Kerileanne99 Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I am having a ridiculously hard time trying to find a LA program for this year. I had thought just to continue free-styling it, but dd4 has other ideas. Honestly, I am just thrilled that she wants to devote some time to something other than math and science, so am more than willing to try to fulfill the request. The problem (as usual) is that we have covered so much informally that I cannot find anything that fits the bill. Hopefully, you guys will have some ideas. I will try to give you guys an idea of the things we have 'played with' and hopefully that will help. When I asked her to clarify what she meant as to 'doing reading things' she said, "you know, new words, learning about writing stuff, making up stories, and fun things like couplets and Rummy Roots." By which I think she just wants to spend some time on LA:) 1. Reading- no issues there! Recently tested at post HS level, comprehension at grade 5.6. 2. Spelling- we tend to do AAS3 a few times per week, and are working through supplements as she wants to pursue spelling bees. 3. We have covered all sorts of topics informally, from literary devices such as similes, metaphors, everything from onomantopeia to portmanteau to anthropomorphism and so on. We have covered things like point of view, plot, setting, etc. 4. Grammar- we did FLL1, but condensed it as the repetition was mind boggling. I finally went with the Brian Cleary books and Scholastic sets (awesome!) with little booklets on each part of speech, punctuation, and so on. We also have Montessori parts of speech symbols that we use when we do WWE. After finishing the copy work she simply places the appropriate symbol for each part of speech on the words. 5. WWE- we are about 3/4 of the way through level 1 6. Vocabulary- this kid LOVES vocabulary! I actually bought her Marie's Words awhile back. We have a piece of fishing line strung across the room, with clothespins. She chooses 15-20 words and hangs them up. During the week it has become a family game to try to use as many of the words, in the appropriate context/usage as possible. A lot of fun:) She also has started an informal Greek/Latin root study through a workbook and Rummy Roots game. 7. We do poetry, once a week. She likes the memorization of them, and has memorized something like 40 different poems. She chooses them. Sometimes it is short little nonsense poems, and sometimes she will choose something like 'The Night Before Christmas'. I think she would like something that incorporates more poetry and knowledge of poetry. We have covered some pentameter but not a lot. This kid will not go for lots of repetition. We learn it, and she wants to point out examples as we go. I am specifically looking at MCT. We have Sentence Island, but have covered it. Is it worth buying the other materials in level 1? Is is crazy to think that CE seems like a better all around fit, that I could maybe use it for just a bit longer? So tired of buying materials that get vaguely used! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 She'd probably enjoy Music of the Hemispheres and might like the 4 level parsing in Practice Island. Maybe Killgallon's Sentence Composing for Elementary but I wouldn't push it if she finds it too challenging at this stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennW in SoCal Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Your playful, free-styling language arts is so rich and wonderful that I don't see the need for a formal program. That is how I did LA all the way through high school, but I never had kids who demanded workbooks or text books or anything remotely "schooly". The only MCT material I'm familiar with is the high school language arts workbooks. I only used them once, and its been a few years so my memory may be sketchy, but I'm wondering if the vocabulary book might be a good fit for you. It is designed for exploration and playing with words. Word Within The Word is the title. If you have a teacher's store near you, check out some of the workbooks and supplemental materials for classrooms. My youngest had a blast one year with a dragon themed language arts book I found at such a store that had story prompts and other activities. Have you looked at the materials at Critical Thinking Press? They have lots of different word root workbooks and other fun language arts material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Have you found Basher books? They have a grammar one and a writing one (plus TONS of science ones). My Dd also loved the Language is CATegorical series (and the math one by the same author) and Eats, Shoots and Leaves (both the illustrated kids one and the original book) and the spin-offs, and Vocabulary cartoons (which range from elementary level up to SAT prep). Scholastic has some cute mini-books that are fun for LA areas, and DD also loved Grammar Cop and editing in general at your DD's age (she's only just starting to edit her own writing at age 9). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 What about Bravewriter's Jot it Down? It gives project ideas about retelling fairy tales, writing letters, visiting art galleries and a few other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Your LA program looks great to me! You are already doing an awesome job. If you still want to add in stuff, some of the things I like are sentence diagramming, memorization of famous speeches (my son adores this), online LA programs (we used EPGY LA), Critical Thinking Press Reading Detective series and Inference Jones, comprehension guides for various classics like Hobbit, Narnia etc. We have the Spelling Workout series, but I don't like it enough to recommend it. In all of the MCT books, we love the Music of the Hemispheres. I plan to try "Red Hot Root words" when we have more time. We also have those "word of the day" calendars and try to use the word of the day as much as possible in our day. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 You may also want to look at the Peggy Kaye book "Games for Writing" to see if she likes any of those ideas. See if your library has a copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 Your playful, free-styling language arts is so rich and wonderful that I don't see the need for a formal program. That is how I did LA all the way through high school, but I never had kids who demanded workbooks or text books or anything remotely "schooly". The only MCT material I'm familiar with is the high school language arts workbooks. I only used them once, and its been a few years so my memory may be sketchy, but I'm wondering if the vocabulary book might be a good fit for you. It is designed for exploration and playing with words. Word Within The Word is the title. If you have a teacher's store near you, check out some of the workbooks and supplemental materials for classrooms. My youngest had a blast one year with a dragon themed language arts book I found at such a store that had story prompts and other activities. Have you looked at the materials at Critical Thinking Press? They have lots of different word root workbooks and other fun language arts material. Thanks for the vote of confidence! I agree...I don't think I actually NEED anything specific. I love our LA 'curriculum-as-you-go'! My bedroom has a host of labels all over the walls...every literary term imaginable so that I can specifically point them out (or dd can!) as we read them. Honestly, this is a pretty solid basis. But dd wants more time devoted in our 'official school time.' Not sure what exactly this will entail, but am thrilled that it may involve something other than math and science! I just had a look at Word Within a Word and think dd will LOVE it! I think it may be a challenge (yay!) but we certainly don't care about schedules around here so it doesn't really matter how long it takes, right? This is my problem with MCT...I just can't seem to make the Indy levels work for dd4. It is supposed to be perfect for gifted kids, but I can't seem to find the correct levels...and don't want to spend the money to guess! