Write w/the Best, what should I do?

[annaz]

We're working on describing a character from last week "pg 28, day 4". DD did the whole thing wrong and described a character in a book she read, instead of creating her own character. She said she "forgot" it was supposed to be a made up character.

So, I took the directions for last weeks' WWTB and put them on one sheet of paper, (which included all of pg 28) and typed them out as 1,2,3, etc. Gave that to dd and had her do that last Friday. So she did the character list (#1) then skipped everything else and wrote a 5-sentence paragraph (skipping the adjective, verb, adverb and thesaurus work). Grrr..... What the heck?

We're supposed to be on page 29, Day 6, but we've barely gotten #1 correct.

I don't know whether to go back again, or just continue on with the paragraph she wrote at this point. I shouldn't be, but I'm really annoyed.

[mamas4bugs]

We had a similar issue with a writing assignment last year. I made him do it again until he followed the directions correctly. I think that's a skill in and of itself. It only took him 3 times. (And part of his issue was that he didn't want to do the assignment and so was trying to just blow through and "get it done" without any diligence to his work. )

[annaz]

It only took him 3 times. (And part of his issue was that he didn't want to do the assignment and so was trying to just blow through and "get it done" without any diligence to his work. )

Maybe 3 is the charm. We're on 2 strikes. Sigh.

[countrymom]

I would definitely view following directions and doing the assignment correctly as important as actually learning and demonstrating what the assignment is teaching, so my child would redo until he got it right. I would also make sure the child really did understand everything. If it were one of my sons I would probably sit near him just to make sure he did understand what he was to do. If it were my other son I would just know he may be repeating the assignment 5 times and he would lose his screen time each day until he was caught up

[tollhousemom]

I'm wondering, since WWTB is supposed to be worked through together or at least only semi-independently, if you need to work a little more closely with her on these assignments for awhile, with the goal of her being able to follow the instructions more independently. Perhaps work through and then check one step at a time, or work through the entire assignment with her with you instructing her, then start to transition to working alongside her but having her explain to you what she is supposed to do at each step, and then finally having her do multiple steps on her own. I'm not sure the expectation at this point is for her to read the instructions and follow them on her own.

Also, how is she doing in the Independent areas? Is she following those instructions and completing those assignments correctly? For example, science or reading about history?

While this could be a character issue, it could also be an issue of training her in specific skills. Or it could be both...either way, working alongside her (for WWTB) or backing her up to checking step-by-step for the "I" boxes might be a way to make progress.

Just some thoughts...

[annaz]

Yes, you're right. I should have been closer in watching what she was doing. I initally re-wrote the directions for her, because perhaps I wasn't clear the first time. And she's been pretty good with directions; or maybe she's improved a lot with directions. Sadly...not with this. I'll have to watch much closer and we'll repeat it.