HSDCY
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Posts posted by HSDCY
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We are doing Town level this year with a 5th grader. We only add Spelling Power. I am thinking about adding a literature program next year with Voyage level though. Mosdos literature program looks very good, but I am still debating whether to spend that much money on two books that will only be used once.
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Oh, I didn't mean to imply we only use the TM -- we use both the student text and the TM. I do think the TM would be too busy to use alone, and the text print would be a little too small for the student. Also, all the answers to the questions are right there on the page, so -- I don't think using the TM by itself would be a good idea. YMMV.
Thanks for clarifying that. I have to think again though, both TM and student book will cost me$ 122. Yikes!
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Yes, they should have samples of the TM up on the website. However, to give you an example, for the short story we are reading now (taken from Landmark Books -- the Wright Brothers), the focus is on dialogue and how the reader gains insight into the characters of a story through dialogue. With the previous stories, we've learned about on character, theme, internal and external conflicts, setting, rising action, climax, foreshadowing, etc. Each new chapter introduces a new literary component. Each of these components is reviewed through subsequent stories by questions in the TM that address those topics, such as foreshadowing, conflict, etc.
There are both literal review questions and deeper, more analytical questions for each story, page by page. Answers to these and those in the text are in the TM.
There is also some brief introductory information before each story for the teacher, and a selection summary.
Hope my rambling helps a little!:)
Yes, it does help:)
I know you only use TM. Do you find the page too busy and print too small with student text and teaching notes together? I would really like to avoid buying both TM and student book because they are not cheap, but looking at the sample makes me wonder whether the TM will be too distracting too look at.
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This looks really interesting. Do you use it as your literature study or just as a reader? I ask because I am considering their literature series but can't decide whether I want just the teacher's book, student book only, or both.
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I find their history-based writing lessons to be excellent. They are well organized, easy to use, and reasonably priced. I am currently using American History Vol. 1 with a 5th grader, it will last us through this school year. But I would imagine with a 9th-12 grader, it won't last as long.
As for how to follow with this for several years, I guess you might have to look for their advanced writing courses. I find that once my student grasps the IEW method covered in Structure and Style, it takes about 2 years for him to practice in order to internalize what he learns. I think it will be faster for an older student.
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I would let him do it with you. My 5yo girl does it with me!:tongue_smilie: As far as couch potato, I seriously doubt he is anywhere near as couch potato as I am, and I can do it (with much sweat and groaning!)
Thank you! I'll get it and try.
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Do you think this will work for a 10-yer-old, not-too-coordinated boy? My ds really needs a program to get him moving. He swims twice a week, but the rest of the time he is lounging around not doing any physical activities. I am thinking about doing this with him. Would it work? Would it be too hard for a couch potato?
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We enjoyed Liberty's Kids, and The Revolution(History Channel). Liberty's Kids is for all ages, even my dh and I enjoyed it. The Revolution is heavy in content, and ds had to turn his head a couple of times during some battle scenes. I would only recommend for your dc's age only if they are history lovers.
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Current plan for next year--
Bible--AWANA, Christian Heros Then and Now books
History--Ancient, using Usborn Encyclopedia of the Ancient World as spine
Literature and Reading--Books related to our history study
Language Arts--
--MCT for grammar, vocab, and writing
--Spelling Power
Math and Logic--Foester Algebra, Perplexor books
Science--CPO earth science
Foreign Language--BetterChinese.com material
Piano--Alfred's books
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We are using ChaulkDust this year, and only two chapters left to go. We started out using the DVDs, cut down to only use it for new topics, then finally cut all DVDs out because we find it easier to just open the textbook and have lessons from there. The textbook is well-written, easy to follow, and very thorough.
The only complaint I have is that their word problems lack depth. Looking back, I think we would've done much better if we stuck with Singapore Math.
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Many people on this board like the logic books published by Prufrock Press.
Logic Countdown is intended for grades 3-4
Logic Liftoff is intended for grades 4-6
Orbiting with Logic is intended for grades 5-7
We enjoyed those, and the perplexors(they have different kinds of perplexors on different levels)http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_companies/mindware/perplexors_level_a.cfm
Mind benders are good too but I find perplexors to have better value because they have way more puzzles per book.
Also check here: www.printable-puzzles.com for all kinds of puzzles and their solutions for free.
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Here is the link to the slide show for you:
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sigh...I should just quit reinventing the wheel and do the assignment as given?
I don't know if you should, but I would if I were you:D
The reason I like MCT's writing is because he really emphasizes on the content of one's writing and to put thoughts into it to write in a clear, logical way . From what I understand, that's the goal of PT.
As for my plan, I still want to finish IEW History-based lessons this year and just keep PT as reading/discussion material with occasional assignments. My goal this year is to have ds get the IEW method down pat before we do ONLY VE next year. In other words, having IEW on auto-pilot is my goal for this year. Since you already have that, what are you afraid of ?:D
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Singapore Math.
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I used SM's placement test result as an indicator to see if it's OK to move to the next level. Do a placement test on 4A, if he gets above 85%, then go ahead and move on.
Ds flew through SM primary level at a consistent pace except fraction. I remember slowing down when we hit fraction especially those more challenging word problems, but picked up speed again once we pass that. The funny thing is, I took out some of the hardest fraction problems from level 4 and handed them to ds when he was in level 5, those once hard problems became very easy a year later.
SM introduces hard fraction concept earlier than most curricula through challenging word problems. If that's where your ds's struggle is, wait a bit longer then reintroduce the concept. Meanwhile, carry on with your math instruction as usual. However, if his problem is with basic operations of fraction, then supplemental books like Key to Fraction series might help.
Hope this is helpful.
