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KISS grammar questions....


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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.

 

I'm glad to hear it's going well for you. I can't make up my mind on anything LA related right now.:willy_nilly:I should probably just give KISS a try and see how it goes. GWG does not seem to be working. DD likes it okay, but I can see far more learning happening with MCT. MCT is great, but I can't decide if it is SO great that it justifies the price tag. KISS is exactly how I want to teach grammar, but I'm still a little intimidated by it.

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I'm glad to hear it's going well for you. I can't make up my mind on anything LA related right now.:willy_nilly:I should probably just give KISS a try and see how it goes. GWG does not seem to be working. DD likes it okay, but I can see far more learning happening with MCT. MCT is great, but I can't decide if it is SO great that it justifies the price tag. KISS is exactly how I want to teach grammar, but I'm still a little intimidated by it.

 

Give it a try and see what happens. We're still using it, and have let GWG slide for the moment (for the older; I still require it for younger). They both love it! We also do diagramming daily, which is a hit as well.

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So glad to have seen this thread! I've looked at KISS on and off for the last 2 years and EVERY time i go there i come away so confused! I'm so pleased that i have finally got my head around it and downloaded the Grade 3 book and answer key for Level 1 and we will give it a whirl when we start back after Christmas. I have FLL4 on my shelf and that was my plan for next year but we will try KISS first as i think that will be more my DD's style.

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I just downloaded these and they look amazing! I guess i'll have to use the Level 1 6th Grade book with my 5th grader since that is the only one available as a printable textbook.

 

 

We're using it with my 4th grader, and it's going along fine :) Please post back with your experience.

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I tried it this year, but it didn't last long. I figured out the website and printed off the workbook and had it spiral bound. Alas, it didn't work for us. I've had a hard time finding a grammar program that worked well. Even MCT wasn't a good fit. KISS grammar was a bit confusing to my son and to me. I gave up and ordered Rod and Staff after a couple weeks with KISS. My son is happy now and so am I. I guess we needed more of a step-by-step method. I liked how KISS uses real literature, but I think that made it confusing. Literature uses far more complex grammar than what my ds was ready to do. The infinitives really threw him for a loop. He mixed up prepositions and verbs all over the place after learning that things like "to go" were part of the verb.

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We analyze (and diagram) our WWE copywork and narration KISS-style. Yesterday we came across an infinitive in our WWE copywork. My DD marked "to" as a preposition first. I explained to her that if a verb comes right after "to" then "to <verb>" is called an infinitive. I further explained that this is advanced grammar that we will study later. We marked the subject, verb and the real prepositional phrase in the sentence and left the infinitive unmarked.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Yes. You move through the KISS levels, not the grade levels. You can choose the online materials for Grade 7-11, but since the printable formats are easier to use, I would personally use the 6th grade book for all KISS levels.

 

It does not mean you do all of the KISS Levels in 6th grade. Completing all 4 levels would take 3-4 years I believe. But you still choose the 6th grade books for the various KISS Levels over the time it takes to do them.

 

I've been reading through this thread to see what others thought of KISS. I started it last fall with my son and we love it! My daughter will be starting in January.

 

I was still getting confused every time I looked at the website :confused:. I wasn't sure what materials to use for my daughter. Free, your post above finally cleared things up for me. Using the 6th grade books for each level makes so much sense. Thank you!

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  • 4 months later...

I'm bumping up this older thread to encourage those who might be interested in KISS grammar. I've looked at the website in the past and discounted it because of the confusing layout.

 

Tonight, after reading another thread, I went back. I see he now has printable workbooks, which make the understanding of the program much easier. This thread is really helpful as well.

 

I'm going to look through it some more and free is a really attractive option right now. I just need to spring for some colored ink. :D

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It has been working well for us. We are working our way through the 6th grade Level 1 and it has offered up a lot of practice ... perhaps similar to MCTs 4 part analysis so far, but with more indepth grammar instruction than what he provides in his book. I suspect it will get increasingly more difficult with each level.

 

I loaded the pdfs on each of our laptops and the AK on mine. I do end up printing the main lessons for them though. I also was able to load it into my ipad and they can do the lessons in Notability, however I only have one ipad and two students .. so .. yeah. ;-) We end up doing the paper version mostly. It is super simple to teach though when you use the workbooks.

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It has been working well for us. We are working our way through the 6th grade Level 1 and it has offered up a lot of practice ... perhaps similar to MCTs 4 part analysis so far, but with more indepth grammar instruction than what he provides in his book. I suspect it will get increasingly more difficult with each level.

 

I loaded the pdfs on each of our laptops and the AK on mine. I do end up printing the main lessons for them though. I also was able to load it into my ipad and they can do the lessons in Notability, however I only have one ipad and two students .. so .. yeah. ;-) We end up doing the paper version mostly. It is super simple to teach though when you use the workbooks.

 

Thanks, I'm glad to hear the update.

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It has been working very well here. We use an ipad so no need for colored ink. My kids have learned so much, and that's coming after consistent grammar every year.

