Write Shop vs. WWE...NEED INPUT

[sheryl]

My 9 yo dd (4th grade) is beginning the writing process. Additionally, she takes a writing class in a co-op. Next year she will not be involved with this co-op and I need an excellent writing program.

I need one that will be parent/teacher friendly to teach to my dd. One that is very detailed in terms of what I teach and what is expected. One that reviews, but offers new concepts to be learned that will be appropriately challenging.

She would benefit from worksheets/activity sheets and then of course springboarding from that into paragraph writing and book report writing.

The writing co-op uses Write Shop. I use Abeka. My college degree was not in language/english and I'll need something that will, as much as possible" automatically teach her.

I like what I've seen with Write Shop and WWE comes recommended.

What are pros/cons of BOTH?

Thanks. Sheryl

[sheryl]

PLEASE

[Karin]

I can only write about WriteShop. We have it and I like it in many ways. It definitely is teacher intensive, which in our house is a bit of a drawback with my eldest who tends to work best independently. I know it will be great for my ds who has always needed the most time with me in school, and probably my 10 yo when she starts it (not this year).

Each lesson is broken up into 5 days, and can be done over one or two weeks. It breaks writing down into elements such as decription. Over the course (we have only level 1 so far) it teaches different ways to brainstorm and organize your information so that the students can find what works for them. I wouldn't suggest this as a high school course as it doesn't teach essay writing, etc (at least not the first one.)

[LanaTron]

Since your dd is only in 4th, it may be useful for her, if she has not mastered those skills. It does not branch out into paragraph writing, etc.

WWE is very explicit in the instructions and how to use it...I like to say that it is like having SWB in my house, holding my hand, as I teach writing.

You can get more information at the Peace Hill Press website (http://www.peacehillpress.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=28); I'm not sure if there are samples.

HTH

[sheryl]

Thanks, keep 'em coming! :001_smile:

[attachedto4]

My 9 yo dd (4th grade) is beginning the writing process. Additionally, she takes a writing class in a co-op. Next year she will not be involved with this co-op and I need an excellent writing program.

I need one that will be parent/teacher friendly to teach to my dd. One that is very detailed in terms of what I teach and what is expected. One that reviews, but offers new concepts to be learned that will be appropriately challenging.

She would benefit from worksheets/activity sheets and then of course springboarding from that into paragraph writing and book report writing.

The writing co-op uses Write Shop. I use Abeka. My college degree was not in language/english and I'll need something that will, as much as possible" automatically teach her.

I like what I've seen with Write Shop and WWE comes recommended.

What are pros/cons of BOTH?

Thanks. Sheryl

WriteShop is recommended on their website for grades 6 and up.

http://www.writeshop.com/faqs.htm#what_grades


Can I Use WriteShop with third-, fourth-, or fifth-graders?
WriteShop I was written with the average seventh- to tenth-grader in mind, though many are using it successfully with their sixth-graders as well. In their desire to find a writing program for their younger children, however, parents are now beginning to look to WriteShop to meet the needs of their third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders.
Although many of WriteShop's lessons and activities are appropriate for bright students in the eight- to eleven-year-old range, they are not necessarily AGE-appropriate. For instance, a fourth-grader can certainly play sentence-building word games or other pre-writing activities. He can, at his level of ability, describe an object, a pet, or a person or tell a story about his most exciting experience. But he cannot and should not be expected to have the patience, the experience, nor the thinking skills to apply all the WriteShop concepts to his compositions. He also does not have the vocabulary to fully develop his writing. When using WriteShop, children in this age range usually have difficulty:


fulfilling the expectations of each assignment.
understanding some of the vocabulary they encounter in the student instructions.
grasping more mature writing concepts.
applying required sentence variations to each composition (as many as nine), including using participial and adverbial phrases, subordinate conjunctions, similes, and appositives.

As bright and advanced as your child may be, it is not really necessary to do much formal writing with him or her before fifth grade. Even though you may love the WriteShop methods and concepts, please don't be tempted to begin the program too soon, as the following problems will likely arise.



