KISS grammar questions....

[TracyP]

Do I have this right? My progression could look like this:

level 1 - grade 3

level 2 - grade 3

level 3.1 - grade 4

level 3.2 - grade 6

level 4 - grade 6

level 5.8 - master

level 6 - master

[lewelma]

I am wondering why he is considering deleting the second grade texts. Is it because he thinks the material is too advanced for a second grader to master? I have a first grader (let me know if I should be asking this on the other board) and this looks very interesting for second grade next year. However' date=' she's a typical student, not an advanced one.

 

Does anyone have any opinions on how this compares to First Language Lessons or Phonics Road?[/quote']

 

KISS is a formal program that is not scripted. From what I know First Language Lessons is oral and scripted. You could start KISS 2nd or 3rd grade after FLL. For my second son, I will start with KISS after finishing MCT Grammar Island.

 

For my 1st son, we did both KISS 2nd and 3rd grade workbooks in both 2nd and 3rd grade and it took ds 2 years to grasp all of level 1. Perhaps if you just started in 3rd grade it would take only 1 year because the child would be older. I don't know. But I do know that the level 1 material is extensive and is spread over many years in other grammar programs.

 

If you are worried that the material is too difficult, you could easily do the grade 2 book in 3rd grade and then if the level 1 material is not mastered, do the grade 3 book in 4th grade. This would mean that you are finishing the sequence in 7th grade, which is pretty good for finishing all of formal grammar. I personally don't care if it takes until 8th or even 9th grade to master the material.

 

The KISS books are not broken into tidy 36 week units. Your child just needs to go at an appropriate pace. and you as the parent needs to NOT WORRY about the grade level Ed has placed on the books. He is a college professor and does not really understand the exact level of a 2nd vs 3rd grader.

 

Ruth

[lewelma]

Would it be a good idea for me to go through the self-paced course before starting with my 8 year old? Or the master books?

Or should I just start working through the 6th grade Level 1 book on my own?

 

You could definitely do any of these options if you want. Personally, for the stuff I don't know, I just read ahead for the week we are on.

 

I really like the printable books because they are easy to ....print. However, for an adult, they have way too many exercises. But you could print the 2nd or 3rd grade level 1 book for your dc, and then read the instructional pages, and do 1 exercise out of the 4 available for each mini section. Then you would not be printing 2 fat books at the same level. Also, the level 1 books all cover the same material regardless of if it is the 2nd, 3rd, or 6th grade books.

 

Ruth

[lewelma]

Do I have this right? My progression could look like this:

level 1 - grade 3

level 2 - grade 3

level 3.1 - grade 4

level 3.2 - grade 6

level 4 - grade 6

level 5.8 - master

level 6 - master

 

 

YES. The only thing is that there is no level 6, and that level 4 and 5.8 are both included in the same grade 6 book that is 66 pages long. So rewritten:

 

level 1 - grade 3

level 2 - grade 3

level 3.1 - grade 4

level 3.2 - grade 6

level 4 and 5.8 - grade 6

 

This is the progression that we have done (however, the book names have changed and some stuff has been resorted.)

 

Remember, that each book might take more or less than 1 year to do. And if your child has not mastered the level, don't move up a level. Instead go to the website and print more material at the level you are on. These books are NOT tidy, 36-week, 1 grade level type books. Ed is a college professor, not an elementary teacher. He is thinking in terms of mastering the material, not in the pacing of a curriculum. So please, just take as long as it takes. It took my ds 2 years to master level 1.

 

Ruth

[Roxy Roller]

I was hoping to switch to ALL, but since that is not an option now, I am looking at AG and KISS.

 

The one thing that holds me back from KISS, is that lack of traditional diagramming. My DC seem to really enjoy diagramming a sentence in the traditional way. Would it be too hard to add traditional diagramming? I did see the post that had a shot of how the author diagrammed a sentence that was very advanced. I agree that it can be cumbersome, but at a lower level, my children seem to like the visual aspect of it.

[TracyP]

YES. The only thing is that there is no level 6, and that level 4 and 5.8 are both included in the same grade 6 book that is 66 pages long. So rewritten:

 

level 1 - grade 3

level 2 - grade 3

level 3.1 - grade 4

level 3.2 - grade 6

level 4 and 5.8 - grade 6

 

This is the progression that we have done (however, the book names have changed and some stuff has been resorted.)

