"Mommy, can we puh-lease use something else for grammar?"

[TKDmom]

This is what my 6y.o., rising 1st grader said to me recently. He was so sweet when he asked, too. We are on about lesson 50 of FLL 1/2. It goes way too slow for him. I try to skip most of the repetition, but he's still bored to tears.

 

I've started thinking, should I even bother with grammar in 1st grade? I'm using MCT for his older sister. I'll probably start him in the Island level when the turns 8 (in about a year-and-a-half). But what to do for his LA before then? He just finished up SL readers 1, and will be moving up to their level 2 readers soon. His reading has really taken off in the last month or two. I was planning on starting him in WWE this fall, but it seems like there should be something more...

[Ellie]

IMHO, no, he doesn't need grammar. You could have him do copywork; that should be enough for a child his age.

[HollyDay]

Maybe look at Queen's Language Lessons?

[Susie in MS]

I agree with Ellie. Copywork.

 

 

Ellie,

That is one precious grandbaby! He looks a lot like Grandmother. :)

Edited June 24, 2010 by Susie in MS

[Crimson Wife]

What about The Sentence Family? Also, Ruth Heller and Brian P. Cleary have a bunch of good "living books" about the parts of speech.

[Matryoshka]

Mad Libs and Grammar Rock. :D

[claire up north]

We flew through FLL. Five or six lessons a day. It was still quick and painless.

 

hth!

[coffeefreak]

We don't do 1st grade grammar. Next year, I'll use Primary Language Lessons (Hillside Edition) with my 2nd grader. The plan is to use that for two years and then transition into Rod and Staff in 4th grade.

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

[Dmmetler]

My daughter is LOVING these, in conjunction with Schoolhouse Rock and Brian P. Cleary. There's also a parts of speech one. It says 2nd-4th grade, but I don't think it's all that different in level from FLL if you do it orally.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Read-Practice-Mini-Books-Punctuation-Skills-Independently/dp/0439453410/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277341370&sr=8-1

[johnandtinagilbert]

Instead of formal grammar, I might snuggle up for some read aloud time. Choose a part of speech each week and have him point out instances in your reading. Copywork is also great for that.

[Satori]

We think it goes too slow too. We're on lesson 54. She totally gets it, but the pace could be picked up. I think we'll do 2 lessons at a time, 4 days a week. We definitely need some kind of grammar, she loves to write.

 

I'm all :bigear:. Checking out all the suggestions.

 

It's time to pop in Schoolhouse Rock again! Those mini-books look cute too, I can see my daughter loving them. We recently started getting all the fun grammar books from the library.

[Erica in OR]

Our favorite part of FLL was the poetry. You could work on memorizing a new poem every couple of weeks, and do additional related poetry, in addition to the other suggestions (copywork, read aloud, etc.)

 

Erica in OR

[TKDmom]

IMHO, no, he doesn't need grammar. You could have him do copywork; that should be enough for a child his age.

 

I agree with Ellie. Copywork.

 

I'm really leaning towards just doing copywork. He definitely needs some gentle prodding towards writing every day. I guess I just needed a few people to give me permission. :D

 

We flew through FLL. Five or six lessons a day. It was still quick and painless.

 

My problem is that it's neither quick nor painless around here. He groans when he sees that book, then flops around whining and prolonging the lesson. :glare:

 

Instead of formal grammar, I might snuggle up for some read aloud time. Choose a part of speech each week and have him point out instances in your reading. Copywork is also great for that.

 

I like this idea.

 

I will also check out the other book suggestions to see if any appeal to me. :auto:

 

Thanks!

[PeterPan]

I don't know why people struggle with accelerating FLL1/2. Go to the toc and find the first lesson where each new concept is introduced. Do that lesson, memorize the definition, done. That's it, that's all that's necessary. Then you move into the 3rd grammar book of your choice. Many bright kids don't need all that repetition. FLL still has excellent, excellent introductions to each of the parts of speech, even if the rest is overkill. Their minds memorize so easily at this age, and you're not really teaching grammar, just introducing concepts to them and asking them to memorize a def, no big deal. But the foundation it creates is AMAZING. It creates a comfort with grammar terms so that later they are familiar and easy. They then have enough grammar background to go into a latin program, writing program that uses grammar (CW, WT), or anything else they want to do, all without the tedium of traditional grammar methods. It's a terrific thing!

[Melinda S in TX]

I second The Sentence Family. My children love it. I don't do the drawing, but the characters are great for games.

 

Melinda

[mommabird]

We loved FLL through 3rd grade. Then went to Shurley. DD transitioned smoothly and did not struggle with Shurley as some of the other kids do. It is a lot of work but well worth the effort. We are doing Shurley again this year and adding IEW.

[abrightmom]

I don't know why people struggle with accelerating FLL1/2. Go to the toc and find the first lesson where each new concept is introduced. Do that lesson, memorize the definition, done. That's it, that's all that's necessary. Then you move into the 3rd grammar book of your choice. Many bright kids don't need all that repetition. FLL still has excellent, excellent introductions to each of the parts of speech, even if the rest is overkill. Their minds memorize so easily at this age, and you're not really teaching grammar, just introducing concepts to them and asking them to memorize a def, no big deal. But the foundation it creates is AMAZING. It creates a comfort with grammar terms so that later they are familiar and easy. They then have enough grammar background to go into a latin program, writing program that uses grammar (CW, WT), or anything else they want to do, all without the tedium of traditional grammar methods. It's a terrific thing!

