sentence about what she remembered. 

 

I find that WWE and FLL work so well together, and if you like the program, but the narration passages seem too difficult, I think waiting on it or modifying it for now might be the cheapest/easiest way forward.

[SoCal_Bear]

I would set it aside for now and come back to it later if you think it is too frustrating right now. I would say in my own experience that my child did not always remember, but when we got to the end of the questions, I would got back and repeat the questions that he missed and ask him to listen carefully again for that when the passage was read again. Perhaps even just read a smaller portion of the passage.

It's also totally okay for you not to know the words in the passage. Modeling looking up words in the dictionary is a good thing. Doing it together means you are modeling that learning happens at any age. I don't think it's a secret in your family that English isn't your first language. 

 

That being said, lots of people use WWE a year later. WWE1 = 2nd, WWE2 = 3rd, WWE 3 = 4th. There's nothing wrong with doing that either. 

[Melissa in Australia]

What I do is use narration from books, then start WWE a year latter. So for my twins we are using easy read books. I read the book to them, ask them questions they answer, then I ask them to tell me about the story, I write down their response, they draw a picture. Later in the year they will start copying what I have written ( at the moment they are learning letter formation, significant fine motor delays). Next year they will begin WWE.

 

We are also using WriteShop A for some fun writing time. Once again I am writing for them, they are attempting to copy what I have written down.

[Rosie_0801]

It's perfectly okay to break the passage up into smaller chunks. Sometimes we had to do maybe two sentences at a time. Let Junior know that you know it is hard work and the important part is practicing. It's okay to read the questions first too, so they have some idea what to listen for.

[kiwik]

When did you pull him from public school? What week WWE1 are on.

[PeterPan]

Back in the old days nobody had WWE and we just used books of fables or other things to work on narrations. Find something short that she DOES understand and use that. She might do well with something with pictures to aid comprehension. The point is to be sequencing the events and retelling, it doesn't matter WHAT you're retelling.

 

Also, you might like to consider having her listen to audiobooks several hours a day. You can put them on while she's playing. High quality tv shows are another good way to build language skills. Peg & Cat is good for that age.

[Miss Tick]

Like Rosie said, I suggest reading a portion of the selection and asking questions on that, then read the next portion, etc. I wouldn't give up on week 3, give it some more time. A lot if kids struggle with this skill.

[Rachel]

I’d set it aside for awhile.

[Milknhoney]

The purpose of Writing with Ease is not reading comprehension - although that is a side benefit. The purpose is for the student to have the opportunity to compose sentences. The story excerpts serve to give the student something to talk ABOUT. So, if you have to go back and reread the passage that the answer is located in, that's okay. If she can ultimately give you an answer in a complete sentence, then you've met the goal. 

 

WWE is hard. It's very common that the questions will ask about minute details no one would remember after a casual read. I often do not remember, and I don't have your excuse of English being a second language!

 

One tip that I found to help in the first two levels is that I let my children read along with me, rather than just listen to me read. They are both visual learners and I think that helped a lot. (In level 3, the passages are in the student pages for them to read themselves). If it's a particularly difficult passage, I might even read through it twice before asking questions.

 

There are a few lessons that are so difficult I had to go back and read the passage with the answer in it for EVERY question. But for most lessons, I only have to do this for one or two questions. Sometimes none. I'd give it a few weeks to see if she catches on. If you are having to review the answer for every question every time, then maybe waiting or switching would be better. 

[Another Lynn]

I would wait a bit and then try again with something else - maybe Aesop's Fables - where the stories are short enough that she can narrate the whole thing.  Narrating from an excerpt when the child doesn't understand the point of the passage is difficult.  I agree with others who said some of the questions are asking about such minute details that few people would remember those from one reading.  It makes a new skill more difficult than it needs to be, imho.  

 

ETA:  Also, lots of people who do stick with WWE use it a year behind (so WWE1 in 2nd grade, etc.).  

Edited January 11, 2018 by Another Lynn

[Noelle2018]

Thank you all for replying back to my post and giving me lots of advice and different ways to deal with the situation!  I will try out using several ways mentioned here and see how my daughter will respond.  I feel very encouraged to hear from many experienced homeschoolers like you guys since I still feel very insecure about this whole thing (especially English is my second language, I feel very fearful about if I am able to teach her correctly or properly!).  Thank you so much!