stephanie Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Can anyone gibe me a quick run-down on this program? I looked at the site but I started to go into a trance-like state. Lol. Just hoping someone could fill me in. Honestly, I'm sick in bed with sinus crud and don't have it in me to read ALL of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junepep Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 It's pretty much the same program no matter what level you use, the sentences are just pulled from books for older children. Basically each level is broken out into segments and those segments can then be used individually to teach grammar. He goes through a fairly non-standard sequence, but you wind up covering everything that you would in another program eventually. If I remember correctly only 3rd(?) and 6th are complete. He's just been slowly working on the others. Also, you can either print out an entire level at a go or you can have your DC do it online. I prefer the printed materials, but some families will obviously prefer to just work through the pages and materials online. I find the online pages confusing though ;) too much going on (much like the rest of the site). Hope this is what you were looking for! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingmom Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 you can... print out an entire level at a go This may be a very silly question to ask and something obvious that I am just missing... but my head is spinning as well in navigating the KISS site. Is there a single link to print out or view the 6th grade level as a whole, or do you have to view/print the content link-by-link? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristi26 Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 So this isn't really what you asked BUT I felt I needed to comment. :lol: We tried KISS Grammar last year for DS10 and he hated it. It started out okay but quickly became overwhelming for him and me and I have a good handle on grammar concepts. I switched to Daily Grammar, also free, and he was much happier AND he actually understood what he was learning. It's here: http://www.dailygrammar.com/archive.html There is a way to print out a level on the KISS site...let me see if I can find a link for what you're looking for...Here you go: http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/kiss/wb/PBooks/index.htm Scroll down to KISS level 1 and click "doc" for sixth grade. It'll give you a download that you can save or print or whatever... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingmom Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Thanks Kristi26:-) That is very helpful feedback from your experience w/KISS. Thanks for both links! I will check our Daily Grammar. Very grateful for the link!! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taffnus Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Wanted to pipe in as well. I tried it with DD9 this year as well, after completing FLL 1-3. She didn't like it from the start. It's not formatted for ease of use and is quite challenging. She loved grammar prior to that and it was the only program she asked to change for 5th grade. I just pushed "order" for MCT. I have no doubt it could be used successfully. It just didn't work for us. It's free though so worth a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Just a view from the other side. Both my kids have used it for the whole year, successfully. They have learned so much! DS took the Explore test this year (an 8th grade test) and tested in the 95th percentile on the grammar portion of the test, so I think (at least from a testing perspective) it is working. It is definitely much harder than a typical grammar program, so it may not fit your needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
126bugeyes Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 We've been using KISS for a couple of years now. Sometimes it can be confusing, all right. You can either print out the whole workbook for the grade level, or you can do the on-line lessons. We are doing the on-line lessons. It seems to me that they are more complete for different grades. It's easier for me to have the instruction material and analysis keys together. Plus, that's a lot of printing to do at one time. (I have HTML links to the lessons written into Homeschool Skedtrack) I print out about a week at a time. There are several reasons why KISS works better for us. First of all, my oldest could not stand answering grammar questions about random people and situations (she has the same problem with math story problems – who is this person? And why do I care?) She is so much more willing to do grammar analysis to a selection of real literature, often something that’s familiar. What also makes KISS work well for us is that I started at the beginning with all three of my girls. They are at three different reading levels, but go through the lessons together (I actually have the younger two working in the same grade level). They are working on the same concepts- just different age appropriate passages. For instance, my high schooler might have Poe, while my elementary girls might have Beatrix Potter or Aesop. (I can also look across grade levels for each lesson and pick something different if I don’t think my kids will be interested in a particular story. First I had to learn how to navigate the website.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2OandE Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 We began to use this with dd10. She hated it. We only made it two chapters before we threw in the towel. We spent the rest of the year doing Grammarland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 It's certainly challenging for the teacher, but with a bit of prep it's fine. I love that some sentences have aspects the student cannot successfully analyze. It's something of an advertisement for good things to come and a reminder that not all in life is easily solved. :D DD the Elder was a bit frustrated until I explained that she was getting stuck precisely because she understood the material well enough the trouble areas didn't make sense given what what she'd studied so far. IMHO, this requires a deeper understanding than solving a page of carefully composed sentences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingmom Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 It's not formatted for ease of use and is quite challenging... I just pushed "order" for MCT... Is it thus teacher intensive both in preparation and in teaching? I am looking for something to use alongside MCT. We just finished FLL4, loved it, but after an introduction to Grammar town, I realized that one of mine might thrive with MCT while the other will need to need a little more traditional structure alongside MCT. He works well independently and I am looking for something he can work on by himself with little additional teaching. Sooooo... what do you think... will KISS be overkill as a supplement (both in prep and execution?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SorrelZG Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Once I figured out the website, KISS has been open-and-go. The student portion is on my iPad and DS opens it up in Notability when he's ready to do grammar and then comes to me to check his work. I printed the answer key for my own convenience. I'm glad to know about Daily Grammar so I can keep it in mind as a backup option but currently KISS is just as convenient (grab the iPad, do the lesson, check the answers). Granted, DS is only part way through Grade 2, Level 1 and hasn't reached anything particularly challenging which may be related to why he says he likes it but no grammar he's encounted so far in any program has been challenging and he has never liked one until now (perhaps it's just being able to work on the iPad that he likes). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