 

Remember, that each book might take more or less than 1 year to do. And if your child has not mastered the level, don't move up a level. Instead go to the website and print more material at the level you are on. These books are NOT tidy, 36-week, 1 grade level type books. Ed is a college professor, not an elementary teacher. He is thinking in terms of mastering the material, not in the pacing of a curriculum. So please, just take as long as it takes. It took my ds 2 years to master level 1.

 

Ruth

 

Thanks! I was not sure if 5.8 was included with level 4. I will definitely not have a problem taking my time. I spent some time with Level 1 this afternoon and am very impressed.

[JadeOrchidSong]

http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/kiss/wb/PBooks/index.htm

This is the page to get the actual workbooks. From the home page, you can find other information, but I assume this is what you have questions about.

 

I use KISS for two of my dc. I decided to start with the grade level books, since they were easier to figure out than the master books at the bottom of the page. For dd10, I am using the 6th grade book, since that is the closest to her grade. I downloaded the Level One book and the IG, which is called the AK (Analysis Key). I printed both books, but you would probably only need to print the student book. Once dd is finished with the Level One book, then we will move on to the Level Two Sixth Grade book and so on. Currently the sixth grade books end at Level 4, so after we finish that, we will move on to the Master books starting at Level 5.

 

As for a typical day, there is not much to say. We only do one page, since we are not really in a hurry and dd's ps grammar education was minimal. There is information about each exercise in the AK, along with some guidance for the instructor. We are using KISS in addition to MCT, and it has been working well.

Thanks for sharing this link.

[Surfside Academy]

Do I have this right? My progression could look like this:

level 1 - grade 3

level 2 - grade 3

level 3.1 - grade 4

level 3.2 - grade 6

level 4 - grade 6

level 5.8 - master

level 6 - master

 

So if I'm reading all this correctly...I have a 3rd & 5th grader so I would start them both at level 1 but with their corresponding grade-level workbooks? I was hoping to start this next semester after we finish Grammar Island but I'm having information overload with this website! :tongue_smilie:

[lewelma]

The one thing that holds me back from KISS, is that lack of traditional diagramming. My DC seem to really enjoy diagramming a sentence in the traditional way. Would it be too hard to add traditional diagramming?

 

I plan to do a term of diagramming after we finish level 4/5.8. We will use one of the sources recommended by SWB in her audio lecture. But I am also sure that you could just diagram one or two of the simpler sentences each week from the exercises, or just make up a few on your own that include the material covered that week.

 

In general, I expect you would not be able to diagram the exercises instead of marking them because KISS uses real literature with long involved sentences. There are often things in the sentences that you don't know how to classify, and won't for a while. This is to be expected, and you just don't mark the part you don't know. This approach allows you to find the basics (S,V,DO) within a very long sentence, which is more challenging and more useful than analyzing a basic sentence (The boy hit the ball.) But it would be quite tricky to diagram, which is why I plan to wait until the end to teach diagramming.

 

Ruth

[lewelma]

So if I'm reading all this correctly...I have a 3rd & 5th grader so I would start them both at level 1 but with their corresponding grade-level workbooks?

 

Yes, both start with the level 1 material.

 

Starting as a 3rd grader:

 

level 1 - grade 3

level 2 - grade 3

level 3.1 - grade 4

level 3.2 - grade 6

level 4 and 5.8 - grade 6

 

Starting as a 6th grader:

 

Level 1- 6th grade book

Level 2: 6th grade book

Level 3.1- 6th grade book

Level 3.2- 6th grade book

Level 4 and 5.8- 6th grade book

 

Just ignore the grade distinctions. Each of these progressions will teach the same material but with different literature. I expect that each progression will take 4 to 6 years to complete. Do NOT expect that you will do levels 1 to 5.8 all in 6th grade. These just happen to be the books Ed has completed using some samples from 6th graders' writing, so he has called them 6th grade.

 

Ruth

[Halcyon]

Okay, we're going to do a KISS experiment next week. I am going to have the boys take a break from GWG as they're "ahead" for the year, and we're going to have a stab at KISS.

 

I have a feeling it will be challenging :tongue_smilie:.

[Halcyon]

Meant to ask: I am looking at the AK online, and not understanding what the different colors correspond to? And some are bolded, or underlined. Is there a key for this?

[lewelma]

Meant to ask: I am looking at the AK online, and not understanding what the different colors correspond to? And some are bolded, or underlined. Is there a key for this?

 

I found the color key on page 12 in the 2nd grade answer key.

