MCT users, check in -

[rafiki]

.

[Dana]

Using Island Level.

First time :D

 

Got through Grammar Island and enjoyed it.

Through the first chapter (or two) of Sentence Island.

Ds likes the story and is doing much better at recognizing parts of speech.

We're not doing as much as I'd like with Building Language or Music of the Hemispheres.

Ds doesn't like the writing assignments much, and it's easier to do the story and sentence analysis without doing the writing assignments. (sigh) Those assignments are what I need to be working on.

 

We're also using WWE and AAS.

 

Still planning on continuing with the next level next year.

[1Togo]

I am using Level Two with an older student, and we love it. We are using all elements of the curriculum; i.e. poetry, grammar, composition, and vocabulary. I've used a few lessons from Writing Strands that covered sentence writing, but other than that, we are not using anything else. This is our first experience with MCT, and the experience has been wonderful. We have homeschooled for a while, so we've used other writing curriculum (I wrote a few posts about IEW today.), and while we have learned from everything we have used, none of them generated affection. Perhaps it is the combination of lovely artwork, narrative as instruction, and MCT's writing style that makes MCT a hit in our home. As Anne Shirley would say, MCT provides "scope for the imagination."

 

I do want to mention there is much meat in MCT so you have to allot time for it. After working through the grammar book for Level 2, Grammar Town, I decided it was best to schedule MCT as three distinct time slots on our planner; i.e. composition, which includes poetry, vocabulary, and grammar.

 

We are also using WWE for dictation and narration.

Edited October 14, 2010 by 1Togo
Addition

[rafiki]

.

[radiobrain]

On Voyage level here.

 

Almost finished with Grammar Voyage, on lesson 5 of CE II. SO far so good! ;)

 

My younger son said that he is sad that there is no character in this level, so I think we will re-read Paragraph town just for fun. I am fearing Essay Voyage, but it is a healthy fear.

 

I supplement with a Boys Writing Club I came up with.

 

I have pretty much decided that we will use MCT for all LA, as the things it lacks, or doesn't focus on, are easily remedied.

 

Boys are 12 & 10, 6th and 5th. This is our 3rd year with MCT. :thumbup:

[Gooblink]

My 10 year-old has completed Grammar Town, is finishing up Paragraph Town and we do Practice Town, daily. We are on Lesson 3 of Ceasar's English and will be implementing the poetry book, when I figure out how to teach it. I don't know why, but it's not as intuitive for me to figure out lesson breaks, as the other books.

 

My 12 year-old has just started Grammer Voyage and loves it. He'll be starting Essay Voyage soon, as well as CE 2 and, again, the poetry when I figure it out.

 

We're not supplementing. We love it, especially the CE books.

[MyLittleWonders]

We are using the Island level this year (our first year) and love it. We actually read through Grammar Island last spring and started Practice Island. We are rereading Grammar Island this year, as well as working through Sentence Island (well, reading through it - the boys love Mud! - we aren't doing the writing assignments at this time). Some weeks we will get to Building Language and Music of the Hemisphere and some weeks we don't get around to it. I am very happy with the entire program though and the boys (4th grade and 2nd grade) seem to be learning a lot from it.

 

We do supplement - both boys are working through WWE (level 4 & 2), as well as FLL (3 & 2) and Growing with Grammar (mostly because I needed something that was a little more hands-off right now). We also skip WWE some weeks to do a lesson from IEW's All Things Fun & Fascinating. (I love language arts!) Our typical week has us doing 3-4 sentences together from Practice Island, and reading through one of the books each day for four days. WWE (or IEW) is 4 days a week as well, and then grammar is 5 days a week (4 of GWG and 1 of FLL for now).

[patchfire]

We're using Voyage level, all components. DD used Island & Town both this year. I loved it before; now I *really* love it. Essay Voyage alone is just... everything I could have asked for in a writing text.

 

DD is doing some pages out of a diagramming workbook periodically & also Editor in Chief periodically (plus literature, of course).

[whitestavern]

I am using Island level with my ds8 and Town level with dd10. We are almost through with the grammar books and they both love them! We started the Building Language (vocab) but that's not been as well received. Looking forward to beginning the poetry. I am pleased with the program so far as well. Both dc are doing WWE (dd is taking a break to do NaNoMoWri) and when I'm done with the MCT grammar book I may do some FLL3 with ds; not sure about that yet though.

[catz]

My 4th grader is doing Town level. We started school late because we went on vacation after Labor day. We're about half way into Grammar Town and are starting Caesar's English tomorrow. School here doesn't end until mid-June so we have plenty of time!

 

We do not supplement using any additional curriculum. BUT my 4th grader reads and writes well above grade level, so he does quite a bit more writing than the subscribed exercises in MCT. We create our own either based on MCT, or based on some other work we're doing. He'll probably do NaNoWriMo again too - that was a big success last year! We had a great year with Island last year using it as a jumping point.

