Can anyone give us a review on the Art of Argument DVD series? Are they worth buying? Do they add anything of value? We've just started reading the book. Thanks :001_smile:

We are diagraming sentences in French, but I can't find any French diagraming resource online. Do any Spanish or French mother tongue speakers know where to definitely place a "disjunctive" pronoun in a diagram? Thank you :001_smile:

Grammar Diagraming by Deborah Broadwater http://www.amazon.com/Diagramming-Sentences-Deborah-White-Broadwater/dp/1580372821/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1342056599&sr=8-11&keywords=grammar+diagraming All you need for an introduction to GD. The book is only 36 pages long, yet it moves along at a steady pace from the basic pattern to advanced diagrams. The instructions are short and sweet; no lengthy explanations, lots of visuals. Great for visual learners, and doesn't take all year to do: just a few weeks. My son (11) has greatly benefitted from it.

Yes, level 4, Magic Lens 1 - we're doing both Voyage and Magic Lens 1 over the next year or so. You think just one practice book would be enough to solidify the idea of 4-level sentence analysis?

Sorry to be a pest, but I have to find these things out because: 1. Shipping to Australia from MCT is very, very expensive. 2. Their Customer Service is lousy: ie they only answer your emails sometimes, not always, and if you are lucky that they do answer, they will not give you enough info, so you have to type another email and get ignored. Very frustrating. :confused: So, I have to come here to ask these questions: would it be adequate to buy only ONE of EITHER Voyage Practice Book or ML1 Practice Book, to cover both Voyage and ML1 levels, since they are both just a bunch of sentences to write in the 4 level analysis? If so, which one would you get? Thank you

I can give you one more great reason for diagramming, on top of all that has already been said: If you can't get to sleep at night, and are lying awake, try diagramming sentences in your head, LOL. You will be asleep before you've even finished the first one. The best textbook on diagramming I have found so far is; http://www.amazon.com/Diagramming-Sentences-Deborah-White-Broadwater/dp/1580372821/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340513912&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=diagraming+sentences+bevorah+white+broadwatrer

Thank you: would you say that the Practice Voyage and Magic Lens 1 Practice lessons are too similar to bother getting both? Would just one do?

In the Voyage Practice book, are there just sentences with the 4 levels of analysis? I just need to know whether it's worth buying as the shipping to Australia is expensive and I have the GV TM with 30 or so sentences in the back of the book already.

I wish they'd told me that when I ordered (grrrrr). Do I need the TM of the Practice Books, or JUST the Practice Books? thanks

I just received MCT Grammar Voyage TM, which cost a small fortune to have shipped to Australia. I note that there are very few exercises in GV. The customer service is not very helpful, and it was like getting blood out of a stone to get any information at all, which is why I'm asking you people. Ds is highly resistive to doing written work, but do I need to go and get the Practice Book? Or can we do without it? Or, even better, are there are downloadable practice sheets for GV and ML? thanks

WWS MCT (just received Voyage level) Grammar Diagramming Then I'm looking for a spelling program, which is probably going to be Phonetics Zoo.

I was just looking at that last night. Thank you so much for the review.

I want to read a good translation of Beowulf that doesn't get into gory details. Any suggestions? Thank you

I'm looking for a computer game that teaches spelling at a grade 6 or 7 or 8 level. Does anyone know of any? Thanks

Can someone please show me where this thread is? I tried looking for it all over, but couldn't find it, and it does sound interesting!

Thank you so much! I like the 'misplaced modifier'. That should convince him!

Ds (11) wrote the summary on a passage from Tom Sawyer in WWS. He wrote this: "Tom on Monday didn't want to go to school". I told him to write: "On Monday, Tom didn't want to go to school". But he is adamant the first one is correct. I can't explain why it isn't, but I just know it isn't. Can you please explain what the 'name' of the problem is? Is it "splitting infinitives"? If I have a "name" for this mistake, it might convince him. Thank you

WWS = Writing With Skill WWW ... I don't know what this one stands for.

Thank you so much! Actually, I got so desperate I wrote my own. I also emphasised to my son that abusing punctuation was fine texting, on facebook or emails, even forum posts. But not to use special effects in narration. Punctuation Marks Rules Ellipsis ... Use: in speech within quotation marks only Use to express a speaker’s faltering, hesitating, fragmented speech due to emotion, ie surprise or uncertainty etc. Do not use ellipsis in narration. Fill in the gaps with phrases such as: instead of: ‘she walked up the steps and ...there was a hoo hoo sound...’ use: ‘She walked up the steps but, upon hearing a faint ghost noise, she faltered’. instead of: ‘Suddenly he heard a noise ...’ use: ‘Suddenly he heard a noise. He hesitated.’ instead of: ‘The spaceship crash landed and ... silence’ use ‘the spaceship crash landed and, after all went quiet there was silence.’ instead of: ‘she stopped ... she looked ...’ use: ‘she looked ‘she paused for a second. She couldn’t believe what she saw.’ _____________________________________ Exclamation Marks !!!!! Bolding or CAPSUse exclamations sparingly, only in speech to express strong emotion or high volume, but avoid in narration (which should be detached and analytical). Instead of !!! use description: instead of “she shouted!!” use ‘she shouted loudly’: instead of “WOW!” use ‘he was stunned’, instead of “a monster!!” ‘the big scary monster roared’. _____________________________________ “Quotation marks” use only around actual speech. Do not use to express emphasis on a word, or to express alleged or so-called, ie ‘the “lake” at North Lake had no water in it.” say: “the so-called lake at North Lake had no water in it.”

Instead of using description words, my ds (almost 12), uses a lot of special effects in his writing assignments; ie: ...... (dots) , multiple exclamation marks, bolding, caps, large fonts etc. I am trying to teach him to use actual words to describe what all the CAPS...!!!! etc mean. He can be very resistive to anything new like this as he has mild HFautism. But if I could find a resource somewhere that has a page of suggestions for use of description instead of special effects it might help, ie: the girl stopped ....... = the girl hesitated, or, she stopped and thought, I HATE YOU = He shouted, "I hate you!" I don't like it = she emphasised there was the monster!!!!! = the monster was big and scary Does such a resource exist out there? Thank you :001_smile:

Which version of the Aenied did you and he read?

I am about to buy Grammar Voyage and Magic Lens 1, but the shipping is nearly $50 for the two books plus teacher manuals to Australia. How much do I need the teacher manuals? Without them shipping goes down to $30, plus I save the cost of the extra books. But if I do need them please let me know. I can afford them, but I don't just want to throw away money! :001_smile:

Does anyone know of any other resource to buy MCT grammar books other than RFWP? They want to charge $50 shipping to Australia, and I want to see if there is a cheaper option. Also, do I need the Teacher manuals for Grammar voyage and ML1? thank you

I feel like I'm being ripped off because RFW Press want to charge me almost $50 for shipping to Australia for Grammar Voyage, Magic Lens and teacher manuals. Is there anywhere else on the planet to buy these books? Also, do I need the teacher manuals to go with them? Thanks! :001_smile:

Adderall made my son so agitated he stopped spinning toys and just growled all the time. I can tell he's happy and calm when he spins small toys. We upped the dose, on the doctor's advice, and the agitation got worse. We have found that Concerta works the best and has no side effects whatsoever. Concerta is long acting Ritalin. It changed our lives. Adderall is a mixture of medications, whereas Concerta is just one: a stimulant that is also found in coffee and chocolate. Kids who are hyperactive usually have understimulated brains. I'd try Concerta first.