 

Ruth

[Create Your Ritual]

Ruth - And here I was telling Capt. Uhura yesterday that I didn't think the 6th grade workbooks would take more than a couple of years!!! ;-)

[lewelma]

Okay, we're going to do a KISS experiment next week. I am going to have the boys take a break from GWG as they're "ahead" for the year, and we're going to have a stab at KISS.

 

I have a feeling it will be challenging :tongue_smilie:.

 

I hope you love it as much as we do. I found in the beginning I had to keep telling them that they were not expected to be able to identify everything in each sentence. The goal in the beginning is to find the easy stuff (subjects, direct objects, etc) in a sentence with lots of other unknown words. Also, my ds found that exercises with 10 sentences often had to be done over 2 days. He spends 20/day on grammar, so some of these exercises were actually 40 minutes long.

 

Also, keep in mind that there are often 4 pages of exercises for each small section, and your child may only need to do 2 to "get it." Ed said once that he made 1 to do together as a class, 1 for practice in class, 1 for homework, and 1 extra if the child needed more practice. Also, your dc do not really have to master each little section before moving on, because you are required to find everything you have studied in every sentence from then on, so you have constant review.

 

Ruth

[Cosmos]

KISS is strictly grammar, right? No mechanics, usage, or the other little bits and pieces that comprehensive LA programs include.

 

If you use KISS for grammar, do you use other resources for the "other stuff"?

[lewelma]

KISS is strictly grammar, right? No mechanics, usage, or the other little bits and pieces that comprehensive LA programs include.

 

Yes, just grammar. But about 5 pages per workbook are for punctuation.

 

If you use KISS for grammar, do you use other resources for the "other stuff"?

I use every-day-edit available free on line for mechanics and usage (can you tell I like free?) http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/edit.shtml We don't do it every day. I print a month out, staple it together, and he does it over the term. I also have programs for spelling, writing, and vocab.

 

Ruth

Edited November 19, 2011 by lewelma

[Spy Car]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but those of you with iPads may want to check out mt thread on the Notability app. I downloaded the Third Grade KISS materials then opened them in Word, saved them as PDFs, dropped them into Dropbox on my Mac, then opened the Workbooks up on the iPad in Notability which allows a student to "write" in the Workbooks using the iPad.

 

Works great, with no printing necessary

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=325673

 

Bill

[Capt_Uhura]

SpyCar - As soon as you send me an iPad, I'll try it! Thanks!

[acurtis75]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but those of you with iPads may want to check out mt thread on the Notability app. I downloaded the Third Grade KISS materials then opened them in Word, saved them as PDFs, dropped them into Dropbox on my Mac, then opened the Workbooks up on the iPad in Notability which allows a student to "write" in the Workbooks using the iPad.

 

Works great, with no printing necessary

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=325673

 

Bill

 

How did you decide what level workbook to use? How far along are you in the MCT island series? I'm just starting to look at the KISS site but thought you might have some tips for what level to use.

[Spy Car]

How did you decide what level workbook to use? How far along are you in the MCT island series? I'm just starting to look at the KISS site but thought you might have some tips for what level to use.

 

I have not decided which level to use, I just grabbed the Third Grade Level One Workbook and Answer Key as a "test."

 

I'm all ears as to suggestions for the likely level for a child who has largely completed Island.

 

Bill

[Halcyon]

SpyCar - As soon as you send me an iPad, I'll try it! Thanks!

 

Ditto-we do have a Fire (well, okay, DS does :tongue_smilie:) but I think it'll be too small to edit docs directly on it.

[Halcyon]

Ruth - And here I was telling Capt. Uhura yesterday that I didn't think the 6th grade workbooks would take more than a couple of years!!! ;-)

 

You might want to look at Warriner's, too (just to add another thing to the mix). I am liking the way it looks, but then again, I like Henle-like denseness in my texts, apparently. :tongue_smilie:

[Cosmos]

Yes, just grammar. But about 5 pages per workbook are for punctuation.

 

I use every-day-edit available free on line for mechanics and usage (can you tell I like free?) http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/edit.shtml We don't do it every day. I print a month out, staple it together, and he does it over the term. I also have programs for spelling, writing, and vocab.

 

Ruth

 

Thanks! I haven't seen that every-day-edit before. Looks useful.

[Halcyon]

Thanks! I haven't seen that every-day-edit before. Looks useful.

 

My kids also adore Evan-Moor Daily Editing..

[lewelma]

I have not decided which level to use, I just grabbed the Third Grade Level One Workbook and Answer Key as a "test."

