MCT & Classical Conversations Essentials

[sarahsheart]

Good afternoon. This question maybe coming a little early on but I'm trying to formulate what we do this year in mind of the path ahead of us. My oldest is headed into 3rd grade. This last school year we have worked through SM 1b & 2a, Spelling Workout B, started MCT Grammar Island (3/4 done) which we have loved. We also participated in the local CC community & he really enjoyed the memory work & the community time. We are planning to return to the group this coming year for Cycle 3. Where my uncertainty lies is in the following year wether we would want to do the Essentials program or not & if it's something we would have to do to be able to participate in the rest of the program.

 

I will say he's absolute favorite schoolwork to do is his MCT book & I'd rather give up the CC work in order to stay with MCT. I'm wondering how that will flow together into the essentials program or if they will not be compatable?

Edited June 15, 2017 by sarahsheart

[fourisenough]

I'd say there would be no problem doing both. Essentials is heavy on memorization and light on application; continuing MCT alongside Essentials will reinforce what he's learning at CC. Since it only lasts 24 weeks, there are 12 additional weeks (in a typical school year), plus all summer to use other resources. Plus, grammar is only 1/3 of the Essentials program, so if you find benefit in the writing and math games portion of the program, it seems like a good idea to do it even if it means doubling up on grammar. I think you're smart to give him a solid grounding in grammar in 3rd grade as the Essentials grammar is presented fast & furiously; some kids in our group were totally overwhelmed by the pace. It was fine for my DD because she had FLL 3 and AG Jr. under her belt before beginning Essentials.

[Another Lynn]

I agree with fourisenough.  In addition to the grammar memory work, EEL will have them analyze one sentence per day.  You could do an EEL sentence two days of the week to make sure he has learned the new concept, and then use an MCT sentence the other two days of the week.  Or, do an EEL and an MCT sentence everyday - it's not like it takes terribly long to analyze a sentence.  Also, can you plan to get through Town Grammar (or whatever it's called) before CC starts up so you are on to the practice book along side EEL?  That would make the doubling up seem less burdensome.  

[quelques_fleur]

Hello, my son just wrapped up his last year with foundations, first year with Essentials. We found CC after starting out with MCT, which we absolutely love so I refused to give it up. We did both because MCT just clicks for him. It was simple enough. He followed the 4 level analysis under the sentence and filled in the EEL sentence pattern on top of the sentence. We love how MCT separates parts of speech analysis from parts of a sentence analysis. We found it a bit confusing how EEL combined those 2 separate analyses into one line...lol

 

I'm glad we signed up for one year of Essentials before challenge so he could establish a schema for CC style sentence dissection, which will come in handy for Latin. However, I believe MCT's method was simpler and "stuck" better.

 

Also, there is a grammar controversy I stumbled on that I sided with MCT. So, he teaches that there are 2 main types of verbs (LVP and AVP) but he also teaches there is a third [lesser known/used] type (a BVP.... being verb predicate). CC does not have this type of verb. The curriculum teaches that a being verb should be identified as an intransitive verb, which I disagree with. My son was able to accept that this is a grammar controversy and he applied the MCT method, no problem. He was also in 6th grade last year, so it may have made it easier for him to adapt.

 

I loved the question confirmation algorithm that he learned in essentials. The faces of history experience was an amazing experience for him. IEW was a great curriculum for writing. And we enjoyed learning sentence diagramming. All in all, worth the experience for our last year in foundations. Though, I'm glad we stuck with MCT.

Edited June 27, 2017 by quelques_fleur