Please tell me about Essentials program at CC

[miracleone]

I am thinking of starting my fourth grader in Essentials next year. Does anyone know if it's worth to do it? Is it too difficult? Do I need a separate grammar, writing, spelling program or Essentials is all I need to cover Language Arts?

 

If you are doing Essentials, what else do you use?

 

We're also in Foundations.

 

Thank you.

[Hedgehogs4]

:lurk5:

Edited February 25, 2011 by Hedgehogs4

[miracleone]

Bumping it up :)

[miracleone]

If you do essentials, do you use another grammar program? I bought Jr. Analytical grammar for next year but we're also going to start our first year of Essentials. Is there a lot of handholding during the week just to do Essentials homework?

 

We're doing FLL3 this year and it's parent intensive. Is Essentials homework like that?

 

Is it much better compared to doing LA at home (using CLE LA, maybe)?

 

Can you tell I'm still confused? Thank you for any advice.

[tiffanieh]

I actually just sat in on an Essentials class yesterday and you will not want to do any other grammar than theirs. I was amazed at the sentences they were diagramming. You will need your own spelling though.

 

The writing portion uses IEW's TWSS and the theme based guides. Next year will be on American History. I was very nervous about Essentials until I went yesterday and now I'm not.

[mymonkeybug]

I am an Essentials Tutor and Foundations/Essentials Director. It is very work intensive and geared towards getting your upper elementary child ready for the throws of middle/high writing/grammar needs.

 

It can seem overwhelming but once you find your groove, both you and your child, it is well worth it in my opinion. I would feel that way even if I weren't vested in it as I am. It can be it's own grammar program and I wouldn't rec. using anything else at home but using the EEL/IEW items as to avoid any confusion.

 

What I will say however is that if you have a struggling writer or non-writer, then sit in on a class or two before commiting. You may save yourself and your child many tears and meltdowns. I myself have one such child and he still isn't an Essentials kid.

[Hedgehogs4]

I currently have my two kids in Foundations, and have registered my son for Essentials next year.

 

I was lurking on this thread to see what others said, but will also tell you what I have gleaned this year from many of my friends whose kids have done essentials this year. My friend brought the IEW work and the EEL guide for me to look at, and I was truly impressed with the quality of writing her girls were doing, not to mention the level of grammar. She said it was a lot at first, but after the first few weeks things calm down. You definitely don't need another grammar program.

 

I also think that you need to consider how far you intend to go with CC. If you plan to have your child in challenge, later on, then you probably should do EEL. If not, then I would consider it optional. The parents whose kids have done Foundations and EEL have a MUCH easier time of Challenge later on, from what I have been told this year by my friends who have kids in Challenge.

[Brenda in FL]

If you do essentials, do you use another grammar program? I bought Jr. Analytical grammar for next year but we're also going to start our first year of Essentials. Is there a lot of handholding during the week just to do Essentials homework?

 

We're doing FLL3 this year and it's parent intensive. Is Essentials homework like that?

 

Is it much better compared to doing LA at home (using CLE LA, maybe)?

 

Can you tell I'm still confused? Thank you for any advice.

 

I think following up on Essentials at home is parent intensive.

 

For the grammar portion - you are given 5 sentences to parse at home - We usually just get to 2 or 3. I'm doing this with 2 kids and it seems to take us about 20 minutes? Maybe it'd go faster with just one kid and I had them do it and checked their work later (but I don't think that'd be very effective). There's also an editing exercise to work on which we also do orally. I time us for 5 minutes/day and can finish it in about 3 days.

 

IEW - the child's ability will determine how intensive you are - but you will need to bring their assignment up for the 4 days between classes and provide input and assistance.

 

Is it better than doing it at home? That depends on what you prefer! I like Essentials mainly for the writing instruction. After 4 years of copywork, dictation, and oral and written narrations - my kids needed to get to this next level with organization and style. Essentials has been perfect. Had I been familiar with IEW, I could have done it at home - but I was not.

 

This has been our first year - I have a 5th and 7th grader in Essentials. For my youngest - I will probably wait until 5th grade with him as well.

 

My 5th grader went through all 4 levels of FLL and she was well prepared for Essentials.

 

You won't need any additional grammar or writing during the 24 weeks of classes - You can determine if you want to use something for the remaining 12 weeks. (There's enough sentences in the guide that we didn't get too that we could use!). You will need something for spelling.

[Brenda in FL]

I wanted to add another bit of advice - OP, if you decide to do Essentials - start your child NOW on a typing instruction program. I'm also using the tutorial programs online for Word do my kids can learn how to use all the tools effectively.

[miracleone]

I wanted to add another bit of advice - OP, if you decide to do Essentials - start your child NOW on a typing instruction program. I'm also using the tutorial programs online for Word do my kids can learn how to use all the tools effectively.

 

Why typing program? Is it because it's a lot of writing? What typing program do you use?

 

I heard from some moms who had discontinued Essentials that they decided to stop EEL because they didn't think it was as complete as the grammar in R&S. Any comments? Thank you ladies!

[Hen]

I thought the Essentials grammar book was horribly written and a waste of paper. We sat through the class for a few weeks only because the tutor was brilliant and great with kids, she was a community college professor and a great teacher, but I could not get past how badly the book was put together, how confusing it was and how impossible it was to find the correct page your student was supposed to be on. My dd felt stupid, and so did I. Diagramming was my favorite subject in school.

 

the rest of the class was very interesting and helpful: the writing portion and the math games.

 

I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to go that deeply into grammar, I would have used something well thought out- such as Shurley grammar.

 

just my 2 cents. My dd was on the older end of things, I think she was 12, this was the last school year.

[i.love.lucy]

I thought the Essentials grammar book was horribly written and a waste of paper. We sat through the class for a few weeks only because the tutor was brilliant and great with kids, she was a community college professor and a great teacher, but I could not get past how badly the book was put together, how confusing it was and how impossible it was to find the correct page your student was supposed to be on. My dd felt stupid, and so did I. Diagramming was my favorite subject in school.

 

the rest of the class was very interesting and helpful: the writing portion and the math games.

 

I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to go that deeply into grammar, I would have used something well thought out- such as Shurley grammar.

 

just my 2 cents. My dd was on the older end of things, I think she was 12, this was the last school year.

Ah, yes. But we have a new EEL guide for this coming year!!! :hurray: My tutor has seen bits of it and is very excited about it!! Says it's just worlds better.

[hsmomto5]

Is so much better! I am a director in NC and the person who did the redesign of the charts is my essentials tutor. We got to pilot the charts and they are wonderful. They are just laid out so much better and the guide is more user friendly.

Essentials has made all of the difference in the world in my child's ability to write. She will be going into Challenge A next year and I am confident she will do fine with the writing and Latin portion because of Essentials.

 

Lora in NC

[angela in ohio]

I heard from some moms who had discontinued Essentials that they decided to stop EEL because they didn't think it was as complete as the grammar in R&S. Any comments? Thank you ladies!

 

It's not as complete as R&S, and I don't think it's meant to be. It is meant to be the very "Essentials" of grammar, and it has to be taught in only one year.

[miracleone]

What are the "stuff" not covered in Essentials that I need to do at home to make the grammar complete? Would you recommend a separate spelling program as well? Thanks!

[Woodland_Mom]

FYI -- The Essentials Guide went under a MAJOR revision and a new version has just been released. Take a look at it HERE! It is beautiful and it looks like it will be easy to use. Hallelujah! Because the old guide was difficult to use.

 

We're finishing up our 3rd year of Essentials. My ds began as a 3rd grader. I think 4th grade is the best time to begin Essentials. My younger ds will begin as a 4th grader and we're just finishing FLL3 -- like you!

 

FLL 1 -3 certainly provides a great foundation for kids entering Essentials. The idea behind Essentials is that the student takes 3 passes through the class. The first year, the goal is to continue laying the foundations: memorizing parts of speech, learning (or continuing to learn) about diagramming sentences, etc. During the second and third years, the child develops a dn increasingly deeper understanding of sentence structure. They spend a little more time analyzing sentences and diagramming gets more complex. By the end of the third year (usually 6th grade), the student should be quite comfortable with all of the parts of speech, how to diagram compound-complex sentences of any kind, how to analyze word usage (very helpful in Lain), and how to edit papers for correct subject/verb agreement, punctuation, etc.

 

The Essentials program also uses IEW for the writing. Each year, students work through one of the Theme Based writing books. Next year, they'll use U.S. History Based Writing Lessons. The tutor does ask that the papers are typed, but parents can certainly do that! (My 5th grader will do a typing course this summer.) If you're a decant typer, it should only take a few minutes to type.

 

Essentials is very flexible. The most important for first year moms to know is that you don't --and shouldn't-- do it all!! You, the parent, will need to decide how deep you want your child to go with the grammar. You'll do this with the IEW lessons as well. Younger students will not write essays that are as long or involved as the older students.

 

If you feel you'd enjoy having a trained tutor guide you and your child through writing and grammar lessons, then Essentials might be for you! Usually, students who finish Essentials are comfortable writing essays and are well grounded in Grammar.

 

If you are able, I highly recommend that you visit a local class! They'd love to have you there. Also: take a look at the guide.

 

HTH!

[Woodland_Mom]

What are the "stuff" not covered in Essentials that I need to do at home to make the grammar complete? Would you recommend a separate spelling program as well? Thanks!

 

Essentials recommends Spelling Plus as the spelling program, but you can use whatever you want. Spelling is not discussed at all in class. However, they do include the Spelling Plus list and some very helpful notes about spelling rules in the Essentials Guide. We use Spelling Plus along with the Dictation Resource book that CC recommends. Here's a link to a blog post that I wrote about it.

 

I've never compared Essentials to R&S or any other program, but there are things that Essentials does not teach. Here are some things that come to mind:

 

Letter Writing

Abbreviations

Addressing Envelopes

Dictionary Usage

Noting things in a Bibliography

 

Note: Punctuation rules are included in the EEL guide and editing paragraphs are given each week, but I don't think this component is well planned. The editing paragraphs come from the the book of John in the Bible. You just look for errors. This is just too much for us! I have had my son write out the punctuation and capitalization rules that are part of the guide. (We do two rules per week). Then . . . we write example sentences for each rule. This gives him time to think about each rule, process it, think of an example, and put the rule into practice as he writes. Of course, he gets plenty of editing practice with his own essay writing.

 

I do know some people that use workbooks to fill in the gaps that Essentials doesn't cover. The class is only 24 weeks, so it is easy to cover other things during the other 12 weeks of the year.

Edited March 24, 2011 by Pylegang

[maryanne]

Essentials recommends Spelling Plus as the spelling program, but you can use whatever you want. Spelling is not discussed at all in class. However, they do include the Spelling Plus list and some very helpful notes about spelling rules in the Essentials Guide. We use Spelling Plus along with the Dictation Resource book that CC recommends. Here's a link to a blog post that I wrote about it.

 

I've never compared Essentials to R&S or any other program, but there are things that Essentials does not teach. Here are some things that come to mind:

 

Letter Writing

Abbreviations

Addressing Envelopes

Dictionary Usage

Noting things in a Bibliography

 

Note: Punctuation rules are included in the EEL guide and editing paragraphs are given each week, but I don't think this component is well planned. The editing paragraphs come from the the book of John in the Bible. You just look for errors. This is just too much for us! I have had my son write out the punctuation and capitalization rules that are part of the guide. (We do two rules per week). Then . . . we write example sentences for each rule. This gives him time to think about each rule, process it, think of an example, and put the rule into practice as he writes. Of course, he gets plenty of editing practice with his own essay writing.

 

I do know some people that use workbooks to fill in the gaps that Essentials doesn't cover. The class is only 24 weeks, so it is easy to cover other things during the other 12 weeks of the year.

 

I'm also one of the ones that thinks that the Essentials program isn't sufficient or complete. It's missing the elements listed above, and it lacks practice in using correctly or avoiding mistakes in:

irregular verbs

passive voice

subjunctive

verbals

 

Actually it lacks practice in just about everything except diagramming and editing. There just aren't exercises for using the things taught. There are just sentences to diagram and parse, and sentences to edit that I found very awkward to correct.

 

Also as implemented at our site the classes mostly taught the simplest examples leaving my ds bored out of his mind after having already completed R&S 4 before starting Essentials.

[Woodland_Mom]

I'm also one of the ones that thinks that the Essentials program isn't sufficient or complete. It's missing the elements listed above, and it lacks practice in using correctly or avoiding mistakes in:

irregular verbs

passive voice

subjunctive

verbals

 

Actually it lacks practice in just about everything except diagramming and editing. There just aren't exercises for using the things taught. There are just sentences to diagram and parse, and sentences to edit that I found very awkward to correct.

 

Also as implemented at our site the classes mostly taught the simplest examples leaving my ds bored out of his mind after having already completed R&S 4 before starting Essentials.

 

It is too bad that your ds was bored in his Essentials class. I'm sure some of the quality of the Essentials program comes from the tutor, but parents have the guide book and can make it as easy or challenging as they'd like.

 

I must respectfully disagree with you about your list of things Essentials does not cover. Lessons from the text "Our Mother Tongue" are built into the lessons. Parents work through those with their children at home in addition to completing the memory charts, editing exercises and task sentences. Unit 4 of "Our Mother Tongue" covers most of these things with nice detail. Also, there is an extensive list of irregular verbs that kids study/discuss in the Essential course. Students who go through the Foundations program even memorize many irregular verbs.

 

Essentials is not simply a class that teaches how to diagram and parse. It teaches much more! The program helps to establish language structure understanding, partly by using things other than typical grammar worksheets. Kids learn the basics about the parts of speech, they learn new vocabulary words, learn/memorize punctuation and capitalization rules, learn how to analyze sentences & word uses. And don't forget about the writing part of the class, which uses Institute for Excellence in Writing materials.

[BiblioTech]

I'm also one of the ones that thinks that the Essentials program isn't sufficient or complete. It's missing the elements listed above, and it lacks practice in using correctly or avoiding mistakes in:

irregular verbs

passive voice

subjunctive

verbals

 

Actually it lacks practice in just about everything except diagramming and editing. There just aren't exercises for using the things taught. There are just sentences to diagram and parse, and sentences to edit that I found very awkward to correct.

 

Also as implemented at our site the classes mostly taught the simplest examples leaving my ds bored out of his mind after having already completed R&S 4 before starting Essentials.

 

I agree with this post. We've done Essentials this year. The IEW writing and math games have been very helpful (although I wouldn't want to do IEW every year), but the Essentials (EEL) portion has been very disappointing. I'm looking at purchasing Analytical Grammar to get my 12yo dd up to speed on her grammar.

Edited March 29, 2011 by BiblioTech

[trailofsparks]

of the program, because of the supposedly new and great Essentials of the English Language book which will be available next school year. I used to enjoy grammar, but that book killed it for me. We spent 2 (very frustrating) yrs in this CC program and, because having a command of English grammar is very important to me, we will be using Rod & Staff levels 5 & 6 next year. Now, because of EEL, I think ds12 will breeze right through these 2 levels and, I anticipate, start R&S level 7 before the year's over.

 

The writing portion, IEW, is excellent. This really helped ds12 writing skills along. In our class, the tutor made time for students to read their papers (or portions of them) to the class. It was very motivating to be able to write for an audience. The students got to learn from each other as well (they were all using the same writing assignment) since some were good at using humor, others added information, or personal experience.

 

As you already know since you are in Foundations, tutors make or break the validity of the program. If you have a chance to visit the class, meet the tutor, get your hands on the new EEL book, I think these experiences would help you make your decision.

 

One last thing, being in community with other like-minded families was the big draw for us. After 2 years, I realized that was wonderful, but the academic part is equivalent to using a boxed curriculum. There's nothing wrong w/boxed curriculum if it works for you. One thing I've learned about myself is "boxed" doesn't work for me. I like - and need - to make my choices. It's good to spend time evaluating who you are beforehand!

 

HTH,

Cheryl

[Heather in VA]

I can only speak to what I saw when I reviewed the program when I considered it for my middle daughter and what we saw on the other side with students who had done EEL as their grammar and were now in Challenge. (we did CC for one year). My oldest was in Challenge and at the time was doing her last season in Analytical Grammar. Her grammar skills were far superior to her classmates who had done EEL and it was evident in their Latin studies. They seemed to know grammar terms but lacked the real understanding to be able to apply it in other areas the way my daughter had learned with AG.

 

I know when I looked at EEL since my middle would have been of age that year to do it, I thought it looked awful and far more muddled than necessary. It sounds like at least they are addressing this.

 

Heather

[Debbie in OR]

We had signed up for Essentials and then for various reasons (mainly I don't like IEW) decided against it. But I did have the EEL guide and decided I would at least give it a try.

 

Personally, I think that the actual material is fantastic. My only complaint is the manual...it is unbelievably complicated. But now that they have re-formatted it, hopefully that piece has been resolved.

 

It has aspects of several great grammar programs combined into one:

 

It has a several-level analysis/parsing component similar to MCT (and also the Principle Approach Classic Grammar that we have used and love).

It has the Q&A/confirmation component of Shurley.

It has diagramming.

It has spelling dictation similar to CM method (Spelling Wisdom-ish).

It has "memory loading" for grammar-age students to aid in instant recall of essentials.

It has higher-level sentence analysis for logic stage students to help them manipulate the parts of speech for more complete understanding of their jobs.

Using Our Mother Tongue for extra teaching/practice has rounded it out.

 

Using this method, my kids have had several "aha!" moments as they are able to "see" how the parts of speech work together using the sentence analysis, Q&A flow, and subsequent diagramming.

 

Now, of course, they may have gotten this from other programs but because of all the reasons listed above, we are very happy with this grammar program and now that they have re-formatted the manual, plan to continue with it.

Edited April 14, 2011 by Debbie in OR

[laughing lioness]

I would check out the tutor and the particular program you are considering. Essentials is confusing, imho, and if you don't have a Tutor who GETS it, everyone will muddle through.