 

I'm all ears as to suggestions for the likely level for a child who has largely completed Island.

 

 

My second ds(8) is almost done with Grammar Island / Practice Island. There are three topics in the grade 2 KISS book that we will do before moving to the grade 3 KISS book.

 

Helping verbs (tense, mood, continuation) (pages 27 -43)

Understood you (pages 94-97)

Predicate nouns, predicate adjectives, Indirect objects (pages 108-122)

 

The grade 3 book we will do in its entirety. (Well, all the sections, but only half of the exercises as there is a lot of repetition)

 

With my other son, we did grammar town (not the practice book) for a month after finishing the grade 3 KISS book, and then he moved onto grade 4 KISS book. MCT does a wonderful job with the big picture.

 

Ruth

Edited November 19, 2011 by lewelma

[MicheleinMN]

:lurk5:

[Create Your Ritual]

I wish I could figure out how to just download the pdfs for KISS onto their laptops and then find some sort of device or program that would allow them to do what Spy Car is using on an ipad. That would be helpful in getting started with using KISS. I don't want to have to print everything! ;-)

[lewelma]

I printed the grade 2 and 3 books 2 years ago when I had access to a color printer, and I have only just now sat down and compared them side by side. My versions are identical to the ones currently on the website. So now I have an opinion.

 

If you child has never done grammar, he/she needs to start with the grade 2 book and then do the grade 3 book as they do not overlap. My ds now 11, did both books, and never complained that grade 3 was just overlap. Grade 2 covers the basics - parts of speech, parts of the sentence, tense, etc. Grade 3 reviews the basics and moves into prepositional phrases, compounding, and subordination. Both books are both labeled as level 1 on the KISS site, which is correct, but the grade 3 book assumes a lot of knowledge about grammar.

 

Ruth

[Spy Car]

My second ds(8) is almost done with Grammar Island / Practice Island. There are three topics in the grade 2 KISS book that we will do before moving to the grade 3 KISS book.

 

Helping verbs (tense, mood, continuation) (pages 27 -43)

Understood you (pages 94-97)

Predicate nouns, predicate adjectives, Indirect objects (pages 108-122)

 

The grade 3 book we will do in its entirety. (Well, all the sections, but only half of the exercises as there is a lot of repetition)

 

With my other son, we did grammar town (not the practice book) for a month after finishing the grade 3 KISS book, and then he moved onto grade 4 KISS book. MCT does a wonderful job with the big picture.

 

Ruth

 

Thank you for all the guidance Ruth!

 

Bill

[Create Your Ritual]

Grade 2 covers the basics - parts of speech, parts of the sentence, tense, etc. Grade 3 reviews the basics and moves into prepositional phrases, compounding, and subordination. Both books are both labeled as level 1 on the KISS site, which is correct, but the grade 3 book assumes a lot of knowledge about grammar.

 

Ruth

 

So, if we were to start with the Grade 6 Level 1 books would it also incorporate prepositional phrases, compounding and subordination? I assumed that all the levels gave the same info, but it sounds like it's to varying degrees.

 

My dc have done all of MCT Island, are currently working on MCT Town and ds has done R&S 4 last year. They can identify all the parts of speech within MCT Town, parts of a sentence, phrases and clauses. I was thinking I would still start with Level 1 though.

[lewelma]

So, if we were to start with the Grade 6 Level 1 books would it also incorporate prepositional phrases, compounding and subordination? I assumed that all the levels gave the same info, but it sounds like it's to varying degrees.

 

I have just looked at the level 1 grade 6 book and it incorporates all the info from both the grade 2 and grade 3 level 1 books in about half the space (which would be appropriate for an older child). As I said in my last post, grade 2 and 3 do NOT overlap.

 

My dc have done all of MCT Island, are currently working on MCT Town and ds has done R&S 4 last year. They can identify all the parts of speech within MCT Town, parts of a sentence, phrases and clauses. I was thinking I would still start with Level 1 though.

 

With your children's background, I think that you will breeze through level 1 quickly, but there is definitely material in level 1 that is not in Grammar Island or Grammar Town.

 

Ruth

[Halcyon]

For those of you who have the Kindle Fire, you can email the answer key to your kindle email addie and then you'll have the answer key in color without having to print it.

[HootyTooty]

I wish I could figure out how to just download the pdfs for KISS onto their laptops and then find some sort of device or program that would allow them to do what Spy Car is using on an ipad. That would be helpful in getting started with using KISS. I don't want to have to print everything! ;-)

I am just starting to play with this, so your miles may vary. I am using PDFill PDF Editor to see if people who want to use a laptop can do just that. This was suggested to me a few months ago when Scholastic has their sale and I was looking for a program where I could color in pdf files. This same program allows you to add text to PDF documents.