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 She'd probably enjoy Music of the Hemispheres and might like the 4 level parsing in Practice Island. Maybe Killgallon's Sentence Composing for Elementary but I wouldn't push it if she finds it too challenging at this stage. I *do* think Music of the Hemispheres is a perfect level re poetry...and think she would enjoy it. I am just having a lot of trouble relating it to other MCT levels. How do you think Killgallon's levels match up to MCT, if at all? She does not have any trouble narrating a unique sentence, nor writing it, but writing full paragraphs would definitely elicit moans! That is changing a bit...she BEGGED to learn cursive, so after her manuscript arrived at a reasonable point I bought HWT cursive in Spanish. It took her all of one full morning to learn cursive. And she rejected HWT as 'not fancy enough' so we looked at D'Nealian online. That was it, so writing in cursive has definitely increased her desire to write.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 Have you found Basher books? They have a grammar one and a writing one (plus TONS of science ones). My Dd also loved the Language is CATegorical series (and the math one by the same author) and Eats, Shoots and Leaves (both the illustrated kids one and the original book) and the spin-offs, and Vocabulary cartoons (which range from elementary level up to SAT prep). Scholastic has some cute mini-books that are fun for LA areas, and DD also loved Grammar Cop and editing in general at your DD's age (she's only just starting to edit her own writing at age 9). Oh, Demmeter, I think you have hit it out of the park! Alex is going to love the grammar cop materials. She has self-styled herself as the family grammar police, so I truly think she will enjoy these:) We do have LOTS of Basher books, and she does like the Martin Terban books too:). In fact, living books of just about any description! I guess I should also mention that she has the Life of Fred LA books that she reads independently for fun. She has learned a suprisingly significant amount of material from these! Not a complete curriculum by far, but lots of fun and a great supplement:) AND! Just an advert! Ordered (or preordered!) LoF Chemistry today:) so excited! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 Your LA program looks great to me! You are already doing an awesome job. If you still want to add in stuff, some of the things I like are sentence diagramming, memorization of famous speeches (my son adores this), online LA programs (we used EPGY LA), Critical Thinking Press Reading Detective series and Inference Jones, comprehension guides for various classics like Hobbit, Narnia etc. We have the Spelling Workout series, but I don't like it enough to recommend it. In all of the MCT books, we love the Music of the Hemispheres. I plan to try "Red Hot Root words" when we have more time. We also have those "word of the day" calendars and try to use the word of the day as much as possible in our day. Good luck. Ah! I love our program as well. Before I forget, we have a word of the day calendar as well! But more than that, we have an idiom of the day by the same folks and it has done amazing things for Alexandria's reading! When we read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the. the Great Glass Elevator, I was shocked by the sheer number of idioms, similes, and metaphors a we had already encountered. A perfect study, truly. Just a note: Someone in this forum advised me to give Red Hot Roots a miss when I was looking for a roots study, and I am so glad I did! I had a chance to look at it in person, and it is SO lame compared to other programs. A big disappointment! We went with Rummy roots, and Rummy Roots + More Rummy Roots has about 50 more total...and is so much less dry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Just a note: Someone in this forum advised me to give Red Hot Roots a miss when I was looking for a roots study, and I am so glad I did! I had a chance to look at it in person, and it is SO lame compared to other programs. A big disappointment! We went with Rummy roots, and Rummy Roots + More Rummy Roots has about 50 more total...and is so much less dry! Thanks for the tip on Red Hot Root words and the Rummy Roots. Will check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 How do you think Killgallon's levels match up to MCT, if at all? She does not have any trouble narrating a unique sentence, nor writing it, but writing full paragraphs would definitely elicit moans! My oldest did Killgallon "Story Grammar for Elementary" first semester of 2nd grade prior to MCT's "Grammar Town" in second semester of 2nd . In retrospect, I wish that I had done the MCT book first in order to teach the phrases and clauses via MCT before encountering them in Killgallon. My DS has done Sentence Island + Grammar Town and will probably do Killgallon SC4E some time this coming year after he finishes up Singapore Sentences to Paragraphs Book 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrousel Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 An asynchronous LA is afoot here too. I'd love a box or all in one, but nothing fits. Spent some time researching many of the books mentioned and wow, some great choices I'd never heard of! Quick questions, is this the grammar cop referenced? http://teacherexpress.scholastic.com/grammar-cop I got several different google results and wanted to make sure I was looking at the one being praised here. Ds reads and has a vocabulary well above grade level, but he loathes writing by hand. Trying to cobble together an LA plan for him that meets him where he is. For a fun grammar read for the younger set, he's loved the Super Grammar book as an introduction; it's comic format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Yes-this is the one my DD LOVED at age 4-5. The combination of fairy tales and being able to correct someone else's mistakes made it a big win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 http://teacherexpress.scholastic.com/grammar-cop The Grammar Cop ebook is on sale for $1 right now. I just bought it and it looks fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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