Writing With Ease

[Amy Joy]

I need something to help my daughter (grade 5) with writing. When I was looking at Writing With Ease it struck me that this is where she has difficulty. She can't get her thoughts into sentences and down on paper. She can answer questions no problem, orally or written, but narration is really hard for her. I have her narrate as we read.
So I was looking through WWE online and my question is for those of you who have used it, do you need the student workbook or can I tie it in with FIAR instead? Is it easy to follow without the workbook? I know it says you don't' need the workbook so that is why i am asking. I would rather tie it in with FIAR.
TIA.

[Kendra AU]

I own the "workbooks" but no Teacher Manual. I like the workbooks & I like the results we got from using them. I had a child who couldn't narrate, or simply tell back decently, these books helped. Basically you read a substantial {depending on level} selection from a book. You answer directly questions based on the reading. You ask the child to sum up up in a few sentences what was read. You turn those into copy work. You learn grammar from that. You use a selection for dictation. Pretty simple.

If you want to do long winded narration, or open ended, this might not be the curriculum for you, but I don't know of one that has guided narration.

[RachelRentas]

You don't have to get the workbook. You could just get the teacher's book which has instruction in it for the first several levels and just tie it in to FIAR. The types of passages you need might not always make it easy to use the actual book you are rowing, but if you use "go along" books you could probably find an appropriate passage from something you are using that week. It is a lot more work/planning on you that way but it is definitely doable.

[Vicki P in VA]

I agree that you don't need the workbooks, but do recommend the teacher's manual as well. I actually found the workbook (personally) to be a waste of money, because it was basically just a lot of double-lined tear out sheets with sentences for my dd to copy. The lines were huge, which frustrated her because in her handwriting/cursive lessons, she is working on writing smaller, not larger. The passages to read were in the workbook as well, but they were also provided in the manual. I'm continuing with WWE this year, but we'll just use our own paper (which has smaller lines). Or, as was mentioned above, you could just use it for a guideline for lessons and select your own readings. I heard Susan W. B. speak earlier this year, and she said ideally we'd always use "living books" for these lessons so that they'd be in context of what we're learning. She just provided this option because some folks didn't feel equipped to select their own readings to use. It's basically just a Charlotte Mason approach with step by step instructions.

[Amy Joy]

Thanks! I do have her narrate from our readings already, so I will tie it into FIAR as much as possible. I think I am going to start her on level 3 from looking at the level evaluations.
I actually want to use it with my son as well. Funny thing, he can narrate so well, answer questions fantastically, but can't write. Like literally. So we are working on typing. But I think I will use the copy work (level 1) for him. I will just take 1 sentence of his narration for him to copy out.
I really like the fact that she says original work is not needed at this point. That is where my daughter struggles so much and I believe it's because she doesn't have these other concepts down. In fact, the more I have left her alone about writing original things the more she has tried it on her own with no pressure. So this year, it is all going to be copy work and getting her doing well in that area.

[Vicki P in VA]

I really like the fact that she says original work is not needed at this point. That is where my daughter struggles so much and I believe it's because she doesn't have these other concepts down. In fact, the more I have left her alone about writing original things the more she has tried it on her own with no pressure. So this year, it is all going to be copy work and getting her doing well in that area.

That's actually one of my favorite things about her approach! I think all the emphasis on creating your own writing, even in short paragraphs, puts unnecessary stress on younger kids. Giving them a chance to learn what "good" writing looks like and sounds like frees them from this, and allows them to focus on the essentials of structure, grammar, interesting and descriptive ideas, great characters, and the rest. Sounds like you have a great plan!

[Kendra AU]

I actually found the workbook (personally) to be a waste of money, because it was basically just a lot of double-lined tear out sheets with sentences for my dd to copy. The lines were huge, which frustrated her because in her handwriting/cursive lessons, she is working on writing smaller, not larger.

If you get the Digital Download you don't have to print out those pages you can use your normal copy work paper & they don't charge as much.

[Vicki P in VA]

Great to know, Kendra! Thank you!

[Michele]

In agreement.My fifth grader has a very difficult time writing and we just started WWE. As an aside, a few of her older sisters refer to it as "Writing With Tears." LOL! Ah…memories….

[Kendra AU]

Oh Michele! That actually made me My boys enjoy it, but they are geeky like me.