[Halcyon]

So we did our first day of KISS grammar, just a "try-it-out week" since we're ahead in GWG, and it was challenging! We used 6th grade level 1 and 3rd grade level 1 (and btw, it's quite nice that I can teach both children the exact same material, but have them work on different sentences!). We did the first two lessons and both boys enjoyed the challenge, and were surprised that they got a few wrong, which in my book, is a plus. Both had trouble recognizing 'this' and 'these' as subjects, which I find interesting.

 

Will post more as we progress :) Would be interested to hear about anyone else who is trying out KISS this week.

[Create Your Ritual]

I will most likely start it after Thanksgiving. We are still working through the first 15 weeks of ALL sample and have at least half of that left to go. I need to search through it to see if I want to continue or move over to KISS. Glad to hear that it is challenging them ... keep us informed of how it's going!

[Spy Car]

I'm in a conundrum. We will soon be out of MCT materials from the Island series (particularly Practice Island which is almost gone). Part of me wants to just jump into Town (as I think the grammar would be fine) but the other elements in Town (especially the writing and poetics) I think would become too advanced.

 

So I'm looking at KISS, and wondering if I should use it "as is" (with the nomenclature and method of marking up sentences intact, or if I should re-fashion the exercises into sentences that could be done in the MCT style.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Bill (who really wants a Practice Island Part II)

[lewelma]

Funny, I do the opposite. I have my ds(8) mark up the MCT book using KISS marks. :001_smile:

 

What the MCT approach does is spread it out visually so that it is not so crowded. KISS really only does the middle 2 lines of the MCT analysis. KISS assumes you know the parts of speech and assumes that if you mark something as a DO then you know it is a noun etc. However it does focus on the parts of speech that prepositional phrases and verbals play. KISS also does not do the last line (simple, declarative etc). Once again there is an assumption when you divide the clauses with a vertical line that you know there are 2 of them so the sentence has to be compound etc.

 

With my older boy who has done 4+ years of KISS, I had him mark up 2 sentences a week last year in the MCT style. The more ways of analyzing something the better I think.

 

Ruth

[Spy Car]

Funny, I do the opposite. I have my ds(8) mark up the MCT book using KISS marks. :001_smile:

 

What the MCT approach does is spread it out visually so that it is not so crowded. KISS really only does the middle 2 lines of the MCT analysis. KISS assumes you know the parts of speech and assumes that if you mark something as a DO then you know it is a noun etc. However it does focus on the parts of speech that prepositional phrases and verbals play. KISS also does not do the last line (simple, declarative etc). Once again there is an assumption when you divide the clauses with a vertical line that you know there are 2 of them so the sentence has to be compound etc.

 

With my older boy who has done 4+ years of KISS, I had him mark up 2 sentences a week last year in the MCT style. The more ways of analyzing something the better I think.

 

Ruth

 

We added (to the 3rd level of the MCT analysis) a notation of whether the prepositional phrase was acting as a large adjective or large adverb based on reading MCT's comments in Practice Island. So that idea (in a simple form) is covered.

 

Ordinarily I like doing things (like math) in different forms, and we have been playing with diagramming the MCT sentences too. And, while my son said (based on little information) that he would be willing to use a new method for the mark-up, I'm the one who is not sure if I want to mix up a strong but still fledgeling skill with a similar but different method.

 

Oh dear. Oh dear. :D

 

Bill

[Surfside Academy]

For those of you who have the Kindle Fire, you can email the answer key to your kindle email addie and then you'll have the answer key in color without having to print it.

 

So the Kindle Fire wouldn't allow you to do actual work on it like an IPAD? I was hoping that it would since it's so much cheaper. I'm thinking it might be worth making the investment in an IPAD if I can use it for school but it's so much more expensive...:glare:

[Halcyon]

So the Kindle Fire wouldn't allow you to do actual work on it like an IPAD? I was hoping that it would since it's so much cheaper. I'm thinking it might be worth making the investment in an IPAD if I can use it for school but it's so much more expensive...:glare:

 

Hmm. That I don't know. I emailed the answer key to our Fire, because you need to color aspect of it to correct your child's work. I still print out their workbooks (I prefer they work on paper). Not sure if there is an app that allows you to edit/mark up pdfs on the Fire.....

