Winston Grammar Pro's/Con's

[pamd]

I would like to know the pro's/con's to this program for those of you who have used them. Also tell me what LA is good for a hands on learning that is a complete LA program. I do have Wordly Wise, AAS, HWOT, Writing Strands. Thanks in advance.

Blessings,

Pam

[Mandy in TN]

I am using WG Basic for the third time.

 

The big pro is that is is hands-on. A student must actively participate.

 

The big con is that it only covers grammar- no usage, mechanics, or anything else

 

I am currently using WG with my friend's 10yo dd. Her LA memory work also comes from WG.

 

HTH-

Mandy

[HollyDay]

Pro:

hands on

cards easily used with any other program

easy to teach

appeals to kinesthetic learner

 

Cons:

not enough review

retention might be a problem

not a complete program

easily completed in a semester

 

My oldest complete Winston Basic in a semester. She completed Adv in about 3 months. Youngest was about the same. I supplemented with EG and Queen's LL. It is a great program and I do highly recommend it. But, be aware it will need supplementing......

[Mandy in TN]

Pro:

hands on

cards easily used with any other program

easy to teach

appeals to kinesthetic learner

 

Cons:

not enough review

retention might be a problem

not a complete program

easily completed in a semester

 

My oldest complete Winston Basic in a semester. She completed Adv in about 3 months. Youngest was about the same. I supplemented with EG and Queen's LL. It is a great program and I do highly recommend it. But, be aware it will need supplementing......

My 7yo is using MCT grammar island, but he is envious of the WG cards. So, we have been known to use them with WG.

 

My oldest completed WG in a semester. I am using it 2days/wk with my friend's dd and it still will not take all year. OTOH- This isn't using the product as it was designed. It was truly designed to do only one lesson each week.

 

However, retention of the small scope that WG covers shouldn't be a problem since in each lesson a student goes over a sentence orally with the instructor, visually both with the instruction sentence and cards, hands-on with the cards, written while working through the sentences in the book. In every lesson it just covers so many different ways that children learn.

 

Mandy

[pamd]

Thanks for all your input I appreciate you all taking your time to share your thoughts with me.:D

[Miss Sherry]

Here's a link for you to get a look at Winston Grammar.

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntt=winston+grammar&N=0&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1&search=

 

There's also Winston Word Works, designed to be used anytime after using the basic Winston Grammar

http://www.christianbook.com/winston-word-works/pd/24699?item_code=WW&netp_id=100804&event=ESRCN&view=details

Regarding Winston Word Works :

"Here's a grammar application program that helps prevent the five most common usage problems in the English language. Give your children a clear understanding of subject-verb agreement, personal pronoun functions, interrogative pronouns, comparatives and superlatives, and troublesome words (like good/well). Includes a student workbook with worksheets, tests, and quizzes; teacher's manual; and exercise cards. Note: This program is to be used any time after completing the Basic curriculum. Softcovers, from Precious Memories."

 

To cover punctuation and capitalization I used Daily Grams with Winston Grammar. It worked very well to use it with Winston Grammar.

 

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntt=Daily+grams&N=0&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1&search=

[Miss Sherry]

I am using WG Basic for the third time.

 

The big pro is that is is hands-on. A student must actively participate.

 

The big con is that it only covers grammar- no usage, mechanics, or anything else

 

I am currently using WG with my friend's 10yo dd. Her LA memory work also comes from WG.

 

HTH-

Mandy

Have you seen Winston Word Works ?

If you take a look at Winston Word Works, could you tell me if you think it is enough for a complete program(to include usage etc.) , along with Daily Grams for punctuation and capitalization, and if not, what would you supplement with ? Thanks.

[pamd]

Thank you for sharing these websites. Very helpful.

[Mandy in TN]

Have you seen Winston Word Works ?

If you take a look at Winston Word Works, could you tell me if you think it is enough for a complete program(to include usage etc.) , along with Daily Grams for punctuation and capitalization, and if not, what would you supplement with ? Thanks.

After WG basic my oldest ds tried Cozy Grammar and Easy Grammar with limited success. In high school he tried WG basic, but he didn't want me to teach it, so he only completed about half the book. He is mildly dyslexic and the grammar he learned after WG basic he learned from my explanations of IEW!

 

My middle has used various things after WG basic including Walch's Steps to Good Grammar (my favorite)and seems to understand grammar pretty well. He is a junior reviewing grammar/ punctuation one last time with Our Mother Tongue and The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation alongside IEW before taking Engl at the CC next year.

