River notes Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I have been looking at this series and wondering what people thought of this curricula. I am wondering if anyone has just used it as a supplement or as a full year course? Any thoughts would be appreciated. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in CO Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I started the first high school book. I was less than impressed. Over half of the book seems to be copy work, dictation, or editing. I did like the other little bits that were in between all of that. But those bits were more creative writing with a little grammar mixed in. I felt it was very over-priced for what you got. I don't mind some editing and dictation, but it seemed the amounts were out of proportion. Especially as you get nearer to the end of the book, it seems that the author ran out of ideas and just started putting in very long sections to edit or dictate. 10-20 days or more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River notes Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 I am taking that it would be better used as a supplement... were the creative assignments more like essay prompts or did it teach you an aspect of creative writing for example dialog in one lesson and setting in another? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtotkbb Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 It's been a year since using the first hs book - but I seem to remember that it did go through step by step and then there would be an assignment to put it all together and write a paper. We have the 2nd year book and it goes through the various types of essays - one lesson will give the details about the type of essay and demonstrate what it should include - then you'll have a lesson to write the intro paragraph, then one for the body, then a conclusion, etc. By the end of the book you're comparing all the types of essays and taking say a narrative essay and turning it into a persuasive essay. There is still copy-work, editing and dictation --but keep in mind a CM view would be that a child reviews and learns grammar and writing skills from the copy-work/dictation so it's not just copy-work or dictation for the sake of doing it but to work on skills. Does that make sense? I like the editing practice bec I often felt that college students I worked w/ were missing the skills to really proof-read their work and find their mistakes. Some of the editing practice in Queen's is a little challenging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in CO Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 The creative writing assignments start out focusing on describing places and characters. Then they move into developing a character, give them feelings and actions. Next you develop your antagonist, choose a goal for the main character and a setting. You start to add in dialog. The assignments have you practice the skills, then you apply them to the picture studies. The year is finished up with using your skills to tell stories from your life. The lessons also build on each other. First you learn dialog, then you learn to show emotion with dialog, then you learn to show movement and action with dialog. The assignments give necessary explanation and tell you what to do. It has examples when needed to demonstrate what is being assigned. While I know it is based on the Charlotte Mason style, with the dictation, copy work, and editing, I still felt it was too much. It felt more like filler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River notes Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 Thank you everyone for sharing, it really was helpful. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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