Guest Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 (edited) My son is still very young (just turned 5) but since he is advanced in his reading and his handwriting is very good I would like to add something for creative expression during his K year, which we will be starting after our new baby arrives. I have purchased and have been using WS Level 1 with him but while I find some great and fun ideas from the book, I just don't find it offers enough instruction for me to expand on these ideas. Could someone please share if they feel that WWE's approach would help in this area for my son's age? Please also feel free to make other suggestions for programs that have worked for you for the younger group, K-3. TIA! Edited December 14, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 First of all, Hey Marie! Nice to see you over here (I was 3huds over on the Sonlight forums). As for WWE, I don't actually own a copy, but I have researched this a whole lot! WWE teaches narration(teaches them what to write) and copywork/dictation(teaches them how to write). As for creative expression, SWB feels that children that age shouldn't have to come up with their own composition. Have you read this? It explains the WWE "philosophy" well. I personally wanted to add creative expression, as my dd tends to be a bit creative. So we have gone with friday freewrite's from the Bravewriter blog. I just give her the topic and let her think about it for a few minutes. Then she tells me what she wants to say and I write it down for her. This has been very effective for us. Even though she is advanced in reading and in writing, I just feel like I don't need to push her to write on her own in this area yet. That said, she does have a notebook that she will occasionally write her own stories in:)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 When my DD was 7 we didn't do any formal writing program, but I wanted her to have the opportunity to do some fun creative writing. I purchased the book "Games for Writing" and it fit the bill very nicely. If I remember correctly, about half of the games are oral and half are writing. My DD had a blast doing the activities in this book! I'd highly recommend getting it out of the library to see if you like it. It's for K-3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Laurie Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Marie's here! :seeya: We use WWE and it has no creative writing. Level 1 is copywork and narration skills. Level 2 begins dictation. Logic stage will move into outlining, rhetoric will be based on the progym. I actually agree with SWB on creative writing, it's not really needed. I want my kids to be able to write a well-organized essay and research paper for college. No one would ever know if they hadn't learned creative writing. The exception is kids who like to write and enjoy creative writing. I wouldn't give it a second thought for those who don't, but my kids have surprised me with how much they love creative writing. So we make little books and illustrate them, or we write poetry. This has been a fly by the seat of the pants thing and I'd like to do this more consistently with my kids, so I'll be adding a separate element for this and still be doing WWE also. Here are a few things I've been looking at, can't say much about any of them though since I haven't purchased or used one yet: Write about Me and Write about My World WriteShop Primary Draw...Then Write How to Make Books with Children Read a Book, Make a Book Hope you're feeling well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 (edited) First of all, Hey Marie! Nice to see you over here (I was 3huds over on the Sonlight forums). Thank you for your kind words Paige! Good to see you here too. As for WWE, I don't actually own a copy, but I have researched this a whole lot! WWE teaches narration(teaches them what to write) and copywork/dictation(teaches them how to write). As for creative expression, SWB feels that children that age shouldn't have to come up with their own composition. Have you read this? It explains the WWE "philosophy" well. No, I have not read what you linked here, before. I skimmed through it and will take more time soon. Things are a little crazy for me here as I approach the date of the baby's arrival and I have been having great difficulty keeping up. I am going to go through all the links provided here in detail soon though and also spend more time investigating programs out there for now and the future. For example I had excluded IEW for a few reasons in the past (but things change constantly with our children's needs it seems) one being the in advance high cost. Living overseas I cannot take advantage of money back guarantees since after you factor in shipping costs lost you are usually better off just keeping what you bought. Anyway, IEW is appealing to me now for Adrian due to the DVDs since Adrian seems to learn well through DVDs. That for the future of course! A little background, we moved back to Greece when I was 10 and so I went to middle and high school in Greece, leaving a gap in my English LA studies. I did continue with English but through private schools teaching it as a second language, so LA is one area I feel inadequate when teaching my son and feel I need a lot of hand holding from good solid programs. To make the long story short I have realized that with writing for example, I will need to invest in several programs in order to find something I feel meets my needs/ wants. I had hoped that WS was what we were looking for and has great reviews but coming to the WTM forums now, I am seeing many people recommending it from level 3 on, so that coupled with my experience of level 1 so far, I now see that I have to make a change in my plans. I see SWB's point about creative expression and agree. At this age they shouldn't be expected but if the child does show interest it should be explored, as you are doing. This was the problem I had with SL LA. Adrian is a tactile/ visual learner and while he had no problem with the assignments that had a photo for example to aid in writing the story, anything abstract like giving him a subject and expecting him to whip up a story just didn't work. In my original post I meant more of an intro to writing rather than creative expression. Bad choice of words I guess! On the other hand however I do want to give him a fair opportunity to explore what he can do when it comes to creative expression and would rather do that while he is young rather than later when it may become more of a problem for him. Which now brings me to the next poster's comments. I personally wanted to add creative expression, as my dd tends to be a bit creative. So we have gone with friday freewrite's from the Bravewriter blog. I just give her the topic and let her think about it for a few minutes. Then she tells me what she wants to say and I write it down for her. This has been very effective for us. Even though she is advanced in reading and in writing, I just feel like I don't need to push her to write on her own in this area yet. That said, she