~Tara~ Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Do you HAVE to use AG first in order to successfully use their high school authors books? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachnut Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Well, I haven't used the high school reinforcement books yet, but I'm pretty sure that you DO have to do the entire AG program first. That is what I'm using now with DS 11 & 14. The AG program provides all the teaching notes (plus practice exercises & tests) and explains how to parse and diagram sentences based on each concept you learn in the lesson. From my understanding, the hs reinforcement books contain no teaching notes -- just practice exercises (similar in format to what's found in the AG program), but the sentences to parse/diagram are taken from American lit, world lit, Shakespeare, etc. Can someone else confirm this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M&M Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I have not used the reinforcement books, but my understanding is exactly what beachnut said. There is no instruction, only sentences to parse and diagram. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Tara~ Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 Right, but if the child has experience with diagramming, could they just use the high school books is what I am wondering? Would they be completely lost without their previous AG 'notes'? My kids have done GwG through level 8 and then Abeka Grammar & Composition I. They've done a lot of diagramming. Would that be enough to carry them through these books? What this boils down to, is, I am rethinking my plan to use Abeka through high school. I would like to lighten their grammar load a bit and focus more on writing so I am researching options for both. This really appealed to me. However, the full AG course (primarily its price tag for two kids) did not. :o Any suggestions? I'm considering Writing with Skill as I've been reading posts about it the past couple of days. We really need that foundation for writing. And this looked like a nice way to keep the grammar fresh and active. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I'm not sure what all GWG and Abeka have covered as far as diagramming goes, but the AG high school reinforcement books would assume that a child has covered diagramming verbal phrases, appositive phrases, adjective clauses, adverb clauses, noun clauses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atozmom Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 (edited) Have you taken a look at the sample of the American Authors book? Here it is. Look at that and see if the programs your DC have used diagram and parse things the same as AG. If not, then you might have a bit of an issue. Edited February 25, 2012 by atozmom typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I have the reinforcement books and have used them with ds14. The reinforcement sheets in the book assume that you know how to parse and diagram sentences. Parsing just means writing the part of speech above the word. It takes sentences from actual literature that you are parsing and then paraphrasing so the sentences are varied and can be complex. The review section is broken up by what is being studied. For example, the first couple of worksheets focus on the subject and verb. But the student is still expected to know and be able to identify the nouns, articles, adjectives, pronouns and prepositional phrases. Later worksheets require you to know and identify the object of the preposition and predicate nominative. If a student has learned those parts of speech and how to diagram them in another program, they should not have trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Tara~ Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 Thank you Jean. Yes, they have learned all of that. I will double check all razorbackmama mentioned. I am not sure they are familiar with appositive phrases or gerund phrases. All else looks covered. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Also, are you talking about the review & reinforcement books or the high school reinforcement books that are centered around themes? The R&R books are split into 2 units - the first unit diagrams just the simple parts of speech - subject, verb, modifiers, etc. The 2nd unit includes all the stuff I listed above since it's intended to be done once the student completes Season 2 of AG. The high school reinforcement books are intended to be completed after all 3 seasons of AG are completed, so I imagine that they too will include all the things I listed above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Tara~ Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 I'm referring to the theme ones, as atozmom linked above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I'm referring to the theme ones, as atozmom linked above. Her link is nice because you can see a sample lesson and see what is being required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I'm referring to the theme ones, as atozmom linked above. Ah, then yup, they'd most likely need to know everything since AG would assume they had gone through all 3 seasons before starting those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Tara~ Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 Right, there's where I saw appositive and gerund phrases mentioned. I still have to double check that part. But all else, they are familiar with. So, that leaves it still in the running. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 We used AG in 6th-8th, then one of the HS reinforcement books last year. The only other thing that I can think of, and it's not much of an issue, is that sometimes parsing parts of speech in different programs is approached a bit differently. We used Shurley Grammar (which does no diagramming) in 5th and they teach labeling the nouns in a sentence by their function: SN, PN, DO, IO, OP. I believe AG just labels them N, the function is apparent from the diagram. So, the answer key may be a bit different than what you expect, but not really a big deal, at least for nouns. It seems to me that I have heard other people complain about something else...possessive or something? HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyDay Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I had some trouble jumping into AG's high school material due to the the wording AG uses. My high schooler did not use AG in the lower grades, she used BJU followed by Winston and back to BJU. She has a solid grammar background however, so yes, she can do AG's reinforcement books. But, it took me a lesson or 2 to get the format. My 7th grader just completed unit 2, so now that I understand AG's terminology, I have no trouble at all using the reinforcement for high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M&M Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I think that from what you said, you could make it work without much trouble. Anytime you change programs there are differences you have to accomodate. I'd say you are on the right track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Tara~ Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 Thank you, everyone :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 It seems to me that I have heard other people complain about something else...possessive or something?Oh, I bet you're right, since AG doesn't teach possessive pronouns like other programs do. AG calls them adjectives, since that is how they FUNCTION. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Oh, I bet you're right, since AG doesn't teach possessive pronouns like other programs do. AG calls them adjectives, since that is how they FUNCTION. Yes, I do believe that is the argument, er, discussion.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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