[EKS]

We used MCT last year, Voyage and Island levels. This year we are using level 4 and Town.

 

The first thing I noticed was that both kids retained essentially everything from last year. Amazing!

 

I am using all components with the Town kid, but we will be stretching it over 1.5 years, not because I think that Town will be a problem, but because Voyage is a huge jump and he is young for the program.

 

I am only using Magic Lens 1 and 4Practice with the older one. We might do the writing book next year. The Word Within a Word would do him in as he has dyslexia and little pieces of words simply aren't retained.

 

I'm supplementing with Daily Grams/Easy Grammar Ultimate with both of them.

 

I also am using the Self Evident Truth series with the older one. We just did Jefferson's truths and it was completely awesome!

 

I love MCT.

[Capt_Uhura]

My 4th and 1st grader did all of Island level last year. This year, my now 5th grader and 2nd grader are doing Town level. We have started Parts of the Sentence in Grammar Town and are on schedule to complete it in 9weeks. Then we'll move into the rest. We are also currently doing CE1. My boys love it. I'm not sure how long my 2nd grader can hang in there but I'll let him sit in as he is able. He'll be able to do all of Practice Town I'm sure as well as poetry. He's loving CE1. I'll cycle back to Paragraph Town with him in probably 2yrs. I"ll just continue w/ narration and dictation and copywork with him. My 5th grader really needs to increase writing across the curriculum this year. I'm looking forward to Paragraph Town!

 

Capt_Uhura

[Kuovonne]

We are still in Island Level.

 

We finished Grammar Island and are about a quarter through Practice Island. DD has made great strides with Practice Island. I have also extended the analysis to make up for where I found the 4 level anaysis lacking (what modifiers modify, what conjunctions join, objects of phrases).

 

We are now working through Music of the Hemispheres. We have about a quarter of the book left to go. I disliked the first chapter of the book, but DD has liked all of it, except when she has to write a poem according to a formula. DD gobbled up all the onomonopea, rhymes, and alliteration. (DD is my poetry nut.) I wish there were a "Practice Island" for poetry.

 

After we finish MotH, I plan to do Building Language. I think DD will really like it, even though it is simple. DD prefers easy lessons.

 

I don't know why, but I am dreading Sentence Island, so I am putting it off.

 

MCTLA is our only language arts program. DD also does dictation, writes across the curriculum, and keeps a journal.

 

I expect that we'll finish Island level some time this school year, which will be 1 to 1.5 years for this level. We're going slowly, in part because we keep finding a full day's worth of discussions in only one or two pages of the book.

 

I'm not sure what we'll do after finishing Island level. Unless DD hits a major growth spurt, I don't think that she'll be ready to write decent paragraphs.

[swimmermom3]

This is our second year using MCT and we still enjoy it. Swimmer Dude completed all of the Voyage level last year with the exception of Essay Voyage. This year he is doing all of the components the Magic Lens, Vol. 1, except for the Advanced Academic Writing. Currently, his writing assignments are done SWB-style with Essay Voyage and Paragraph Town for reinforcement. He personally chose to focus on research skills, so that is what most of our writing outside of literary analysis is geared towards.

 

My oldest, who is a senior in high school, started out using the same level as her brother simply because I did not know where to place her. She calls MCT "straightforward and sensible." With her input, we created a writing plan utilizing the 3 Advanced Academic Writing books, particularly the paper topics. The goal is to complete 1 book every 12 weeks. We also utilize Advanced Placement Writing 1 from the Center for Learning for shorter projects.

 

I was concerned that my youngest would dislike this level of MCT as it does not have the slick layout or graphics. i should not have worried. No one ever complains about doing MCT here.

[Miss Marple]

With 2 high schoolers (9th and 10th):

 

Essay Voyage

Word Within the Word Vol. 1

Magic Lens 1

(Poetry is sitting on the back burner waiting for a free moment)

 

It's going well, albeit slowly. I've had to revamp our schedule and I think our new one is working better. I was having the boys use all components every day, but we found that to be too difficult. Now we work on Vocab and Grammar 3 days per week and writing 2 days per week. This works much better especially for writing and vocabulary which we found needed more intense, focused time. I am contemplating moving from Essay Voyage on to Advanced Academic Writing level 1 because EV seems to be a little below their current level of ability. I thought it would be best to go through EV even though the boys have covered most of it, but I think we'll move more quickly and hopefully finish it up by Thanksgiving and then begin AAW1.

 

And, yes, this is our first experience with MCT.

[nd293]

Which level and components are you using? Island level, all of the books.

 

How's it going? Really well. We have worked through Grammar Island and Sentence Island and busy with Practise Island on an ongoing basis. I am amazed at her level of retention and understanding. We have not enjoyed the vocab (Building Language), but on advise from someone here will continue with it next year. Music of the Hemispheres was lovely, but we got off track so we will get back to that later in the year.

