W&R placement help

[Hallyv]

I need help with W&R placement.  My 10 year old natural writer just finished IEW's All Things Fun & Fascinating through our Coop.  It was not our favorite.  It was pretty easy for her, but dreadful.  Before we did IEW, we went through W&R book 1 Fable.  We absolutely LOVED it and I would like to continue on with it.  I have been looking through books 2 - 4, and having a difficult time deciding where to place her!  We did so many narratives in IEW I am thinking book 2 would be more of the same. I want her to be challenged but still enjoy it. Book 3 appeals more to us.  Book 4 seems like it might be just rt.  skill wise but the content just doesn't appeal to me as much.  I also keep reading that book 4 is difficult, so I am unsure where to jump back in. Has anybody else been in a similar situation after IEW and have any Thoughts??  Thank you!!

Edited January 17, 2020 by Hallyv

[mamamoose]

I would follow the sequence. The title “Narrative” does not imply narrations, but the style of writing. You can skip any narrations. They are really fun stories!

[BusyMom5]

I feel like the approach is so different that you could do book 2 and 3.  You could even do book 1 again, but go quicker.

My high schooler is currently running through the series quickly- just finished book 3 and we are skipping 4 and starting 5 on Monday.  IMO  this series is so full that writers of all ages can pick up tips and get more depth.  IEW is so technical,  W&R is completely opposite - very engaging, even when teaching the same topics.  

[Coco_Clark]

I would do book 2, tbh.  But if you really wanted you could go into book 3.  I would NOT start 4 until you've gotten back into the W&R "feel", you are right that it is a jump.

[StaceyinLA]

What is W&R? It’s not ringing a bell, but I like that it is very different from IEW, which I never loved when my kids were younger. I’d like to check this out.

[Hallyv]

7 hours ago, StaceyinLA said:

What is W&R? It’s not ringing a bell, but I like that it is very different from IEW, which I never loved when my kids were younger. I’d like to check this out.

W&R stands for Writing & Rhetoric. It is a writing curriculum from Classical Academic Press. We love it so much more then IEW 

[StaceyinLA]

Thank you! 

[Hallyv]

On 1/4/2020 at 8:57 PM, mamamoose said:

I would follow the sequence. The title “Narrative” does not imply narrations, but the style of writing. You can skip any narrations. They are really fun stories!

Thanks, yes, You are quite right and I meant “narrative writing”, not narrations. I actually think we did more narrations in W&R then IEW. Since we are coming off of a year of written narratives in IEW (we disliked it sooo much) I think the title W&R Narrative 1, 2 is throwing me off because of the IEW narrative aversion rt now.... lol, if that makes any sense. I only have the fables book so went back through it & we started halfway through it again this week...... we still love it, but not sure what book we will do next. 

Edited January 17, 2020 by Hallyv

[Hallyv]

On 1/4/2020 at 9:00 PM, BusyMom5 said:

I feel like the approach is so different that you could do book 2 and 3.  You could even do book 1 again, but go quicker.

My high schooler is currently running through the series quickly- just finished book 3 and we are skipping 4 and starting 5 on Monday.  IMO  this series is so full that writers of all ages can pick up tips and get more depth.  IEW is so technical,  W&R is completely opposite - very engaging, even when teaching the same topics.  

Thanks! 

Edited January 17, 2020 by Hallyv

[Hallyv]

On 1/7/2020 at 5:59 PM, Coco_Clark said:

I would do book 2, tbh.  But if you really wanted you could go into book 3.  I would NOT start 4 until you've gotten back into the W&R "feel", you are right that it is a jump.

Thanks! 

Edited January 17, 2020 by Hallyv

[Creekside5]

I have taught W/R for many years. Do not redo fables. She will be bored.  If you would like to skip books 2 and 3 you can.  They are narrative, basically story writing.  If your kid writes well developed stories on their own, I would skip it.  You can also speed through them.  They don't write a full story until the end of book 3.  I think the books move pretty slowly for a 10 year old natural writer. If you have a reluctant writer, they are great! The books really shift and become more thesis/persuasive writing after book 3.  Some kids may not enjoy this as much.  The skills build slowly and are sprinkled throughout.  They can be missed if you aren't careful in what you are skipping.  In all of the W/R books (3 on) there are way too many papers.  I would only write 3 of each kind of paper (assuming my child did very well with them). Don't skip the exercises and the stories are very good.  

[Hallyv]

5 hours ago, SRoss5 said:

I have taught W/R for many years. Do not redo fables. She will be bored.  If you would like to skip books 2 and 3 you can.  They are narrative, basically story writing.  If your kid writes well developed stories on their own, I would skip it.  You can also speed through them.  They don't write a full story until the end of book 3.  I think the books move pretty slowly for a 10 year old natural writer. If you have a reluctant writer, they are great! The books really shift and become more thesis/persuasive writing after book 3.  Some kids may not enjoy this as much.  The skills build slowly and are sprinkled throughout.  They can be missed if you aren't careful in what you are skipping.  In all of the W/R books (3 on) there are way too many papers.  I would only write 3 of each kind of paper (assuming my child did very well with them). Don't skip the exercises and the stories are very good.  

Thank you for saying this! This was my initial thought & “feeling” looking through books 2 & 3.  I haven’t ordered anything yet because I just couldn’t bring myself to order book 2.... she can easily write a multi paragraph narrative, so your comment has been very helpful!