Lostinabook Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 I impulsively bought Killgallon's Story Grammar for Elementary School b/c it's only $9 right now & THEN I read the posts about how this book doesn't use proper grammatical terms. So. Now I'm wondering if it would be fairly simple to just tell dd the proper terms since she's doing MCT Town right now anyway OR if I need to buy the Elementary Sentence Composing book & do that first OR if I should go ahead & get Killgallon's Grammar for Middle School book & use it just for the terminology. I'm kind of leaning toward Grammar for Middle School since it's on sale for $13. What do those of you who have used these books think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 I have both Story Grammar and Sentence Composing for Elementary School sitting in my cart right now :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in KY Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 I don't know if this will help you.... We use MCT Town level and I just received Killgallon's Sentence Composing for Elementary School and Grammar for Middle School. These were the two volumes recommended in the other thread because they use proper terminology. I looked them both over carefully, and while it would be doable to provide the proper terms in the other volumes, I don't think I'd want to. The authors address the student directly, and I don't think I want to interject myself into the lesson any more than I have to. Not that I intend to leave it all to the Killgallons, but I am trying to move toward more independent learning with my dc, and I think it's counter-active to go with a curric that ensures you'd have to do that. For what it's worth, Heinemann is offering 30% off with free shipping through Dec. 17, 2010, and the middle school book is only $13. I will say that the two books seem interesting and inviting. DD opened them up and asked to get started right away. :) I really like how they are arranged in small, easy-to-approach chunks. I was looking for something to teach writing the sentence, and I think this series hits it on the head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lostinabook Posted December 8, 2010 Author Share Posted December 8, 2010 I looked them both over carefully, and while it would be doable to provide the proper terms in the other volumes, I don't think I'd want to. The authors address the student directly, and I don't think I want to interject myself into the lesson any more than I have to. Not that I intend to leave it all to the Killgallons, but I am trying to move toward more independent learning with my dc, and I think it's counter-active to go with a curric that ensures you'd have to do that. For what it's worth, Heinemann is offering 30% off with free shipping through Dec. 17, 2010, and the middle school book is only $13. I will say that the two books seem interesting and inviting. DD opened them up and asked to get started right away. :) I really like how they are arranged in small, easy-to-approach chunks. I was looking for something to teach writing the sentence, and I think this series hits it on the head. I'm starting to wonder if I should go ahead & get the Sentence Composing book, use it, and then follow up with the Elementary Grammar book. EG is rated for use through 6th grade so it should work ok even if it takes us into next year. I've been trying to find something that will directly teach how to write an excellent sentence & it looks like this series will do the job. Thank you for the input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in KY Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 I'm starting to wonder if I should go ahead & get the Sentence Composing book, use it, and then follow up with the Elementary Grammar book. EG is rated for use through 6th grade so it should work ok even if it takes us into next year. I would do the same in your situation.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 I still don't know if doing both of these would be overlap/overkill. Why would you need to do both Sentence Composing *and* Story Grammar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 (edited) I impulsively bought Killgallon's Story Grammar for Elementary School b/c it's only $9 right now & THEN I read the posts about how this book doesn't use proper grammatical terms. So. Now I'm wondering if it would be fairly simple to just tell dd the proper terms since she's doing MCT Town right now anyway OR if I need to buy the Elementary Sentence Composing book & do that first OR if I should go ahead & get Killgallon's Grammar for Middle School book & use it just for the terminology. I'm kind of leaning toward Grammar for Middle School since it's on sale for $13. What do those of you who have used these books think? Yegads. I was the one who pointed out this difference, and I have all the books for Elementary and Middle School, and I think after all this I've decided I'm just going to do what I was originally going to do and point out the parts of speech/sentence as we go through Story Grammar. The Elementary SC book doesn't have quite the variety of practice (thanks, Crimson Wife, for pointing that out. :glare::tongue_smilie:). We're also doing MCT, as well as German and Spanish grammar, and for us, doing both books on a level would be overkill. I'm still a bit annoyed that they took out the grammatical terms in Story Grammar, but have decided to live with it. The Middle School book in the series has the terms, so that's a much easier choice. For people not doing all the grammar we are, or who want to stretch it out, doing the SC book and then the grammar series on each level would probably be the right order. Not sure if it would still be overkill - I think that decision would vary by family and situation. Edited December 9, 2010 by matroyshka Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lostinabook Posted December 9, 2010 Author Share Posted December 9, 2010 I ended up buying the Elementary SC book & the Middle Grammar book. If I decide that SC & Story Grammar are overkill for dd, I can use the Middle Grammar to point out terms. Together SC & Story Grammar cost around $26 so even if I only use pieces of each, that's not too bad. Plus, I have ds coming up so I could start him out with SC in 4th grade & then move into Story Grammar for 5th. Thanks for all of the help/advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lostinabook Posted December 10, 2010 Author Share Posted December 10, 2010 Wow. I ordered the books from Heinemann on Wed night & they're here this morning. Since the site says that they ship w/i 4 business days I expected it to take at least a week, maybe more. I'm impressed. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gratia271 Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 What about Sentence Composing for Middle School? Has anyone used this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 We're using it now. What are your questions? I am using it with ds14, who completed the elementary books last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gratia271 Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 Would it help a reluctant writer who is struggling with some basics? I have just been introduced to these books, and I was wondering whether the exercises would help struggling writers. I have been working with a 12 year old girl who struggles tremendously, and I am trying to find something to use with her that might lead to some success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 Would it help a reluctant writer who is struggling with some basics? I have just been introduced to these books, and I was wondering whether the exercises would help struggling writers. I have been working with a 12 year old girl who struggles tremendously, and I am trying to find something to use with her that might lead to some success. It certainly helped my son. But, I think they key is to not make it only independent work for a struggling writer. Talk about the sentences. Talk about what they would sound like if the phrases were in different parts of the sentence. Look up examples in other books. Write the imitated sentences on paper strips and hang them up to celebrate. KarenAnne recommended a book that I have been so excited about. It would allow you to take Killgallon's book to a whole new level. http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Editing-Jeff-Anderson/dp/1571107096/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292000801&sr=8-1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gratia271 Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 Thank you. I am going to purchase both of those texts and hope for the best! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 Would it help a reluctant writer who is struggling with some basics? I have just been introduced to these books, and I was wondering whether the exercises would help struggling writers. I have been working with a 12 year old girl who struggles tremendously, and I am trying to find something to use with her that might lead to some success. For a reluctant writer, the best thing I've come across is The Paragraph Book series from EPS. I :001_wub: the Killgallon books but they focus primarily on sentence-writing. For learning the basics of writing paragraphs and multi-paragraph essays, The Paragraph Book series is fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gratia271 Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 For a reluctant writer, the best thing I've come across is The Paragraph Book series from EPS. I :001_wub: the Killgallon books but they focus primarily on sentence-writing. For learning the basics of writing paragraphs and multi-paragraph essays, The Paragraph Book series is fantastic. A hormonal middle school girl wouldn't find it too young, would she? For me, the bottom line is getting this girl (my niece) some serious help with composition, but she is hypersensitive and quite emotional these days. Her mom has not taught her any skills whatsoever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 A hormonal middle school girl wouldn't find it too young, would she? For me, the bottom line is getting this girl (my niece) some serious help with composition, but she is hypersensitive and quite emotional these days. Her mom has not taught her any skills whatsoever. It's actually designed for remedial use in middle school. I used it for an advanced younger student because it doesn't require a lot of physical writing. It's about at a 3rd-4th level skill-wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 It certainly helped my son. But, I think they key is to not make it only independent work for a struggling writer. Talk about the sentences. Talk about what they would sound like if the phrases were in different parts of the sentence. Look up examples in other books. Write the imitated sentences on paper strips and hang them up to celebrate. KarenAnne recommended a book that I have been so excited about. It would allow you to take Killgallon's book to a whole new level. http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Editing-Jeff-Anderson/dp/1571107096/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292000801&sr=8-1 Can you guys PLEASE stop doing this to me! :lol: :svengo: Help! I can't stop buying Grammar books....!!!! :svengo: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gratia271 Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 It's actually designed for remedial use in middle school. I used it for an advanced younger student because it doesn't require a lot of physical writing. It's about at a 3rd-4th level skill-wise. That is perfect. I was going to edit my earlier post to state she is about 3rd grade level. Thank you! Off to buy more books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.