 

Are you supplementing, with what? We supplement writing with an IEW theme-based book, and also use Mosdos Ruby for literature (another favourite).

 

Is this your first experience with MCT? Yes, but about the buy the next level for 2011 - Gr5

 

Nikki

[Momling]

We just started with my 3rd grader and we're mid-way through Grammar Island and she does like it a lot. It's review, but thoughtful- review, not boring I-know-this-already review. We're about half-way though... taking our time.

 

She does take an interdisciplinary class that includes a bit of writing, and she's already an awesome speller, so I'm not really supplementing. The program feels right to us and I'm happy to have made the switch.

 

My 1st grader just isn't there... focusing on just learning to read with her!

[MariannNOVA]

Which level and components are you using? Twins (4th grade) -- Town Level, CE1, Practice Town and for writing (I am sure this sounds like heresy) I am doing an IEW Powerful Paragraph course with them. See what I write about DD11.

 

DD11 (6th grade): She is doing Magic Lens, Word within a Word, and an IEW Powerful Paragragh class taught by a leading IEW instructor -- we receive the powerpoint slides each week and I then do that lesson with the twins. DD11 has been doing IEW since 2nd grade and this is really working out well for her -- the instructor (the classes are held 30 minutes from here) is phenomenol.

 

How's it going? We are all happy and we are operating in a way that makes me think we have found our groove.

 

Are you supplementing, with what? Not supplementing - just mixed stuff in.

 

Is this your first experience with MCT?

No

 

OOPS - we are doing LL7 with DD11 and she follows her IEW constructs for the paragraphs - it is working well, except, the reading level at LL7 is too easy for her and we may bump up to LL8 OR do the Duke King Arthur study. Not sure yet. TWINS: dd9 is doing BF study of the horse, and ds9 is doing Trail Guide 'Around the World in 80 Days.'

 

 

And, FYI, I will be at the MCT Booth in Northern Virginia again in the summer of 2011 -- Will post more details as I get them.

Edited October 11, 2010 by MariannNOVA

[Saille]

My fourth grader started Island Level late last spring. We're planning to work through Island and Town Levels this year, and start Voyage next fall. So far, we love it. It's at once inventive and structured in a very, very commonsense way. Ds is definitely retaining it. The conversational aspect of it is nice, and is reinforced by the fact that ds met MCT last spring. Another big plus for us is the way MCT weaves in Latin and Greek. We're finding that our foreign language studies and MCT reinforce each other.

[SamanthaBea]

Which level and components are you using?

The complete Town level.

 

How's it going?

Love it! I knew from reading through the program that I liked it in theory, but I had no idea if it would actually work in practice. So far, ds has learned more language arts in the last two months than he has in the last five years combined!

 

Are you supplementing, with what?

No, we aren't supplementing. DS does read novels though (usually historical fiction) and I was considering adding in a spelling program, but I haven't decided about that yet.

 

Is this your first experience with MCT?

Yes.

[Penelope]

We are using Island with my 8 yo. We have finished Grammar Island and are enjoying Practice Island. About midway through Sentence Island. We are not doing all of the writing assignments, just a few. We are also using the poetry and language books. I really like the poetry book; ds is so-so on it. The language book is fit in when we can, as we have started Latin for Children and are focusing on that.

 

We are also using WWE3, alternating with some Writing Tales 1 now and then (the grammar in WT 1 is very light so it is mostly review). Ds also writes his own narrations for history or lit., but only once every week or two.

 

I plan to go through FLL3 and find the topics that MCT doesn't cover. FLL has sections on letter writing and dictionary skills that I plan to go through with ds, and there are a few grammar topics that I will add in. I'll show him how to do basic diagramming with the easier sentences from Practice Island, but I figure we will cover diagramming more later.

 

Do those on this thread think they will continue with MCT next year? I'd like to go on to Town level, I think. I wish for more samples on the website, or a scope and sequence so I can see where it is going.

[Caitilin]

I am using complete Town level with my 4th grader, and complete Voyage Level with my 7th graders. We love it. :)

[TKDmom]

We're just starting Town level with my 4th grader. We're a couple weeks into Grammar Town, and we've done Lesson 1 in Caesar's English 1. This is our 2nd year using MCT.

 

It seems like a big jump up from Island Level. I'm a little overwhelmed by CE1. :001_huh: So I figured out how to stretch the books out a little bit--I think we'll take 45 weeks to finish the entire level.

 

After listening to SWB's lecture on Elementary writing, I also decided to add WWE back in to my dd's day.