Your child, because he is younger, will not gain the full benefits of WriteShop.
Your child will finish WriteShop I long before he is ready for WriteShop II. This will leave you with the new predicament of finding yet another writing program to carry him until he can begin WriteShop II in two or three years {during which time he will likely forget much of what he learned in level I).
You will be stuck wondering, "Now what?" for junior high and high school. Remember that WriteShop was developed for older students. There are other methods and programs more appropriate for your younger ones. Since finding an incremental, hand-holding writing program for the older grades is not as easy, it's better to do something different now and wait to begin WriteShop when your child is in seventh or even eighth grade.



My son is using it for 8th grade this year and I like it. It does have checklists and specific instructions and a lot of hand-holding. He likes it too and his writing has improved quite a bit. I agree with the reasons the WS people listed above for waiting, I think it does suit an older child better.

WWE I am using with my younger kids and I love it too. It's very easy to follow and use if you have the workbooks. They do copywork from a literature passage two days a week and work on narration with the same passage two days a week. Each week is a new literature selection. My kids are using WWE 1, level 2 begins dictation and might work fine for your dd if she's a beginning writer. Check out the samples at Peacehill Press.

HTH!

[newlifemom]

Are you looking for anything else? I don't know about writeshop and while I am seriously considering using WWE for my 2 1st graders next year I have not done it as of now. That said, I am liking IEW very much! It can/does teach you how to teach and is so simple. (IMO) Thought I would throw that out there for you. :D

[Sue in St Pete]

My 9 yo dd (4th grade) is beginning the writing process. Additionally, she takes a writing class in a co-op. Next year she will not be involved with this co-op and I need an excellent writing program.

I need one that will be parent/teacher friendly to teach to my dd. One that is very detailed in terms of what I teach and what is expected. One that reviews, but offers new concepts to be learned that will be appropriately challenging.

She would benefit from worksheets/activity sheets and then of course springboarding from that into paragraph writing and book report writing.

The writing co-op uses Write Shop. I use Abeka. My college degree was not in language/english and I'll need something that will, as much as possible" automatically teach her.

I like what I've seen with Write Shop and WWE comes recommended.

What are pros/cons of BOTH?

Thanks. Sheryl
Hi Sheryl,
We are using Write Shop for 6th-7th-8th grade. Next week, we will finish Write Shop 1, which is 1/2 way through 6th-7th-8th. Write Shop has a lot of what you are looking for. It is very detailed in what you teach and what is expected. The student learns a new skill and adds it to the repertoire they have learned, never learning a skill and not using it again. They offer worksheets to learn those new skills. They offer paragraph writing. No essay writing that I know of. I'm not even sure what the definition of an essay is. Also, WS teaches the student how to brainstorm before they write. That is invaluable.

As to parent/teacher friendliness, I have found that there was a real learning curve for me. There is a lot of material included for the teacher - you could almost say that it is obnoxiously detailed. OTOH, I need that. I have a degree in math and I need all the help I can get teaching writing. I spend more time preparing for writing than any other subject (now that Latin is done by a tutor). I consider it teacher intensive, but it has gotten better the farther along we have moved. My son's writing has improved consistently.

As to using it in 5th grade, that's your call. They recommend Word Smith Apprentice, I believe.

Here's my review:
Write Shop website is https://www.writeshop.com/index.htm. We are using Write Shop 1 & 2 for 6th-7th-8th grade. We have completed the 6th grade portion of it. This consists of 11/30 lessons covering descriptive and informative writing.

Pros:
• Extremely detailed instructions for the teacher (this might be considered a con if the teacher didn’t need extremely detailed instructions)
• Extremely detailed instructions for the student
• Teaches a variety of methods for brainstorming
• Teaches many ways to make writing more interesting and requires the student to use them over and over (ex. paired adjectives, participle sentence starters, similes, etc.)
• Helps the student use vivid words by providing them with thorough lists of words to choose from
• Strictly limits dull writing (to be verbs, weak words, repetitive words)
• Guides the student to edit their own work by giving them a checklist
• Guides the teacher to edit the student’s work by giving them a checklist
• Nearly secular

Cons:
• Learning curve for the teacher

Writing is not my favorite task. Teaching writing is not my favorite task. I spend more time preparing for each writing lesson than I do preparing for any other subject. Writing is not my son’s favorite task, either. We spend more time together working on writing than any other subject. I have seen his writing improve tremendously with Write Shop. I have been able to teach writing and help my son improve his writing through Write Shop. The results have been worth the time and effort.

[Cindy in MO]

I'd say she might be too young for Writeshop.