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I waited a while to respond because I didn't quite know what to say. But now that he got every problem right, your provious concern probably has more to do with the setup than anything else.
I've never seen Horizon books before, but I suspect they are set up in a more child friendly way--larger print, less problems per page, etc.. The textbook Chaulkdust uses has small print and has a lot of problems per page, and it is a textbook rather than a workbook so it feel completely different. That might throw your son off.
I also find that if I require ds to work on lesser number of problems at a time, it usually yields better results. Of course if I sit right next to him and ask him to do the problems right in front of me, then the results are even better.
So maybe just keep doing what you did today from now on will do?
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So why am I still afraid to let go of WWE and IEW?
Maybe because Sentence Island and Paragraph Town look "too simple" to be a stand-alone program? Maybe we don't feel competent enough to teach writing without some handholding? Maybe we are afraid of "not covering everything"?
I held onto IEW while going through SI and PT orally with ds. I do not regret it because I needed the guidance IEW provides, and I've seen results. But what got me so excited about EV is that it has a lot more guidance for teachers than SI and PT. I can finally say, "Ah, this is what MCT wants us to accomplish in this lesson. I know what I am looking for. I know what I should do." So yes, I am dropping everything else next year and using only EV:eek:
We shall see how it goes;)
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To prepare for Essay Voyage I would recommend that your child be comfortable writing topic sentences and strong paragraphs. They should also have basic research skills.
I agree.
To prepare for EV, a student using IEW should be at least very strong with units 4 and 6. It's better if he's also done units 8 and 9 and feels comfortable with them.
I want to quote some MCT's words written in the teacher's pages, maybe it will help someone see the big picture. "There are noble, unacademic genres of writing, but this book is not about those. I am not worried that students will arrive at college unable to write unacademically; I am worried that they will arrive at college unable to write the standard English required there....Writing involves using words correctly, writing grammatically correct sentences, constructing good paragraphs, and building a clear essay around a meaningful thesis. Add to that the values and attitudes attendant upon excellent writing, without which the methods are robotic."
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HSDYC - what didn't you like about Building Langauge? Do you have to do it before doing Caesar's English?
Capt_Uhura
I think it's meant to introduce stems to very young kids in a gentle way, so the content is weak, IMHO. There is a huge gap between BL and CEI in terms of content, but you don't need to use BL in order to use CEI. If I had known earlier, I would have skipped it.
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I've been reading Essay Voyage in the past two days in preparation for next year. I found it to be an awesome text. I do admit that it's quite a jump from Paragraph Town, but I think it does correspond with grammar and vocab.
I think the key is not whether a child is gifted or not, the key is how much writing instruction and actual writing experience the child has prior to Essay Voyage. If the child has not had enough writing in the past, Essay Voyage will be a hard program. But either going down a level to "catch up" or doing it slowly should do the trick.:001_smile:
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What portions are you using (and level)?
We are currently using the Town level minus the poetry book. We did the whole Island level last year, loved everything except the poetry part (did not like Building Language either, but Caesar's English is great). I am not a poetry person, and the book confused me instead of helping me teach so I did not purchase it this year.
Have you done any tweaking?
No.
How do you schedule MCT?
Just open the books and read. You will know when to stop by observing your children's response to the material. We do this 2-3 days a week.
What have you loved?
Grammar Island, Grammar Town, Caesar's English I so far. I just received our Voyage level material. Aside from grammar and vocab which are great as usual, I am utterly impressed by Essay Voyage.
What portions are you neutral on?
None.
Anything you don't like about it?
Like I mentioned earlier, I did not care for Building Language. As for poetry, I think it's my lack of
competence that cuased us not to continue with it.
What about your children's response to this, what are their favorites? Anything they do not care for?
Ds loves MCT material in general. He often reads grammar and writing books on his own after school. He is doing very well with CE too, and gets excited when he reads or hears CE words.
Is MCT consider mastery or spiral?
It's spiral, there are lots of build-in reviews.
Next year will you use all of MCT or a combination of programs (and which)?
We will be using Grammar Voyage, Caesar's English II, and Essay Voyage. We have been just reading MCT's writing books without actually doing any MCT writing assignment because we are using IEW as our main writing program. But after using IEW for 3 years, I can see that Essay Voyage will compelment our writing instruction greatly. From using IEW, ds learned the basic structure and stylistic skills. From MCT, he will learn the correct use of words and how to write thoughtfully. Essay Voyage is a big step-up from Paragraph Town, it's very meaty, and we will be using it as our main writing program next year.
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Are there any simplified chinese curricula with book and DVD or online instruction?
Better Chinese at www.betterchinese.com has both traditional and simplified versions of books. They have audio CDs that match with books, and they also have online lessons.
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For supplemental books, I like CWP the best. I find IP to be a bit overkill, if you do the regular workbook with it. If I can do over, I'd use IP and CWP instead of workbook.
As for life after 6B, I think DM is a good choice. I went with Chaulkdust, and am currently kicking myself for not choosing DM1. If your children do well with Singapore math, and you are capable of teaching it, use DM, you won't regret it. I just got DM2, and I really like it after previewing its content. We are using it next year (and supplement lightly with an American text).
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I chose simplified over traditional because more people are using it, and it's a lot easier to write.
I don't think it's true that it will be harder to read traditional Chinese if you learn simplified version first. I have some friends from China, and they told me they had no problem reading traditional Chinese. I also don't think it's going to matter that much if you switch now because at the beginners' level, a lot of those words are written the same or very similar.
But whether to switch or not depends on what your goals are. If you think speaking the language is a lot more important than reading and writing, then it does not really matter which version you choose.
Wow. Mosdos Fiction Collection is wonderful!
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
I am talking about their regular literature program. It looks like a great program to go along with MCT.