 

ETA: I bought the Writer's Jungle, and I'd love to supplement with some of the Bravewriter lifestyle. I'd also like to get her writing more across the curriculum, but it's just too much! Does anyone else feel like they're spending all their time trying to do LA? Or is it just me? I know MCT is a complete LA curriculum, but I can't seem to resist trying to supplement...

Edited October 11, 2010 by bonniebeth4

[linders]

with DS10 and DS7.

 

We are halfway through Grammar Island and Building Language. They love the former, the latter is a bit slow ("Mom, don't you think they have done the aqueduct thing enough?") We are going a bit slower in GI than recommended because of DS7. He gets it, but after only having had FLL1 it is the first time he has heard most of the parts of speech. DS10 had already had all of them in FLL1-3 so is handling it easily - although even he gets stumped in nmaing parts of speech in complex sentences.

 

Still half-heartedly doing some of FLL4 for diagramming, and both boys are continuing with WWE.

[Kuovonne]

ETA: I bought the Writer's Jungle, and I'd love to supplement with some of the Bravewriter lifestyle.

 

I love the Bravewriter lifestyle. However, it is easier to implement if you read about the lifestyle on the website. The Writer's Jungle was written before Julie really thoughout out the lifestyle. I think the easiest way to start is to have a poetry teatime once a week, and to point out neat use of language in books and movies that you already read / watch.

 

I'd also like to get her writing more across the curriculum, but it's just too much! Does anyone else feel like they're spending all their time trying to do LA? Or is it just me? I know MCT is a complete LA curriculum, but I can't seem to resist trying to supplement...

 

LOL, language arts touchs half of DD's school work. I find that writing across the curriculum lightens our language arts load, because she's working on content and skill subjects at the same time.

 

What about applying WWE concepts across the curriculum?

[kokotg]

DS9 is doing the Town level this year (all the components). It's going really well! He just finished lesson 6 in CE and the second lesson in Paragraph Town. We've just started Building Poems. Practice Town is his favorite part of LA by far, and I'm really impressed with how much he's retaining and the way he's really thinking through the sentences and how they fit together.

 

We're also doing WWE style dictation and narration from the books he's reading for literature, and he writes summaries from his science and history reading a couple of times a week. Also Evan Moor's Daily Paragraph Editing and Spelling Workout.

 

ETA: he did Island level last year.

Edited October 11, 2010 by kokotg

[Aubrey]

Which level and components are you using?

Island Level Basic

 

How's it going?

Good. The kids think the 4-line diagramming is a game. Shhh.

 

This style is perfect for ds's learning style--he's very non-linguistic. And dd seems to enjoy it just as much--she's *extremely* imaginative & language-oriented. Honestly, I wish MCT would write a math program, because I think that style is what dd needs for math. :lol:

 

Are you supplementing, with what?

Writing--Brave Writer

Reading--The Octopus thing. If it were a Wolf? We've only used it once, though.

 

Is this your first experience with MCT?

Yes.

[TKDmom]

What about applying WWE concepts across the curriculum?

 

I thought about doing this, but then I'd have to...you know...plan ahead [gasp!]. :D Those WWE workbooks are all so nicely planned out for me. But yes, I need to sit down and listen to those writing lectures a few more times, take notes, and figure out how to implement WWE in our history and science.

[MyLittleWonders]

I thought about doing this, but then I'd have to...you know...plan ahead [gasp!]. :D Those WWE workbooks are all so nicely planned out for me. But yes, I need to sit down and listen to those writing lectures a few more times, take notes, and figure out how to implement WWE in our history and science.

Me too!

[StephanieZ]

We use all the components. I am very pleased.

 

ds11 & dd13 did Town over Jan-Aug 2010.

 

They're starting Voyage when we get back from vacation (9 more days).

 

Dd7 (almost 8) is midway through Island level. Done w/ the grammar book, most way through the vocab, about half way through poetry. . . will start the writing & the Practice books when we get home from vacation. She loves all of it. It is a perfect fit for her -- but she is an older 2nd grader and is also very, very verbal and a 'gifted' student. Might be a bit much for a typical 2nd grader. I intended to wait until 3rd grade for her, but she was having none of that. LOL.

 

So far, I can't say enough positive about these levels of MCT. Very, very happy all around.

 

Strengths:

 

+ The poetry books are beautiful. Just elegant. We're all learning so much. Although each level reteaches much of the prior levels, I do think it's ideal to begin with the first (if you are using MCT young enough). . . There is so much meat to these books that using the three books in sequence over 3 years (or so) would, I believe, lead to a greater understanding, as well as be a more pleasant & smooth process. . . than just jumping in to a later book at an older age.

 

+ CE vocab is spectacular. CE1 was a huge success & we're looking forward comfortably to CE2 this fall/winter.

 

+ The writing at the Town level was super. We haven't done the Island or Voyage level writing books yet, but they sure look great! I'm looking forrward to them!!

