Need Advice What would you use for Grammar and Writing?

[jen_pad]

My 16yo dd has done R&S Eng. 5 and some Easy Grammar, she reads constantly, even the dictionary! I need a plan to be completed in 2 to 3 yrs., we school year round! I was considering ABeka 9th and on, R& S 8th and on, maybe Writing Strands 5 and on or LLATL Gold. I have also looked at Glencoe's Literature Guides online! I need advice on what to use, I have beat this to death in my head and we are just getting further and further behind. BTW< dd was considering going to college for English. I was going to use Abeka for Literature incorperating other books in as we go! Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.:confused::bigear:

[Carmen_and_Company]

Analytical Grammar, as you can choose from three schedules: 1 year, 2 year or 3 year track. The author(s) is a Christian teacher, but wrote the program initially for a school setting, so no references to religion or theology; however, the author uses history & literature through out the lessons.

 

Before Analytical Grammar was really known within the HS'ing community, I used Writing A Step Above, which is now titled, Grammar Made Easy: Writing A Step Above, and may be purchased here:

http://www.everyday-education.com/englishclasses/index.shtml

 

I purchased my copy loose-leaf copy back in 2001 from Rainbow Resources under the original title, but RR also sells the newer edition, too.

 

My favorite resources for writing at the high school level include:

The Lively Art of Writing by Lucile V. Payne

Wordsmith Craftsman

Composition in the Classical Tradition by Frank J. D'Angelo

The Art of Styling Sentences by Anne Longknife

 

 

Have you looked at Lightning Literature by Hewitt or Excellence in Literature by Everyday Education? Although my DD now attends school, we'll use these guides as they cover many of the selections she'll read during high school.

[Ellie]

I say go with Writing Strands. For literature, check out Smarr. Easy peasy, and *good*.

[lllll]

We had our dc go all the way through the ABeka grammar/writing books. They also did the WS books, and other odds and ends writing things. We looked at R&S, but decided against it.

 

After they had done most of the above, I later asked them which writing program was most helpful to them. (average kids, no learning problems, love to read, etc.) I was surprised to hear all 5 of them say that they preferred ABeka's grammar and writing. One dd said she liked it because it was more structured and something else I can't remember. She's asleep right now (like I should be :)), but I can ask her tomorrow if you'd like.

 

Anyway, I do remember tweaking WS quite a bit. The older books were quite 'chatty' in a very annoying way, to me. (Haven't seen recent editions.) Our dc were often confused by all the chit-chat and unecessary talk; so I would skim the lesson, take a pen, and cross out anything that wasn't absoutely essential to the assignment. And I often had to 'translate' the assignment itself (ie. state it in a few very simple, short sentences).

 

For ABeka, I would view the grammar sections as one curriculum, independent of the writing sections, allowing dc to go at a rate most comfortable to them in each subject.

 

The combination seemed to be a good balance because the WS seemed to be as UNstructured as the ABeka was STRUCtured. But if I had to chose one, I'd go with ABeka.

 

One of our ds's used to read the dictionary, too. Kinda wierd. :)

 

HTH

Edited January 22, 2010 by ksva

[Kareni]

Those of you whose children like to read the dictionary might enjoy Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages by Ammon Shea. It was a fairly light read (with some adult content).

 

Regards,

Kareni