 

:iagree: Using it on my Android tablet (using ezPDF app). We even took a break for about a month or so, and when we came back, he still remembered how to find subject/verb/complements and what the different types of complements were. I am impressed! :D

 

(not a logic stage kiddo, but I can definitely see us using this into the logic stage ;) )

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Ds(11) has used KISS grammar from age 7, and he is about to finish!!!!

 

KISS is a great program. DS done it completely independently from age 8 and has really enjoyed it. He has never complained about doing grammar, never suggested that it has no real-life applications, and never been bored.

 

Ruth in NZ

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I looked at it again today after seeing the revival of this thread. I visit KISS from time to time and I am still put off by what appears to me as a non-user friendly layout. I do like the examples and exercises I see but I just can't find my way through it.:glare:

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Here is an overview of how I got started in case this would help shukriyya -

 

I went here - http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/kiss/wb/PBooks/index.htm

 

Because I had students who had previous grammar experience, I estimated that we could handle the 6th grade level 1 (you are supposed to go through all of the levels at whatever grade you are in .. or perhaps you go through level 1 & 2 as a 2nd and 3rd grader .. then bump up to 6th grade level for 4th & 5th .. etc.)

 

I arrowed down to KISS Level 1 (Basic Concepts) and I went to 'For Students in Sixth Grade' and downloaded the 'doc' and the 'AK' (Answer Key) and that was it!! There are also workbooks for the 2nd and 3rd grade Level 1 .. but I quickly determined that we could handle the 6th grade level 1 just fine and so far it has been good.

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Here is an overview of how I got started in case this would help shukriyya -

 

I went here - http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/kiss/wb/PBooks/index.htm'>http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/kiss/wb/PBooks/index.htm

 

Because I had students who had previous grammar experience, I estimated that we could handle the 6th grade level 1 (you are supposed to go through all of the levels at whatever grade you are in .. or perhaps you go through level 1 & 2 as a 2nd and 3rd grader .. then bump up to 6th grade level for 4th & 5th .. etc.)

 

I arrowed down to KISS Level 1 (Basic Concepts) and I went to 'For Students in Sixth Grade' and downloaded the 'doc' and the 'AK' (Answer Key) and that was it!! There are also workbooks for the 2nd and 3rd grade Level 1 .. but I quickly determined that we could handle the 6th grade level 1 just fine and so far it has been good.

 

I also went with the put together document, using the 6th grade document here. http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/kiss/wb/PBooks/index.htm

 

The levels are the same instruction for each grade, so you would download the appropriate GRADE level from each KISS level. Since he doesn't have the high school level in workbook form, we're just going to use the 6th grade package. If the literature choice annoys him I'll find a substitute at this page, it has the tables of all the worksheets (some not put into workbooks yet). http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/kiss/wb/LPlans/Status_Table.html

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It has been working well for us. We are working our way through the 6th grade Level 1 and it has offered up a lot of practice ... perhaps similar to MCTs 4 part analysis so far, but with more indepth grammar instruction than what he provides in his book. I suspect it will get increasingly more difficult with each level.

 

I loaded the pdfs on each of our laptops and the AK on mine. I do end up printing the main lessons for them though. I also was able to load it into my ipad and they can do the lessons in Notability, however I only have one ipad and two students .. so .. yeah. ;-) We end up doing the paper version mostly. It is super simple to teach though when you use the workbooks.

 

Were you able to download PDFs? I am only seeing Word docs on the website. I can convert them to PDFs myself, but then I'd need to get off the iPad and go turn on my laptop (and I'm feeling particularly lazy today ;)).

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Were you able to download PDFs? I am only seeing Word docs on the website. I can convert them to PDFs myself, but then I'd need to get off the iPad and go turn on my laptop (and I'm feeling particularly lazy today ;)).

 

I don't think he has PDFs up there. You have to convert them yourself. So yeah, boot up the laptop. :D

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Reading about KISS Grammar for the first time tonight. Very interested - thank you to all who have posted info and explanations.

 

I'm frustrated because I cannot get the site with the materials to load. http://nweb.pct.edu/homepage/staff/evavra/KISS.htm

 

I've tried everything to access the site: clicking the link, putting the link into a google search, pasting the link directly into my browser, even searching for Penn College and I cannot get their home page to open.

 

Hoping that pct.edu is having computer trouble or something tonight. Anyone else having trouble???

 

(sorry, I think maybe I mostly need to vent my frustration) :blush:

 

Thanks for listening,

Erica

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I also cannot get the kissgrammar.org site to load today. You can try tomorrow.

 

Thanks, Nansk. Still nothing this morning. Bah.... I guess all I can do is keep trying. Anyone willing to email me one of the workbooks they have downloaded so I can check it out?? The suspense is killing me :001_smile:

 

PM me if you are willing to email me some of these materials and I'll get you my address.

 

thank you - from a curriculum junkie waiting for a new fix :001_smile:

Erica

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