What grammar are you using for your visual-spatial\whole to parts learner?

[5LittleMonkeys]

I'm just curious to see if there is something out there already tailored to how she learns instead of me tweaking what I have.

[HollyDay]

Have you looked at Winston?

[ElizabethB]

MCT seems that way to me, you can look at their posters and see what you think, they show the visual/spatial, whole picture part:

 

http://www.rfwp.com/series79.htm

[Closeacademy]

I used the grammar picture books by Ruth Heller in 3rd/4th grade and we went over all the parts of speech. Merry Go Round is the one for nouns. We made colorful notebooking pages with the name of the concept, an example sentence and a picture. She now has a visual guide to grammar. We also went over the rules of punctuation.

 

Since then she has been working with the Scott-Foresman grammar workbooks. It works well for her. They also have supplementary material on vocabulary, study skills and word study in their extra workbooks. You have to click on the grade level and then within the pdf click on the words "practice book."

 

It's free and it works for my VSL.:001_smile:

[Lori D.]

There are a number of programs out there that would work for visual-spatial learners (VSL), such as MCT materials, Cozy Grammar, and Winston. And of course, you can often adapt a program you already have to make it a better fit.

 

In our case, Winston worked very well. Our younger DS is strongly VSL. We used Winston Basic, Wordworks, and Advanced for grammar instruction; practiced various grammar concepts by making my own Sonlight-like dictation worksheets (didn't dictate -- just did the working with grammar mechanics and concepts) up through about grade 6; and used a wide variety of supplements.

 

Because we didn't do grammar diagramming, but rather marked sentences with underlines, circles, arrows, etc. to very visually show connections and how the words, phrases and clauses were working in the sentence, I slightly modified Winston and we did it on the whiteboard using colored markers -- something that really connects for VSL! In this past post I explained further how we modified Winston.

 

Supplements we especially enjoyed/found helpful:

- Schoolhouse Rock: Grammar (gr. 1-5) -- parts of speech

- Mad Libs and Grammar Ad Libs (gr. 1-5) -- parts of speech

- Take Five Minutes: A History Fact a Day for Editing (gr. 4-6) -- editing and grammar mechanics practice

- Editor in Chief (gr. 4-8) -- editing and grammar mechanics practice

- Comicstrip Grammar (gr. 5-8) -- parts of speech; word usage

- Giggles in the Middle (gr. 6-8) -- editing and grammar mechanics; grammar concept review; vocabulary

- Chortling Bard (gr. 9-12) -- editing and grammar mechanics; grammar concept review; vocabulary

 

 

BEST of luck in finding what works best for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[prairiegirl]

I don't know if my oldest is visual/spatial (that term always confuses me) or not but we have had major problems with grammar. We are now using Winstons and are enjoying it a great deal. It is a little too soon to know if it is working but there is enjoyment which wasn't present in other grammar programs.

 

We also use supplements like grammar games, living books and mad libs.

[wapiti]

My VSL is very, very good with grammar in spite of a language processing issue that she has. We only just started hs-ing. Prior to this year, her grammar knowledge came from a Montessori work called Grammar Box. Unfortunately I don't know much about it.

[5LittleMonkeys]

Okay, just went and looked at Winston and then I went and looked at MCT. Why oh why did I go look at MCT. :tongue_smilie:

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Embassy]

I have been searching and researching this topic the past week.

 

I attempted MCT this year with my whole to parts learner. He is more of a think it through - auditory - whole to parts learner though. I thought it would be a great fit, but he hated it especially the writing portion. The writing was too open ended and gave him instructions on what to write, but not how to write. It looks like I am moving to CLE and Killgallon for the grammar and Jump In for writing. He loved the classic literature we added this year as part of MCT though. He used to love grammar and now it is his least favorite subject. So we are going to a workbook method with diagramming for grammar and see how it goes.

 

When I think whole-to-parts I find that my children may excel at a "higher" skill while still learning the parts. MCT LA seemed like the parts were put into a storyline which actually made it interesting, but more difficult for my son. Since grammar is the "parts" that he struggles with it seems like it needs to be approached sequentially. I chose CLE because it has the visual element of diagramming that my son expressed interest in learning. Also, I chose it because it is a workbook method. We do little workbooks and do more of snuggling up reading books together. My boys seem to like workbooks for some strange reason so that was a motivation for going a workbook route. The other reason is that it is spiral and has constant review which is necessary for the "parts". It also provides additional handwriting and spelling practice which my son can use. Killgallon will give him practice expanding his grammar and writing skills in the context of literature that he loves. The Jump In will help take him through the writing process and help him find what works for him. At least that is my hope.

 

So, that is my experience. Figuring out my kids has been a challenge. I'm pretty sure I am visual-spatial, but I'm not sure about my kids. I know they are non-sequential and like depth, but I'm not sure about the visual element yet.

[woolybear]

My ds is 10. He is loving Grammar Land and the worksheets to go with it. It's not a full grammar program, but a good foundation.

[EKS]

MCT. Absolutely.