does have a notebook that she will occasionally write her own stories in:)! I will give Bravewriter another look. I had checked it out in the past and remember that I excluded it as a program that would work for us for some reason, can't remember why now. What I do know is that just giving Adrian a topic at this age does not work for him and so I have wanted to find more creative fun ways to approach this. Thank you so much for your reply and valuable feedback! Edited December 13, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 When my DD was 7 we didn't do any formal writing program, but I wanted her to have the opportunity to do some fun creative writing. I purchased the book "Games for Writing" and it fit the bill very nicely. If I remember correctly, about half of the games are oral and half are writing. My DD had a blast doing the activities in this book! I'd highly recommend getting it out of the library to see if you like it. It's for K-3. Whitestavern thank you so much for the book recommendation. As I was saying before, I have been looking for more fun ways to introduce creative writing to Adrian. I originally bought WS level 1, thinking that it would help me in that area but as I said, even though there are some fun ideas, I just don’t feel equipped enough to expand on them. The book you recommended seems like just what I would be looking for. I had been looking at some options from Scholastic and Evan Moore offering fun activities like mini books but need to wait until I have a big enough order put together as this reduces my shipping costs. Unfortunately living overseas I do not have access to libraries and this makes it very difficult to preview books and programs. I just have to settle for whatever preview pages I can get from places like Amazon, Rainbow and CBD. I now wish I had started this thread sooner because I placed an order from Amazon recently with some DVDs I wanted for Adrian and I would have been able to add the book you recommended. Now I have to wait until I am ready to place another relatively large order. Ah well! Thank you for your reply and recommendation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 Marie's here! :seeya: We use WWE and it has no creative writing. Level 1 is copywork and narration skills. Level 2 begins dictation. Logic stage will move into outlining, rhetoric will be based on the progym. I actually agree with SWB on creative writing, it's not really needed. I want my kids to be able to write a well-organized essay and research paper for college. No one would ever know if they hadn't learned creative writing. The exception is kids who like to write and enjoy creative writing. I wouldn't give it a second thought for those who don't, but my kids have surprised me with how much they love creative writing. So we make little books and illustrate them, or we write poetry. This has been a fly by the seat of the pants thing and I'd like to do this more consistently with my kids, so I'll be adding a separate element for this and still be doing WWE also. Here are a few things I've been looking at, can't say much about any of them though since I haven't purchased or used one yet: Write about Me and Write about My World WriteShop Primary Draw...Then Write How to Make Books with Children Read a Book, Make a Book Hope you're feeling well! Hey Nicole! Good to see you here. I had come across a post of yours in another thread and the comments plus your kids' ages made me think, this must be Nicole ;) but I just wasn't sure. We have been doing some copywork and narration on our own but like I said I feel I need hand holding in this area so I think I will be adding WWE as soon as I can place an order. Hopefully I will have it before we start Adrian's K year. I then want to add other books like the one Whitestavern recommended and like the ones you have suggested here, for a more fun approach to creative writing. Adrian loves anything hands on and visual and learns very well with that approach. Draw... then Write is one I had come across in the CBD site (as I mentioned before I had been looking at Scholastic and Evan-Moore :D) and is in my shopping cart as an option. If you are interested in the Scholastic ones I have found let me know and I can add the links or e-mail them to you. I agree with you on focusing more on essay and research paper type writing since this is what they will really need in University/ College. Both Nick (hubby) and I have been more into factual writing rather than creative writing. Even though we both read a lot and Nick is a speed reader and reads mostly historical fiction (I am more into nonfiction myself but will read a good fiction book) creative expression just hasn't been a talent that we were ever given the opportunity to explore, so I want to give Adrian every opportunity I can to find what he is good at. I definitely don't want to stereotype him because as you said with your kids, you never know. A talent can show up when you least expect it and to me creative writing no matter how much you try to teach it/ learn it, it is just something that you either have it or you don't. We will never find out however unless we give our children any chance we can to uncover such talents. My goal is, to do exactly what you are doing/ will be doing at this point (WWE while adding some fun stuff for creative expression) and see how that goes. I will then reevaluate and see if what we are doing is working. I am doing OK for now. I have overdone it a little lately with some baby shopping and Christmas shopping we have had to do and got a bit of a scare (thought I was going to pass out in the mall). Also, I finally realized that we need a break from school. We are 3 weeks short of finishing our current schedule and I can just add that here and there between now and when we start Adrian's K year in March. I have been putting too much pressure on us lately trying to get everything done and I have gotten so heavy at this point that everything just goes in slow motion for me and I tire very easily. More to come on a more private level ;). I would like to thank you also for taking the time to reply. Talk to you soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 (edited) Any other suggestions or recommendations for me to consider? I probably should have used a broader title when I started this thread! Would love to investigate other options too though, if others would like to offer their input on what they use for their young ones for writing (K-3) and how it has been working for them. Edited December 14, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 I figured I would post an update on the final decision/ purchase: I just ordered WWE with the level 1 workbook and will be starting it in March with Adrian. I also ordered these two books for a fun approach to some more creative writing: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=97314 http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=4800931 Just felt like sharing :D! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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