 

+ The writing & practice books do such a superb job of reinforcing & deepening the grammar instruction from the grammar book. It is wonderful.

 

(NOTE: If you want MCT grammar, I think you need to use all 3 of those books -- grammar, practice, writing -- to get the full grammar impact of his grammar teaching. . .)

 

+ Fairly active yahoo group with MCT responding often & other MCT using moms in attendance.

 

+ Good customer service. Twice, shipments of books arrived with shipping damage (crumpled spines.) RFWP was very responsive & solved the problem promptly.

 

Weaknesses:

 

- Fairly horrible editing. It's shocking to find *so many* minor errors, typos, etc. in such an elegant *writing* program! MCT needs a new editing team in a bad way. They desperately need to hire some of the moms on the yahoo group to find the errors, have MCT go through them with a fine-tooth comb to fix some more significant sequencing/teaching issues. . . and then republish these volumes. Meanwhile, it is bizarre that they are not putting out errata pages. I think they are embarrassed by the multitudes of errors and that if they acknowledge them widely (and it'd be long pages of errata. . .) that it would reflect badly on them. . . but the status quo really is unprofessional. It is astonishing that many of the books have been republished for many years and still have all these errors. It says something frightening about the teachers who have used them in the past. . .

 

ETA:

 

I forgot the supplementing question.

 

DD7 -- no supplementing.

 

DS11 -- I bought IEW Medieval for him to start when we get home from vacation. (He just finished IEW Ancients). . . But am hesitating. I need to trim his schedule, and I think IEW might go out the door.

 

DD13 -- W&M Utopia (mostly lit, but also writing). IEW Elegant Essay.

 

- The vocab book in the Island level is pretty lame. It is fine for what it is -- a very gentle introduction to the concept of root words, stems, etc. There just isn't much to it.

Edited October 11, 2010 by StephanieZ

[Capt_Uhura]

 

ETA: I bought the Writer's Jungle, and I'd love to supplement with some of the Bravewriter lifestyle. I'd also like to get her writing more across the curriculum, but it's just too much! Does anyone else feel like they're spending all their time trying to do LA? Or is it just me? I know MCT is a complete LA curriculum, but I can't seem to resist trying to supplement...

 

YES! It seems like we spend a huge chunk on Language Arts. But Language Arts is really multi-facted. THere is spelling, reading, grammar, poetry, vocabulary and writing. We are not doing nearly the amt of writing I think we should be doing and LA can take us 1.5hrs. We're about to start implementing the history plan for the year which will involved DS10 writing his own summaries. I hope that Paragraph Town can be used for our cross-curricular writing.

Edited October 11, 2010 by Capt_Uhura

[Kuovonne]

Meanwhile, it is bizarre that they are not putting out errata pages.

 

The files section of the MCTLA yahoo group has errata pages.

[Create Your Ritual]

We are using MCT Island (all components) with a 4th grader & older 1st grader. We are only in the Grammar Island and MotH books so far, but they are loving it! We supplement with Grammar with a Giggle for punctuation & spelling edit practice. They do one sentence each day of the story. Also, we are currently also doing 1 lesson a day in R& S English 3 and 2 respectively. Having just pulled them from PS last year, I knew that dd had not had much grammar practice at all. We also are writing across the board in all subjects, using WWE 1 & 2 and MC 4+ (which is ironically mostly review of grammar concepts at this stage!). Hopefully MC will begin more actual writing soon.

[Paige]

Which level and components are you using?

We are using the Island series with our 3rd grader. So far we have finished Grammar Island and he's been working on Practice Island since the end of Grammar Island. We are almost finished with Music of the Hemispheres, are about 1/4 of the way through Building Language, and will start Sentence Island when we finish it. We will also be doing a poem a day once we finish all the practice poems in Music of the Hemispheres.

 

How's it going?

We love it! My son really enjoys it and now that we have finished the poetry book he is enjoying the poetic styling of the other books. He is very into Greek history right now so the theme of the vocabulary book is perfect timing.

Are you supplementing, with what?

We don't really supplement but he also does extra writing assignments (from me) several times of week, he does weekly essay editing, and some copywork.

 

Is this your first experience with MCT?

Yes.

[HSDCY]

I am using Voyage level with my 6 grader. After going through Island and Town levels in the past two years, we still enjoy MCT if not more this year.

 

We've always done grammar and vocab as is, but this is the first year that I don't supplement with another writing program, but I think Essay Voyage itself is a good refining program for students who are already familiar with basic essay writing.

[King Alfred Academy]

We started using MCT Island Level last year and made it through the grammar book but only half way through the poetry. Things got crazy towards the end of the year.