126bugeyes Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 I'm not sure it fits the bill for traditional structure. It's probably not really something he'll do independently either. My 9th only does some of it independently. The younger kids need me to go through it with them. I read the instruction material (every few lessons), they take turns reading the sentences, we talk about what to write, and they write it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taffnus Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Is it thus teacher intensive both in preparation and in teaching? I am looking for something to use alongside MCT. We just finished FLL4, loved it, but after an introduction to Grammar town, I realized that one of mine might thrive with MCT while the other will need to need a little more traditional structure alongside MCT. He works well independently and I am looking for something he can work on by himself with little additional teaching. Sooooo... what do you think... will KISS be overkill as a supplement (both in prep and execution?) I wouldn't consider KISS a traditional grammar program at all. Your child could complete the assignments independently if he has that temperament and doesn't get frustrated easily. My dd doesn't like to work and doesn't do well independently. When we stopped, she was doing much of it independently but in very small chunks and with resistance. She might do 3 sentences at a go. That meant it would take a week to get through one lesson so progress really was ridiculously slow. Again, it could be a great fit for your child. You could quite easily print out a section and give it a go. BTW, I'm following the advice from the forums and will be doing Daily Language Review with my dd along with MCT. Would something like that or Daily Grams be enough traditional "extra" for your son? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nansk Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Some useful older threads: 1. KISS Grammar 2. Confused by KISS grammar exercise on helping verbs. 3. Grammar Gurus? diff. between KISS grammar and more "traditional" gram... 4. Help with KISS grammar 5. KISS grammar questions Some of the links on the KISS site may have changed, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoo_keeper Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Is it thus teacher intensive both in preparation and in teaching? I am looking for something to use alongside MCT. We just finished FLL4, loved it, but after an introduction to Grammar town, I realized that one of mine might thrive with MCT while the other will need to need a little more traditional structure alongside MCT. He works well independently and I am looking for something he can work on by himself with little additional teaching. Sooooo... what do you think... will KISS be overkill as a supplement (both in prep and execution?) We use both KISS and MCT. We just finished level 1 Grade 2 and I'm looking at level 1 grade 3 stacks waiting to be bound. As for MCT, we'll finish Grammar Town this week and move on to the other Town books. The girls got a great, fantastic start on sentence analysis with MCT's Island level, and KISS has really kept the rigor up. So I personally don't view it as an overkill. KISS gets done during the weekdays as seatwork whereas MCT is done periodically on the weekends lying down on the couch or sofa, in a much more relaxed manner. As for prep, for us, KISS is open and go in the morning. I lay out the day's sheet and the girls work on it independently. When I get home in the evening, I grade it and we correct it together. It (along with BA) is one of the subjects that always has the most corrections, however, but I attribute this to the level of rigor (so it's a good thing). For example, they almost always identify the subjects, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and prepositional phrases (and whether they're acting as adjectives/adverbs) correctly, but they still need guidance on the difference between objects and predicate nouns/adjectives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingmom Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Some useful older threads: 1. KISS Grammar 2. Confused by KISS grammar exercise on helping verbs. 3. Grammar Gurus? diff. between KISS grammar and more "traditional" gram... 4. Help with KISS grammar 5. KISS grammar questions Some of the links on the KISS site may have changed, though. Thank you so much for taking the time to post these! You rock:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingmom Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 We use both KISS and MCT. We just finished level 1 Grade 2 and I'm looking at level 1 grade 3 stacks waiting to be bound. As for MCT, we'll finish Grammar Town this week and move on to the other Town books. The girls got a great, fantastic start on sentence analysis with MCT's Island level, and KISS has really kept the rigor up. So I personally don't view it as an overkill. KISS gets done during the weekdays as seatwork whereas MCT is done periodically on the weekends lying down on the couch or sofa, in a much more relaxed manner. As for prep, for us, KISS is open and go in the morning. I lay out the day's sheet and the girls work on it independently. When I get home in the evening, I grade it and we correct it together. It (along with BA) is one of the subjects that always has the most corrections, however, but I attribute this to the level of rigor (so it's a good thing). For example, they almost always identify the subjects, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and prepositional phrases (and whether they're acting as adjectives/adverbs) correctly, but they still need guidance on the difference between objects and predicate nouns/adjectives. Thank you - getting a glimpse into how you use the two together is VERY helpful. :hurray: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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