 

ETA: Hmmmm would this work? Or this?

Edited November 22, 2011 by Halcyon

[Halcyon]

Second day of KISS here, another challenging day covering helping verbs. What I like (and surprisingly, what the boys like) is that every sentence is very different--there is no easy-to-discern "pattern". For example, my older son had to find the subject(s) and verb(s) in the following sentence:

 

 

 

"The one driving force of her life was wakened, and it was leaving her no peace."

 

 

Challenging!

 

Younger covered the same material, using "easier" sentences:

 

 

 

"That will be too much weight for the Ducks, she shall take us over one at a time."

 

 

The challenge of this section was supposed to be finding the helping verb and main verb, but finding the subjects was challenging too. I am going to find more sentences from their current books (The Hobbit and Charlotte's Web) and assign them as extra work.

 

No complaints from the students, either, despite the higher level. I think older, in particular, is surprised he isn't getting everything right :lol:

[Free]

What I like (and surprisingly, what the boys like) is that every sentence is very different--there is no easy-to-discern "pattern".

 

Agree. There is no pattern, because these are not made to order exercises designed to showcase a particular concept. These are real sentences from real literature - which is the major appeal of KISS.

 

No complaints from the students, either, despite the higher level. I think older, in particular, is surprised he isn't getting everything right :lol:

Glad to know your kids are enjoying the challenge.

[Halcyon]

Agree. There is no pattern, because these are not made to order exercises designed to showcase a particular concept. These are real sentences from real literature - which is the major appeal of KISS.

 

Glad to know your kids are enjoying the challenge.

 

Thanks, Free. We had a lot of fun, and "real" sentences do provide more challenge, to be sure.

[HootyTooty]

I was wondering if any Hake users have tried this and what their opinion is of this compared to Hake.

[Halcyon]

How is this going for others who are "trying it out" this week and last? Would love to hear how it's going. We are on Exercise 9 (grade 3 book and grade 6) and I am LOVING it. I actually prefer to be more involved--who would have thought? (I thought it was nice having a subject like grammar be fairly independent, but we all learn a lot more when I am involved, it seems). The sentences are just great. I am also leaning towards using some Brainerd and Reed stuff...maybe the earlier text, maybe Higher Learning, just to bring in some diagramming, which I think is very helpful.

Edited December 6, 2011 by Halcyon

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

How is this going for others who are "trying it out" this week and last? Would love to hear how it's going. We are on Exercise 9 (grade 3 book and grade 6) and I am LOVING it. I actually prefer to be more involved--who would have thought? (I thought it was nice having a subject like grammar be fairly independent, but we all learn a lot more when I am involved, it seems). The sentences are just great. I am also leaning towards using some Brainerd and Kellogg stuff...maybe the earlier text, maybe Higher Learning, just to bring in some diagramming, which I think is very helpful.

 

OK, what is the Brainerd book??:tongue_smilie:

[Create Your Ritual]

Halycon, I am living vicariously through you for the next few weeks as we finish up the ALL sample. We are in the middle of figuring out the diagramming with it and also doing Practice Town Sentences and Killgallon, so we are getting a lot of grammar. Once I am finished with ALL I plan to move into KISS, but I am enjoying hearing how it's going for you!

[Halcyon]

OK, what is the Brainerd book??:tongue_smilie:

 

Here ya go :)

[Halcyon]

Halycon, I am living vicariously through you for the next few weeks as we finish up the ALL sample. We are in the middle of figuring out the diagramming with it and also doing Practice Town Sentences and Killgallon, so we are getting a lot of grammar. Once I am finished with ALL I plan to move into KISS, but I am enjoying hearing how it's going for you!

 

:) We're in a language arts-heavy rotation now too (funny how I cycle between heavy focus on math...then history...then science...then LA...guess I should be happy I don't feel the urge to "dig deep" with all of them simultaneously!) and we're using MCT, a bit of GWG, KISS and Unjournaling...and WWE....LOL

 

Anyway, I do like KISS. I have printed out the 6th grade and the 3rd grade books--from what I'm understanding, it's not the "grade level" that matters as much as the Kiss Level, so we're starting on Level 1, subjects and verbs. I think using "real sentences" is the tipping point for me. It makes the work so much more enjoyable, so much more alive, and my oldest is much happier. He never complained about grammar, but it's obvious that this is more challenging and thought-provoking. Anyway, we're going to continue for another week or two and then I'll decide whether to jump ship on GWG 5 for older.