To combine composition or not to combine---that is the question.

[TheAttachedMama]

Hi Everyone,

My two older kids are about 16 months apart.   They will be in 5th and 6th grades respectively.   I am trying to figure out if there is any way I can combine them in composition next year.   I can't combine them in grammar, spelling, Latin, or literature because their abilities are too far apart.  However, I am wondering if composition might be the one language arts topic I could combine with a few compromises.

I know that my 5th grade daughter will probably do best in a writing program like IEW (with typing).  She has dyslexia, and she really struggles with expressing herself in writing.   I think she is going to need really explicit, step-by-step instruction in composition.   So I think IEW is going to be her best path to learning how to write.   (I haven't seen anything else which might work for her.)   

My son will be in 6th grade.   He also has dyslexia, but has no problems expressing himself in writing.   I feel like he would probably do best in a program like Writing with Skill (taken slowly.)    He will still need a lot of my help because some of the passages are a bit challenging when it comes to reading level.   So I was planning on doing this program with him each day instead of just assigning and checking.   I would also spread out assignments as needed.

My question is:  Do I compromise and put them both in IEW?  That way I am not juggling two different composition programs?   Or do I bite the bullet and teach them both separately?  What would you do if you had kids this close in age?    I am trying to keep our school days short so there is still plenty of time for reading, being outside, exploring interests, etc.    

[Taffy]

This year, I combined my 3rd, 5th and 6th graders and used IEW (we primarily used SWI Level A, and worked in some passages from the US History Theme book when it made sense with our history studies).  We watched the DVDs together.  The kids enjoyed Mr. Pudewa - thought he was funny - and they easily absorbed his teachings.  When possible, I try to get ahead of the kids by watching the "full" IEW DVD program designed for the parent/coach.  But when I couldn't get ahead, it was convenient to learn along with the kids' program. 

When life was hectic around the holidays and during weeks when we had outside appointments, we used Killgallon Sentence Composing for Elementary.  Killgallon is easy for me to pull off the shelf and assign.  Killgallon allows me to slip in some writing instruction without having to provide heavy oversight.  We also do a periodic "freewrite" in journals (a la BraveWriter) - again, just to be sure we accomplish some writing when we can't sit down and focus on IEW.  (I'm not sure if it's just me, but I find that when I assign IEW, I want to have several days  to focus on the assignment - in other words, not splitting up the writing of a story with a Christmas holiday in between.  When we have a scheduling distraction, the momentum is lost and, when we return, we have to spend time refreshing ourselves on the state of our rough drafts.  At that point, the kids are less enthusiastic and the end result is less favorable than if we were able to complete the assignment without the break.  My scheduling method results in a longer timeframe to finish this particular IEW program, but it doesn't concern me because I've embraced IEW to be more of a way of life than a curriculum that needs to be finished during a certain period of time.)   

I've looked at WWS repeatedly for my 6th grader (soon to be 7th).  I have a friend who uses it, and I want so much to like it.  But I don't think my kid would respond well to the text-heavy format and difficulty of some of the reading passages.  He was a kid who hated WWE and did not perform well with it.  This kid excels in math.  I think that's why he responds well to the formulaic approach of IEW.  I'm keeping WWS on the back burner and will look at it again for 8th grade.  

Hope this helps.

[blue plaid]

I haven't used IEW and have tried and failed to use WWS. But I am still going to suggest that you combine your kids with IEW.  I think the reality is that WWS is going to take a ton of time and energy, and seems like you have enough going on without throwing it in the mix.  Just trying to provide a little bit of reality check based on my own experience of grand plans.  (My two oldest are 16 months apart but will be in 7th and 8th grade this fall -- I plan on combining them to do Lost Tools of Writing.)

[TheAttachedMama]

Thank you guys so much for such nice responses and good advice! 

 

[Targhee]

I would combine them to save sanity.  Unless you think the one doing WWS could work independently.  WWS 1 is harder for many than even though it says 5th grade, in both work asked to be done and that it is asked to be independent.  You need to be very good at summaries before beginning - some passages are quite hard - and you also need to be a parts-to-whole learner.  It gives solid instruction for academic writing though.

You could always start them together and if it isn’t working then split.  That way you don’t invest in 2 curricula and twice the time unless you absorbed to.

[PeterPan]

I would combine them both but wait a year on WWS. In another year your ds will be able to do it more independently (which is a really awesome skill to nurture), and your dd, who is likely to need assistance anyway, will be ready for it. So just do something else for a year and then come back to it.

[ksr5377]

Combining them in IEW would, I think, be simple to do.  It's what every Classical Conversations parent with two children in Essentials is doing.  You would just specify the checklist for what their paper was to include for each of them.  I believe Pudewa says that each student's paper should require them to do all the elements that are easy plus one.  In his instructional videos he even recommends that classroom teachers make different checklists based on the students abilities.