Blueridge Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Is it possible? Stupid? Opinions please. :) My girls have done R&S till now, but were not retaining nor enjoying as much as I would like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanvan Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Is it possible? Stupid? Opinions please. :) My girls have done R&S till now, but were not retaining nor enjoying as much as I would like. Not sure how old your Dc is. My Ds (13)used R&S with no problems until R&S 7th. I won't get into reasons (retention was one), but I switched him to Shurley. At the same time he started MCT Island level with his younger sister. I wanted to be able to group them together and not teach each level twice. We have a lot of laughs with MCT and enjoy its quirkiness. It's a different approach to grammar and that seems to help cement ideas for both of my Dc. They are doing Town level together now. Ds would have moved much more quickly if I were not including his sister. SO, to answer your questions, It is possible and you can move through it quicker if you have only one student. The benefit is you see the program fitting together very nicely as you move through levels. The drawback, as I have seen it, is that your Dc may end up working in a level for writing that is a bit beneath him/her. MCT for my Ds is a supplement to other curriculum used for writing and grammar. I don't know that I would be comfortable with it as our main curriculum. I might. I just never really thought about it. I think there is advice about which level to start with on the website. If you don't have a young child to include, I would think you would start with Town level or above, depending on your Dc's grasp of grammar. Have you looked at samples? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 Many thanks for sharing your experience. I've been looking at all the samples and loving it. I like the looks of the Island Level, for its sweetness, so I have regrets about not using it years ago. I have their catalog, and was honestly surprised to read this in the Island level description: "Many high school language teachers have used Grammar Island to help their students understand the rudiments of grammar." :confused: Wow, the content must move quickly. Both younger dds have had their share of grammar, but have never really developed any warm fuzzies for it! I would like to change that. Thinking of MCT as well as Cozy Grammar...both could be considered as supplements, I imagine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 I started my then-6th graders in Town level. That seems a good jumping-in point for older students. I don't think there's a need to go all the way back to Island. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 Thank you. I'm looking at those samples right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 I started my 6th grader at the Voyage level w/o any difficulty. I really don't think there is going to be a generic answer. I think it is really simply going to depend on the skill of the individual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 I started my 12yo in Town, because he wasn't ready for Essay Voyage. I needed to back up in writing and have him focus on doing sentences and paragraphs well... I don't think the Grammar, Vocab, or poetry would have been too difficult. The writing would have been painful for us both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masaki Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 (edited) We started with the Island level a couple of months ago and I expect we'll complete it by the end of this month. We could have started with Town and been fine, but we had the time to start at the beginning of the series and for us it's been great. Grammar Island did a nice job of reinforcing grammar concepts, and even though I didn't ask ds to do the writing activities (other than the 4-level analysis) in Sentence Island, I see him using some of the things he's learned, such as alliteration and thoughtful positioning of words, more often in his writing. I'm always impressed when I read about dc starting this program in 3rd or 4th grade, it is a sophisticated program. We may be late to the party, but I'm glad we found it--better late than never! Ds has gotten so much out of it already and we're both looking forward moving on to Town. Just wanted to add that ds has done some diagramming here and there over the years, and although MCT's 4-level analysis is very different, I think it has helped ds see the beauty of good sentence structure in a way he hasn't in the past. After he's done with Practice Island, we're going to work on some traditional diagramming for a while and this time my ds will actually enjoy it. Edited February 3, 2012 by masaki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 Ladies, thank you all so much for your helpful answers! I'm almost giddy...:001_smile: OK, so it doesn't take much to excite me anymore lol. Or maybe it's the chocolate I've eaten while enjoying the catalog. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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