 

This year we are using it again. We're going through the grammar book again as a review and plan to do the whole program (minus the writing...maybe?) this year. It's still going great and my son *asks* to do it every day. :001_smile:

 

Supplementing? Um...I don't know how to answer this question. We're using IEW for writing but I *think* I may still work through parts of the writing. I am not sold on that part of the program. My son LOVES IEW and I would hate to stop that.

[Matryoshka]

Which level and components are you using?

Just finishing up Island with my 9yo; I'm thinking of starting Town in the spring.

 

My two 12yos are most of the way through CEII, and we just did our first chapter of Essay Voyage. As soon as we finish CEII, I'll be adding in Magic Lens and WWtW. It's been taking us forever to get through Building Poems - 1 chapter left. Never seem to get to it. I'll probably start on the Voyage poetry book later this year.

 

How's it going?

Still loving it! They moan about all the info on Caesar in CEII, but they're retaining all the vocab!

 

Are you supplementing, with what?

Till I get to Town with the 9yo, we'll be doing Killgallon Sentence Composing, as much of the Writing with Skill lessons as we get, and maybe some more Writing Magic. I have IEW Ancient History Lessons, but every time I look at it I like it less. She also still does Sequential Spelling, and one page a week from Punctuation Puzzlers and Editor in Chief.

 

For the older two, I'm also going to add in the Killgallon Sentence Composing (alternating with 4Practice). I'm probably not going to do a ton of the EV assignments as such, but have them apply the concepts to other writing they do in history, literature and science - but I don't have another writing curriculum. I've thought if they got done with EV early I might add in the Lively Art of Writing to round out the year. They also do Editor in Chief.

 

ETA: Just looking at the new posts in this thread, I glanced back at mine and realized I forgot two things - my older two are also doing LLit8 and Figuratively Speaking.

 

Is this your first experience with MCT?

This is our second year with MCT.

Edited October 12, 2010 by matroyshka

[Snickerdoodle]

Which level and components are you using?

Town. At the moment Paragraph Town and CE1.

 

How's it going?

The boy LOVES CE. It's his favorite part. He is having amazing retention of all the material and has made it his mission to find grammatical errors in everything he reads.

 

Are you supplementing, with what?

We are using CW Aesop B and writing across the curriculum SWB style.

 

Is this your first experience with MCT?

This is our second year with MCT.

[dkholland]

We're trying:

 

 

Which level and components are you using?

We are using Magic Lens 1 and WWW1. I have Essay voyage on the shelf to pick up later in the year. My ds using it is 12 (7th gr)

 

How's it going?

I'm not sure:001_huh: He seems to like WWW and picks up stems quickly. He already knows many of them from his year of Latin. I don't think its too easy for him. Magic Lens is just so-so right now. It may be how I am using it. We pick it up and read the next section and go over how the sentences are labeled in the four-level analysis. It feels though like we are missing something?? He seems bored (yawns a lot while we are reading.) I love grammar and try to get him into it, but it is not working like I thought. I don't have the 4practice book yet, because I thought we needed to get through the first few chapters of grammar before we began practicing it...is that how everyone else has done it? It seems like most who love the program, began in the early years. Maybe it's not the kind of program that you can jump into in 7th gr.?? We are sticking with it, but not loving it. I don't see any benefit to stopping a program. Seems like we will learn something just by sticking with it...I just wish we enjoyed it more.

Are you supplementing, with what? No supplementing yet, but may have to when we get to clauses! He has less experience with that.

 

Is this your first experience with MCT?

Yes...this is our first year.

Another comment...During the reading of ML1, we'll be reading along about, let's say, subject-verb agreement and the text will interject some sentence from a classic work as an example. Then it goes on to list more as examples and it just feels awkward to continue reading these examples, especially when there is vocabulary my ds doesn't know. Yesterday in our reading from Ch 2 on sentences, we read how sentences are the mirror image of our own mind...i got it, but my ds just thought it was so dumb. The text kept going on and on and we both thought it was quite boring. Am I missing something??

 

Another question....why does it throw in things that have not been covered yet...like when studying direct objects it lists in the 4-level analysis "appositives?" We have not gone over those much or at all, so then I have to stop and explain that...it just seems to throw all kinds of stuff at us at one time.

 

Phew...as you can see, I have been thinking about this a lot!! I do not want a program that introduces direct objects and then we do 30 sentences labeling them. But, this just seems harder to implement and understand some days. Thanks for listening. Don't know if there is a question in there anywhere, but feel free to comment on where I might be going wrong.

Thanks!

 

[Beth in SW WA]

(x-post from other MCT thread)

 

I have all elements of Island level and have barely dipped my toes in the water. I need the structure and flow of Shurley for my wee ones. (Just wrote about this in the Shurley post this AM.)

 

We also learn a bit of grammar at CC, tons in WWE 1 & 3, FLL (with dd6) -- and we bring grammar into EVERY element of school. (Grammar Saves Lives! is a FB 'flair' I created a year ago.)

