WWE 2-I'm noticing a big leap from the first book to this one...questions???

[deeinfl]

We are almost finished with WWE 1 with our second grader. I loved how gentle it was and how it has taught him not only to narrate, but to begin to pull the most important details from a story or a paragraph.

However, I am looking through WWE 2, which we purchased for our 3rd grade year and I see that it starts off with dictation very early on.

Some of these dictation exercises seem a bit difficult and some of them have two sentences. Has anyone tried WWE 2 and realized that maybe their child wasn't ready for the dictation? Did you adjust the assignments?

I will still try the exercises as I have realized that what I deemed difficult for my son, he has been able to do many times, but knowing that the spelling is not quite there yet, I wonder how he'll take to the dictation and if it will frustrate him.

Any advice on how you have handled book 2 would be greatly appreciated!

Blessings!!

Dee

[deeinfl]

and found it too difficult after doing WWE 1?

Anyone...?

[Colleen in NS]

We are almost finished with WWE 1 with our second grader. I loved how gentle it was and how it has taught him not only to narrate, but to begin to pull the most important details from a story or a paragraph.

However, I am looking through WWE 2, which we purchased for our 3rd grade year and I see that it starts off with dictation very early on.

Some of these dictation exercises seem a bit difficult and some of them have two sentences. Has anyone tried WWE 2 and realized that maybe their child wasn't ready for the dictation? Did you adjust the assignments?

I will still try the exercises as I have realized that what I deemed difficult for my son, he has been able to do many times, but knowing that the spelling is not quite there yet, I wonder how he'll take to the dictation and if it will frustrate him.

Any advice on how you have handled book 2 would be greatly appreciated!

Blessings!!

Dee

I know what you mean about the jump. I bought WWE last year and skimmed dd (an "old" 2nd grader - October baby) through WWE 1, just to see what she needed. Copywork was fine, she's been doing it for two years already - the narration part of WWE 1 was very helpful. So then we started WWE 2. I was also worried about her spelling abilities, and ability to handle dictation. But I found that she took to dictation more easily than I thought she would (but she's a girl, so it might make a difference...). She memorizes the dictation easily enough, and can repeat the sentence(s) back to me. She struggles with the spelling though, and sometimes panics while writing, when I have to stop her to tell her how to spell something. But I just try to reassure her that if she forgets the rest of the dictation while I'm spelling something to her, I'll repeat it again. I have found that this little challenge has actually helped her to improve her spelling ability and ability to hold words in her head. I just have to keep reassuring her. If she had too much trouble, I'd just keep on doing the early dictation exercises in WWE 2 (with different sentences to prevent boredom) until she got comfortable enough to move on to the next section.

[deeinfl]

I was hoping to hear something like this and that it was tweakable and I would still be able to get something out of it.

I was thinking that last night, that I could shorten the dictation until he was comfortable, change the dictation sentence to something he could produce, or make it copywork until he did finally become comfortable with the dictation.

I needed to hear that someone else was already doing it this way since I'm such a darn "follow the book" kind of girl. It's hard for me to tweak because sometimes I think I won't get the full benefit of the program but it's nice to see that it will still produce the same end result.

Blessings!!!

Dee

ps I'm almost afraid to see what WWE 3 will be like. ;)

[Colleen in NS]

I was hoping to hear something like this and that it was tweakable and I would still be able to get something out of it.

I was thinking that last night, that I could shorten the dictation until he was comfortable, change the dictation sentence to something he could produce, or make it copywork until he did finally become comfortable with the dictation.

I needed to hear that someone else was already doing it this way since I'm such a darn "follow the book" kind of girl. It's hard for me to tweak because sometimes I think I won't get the full benefit of the program but it's nice to see that it will still produce the same end result.

Blessings!!!

Dee

ps I'm almost afraid to see what WWE 3 will be like. ;)

You can also stay in the last part of WWE 1 with copywork until you think he's ready to try dictation! Try one of his WWE 1 copyworks as dictation and see how he does - then you might not feel like you are jumping ahead in WWE 2 narration while feeling behind in dictation. If it goes well, try to begin WWE 2. Then you'd still be "going by the book." :D

This is one of the great things about WWE - it's set up in sections through the level, and you can stay on a section for longer than it calls for, if necessary, or you can speed through (skip weeks) a section if your child doesn't need as much of that section's practice in the skills.

I just love WWE.:D

I'll admit that dictation got a little scary at the end of WWE 4 for ds - they are so long compared to what he had been doing before we got WWE! But, he "got" the narration skills in WWE 4, so he moved on from WWE and now (in the midst of logic stage outlining/writing paragraphs etc.) I still work on these longer dictations with him, to build up his memory skills.

[deeinfl]

I didn't realize that I could stay in one section longer if he needed to continue working on that skill.

He is doing well with the narration part of it, and the copywork part of it, so maybe he is ready and I'm going to have to find out by just starting it. It will be for August, though, so I still have plenty of time to look it over and tweak.

It's nice to hear from someone who's already doing level 4 with it. This gives me much hope.

blessings!!

Dee

ps And I will try one of the copywork sections as dictation before we go full force into the WWE 2 in August...great idea!

[Goldilocks]

My second grade ds is doing WWE 2. Writing and spelling are very difficult for him, but I went "by the book" and did the dictation. I sat right next to him and helped him to spell every word. For example, he will say "How do you spell 'kite'?" and I will make the letter sounds one at a time if it is phonetic or just tell him the letters if it doesn't follow a rule that he knows. I sit with him so I can catch if he is about to spell something wrong. (He is always writing "uv" instead of "of"!) It is time consumig but I am amazed at the results.

[Lori in MS]

I have to help my son spell a lot of the words but he has done well with remembering what to write. Sometimes I do have to read it to him more than twice, especially if there is a lot of punctuation or direct quotes. I have been pleased with his progress. He is in 3rd grade doing WWE 2. We are on week 25.

[USDGAL]

How about a transition period. Make up a few dictation exorcises from books your dc enjoys and try it out. This will provide practice as well as introduce something new using familiar words and phrases. If you have to repeat a sentence, don't feel bad. I think we all have to ate times. Also, you dc may surprise you and catch on faster than you expect. Just keep it fun, and go slow. Good luck...let us know how it works out.

[Pensguys]

I'll have to second what everyone has said. My younger ds has some learning disabilities and WWE has been great for him! We were able to do WWE the 1st semester of this year and we'll be finished with WWE2 by mid May. He still needs a little help remembering two longer sentences for dictation, but he's getting there.

His narrations are really great now! I plan to slow down the pace and take a year for WWE3.

[deeinfl]

I'm saving this thread and I will definitely keep everyone posted on our progress when we start WWE 2 in July/August. We only have a few lessons left in WWE 1, but we are taking some much needed time off before we start back up again.

Blessings!

Dee