:D Yeah . . . what she said!! (I agree with OhE!!):001_smile:

[kalanamak]

 

I've started thinking, should I even bother with grammar in 1st grade? I'm using MCT for his older sister. I'll probably start him in the Island level when the turns 8 (in about a year-and-a-half). But what to do for his LA before then?

 

I started kiddo on GWG 1/2 (now separate) when he was starting 2nd grade and we will painlessly finish the two by the time third grade comes around. I intend to try out MCT at that time, and if it flies, it flies. If not, kiddo is already eyeballing GWG with anticipation. It makes him feel capable.

 

In the meantime, why not the Brian Cleary books like A Lime, A Mime, A Pool of Slime. Our library has them. My son loved them.

[TKDmom]

I don't know why people struggle with accelerating FLL1/2. Go to the toc and find the first lesson where each new concept is introduced. Do that lesson, memorize the definition, done. That's it, that's all that's necessary.

 

I don't know why, either. I hadn't considered doing it that way. Thanks for suggesting something that should have been obvious! :tongue_smilie:

 

Last night DH suggested just doing the copywork that is in FLL, so he'd still get the grammar lessons, but without the grammar book.

 

Our favorite part of FLL was the poetry. You could work on memorizing a new poem every couple of weeks, and do additional related poetry, in addition to the other suggestions (copywork, read aloud, etc.)

 

We like the poetry, too. I suppose I need to go to the TOC and schedule these things out, rather than trying to rely on the way it's scheduled out in the book. <sigh> Oh wait, I like planning. That's why I spend time on this board. :D

[PeterPan]

I'm confused. Granted it has been a LONG time since we used FLL1/2, lol, but I don't remember the copywork as teaching the grammar. You WANT them to memorize the definitions of the terms introduced. You WANT them to memorize the lists in the book. (helping verbs, that type thing) They're all in the BACK of the book, go look!! So you do the first lesson where the term is introduced, memorize the definition together, and move on.

 

We were already doing poetry ourselves, so we didn't need the poetry in FLL.

 

You're at the beginning of your modification journey. Some kids just never fit curriculum exactly, and the sooner you start reading on how to modify, the sooner you'll get happy. You can use anything IF you change how you use it. :)

[birchbark]

My DS hated FLL 1/2 as well. If I were to do it over again, I would do just the audio companion (listening to it while he plays or something) and a little copywork. Focus mainly on reading skills.

 

Then use The Sentence Family in second grade. My DS also loved this!

[MrsMe]

I agree, no grammar needed in 1st grade. In second, very lightly. Otherwise, you're continually repeating the same thing forever and ever.

[EKS]

When my younger son was in 1st grade, he did well with GWG 3. I had him do the worksheets orally with me writing unless he said he wanted to write. We switched to MCT Island level in 2nd and it worked well.

[PeterPan]

I agree, no grammar needed in 1st grade. In second, very lightly. Otherwise, you're continually repeating the same thing forever and ever.

 

The crux of it is that by covering the grammar early we DIDN'T need to keep covering things over and over. We got basic memorization work out of the way at an age when they memorize readily and with glee. Then she was able to start applying the grammar to latin, to her writing program, etc., without going back to those basics of what is a verb, what are the helping verbs, etc. That is the reason they wrote FLL, not to create some grammar torture session for younger and younger children. They're trying to take advantage of the natural ability of the child to memorize, nothing more. :)

[birchbark]

My daughter is LOVING these, in conjunction with Schoolhouse Rock and Brian P. Cleary. There's also a parts of speech one. It says 2nd-4th grade, but I don't think it's all that different in level from FLL if you do it orally.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Read-Practice-Mini-Books-Punctuation-Skills-Independently/dp/0439453410/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277341370&sr=8-1

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I just ordered one!

 

Also think OhE's point about memorization is a good one.

[cschnee]

Mad Libs and Grammar Rock. :D

 

 

Just what I was going to suggest!

[coffeefreak]

That is the reason they wrote FLL, not to create some grammar torture session for younger and younger children. They're trying to take advantage of the natural ability of the child to memorize, nothing more. :)

 

What?!? Are you saying Grammar isn't meant to torture?!? You're taking all the fun out of my homeschool Elizabeth:D

[momtofive]

I'd look into Rod and Staff 2 for second grade grammar. You'll find that they have a gentle approach, while being a very sound, foundational program. If you do 3/4 of the lesson orally and let them do the last bit of written work on their own, it's a very manageable lesson. Only like 15 min. or so.

 

For first grade, copywork sounds great. It will gently work on areas like handwriting, sentence structure, spelling and vocabulary. A really great intro to grammar in second grade, while not being overwhelming at such a young age. It helps to get "their feet wet" so to speak, for grammar the next year.

 

Just a thought! :001_smile:

 

~momtofive