 

Dd7 loves reading MOTH, GI & SI for fun. Haven't tackled the other pieces yet. Soon.

 

We will eventually do CC's Essentials of the English Language which reminds me a bit of MCT & Shurley combined.

 

So much grammar. So little time.

 

Dd 8th is working through WWtW text with help of Quizlet. She tolerates it. I threaten to get her Wordly Wise and then she quits complaining about WWtW. She'd rather learn vocab via lit.

Edited October 12, 2010 by Beth in SW WA

[Kristiana]

Which level and components are you using?

 

We are using Island level for 4th and 2nd grade.

 

How's it going?

We've only read through Grammar Island so far, we're on the last few pages. So far we love it. I've never been a words person, but my oldest especially likes to play with words and is really enjoying it. My 7yo is actually retaining the grammar. I was worried about him keeping up, but he's doing ok. And sad to say, I've learned quite a bit as well. I never had such a clear understanding of grammar in school. Both boys really love to see what silly sentences they can make. We're on fall break this week, but next week I think we'll begin Practice Island and the poetry book. My 9yo specifically requested to study poetry this year which was one of the reasons I looked at MCT in the first place.

 

Are you supplementing, with what?

Both boys are continuing in WWE and my 9yo is using Sequential Spelling.

 

Is this your first experience with MCT?

Yes, but I think I will get the next level at least for my oldest. I may have 7yo repeat the Island level next year.

[swimmermom3]

 

DS11 -- I bought IEW Medieval for him to start when we get home from vacation. (He just finished IEW Ancients). . . But am hesitating. I need to trim his schedule, and I think IEW might go out the door.

 

 

 

Stephanie, would you please let me know what you end up doing with your son? Mine finished up IEW Ancients supplemented with Essay Voyage last year for 6th grade. I had planned on using Lost Tools of Writing supplemented with Essay Voyage this year but had to back off of LTW due to the time constraints of adding another student. We were using the IEW Medieval until I could get my daughter situated. As usual, Swimmer Dude has thwarted me by announcing that he is done with IEW and wants to focus on research writing for 7th grade. He chose to write a biography on Attila the Hun for history to start with. We are running through the basic research process and using Essay Voyage and Advanced Academic Writing 1 for structure. I have no idea where we'll go from here. I'll probably just keep listening to SWB and using and reusing the MCT I have on hand. After all, I think I have bought and sold most of the other writing programs by now.:tongue_smilie:

[Matryoshka]

Stephanie, would you please let me know what you end up doing with your son? Mine finished up IEW Ancients supplemented with Essay Voyage last year for 6th grade. I had planned on using Lost Tools of Writing supplemented with Essay Voyage this year but had to back off of LTW due to the time constraints of adding another student. We were using the IEW Medieval until I could get my daughter situated. As usual, Swimmer Dude has thwarted me by announcing that he is done with IEW and wants to focus on research writing for 7th grade. He chose to write a biography on Attila the Hun for history to start with. We are running through the basic research process and using Essay Voyage and Advanced Academic Writing 1 for structure. I have no idea where we'll go from here. I'll probably just keep listening to SWB and using and reusing the MCT I have on hand. After all, I think I have bought and sold most of the other writing programs by now.:tongue_smilie:

 

Hi Lisa,

 

Realize I haven't gotten back to you on LToW - the fact that you can't get to it means it was probably good that I held off, because I'm also swamped. It just costs too much (even used) if I'm never going to get to it. How did you like the IEW Ancients? I just can't warm to it. I think I'm just going to use Essay Voyage for cross-curricular writing, and add in The Lively Art of Writing (sooo much cheaper!) if we run out of things to do...

 

I think your son's plan sounds fine... :)

 

(I'd PM you instead but my box is full and I'm too lazy to clean it out right now...) :tongue_smilie:

[Violet Crown]

We're using Island Level and I'm starting to find the grammar frustrating. Dd learned last year from Artes Latinae that parts of speech in English are identifiable by what "slot" in a sentence they go in, and that if they're not interchangeable (can't go into the same "slot"), then they're not the same part of speech.

 

Well, Grammar Island first told her that "a" and "the" are adjectives. But she had already learned from her Latin that they aren't, because they don't go into the adjective slot ("the big cat," but not "the a cat"). Then they called them "articles," which she liked better, but then they're still labeled as "adjectives." Then a sentence had "two" as an adjective, which is not an adjective either ("the fat black cats" but not "the fat two cats"). Dd was rightly suspicious of "eagle" as an adjective in "The eagle chick was fuzzy." Which again, since you can say "the chick was fuzzy" but not "the chick was eagle," is obviously not an adjective but a noun modifier.

 

Now frankly I think (a) she has good instincts about grammar, and (b) she has learned better English grammar incidentally through her Latin program than she's learning through MCT. I dislike having her book telling her things about grammar that she already knows or suspects aren't true, on the promise of getting better information later. (Does the information get better? I dread the morass of "adverbs.")