 

My youngest is using MCT Island level. We are enjoying it. So, while he also enjoys the WG cards and I will/ have been incorporating some WG-style teaching into his MCT, I currently have no plans of using the WG basic workbook with him.

 

This year my tagalong girlie is using WG with me. Her mother has an Evan-Moor book for her at home. I think it is Writing Fabulous Sentence and Paragraphs. I have not used Winston Word Works. However, if I have the good fortune to have my tagalong student next year, (if I don't use Steps to Good Grammar) I am considering using it with her. So... maybe I should be asking you what I need to round it out.:)

 

Mandy

[Ellie]

I would like to know the pro's/con's to this program for those of you who have used them.

My 12yo dd rilly, rilly disliked WG. She did about 10 lessons and then refused to do any more--and this was my compliant dd, who always did whatever I gave her. I guess it was painful for her to have to put out the cards for each part of speech; the sentences were pretty lackluster--very boring to read.

 

Also tell me what LA is good for a hands on learning that is a complete LA program. I do have Wordly Wise, AAS, HWOT, Writing Strands. Thanks in advance.

Blessings,

Pam

So, you're asking about grammar, since you have everything else for English, yes? WG is the only grammar product I know of that is so hands-on. We prefer Easy Grammar, but then I wasn't worrying about learning styles. :-)

[deeinfl]

We really enjoyed Winston Grammar. Winston Grammar Advanced wasn't as exciting and sometimes a little difficult for us to understand exactly what was being asked, but we got through it. My son really enjoyed Winston and I have kept it for use with my other son maybe for next year in the 5th grade. :)

 

We are presently using Easy Grammar, and while I like it, it seems over his head, but we get through it and I figure little pegs are being formed in there, or at least, I hope. :)

 

oops, I forgot the pros: Easy to use, short lessons, almost feels like a game, kids love the cards

 

cons: Nothing else is included but grammar. I wish there were more practice sentences, but they do sell a separate book. :)

 

Dee

Edited September 16, 2010 by deeinfl

[pamd]

I really like hearing everyone's thoughts on this. I think I am going to try and use both EG and WG and see how it works. Thanks for the :grouphug:.

Blessings,

Pam

[Lori D.]

Pros

- easy to use

- you can do Winston just 3x/week

- good choice for a "non-workbook" learner

 

Neutral

- teaches parsing rather than diagramming

 

Cons

- does not cover grammar mechanics (capitalization, punctuation, etc.)

 

Our Experience

We've successfully, painlessly, gently used Winston (along with other grammar items to practice grammar mechanics) from 3rd-8th grade, usually doing it on the white board or orally in about 10 minutes per session, 3x a week.

 

My Review

Covers grammer instruction and the (partial) parsing of sentences (rather than diagramming). Instruction includes things like parts of speech, noun functions, word usage sentence types, modifiers, clauses, etc. No grammar mechanics (practice of punctuation, capitalization, etc.) in Winston, so you will need to find some other way to instruct and drill that aspect of grammar. A more hands-on approach, using cards with key words/pictures to help the student remember the key concepts. Can be done orally, or the student can mark the workbook pages with arrows, underlines, and key words, etc. (We did it on the whiteboard.) The student is not expected to rewrite the sentences.

 

Comes in 3 levels; each level is designed for 1 school year. (We did each level of Winston for 2 years, with the first year getting about 2/3 into the program before the student hit a mental "roadblock", then doing the entire program the following year, with student having no problem.) Winston Word Works is set up a bit differently -- more "workbook-like" -- and we did not care for it as much.

 

- Winston Basic (gr. 4-5) = 8 parts of speech; 2 parts of a sentence; 7 noun functions

- Winston Word Works (gr. 5-7) = instruction and practice in word usages (example: who vs. whom)

- Winston Advanced (gr. 7-8) = 4 sentence types; tricky modifiers (gerunds, participles, infinitives); clauses

 

 

This past post of mine links you to several more past threads with reviews and experiences with Winston by a lot of people. BEST of luck in your grammar adventures, whatever you go with! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Miss Sherry]

I really like hearing everyone's thoughts on this. I think I am going to try and use both EG and WG and see how it works. Thanks for the :grouphug:.

Blessings,

Pam

If you are going to use Winston Grammar, I would suggest you use Daily Grams with it rather than Easy Grammar. Daily Grams will cover the punctuation and capitalization that will not be covered in Winston Grammar and it will only take a few minutes each day to use Daily Grams. Daily Grams was written by the same author as Easy Grammar.

[pamd]

Thanks so much for the info. I appreciate your thoughts.:grouphug: