jillian Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 (edited) I want a gentle introduction to grammar for dd. I was looking at Growing With Grammar and it looks nice and gentle and reasonably priced. I've also looked at Shurley which looks GREAT for long term (if it works). I also recently discovered MCT. We've talked about sentences and how it expresses a complete thought and all that. That's really it. She seems to take to everything but reading instruction (already have a reading program for her though she's more intent on using Starfall, SuperWhy!, and and Teach Me Kindergarten (app). GWG looks nice and gentle. Shurley looks super comprehensive. MCT seems to be fairly tried and true and nice and comprehensive as well. She'll be 4.5 when we start. Edited November 13, 2011 by jillian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 Have you thought about using FLL? It is done orally and I believe it includes poetry memorization and picture study. GWG seems awfully dry for a 4.5 yo. It may be perfect if you have a workbook loving kid with advanced fine motor skills, but FLL seems a lot more little kid friendly. HTH, I don't do grammar that young but if I did I would use FLL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted November 13, 2011 Author Share Posted November 13, 2011 (edited) She is definitely workbook-y and has pretty advanced fine motor control/skills. I've not looked really at FLL but I will check that out too. I think the scripted aspect of FLL is not really our style kwim? Edited November 13, 2011 by jillian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 The scripted style is exactly why I have not used it.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted November 13, 2011 Author Share Posted November 13, 2011 DD is a bit of a conundrum. She is very very smart and figures stuff out but she likes to do things on her terms. She's workbook-y but at the same time she learns stuff so by proxy so maybe a combo of some of these things or like MCT and the Sentence Island type thing. I just don't know. I was going to use some free resources but I want something that is definitely more meaty than what I'm finding ya know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nov05mama Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 I can't really help much with the other ones, but we are REALLY liking Growing with Grammar so far. DS has no qualms about worksheets and actually looks forward to doing WWW and GWG each day. I think since the lessons are nice and short, it really helps...and the gradual progression has been great so far. I am actually kicking myself for not going ahead and ordering Soaring with Spelling & Vocabulary too...(although I might this month). The price can't be beat either... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 If she likes workbooks, GWG would probably work well. It is comprehensive. On problem we had with it was that my son was able to figure out the pattern for a given worksheet and appear to understand the concept without really understanding the concept. We used GWG 3 when he was 6 and started MCT when he was 7. MCT is the opposite of workbook-y. It also isn't comprehensive as it doesn't teach things like capitalization and punctuation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 If you do use GWG, my suggestion is to create your own "quizzes" every couple of weeks, mixing up everything she's learned so there is no easily discern able pattern for her to figure out. We use GWG with my kids and this helps a lot with retention. I find the tests that GWG now includes are still too predicatable and "easy to figure out" for my kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhomemaker Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 I noticed that you mentioned using Shurley. If you don't want a scripted program, Shurley is probably not the program for you. I do really like the jingles in Shurley instead of the regular dry grammar memorization and I have been impressed with dd's understanding of grammar using Shurley. I know many people hate scripted guides, but I never use the script. I skim through the lesson to see what material to present and how to explain it and then I just have a conversational lesson with dd. Maybe some people do sit and read word for word out of the text, but I don't and the program seems to work fine for us. Just an idea to consider if you like a program but don't like having a script. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted November 14, 2011 Author Share Posted November 14, 2011 I noticed that you mentioned using Shurley. If you don't want a scripted program, Shurley is probably not the program for you. I do really like the jingles in Shurley instead of the regular dry grammar memorization and I have been impressed with dd's understanding of grammar using Shurley. I know many people hate scripted guides, but I never use the script. I skim through the lesson to see what material to present and how to explain it and then I just have a conversational lesson with dd. Maybe some people do sit and read word for word out of the text, but I don't and the program seems to work fine for us. Just an idea to consider if you like a program but don't like having a script. That's a great idea too. The jingles is kind of what is attracting me to Shurley but if I'm honest jingles are hit or miss with dd--sometimes she loves them and sometimes she looks at me like I'm completely crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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