Would you need to do WWE before WT?

[Mommy7]

WT looks soooo good. But, it may be a little intimidating to my son if it doesn't have much instruction about the actual writing process. (Btw, he will be 11 yo in the fall.) Do you know if it does? The sample I saw just said, "Write the rough draft." That was Lesson 7, I believe. So, did they cover the process before that or are you expected to already be able to write things like a rough draft?

 

WWE looks like it would be a helpful start, but WT keeps pulling at me. And I would absolutely have to have the workbooks or it wouldn't work. Because of his age, I'm told he would fly through the lower levels of WWE and then we are left without workbooks. Should I do WWE for 1st 1/2 of yr and then WT? Or should we work through WWE all the way before starting WT?

[Samiam]

The WWE Level 3 workbooks are due to be out by end of August.

 

I think there are 32 or 36 lessons in Level 1 and Level 2 of WWE. So let's say you did one complete lesson in ONE day (versus the 4 day plan in the book), as some people suggest for older students who need to back up to the basics. Say you start next week, work five days a week. That has you completing WWE 1 by mid-June, let's say end of June to give you a grace period.

 

Then you start WWE 2 beginning of July, working at the same pace. This has you done with WWE2 by early August.

 

At that point, you evualuate whether you want to continue with WWE 3 or move right to WT. If you decide WW3, you only have a few weeks at that point before the Workbook comes out.

 

This is my exact plan with my DS10, who has no writing experience, except for a few dismal months struggling with Apologia Jump In.

 

I have ordered WWE 1 and just waiting for it to arrive next week. We will work on WWE1 over the summer months, trying for five days a week, while the rest of our school work load is light.

 

I too, am in love with WT, it looks wonderful, but do want to make sure DS10 has a very solid base before we start it, since writing is the one area that I neglected early on :(....live and learn....DS6 will start WWE1 in 1st or 2nd grade

 

hth

[birchbark]

So, did they cover the process before that or are you expected to already be able to write things like a rough draft?

 

 

 

I just got WT 1 and have been looking through it. I think it would be great for a child who's had no writing experience. They do explain the rough draft (and final one for that matter) in both the workbook and Teacher's Guide. The rough draft is actually just a retelling of the original story. The TG allows for part of it to be done by dictation if the child's writing ability is not up to it. Then the final draft is the same story but with a few creative touches.

 

The book progresses nicely from shorter to longer stories. It slowly adds in more grammar. I love the way WT includes writing, grammar, spelling, and vocabulary (as well as handwriting practice) in one book/course. This was the reason I chose it over WWE.

 

I am looking forward to using it next year!

[PeterPan]

Mommy7, I answered you in the other thread in a vacuum. Didn't realize you were asking for an 11 yo. I figured you had littles and were looking for a progression. An 11 yo can go directly into WT2. Don't even do WT1. Go directly into WT2.

 

If you get WWE to use with your youngers, go ahead and do some of it with him too.

 

He'll be able to do WT2 rather independently, my guess. I taught it as a co-op class, so I used the weekly co-op lessons. We started the outlining in class and did at least part, often much of the homework, plus the formal lesson and games, all in a one hour session. That left bits of the homework, finishing the outlining, and then the draft for the rest of the week. My dd did those things independently, no problem, so your ds may be able to also. You can of course do the daily lessons if you want. I just thought the weekly lessons were a good alternate option. With one dc you could probably squeeze and make it go a bit more quickly. You could also combine your dc, doing several in WT2. Just shorten the quantities for younger dc.

Edited May 10, 2009 by OhElizabeth