luthernose Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 I would love feedback on how these programs compare. If you have used one or any, please let me know your thoughts. We have used FLL for one year. I personally find level 1 to be great and level 3 makes me want to gnaw my arm off slowly. My dh likes them both, so he does that work and he would like to continue FLL because of the repetition, copy work, poetry, and memorization. My kids don't mind them, but I wouldn't say they look forward to them with anticipation. I do like the poems, memorization, and copy work. We haven't used WWE or IEW. What do you like or dislike? If you combine any of them, how do you do it? MCT looks so visually appealing, inspiring and simple. It's way more expensive than it should be, IMO but maybe worth it. Another post indicated the MCT program was great at explaining good writing, but not at showing how to write. Is IEW supposed to be combined with another LA program? Well, I've asked enough questions. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luthernose Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 I'm so glad to hear you loved the program (or at least loved aspects of it). Do you know anything about their return policy from RFWP? I don't see anything on their website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoo_keeper Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Responses in bold below... I would love feedback on how these programs compare. If you have used one or any, please let me know your thoughts. We have used FLL for one year. I personally find level 1 to be great and level 3 makes me want to gnaw my arm off slowly. My dh likes them both, so he does that work and he would like to continue FLL because of the repetition, copy work, poetry, and memorization. My kids don't mind them, but I wouldn't say they look forward to them with anticipation. I do like the poems, memorization, and copy work. We haven't used WWE or IEW.What do you like or dislike? I love that MCT's Sentence Island had our older daughters giggling non-stop. Their love for Mud and the related characters led to the Mud trilogy being one of the favorite Christmas gifts. I love that the 4 level analysis in Practice Island went further than any other grammar program that we used and that the sentences were so complex (KISS Grammar is comparable in this aspect). I love that MofH inspired a joy of poetry in the girls (although the corresponding analysis was over our head). Right now we've recently started the Town level so I'm sure I'll have more to love regarding those books soon.If you combine any of them, how do you do it? We never tried FLL/WWE (too scripted for us), but I recently added in Imitations in Writing (which implements the first few levels of IEW) and plan on adding in some of the themed books a bit later. We don't do the writing suggesting in MCT, and I realized that I needed to address this oversight. The IEW workbooks are working well for us, there's enough hand-holding for the child (instead of having the lesson scripted towards the parent) and the steps are very incremental. I also appreciate the harder vocabulary and dictionary skills that are thrown in.MCT looks so visually appealing, inspiring and simple. It's way more expensive than it should be, IMO but maybe worth it. Another post indicated the MCT program was great at explaining good writing, but not at showing how to write.Is IEW supposed to be combined with another LA program?Well, I've asked enough questions. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Here is a current thread that I found very informative addressing WWE/WWS vs. IEW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest boonefhh Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 I am in love with those books! we started out at the island level as afterschoolers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 I don't know what age(s) you are looking for, but FLL/WWE is designed for about 1st - 4th grades. IEW and MCT are not recommended until at least 3rd grade. I think that WWE is better for reluctant writers and takes through the steps of writing very gradually. I think that IEW is better for kids that can get sentences on paper, but they need some guidance as to what makes a good sentence and paragraph. I went to an IEW demonstration, and I could see that my dd could never do IEW. It is just too hard for her to get anything at all on paper, and IEW starts with having the child write something and then tweaking it to make it better. WWE is a much better fit for her because it has a lot of guidance as to how to come up with what to write to begin with. I haven't started MCT yet, but we will start it next year. I understand MCT to have 6 levels, with the first level being pretty easy and directed toward gifted 3rd graders to avg 4th graders. But I have read that each level represents a significant increase in difficulty. Dd8 could certainly do it this year, but then I will probably need to take a year off and do something else before the next level. So we are just going to go through Grammarland this year and wait until next year for MCT. I am not sure that I will use MCT's writing, since I think we will stay with the WWE/WWS series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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