shand Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Since I'm planning on buying curriculum in a month or so, I'm planning Dd(5)'s first grade year. I've got pretty much everything picked out except for writing. I'm already planning on using First Language lessons for grammar and was planning on using WWE as well until I came across Brave Writer. Dd does not like writing, so I was thinking that the more relaxed approach through BW would suit her better. Is there any pros/cons to either of the programs I should know about to help me decide? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 With a 5 year old i would go with bw because of its relaxed and fun approach. Jot it down comes to mind. WWE is a lot of writing for a child who doesn't like to write. I started WWE with my oldest whrn he was 6 and we skipped copywork. Hth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carriede Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 (edited) What kind of writing is your 5 year old doing that makes you say she does not like it? Just handwriting practice? Or are you asking her to write sentences on a topic? WWE has two components: copywork and narration. Copywork has the child copy out well-formed sentences so they begin to learn what a good sentence LOOKS like. Narration is the sentence composition portion. You read them a passage, they will answer a few questions to help organize their thoughts, then they will dictate a sentence or two to YOU for you to write as their narration. So, in a 4 days a week program, the child is only physically writing on a paper 2 times. This not to say BW might not be a good option; I have no experience with it myself. I just wanted to clarify that this isn't "lots of writing" vs. "not much writing". Edited January 16, 2018 by carriede Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shand Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 What kind of writing is your 5 year old doing that makes you say she does not like it? Just handwriting practice? Or are you asking her to write sentences on a topic? WWE has two components: copywork and narration. Copywork has the child copy out well-formed sentences so they begin to learn what a good sentence LOOKS like. Narration is the sentence composition portion. You read them a passage, they will answer a few questions to help organize their thoughts, then they will dictate a sentence or two to YOU for you to write as their narration. So, in a 4 days a week program, the child is only physically writing on a paper 2 times. This not to say BW might not be a good option; I have no experience with it myself. I just wanted to clarify that this isn't "lots of writing" vs. "not much writing". We do copywork once a week where she works on the letters/numbers she struggles with, a word or two and a single, short sentence. We also do a page or two out of Handwriting Without Tears each week, so three days tops and never much. She's fine if she's dictating to me. We'll create little books out of construction paper, she'll draw pictures, and I'll write down her story. But if it involves her doing the writing, she'll withdraw. There's rarely tears, but she's obviously not happy about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shand Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 Jot it Down might be fun- there are a lot of activities for kids who aren't really off and writing yet. You can look on Homeschool Buyers Co-op and usually find it on sale. I haven't ever used WWE, so can't speak to the comparison. My kids love making up stories and illustrating books etc., so I've gotten a lot of good inspiration from Jot it Down, but I'm not into anything extremely formal at this age, so if you're looking for outright lesson plans, I'm not sure if it would fit for that or not. My personal choice would be with lesson plans, but I'm thinking she needs the more relaxed approach of BW. From what I've seen of the samples and reviews, it'd give her more of a say on what she works on. I'm just worried about her missing something by not having a more structured approach. Hopefully, combining FLL and BW will help prevent that, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 BW is a great choice if you want the more relaxed approach. I wouldn't worry too much about "missing something". Every language arts program is very different so will cover different things. It's not like she's way behind if you don't cover something - you just learn it a little later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shand Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 Thanks for all your input! I've had pretty firm plans for Dd's first grade year and was hesitant to change them. I'll be going with BW since it seems more her style and we'll be able to change it up as needed. I appreciate all the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 We have done both, and for the third kid we did a WWE inspired BW ;) We do copywork and narration from what we are reading in lit, history, or science. And fun projects from BW incorporating classical writing techniques such as narration, dictation, and copywork. The result has been fun projects that still maintain a bit more structure than I tend to view straight BW lifestyle. it is very parent directed with a lot of creative input when they desire it. But the core tenants of both are present. All of my kids are doing writing this way this year and my ds10 just yesterday said writing was his favorite subject this year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbes Posted January 27, 2018 Share Posted January 27, 2018 We have done both, and for the third kid we did a WWE inspired BW ;) We do copywork and narration from what we are reading in lit, history, or science. And fun projects from BW incorporating classical writing techniques such as narration, dictation, and copywork. The result has been fun projects that still maintain a bit more structure than I tend to view straight BW lifestyle. it is very parent directed with a lot of creative input when they desire it. But the core tenants of both are present. All of my kids are doing writing this way this year and my ds10 just yesterday said writing was his favorite subject this year. This is essentially what we are doing this year. Copywork and dictation following the WWE sequence, drawn from our current literature. Read alouds and "big juicy conversations." Poetry Teas. And projects from Partnership Writing. Arrow-like approach to literature (I bought some, but have just ended up doing my own with that sort of framework). It's been very pleasant and I see benefits already. The thing about Bravewriter is that once you get your mind around what she's saying, it's really just commonsense for a LA-rich home, with some clever ideas to make it work. Which is, I think, basically what she's saying. â˜ºï¸ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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