Barton Level 5...

[OneStepAtATime]

Just wanted to say I'm in love.   :lol:

 

DD and I have 3 lessons to go (the prefixes) and were reviewing the suffixes again before finishing those last three lessons and heading into a three week break when it hit me how much easier Level 5 has been than Level 4.  I have mentioned it before but I don't think I really internalized that HOLY COW this has been a cake walk comparatively.  Has it been a lot of time and effort?  Yep.  Have there been some frustrating days?  You bet.  But it has been NOTHING like Level 4.  In fact, I realized that DD and I frequently laugh and visit and goof around during these lessons because it is such a relief.  

 

And she LOVES being able to finally break down words with suffixes into something that makes sense.  The pieces make sense.  And reassembling them makes sense.  She whips through the word lists and the stories and the spelling and the phrasing and...she is actually enjoying herself.  She smiles.  She creates new words from her knowledge of the pieces and is incorporating what she is learning into her writing.  

 

Her confidence with reading and spelling and writing went from subbasement to sky rise thanks to Barton, but especially having now reached the end of Level 5.  Every level she has made tremendous jumps forward.  Those jumps forward have been hard won but they have happened.  With each piece through Level 4, though, each level just seemed 1000 times harder than the previous one.  Now, at the end of Level 5, there are so many parts to the foundation that DD feels like an entirely different person.  She comes into her lessons feeling confident, not demoralized.

 

And we both know that slowing down, repeating, playing games and/or doing extra practice pages can be just as productive as slogging forward, and in fact in many instances it is MORE productive, even in areas she seemed to get stuff on the first pass.  Only now we have a rhythm and a plan that keeps us from getting demoralized and thinking "We have to repeat this AGAIN?!"

 

I know Level 6 is really long, but I am honestly looking forward to tackling it with her.  I am looking forward us making it all the way through all 10 levels.  We are a team.  And we are gonna make it.   :)

 

(now if only we could do the same for math...)

 

ETA:  I forgot to say what I originally intended to say which is I wish everyone using Barton the very best and to offer hope and encouragement for the tough days.  

Edited May 27, 2016 by OneStepAtATime

[AmazingGrace]

We are in level 4.  It hasn't been as bad as rumors suggested it might be.  But, it is still so SLOW.  Thanks for the encouragement and I am so glad for you.   :hurray:

 

 

 

[merry gardens]

:hurray:

 

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

We are in level 4.  It hasn't been as bad as rumors suggested it might be.  But, it is still so SLOW.  Thanks for the encouragement and I am so glad for you.   :hurray:

Oh good!  Although the early lessons went well for DD, the middle ones were a bear in Level 4.  It was really, really hard for DD, and the most posts I see about struggles with Barton tend to be in Level 4.  I know some find Level 4 to be fine and snag in Level 5 or Level 3 or Level 6, though.  Just goes to show every kid is different.  I really wanted to share this for anyone in a lesson or a level that is super hard so they won't think it will always be that bad.  It probably won't.  :)  

[cmp3400]

Thanks for sharing!  We are pushing through Level 4 right now, and it is slow moving and tough!

[frogger]

Thanks for sharing! It is great to hear from someone ahead of you that it is doable and it is working. It is very encouraging!

[OneStepAtATime]

Thanks for sharing! It is great to hear from someone ahead of you that it is doable and it is working. It is very encouraging!

:)  It has certainly helped me to hear from others further down the road than I.  I felt I ought to do the same for others.

 

On a side note:  Today DD and I were doing our final review lesson before we head into those last three lessons next week.  She paused in the lesson to brain storm other words she knew that she suspected were base words with suffixes.  She was working really hard to come up with words she knew that sounded like the suffixes we had on the table and to determine for herself if they were words with suffixes or base words that sounded like suffixes.  She didn't have to do this.  It wasn't part of the lesson.  She just got excited about the words.  She wanted to learn more, make more connections.  And when she was writing the dictated sentences she was adding in additional parts to the sentence on her own to make them more interesting and complex, including other words she had realized were base words with suffixes.  At the end of the lesson she read all 4 stories, just for fun. 

 

And as soon as the lesson was over she ran off to write a short story that had been inspired by the words we had been using.

 

What is interesting to me is that during our first run through these lessons she had done well and seemed to be grasping everything. I felt she was pretty solid and we could have just kept going.  I decided to do a review anyway because just on general principles it seemed like a good idea.  Also, there were a couple of things I wasn't as sure of so I wondered how solid she really was.  I am so glad we did.   Our second run has been great.  We have just done a quick review of each lesson, one a day, and only select parts, not the whole lesson.  I just wanted to solidify it all, not beat it into the ground.  Not only has it really solidified everything, it has been fun.  She has gotten so excited about applying her knowledge independently.  Our lessons go off on word rabbit trails and creating stories and talking and hanging out.  Seeing her enthusiastic about words and stories...so cool.  This process may have been long and tedious and stressful at times but it continues to be worth it.  :)

[Guest2]

Yay! We found level 4 to take a looong time. We loved 5. Levels 6 and 7 weren't bad. There is a lot of material in 8, and I remember it being a bit choppy. Level 8 still seemed better than 4. perhaps because we sort of consider ourselves done at level 8.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Silver Brook

[OneStepAtATime]

Yay! We found level 4 to take a looong time. We loved 5. Levels 6 and 7 weren't bad. There is a lot of material in 8, and I remember it being a bit choppy. Level 8 still seemed better than 4. perhaps because we sort of consider ourselves done at level 8.

Does this mean you won't be doing Level 9 and 10?  Or you may add them in but you feel the most important parts of the program will be complete?  Or...?

 

Curious about what other people end up doing.  I know some stop around Level 8 and I was wondering about the reasons.  

[imagine.more]

I agree with every part of this post OneStep! :) We're part way through Level 5 and even though it's slow going because of my daughter being HOH it's still less overwhelming than 4 and so very worth it. 

 

As for the Levels 9 and 10 I'm planning to go through them because I think they'll be very useful *but* I think that as long as a kid got through Level 8 they'd be fine and be literate high schoolers.