R&S users who went to MCT....

[stephanie]

I've always been a big fan of R&S for Language and have had great success with it. However, I have a dd now who is more of a auditory learner and has great difficulties in writing. She is still unable to do dictation (she's 3rd grade), has difficulty reading fluently still, and her spelling is very poor. Knowing what R&S 3 has in it, I'm just not sure it will work for her like it has her older sibs.

 

So I'm considering using MCT for her, and possibly my other dc. Although R&S has worked well in the past for us, I like the look of MCT and the concepts behind it. I like the vocabulary, poetry, and writing aspects of MCT as well. So I'm just looking for some direction in this. I'm a bit reluctant to leave my R&S "cocoon", but really love the look of MCT.

 

Also, if I decided to stay with R&S for the older dc, is it possible to successfully use only certain aspects of MCT..say Vocab or writing? I didn't know if using the entire program together was really needed to bring everything together.

 

I'm excited to hear what everyone has to say on this....thanks!

[stephanie]

:lurk5:

[Spock]

I've always been a big fan of R&S for Language and have had great success with it. However, I have a dd now who is more of a auditory learner and has great difficulties in writing. She is still unable to do dictation (she's 3rd grade), has difficulty reading fluently still, and her spelling is very poor. Knowing what R&S 3 has in it, I'm just not sure it will work for her like it has her older sibs.

 

So I'm considering using MCT for her, and possibly my other dc. Although R&S has worked well in the past for us, I like the look of MCT and the concepts behind it. I like the vocabulary, poetry, and writing aspects of MCT as well. So I'm just looking for some direction in this. I'm a bit reluctant to leave my R&S "cocoon", but really love the look of MCT.

 

Also, if I decided to stay with R&S for the older dc, is it possible to successfully use only certain aspects of MCT..say Vocab or writing? I didn't know if using the entire program together was really needed to bring everything together.

 

I'm excited to hear what everyone has to say on this....thanks!

 

As to your second question: it would be very easy to add MCT Vocabulary and/or poetry to R&S. The writing refers to grammar taught in MCT, but as long as your children have covered subject/predicate, parts of speech, and clauses they should be able to do at least the Island level of writing. (I have the Island package for my younger two, and just the writing book of Advanced Academic Writing 2 for my high schooler.)

 

For your first question: MCT Island has MORE grammar than R&S 3. It is presented differently, and may or may not be a better match for your child, but it is not easier. (I have R&S 2-5 and 7, and have used all of it with various children. I also read through the Island books when they arrived the day before yesterday.)

 

MCT Grammar Island/Sentence Island cover:

• All parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs (action and linking), adjectives (including articles), adverbs, prepositions (including prepositional phrases used as adjectives and as adverbs), interjections, and conjunctions
  
• Parts of a sentence: subject, predicate, direct object, indirect object, subject complement (R&S separates this into predicate noun and predicate adjective, but in the 4th grade book)
  
• Compound subject and compound predicate
  
• Subject verb agreement (not just in simple sentences, but in sentences where there is a prepositional phrase between the subject and the verb)
  
• Making pronoun antecedants clear
  
• Misplaced modifiers and how to avoid them
  
• Clauses and compound sentences
  
• Sentence fragments of all types
  
• Choosing words that not only mean exactly what we want to say, but also sound beautiful
  
• Complete sentence analysis: identifying the part of speech of every word in the sentence, identifying the function of every word in the sentence, identifying phrases, and identifying clauses (only independent clauses are taught at this level, but dependent clauses are used as examples of sentence fragments)
  

A few of these topics are taught in the writing book (Sentence Island) rather than the grammar book (Grammar Island), and Sentence Island reinforces everything in the grammar book. There may be other topics/concepts that I forgot, but this should give you an idea of the coverage.

 

One of the reasons I chose MCT was that I thought R&S 3 might not be enough for my 3rd grader this year (the second grade book was far too easy for him last year, and we had to skip/condense most of the lessons). If you are concerned that R&S 3 is too much for your child, you might want a different substitute. (My 5th grader will also be doing MCT Island this year, and now that I have seen it, I realize she would NOT have been ready for Town. She has more trouble with language arts than her brothers, and has always been on level with R&S.)

[rafiki]

.

[catz]

Your story sounds like mine. I purchases MCT last year for my advanced 2nd grader and planned on only using it with him because I thought it was a better fit for his learning style, he also has spelling/writing issues we're working on with Fast Track/Apples and Pears. Once MCT Island arrived, it clicked with me.

 

I discontinued my 4th graders materials and pulled him over to MCT. MCT has been a wonderful fit for my 2nd grader, there is enough constant review throughout the material that MCT alone is plenty for it to stick. My oldest on the other hand needs a bit more. He relies on the parts of grammar chart on the Yahoo site and needs Evan Moor's Daily Language Review for daily practice to keep skills fresh. The practice sentences are not enough for him, but he's always taken multiple ways and many routes before things stick across the board. His memory/retrieval just isn't automatic. For him I use MCT more as a reader because the appreciation of language is so infectious and supplement with materials that give him more concrete practice.

 

The books are meant to be used together to get the full effect. You could use parts, but it won't have quite the same flavor.

 

:iagree:

[stephanie]

Nice responses, ladies! I appreciate the input. I think it's a least worth a try for us. Of course, I will keep my R&S and possibly try to find a way to use it as a resource. It may be that I use the diagramming aspect of R&S as well.