 

On the other hand, I would lie if I said that dd is frustrated; she loves going through the sentences and saying "adjective not really, adjective not really, noun, linking verb, real adjective." The problem is just on my end.

 

But, given the co$t of the book, I'm disappointed.

 

ETA: I'm complementing with PLL and, apparently, supplementing with Artes Latinae.

Edited October 12, 2010 by Sharon in Austin

[kristavws]

My 4th grader is using the Town Level this year. We used the Island level last year, so we are not new to the program. We supplement with SWO, WWE, and Editor in Chief.

 

We love MCT!

 

Krista

[kokotg]

 

Well, Grammar Island first told her that "a" and "the" are adjectives. But she had already learned from her Latin that they aren't, because they don't go into the adjective slot ("the big cat," but not "the a cat"). Then they called them "articles," which she liked better, but then they're still labeled as "adjectives."

 

But articles ARE adjectives. If they're not adjectives, which of the 8 parts of speech would you label them as?

 

I'm not following your "not an adjective but a noun modifier" line of reasoning, either...modifying nouns is, after all, what adjectives do. I guess maybe I would find the grammar in Artes Latinae frustrating :)

[kokotg]

Fascinated, I have looked into this whole is an article an adjective controversy further. Apparently, traditional English grammar puts articles in with adjectives, but many modern linguists put them in their own category and call them "determiners." Both camps seem to have their supporters.

[Violet Crown]

Fascinated, I have looked into this whole is an article an adjective controversy further. Apparently, traditional English grammar puts articles in with adjectives, but many modern linguists put them in their own category and call them "determiners." Both camps seem to have their supporters.

Well, yes, in the sense that both camps in the germ theory debate seem to have their supporters. But that doesn't make it a question of personal preference. I will take modern medicine, modern mathematics, and modern grammar over the traditional any day when "modern" means "accurate."

 

Here's one way to look at it. Take "eagle" in my example above (taken from Grammar Island). Now "eagle" in English can obviously be more than one part of speech: The eagle catches the fish. Will Tiger eagle, or go over par? The eagle chick is fuzzy.

 

We obviously can't tell which part of speech it is from just looking at the word. We tell, as natural speakers of English, from how it's placed in the sentence. We can extrapolate from this (and other examples) that two words are the same part of speech if they can be used interchangeably in a sentence.

 

When a word is an adjective, it sits in front of the noun it modifies, and behind any determiners, and in any relation to other adjectives. But "eagle" in "an eagle chick" doesn't do this last thing: You can say "the six fuzzy, happy chicks" but you can't say "the six eagle, fuzzy chicks."

 

An adjective also can follow the noun as a predicate adjective. But "eagle" in "the eagle chick" can't do this either: you can't say "the chick is eagle" just the same way you can't say "the cat is house" (and therefore you can recognize that "house" in "house cat" isn't an adjective).

 

I wouldn't mind so much if GI said something like "We can start by saying there are only eight kinds of word, though later we'll learn there are more." Or if the determiners, noun modifiers, and the like were simply left unlabeled, the way prepositions are early on. It would be extra-great if there were some sort of nod to how linguists have long understood language to work. Artes Latinae, as I mentioned in my earlier post, does in fact explain in a way suitable for small children how parts of speech work in English. And I'm glad we used that before we used GI.

Edited October 12, 2010 by Sharon in Austin
general editing incompetence

[Violet Crown]

But articles ARE adjectives. If they're not adjectives, which of the 8 parts of speech would you label them as?

I would dare to suggest that it's not true that there are eight parts of speech.

 

I'm not following your "not an adjective but a noun modifier" line of reasoning, either...modifying nouns is, after all, what adjectives do.

Sorry, my bad. I used "noun modifier" to mean "noun that is a modifier." "Eagle" in that sentence is a noun. It's a noun that is modifying something; in this case, another noun. It's not an adjective. Neither are determiners. Turns out there are lots of things that can modify nouns. Don't get me started on adverbs.:)

 

ETA: "Noun modifier" is a great example of a noun ("noun") modifying another noun ("modifier").

[Shawna in Texas]

Which level and components are you using?

Voyage. We've done the grammar, a quarter through the practice. Ch. 6 in vocab, and Ch. 3 in Essay. We'll do poetry during the last quarter.

 

How's it going?

We love it. We find it fairly effortless and I've found it easy to implement EV across curriculum. I'm also finding that there isn't as much involvement from me except for grading and some discussion. Maybe about a half hour a week total. I imagine it will be more when we do poetry.

 

Are you supplementing, with what?

Latin, if that counts. We do Megawords, handwriting, and lit as well.

 

Is this your first experience with MCT?

This is our second year.