Stuart Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 OK I spent last night pawing over the KISS site and the threads about it here. I have never felt this would work for us but we are nearing the end of FLL and the FREE aspect is warranting a try. I downloaded the third grade level one workbook and the AK. This is all I need I think? Please correct me if I'm wrong. My son excels in LA and I want to challenge him more. I however do not excel at LA :) does KISS have enough hand holding for me? I have to print out the teachers guide to really get a better feel for it. I am not a read on the screen learner :) Is it possible to do level 1 in Grade 3 and the rest of the levels in Grade 6? My son reads beautifully but enjoys youthful whimsical writing (he would gladly sit and read Pooh for hours) so I think the literature for 3 will be a better fit for him to enjoy the program. This will be a filler for the rest of "4th" grade. Next year for 5th I want to do MCT town and WWS. If it works out I will continue KISS along side MCT. Would this work out? Thanks ahead for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 The grade 3 book should be perfectly fine for your son, and switching to grade 6 for level 2 works too. The grades all teach the exact same material. They just use different sentences. I would recommend you try going through some of level 1 (grade 3) on your own first, so you can get a feel for the program. Also, a recommendation for using it with your son, since you said he is good at LA - don't do all the exercises! :D We kind of burned out on KISS because we were doing every single sentence of every single exercise, and it was fine until we got toward the end of Level 1 and I was just like, "This AGAIN?!?!?" :lol: Not KISS's fault. I should have done less of the sentences. And you'd think I'd know to do that, because we skip things all the time in other curricula! Most of Level 1 will probably be a review (but with more difficult sentences) anyway, if you've done through FLL4. We did up through half of FLL3, and I don't think we really hit anything "new" in Level 1, but we did solidify subject/verb/direct object/indirect object/predicate noun/predicate adjective/etc. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhomemaker Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 I second not doing all the problems. We do about half, and occasionally we skip a whole exercise if dd really seemed to get the concept in the previous set. I just started dd after doing other grammar programs, and it has been a great way to shore up her understanding of the concepts we have covered for the past few years. I plan to go back to our other grammar program at some point, but I will continue to use KISS to make sure the concepts are thoroughly understood and that mastery has been obtained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 I wouldn't print out ALL of the answer key ("AK"). There are some pages you can print out to read, but we just keep the AK on the computer to check when we are done either with that exercise or with all our KISS work for the day. We, too, skip some exercises completely (which he advocates in the AK) and do only half of others if it seems like we "get the idea." ... And someone pointed out on here in another thread that once you get into the preposition section, use the punctuation stuff in the back to mix things up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 Thanks all. I printed out the first lesson and am sitting down now to go over it. Is there more info online or is it all in the workbook and AK? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoo_keeper Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 There's also a KISS Yahoo! group, I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UmMusa Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Uggh, I printed out a lot of pages for my DD and for myself, but we never were able to get going in it. I think I didn't get the feel for it before starting it... we didn't like how it was going. Maybe I should revisit this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Thanks all. I printed out the first lesson and am sitting down now to go over it. Is there more info online or is it all in the workbook and AK? Technically, there is more info. However, all that you SHOULD need is in the student's book & the Answer Key (AK). The grade level books were originally master level books (Level 1, Level 2A, 2B, etc.) that he made into grade level books. (I've mangled this explanation, but that's the gist of it.) There is more info, more exercises, etc. But you have the stuff you should need. **** At the back of the AK, there is an appendix that is important to read before you start. It is around page 110-111 in my G3_L1 AK. It talks about how the answer key is coded and has some other information. Took me a couple of months to see it (even though I was looking for it) and it should be at the beginning. Print it out, read it, and keep it with your lessons. It is helpful. **** .... And, since you are doing the same level/grade level book we are doing, I'll point out that I personally have found some "mistakes" (disagreements) with his AK. Not many, but some. I "fix" my copy and move on. (For example, at the beginning, he sometimes includes the word "not" in the predicate (part of the verb). Other times, he doesn't. Since we learned (previous grammar programs) to never include "not" in our verb phrase, I "fixed" the inconsistencies in my AK.) Keep in mind that he points out that you aren't expected to get everything right. Sometimes we do, but other times, we miss something or label something (or a lot of things) incorrectly. He has lots of exercises in there so that if you get things wrong, you can figure out why & do some more. Do 5 of the 10 sentences & see how well you did (check the AK). If you did great, move onto the next thing. If you missed the point, reread, find out why, and then try the next few sentences. Recheck the AK. Rinse. Wash. Repeat! Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 RootAnn thanks for the tips. I started going through the lessons the appendix. I'm trying hard to be patient and understand it. I'm an open and go type of teacher. I don't particuarly like being a student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 We're using the Grade 6 book. I printed my own workbook and am doing the exercises ahead of ds. I find the answer key confusing if I don't have a student worksheet in front of me, just the way I am used to reading. Yes, read the appendices! We've also done grammar differently in other programs, so I add in those remarks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted December 10, 2012 Author Share Posted December 10, 2012 Just got my membership approval for the yahoo group. More to read :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MASHomeschooler Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 About what grade level would be good for starting KISS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 3rd grade is good. They have a 2nd grade workbook, but I think that was not originally intended. Also, I found it helpful that my son already had a basic 3rd grade grammar under his belt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MASHomeschooler Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Thank you. What did you use before KISS to get Jim to that level? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MASHomeschooler Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Oops - him, not Jim! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Just got my membership approval for the yahoo group. More to read :/ In the group files folder, the moderator has posted a file called "A Ten Day Plan to Understanding KISS Grammar v.2.doc". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Thank you. What did you use before KISS to get him to that level? (edited your quote for your correction :D) I hopped around between FLL and R&S. We'd done about half of FLL3 and some of R&S3 when we started. I had a hard time finding the right fit that year. This year has gone better (we used most of KISS Level 1, and the parts we haven't done he already understands... and now we're going through some of R&S4, skipping a lot of the earlier lessons). I get bored doing one grammar program all the time. :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MASHomeschooler Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 :) Thanks! My kids are in K and 2nd and we just started homeschooling this quarter (October) and I realized I haven't been doing explicit grammar. I will check those out. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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