Killgallon Sentence Composing - how do you use it?

[sagira]

I use BFSU successfully, I have been homeschooling for almost four years now, but I can't make sense of the Killgallon Sentence Composing book :blink: How do you do it from day to day? What does it look like? Can anyone tell me? I think I'm shelving this toward later (5th instead of 4th), as ds will be able to comprehend better, but.. :confused:

[5LittleMonkeys]

Sentence Composing for Elementary's contents is nicely laid out so you can see how many practice exercises and activities there are. We will just do the lesson and the first practice (if the lesson was short) on one day and then one practice or activity per day.

 

Story Grammar's contents isn't laid out well so it's harder to determine unless you just go through the book and mark how many practice exercises there are. In Story Grammar each listing that has a page number next to it is a "section" that will have 5 or more practice exercises. Sometimes the lessons are short and can be combined with the first practice, and sometimes two practices can be combined in one day. It really depends on how much time per day you want to spend on it.

 

As far as how to implement the lessons...I wrote the lesson on the whiteboard and then just lectured school room style, using different colored expos to highlight specific phrases, clauses, etc. We would alternate how we did the practice exercises. Sometimes I would put them on the board and let the dc work on their own paper or sometimes we would just read out of the book and they would answer orally. The latter was more efficient when the concept was easy for them to grasp and didn't require much practice. I will say thought that working right out of the book was difficult to my VSL - Inattentive dc due to the page layout. It was hard for her to determine what to focus on and she would loose her place on the page easily. The whiteboard worked beautifully for her though.

[Woodhaven]

Just what I need to know. I asked about this as well, in another thread.

 

Thanks!! I've been looking through my books and having a difficult time knowing what to do or how to teach these books.

[amyrjoy]

WHEW. I began the year with this for my DD but bailed. LOL. I am just now returning to these books. However, I am retyping the lessons because I can't stand how it is laid out for some reason. This way, it's been so much better, actually. I can reduce the number of sentences we go over, rearrange certain things she needs to work on first, or whatever. Sounds crazy, but, it is easier for me to discuss with her and do our lesson. I think we began it a "bit" too early and now, towards the end of her third grade year, things to be clicking better. I think, also, less is more, with these books, at least for us. Oh, one more thing, I am not doing other LA at the moment- it's just too much with this. I know we are going to spread this out for a couple years. HTH.

[Woodhaven]

I like your idea of re-typing the portion I want to ues and printing it out for my boys. That way I could limit what they see and it wouldn't appear to be so overwhelming.

 

Good idea. I just might try that!:)

[UmMusa]

I just got the elementary grammar last week and am thankful to have read this. My dd is in 4th and has finished FLL 4.

[sagira]

Thanks for the replies! Learning proper English is important to me, and as a result I may have collected a few too many resources :tongue_smilie:

 

Now I see that perhaps I could use Killgallon next year anyway.

 

Thanks again!

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

Are the books Story Grammar and Sentence Composing designed to be used sequentially or at the same time?

 

Just curious:D

[5LittleMonkeys]

Are the books Story Grammar and Sentence Composing designed to be used sequentially or at the same time?

 

Just curious:D

 

I use all the Killgallon books separately. I would do Story Grammar first and then Sentence Composing. Story Grammar talks about subject and predicate, tools (which include words, phrases, independent and dependent clauses) and the different positions in a sentence to use those tools. It doesn't go into specific grammar names such as prepositional phrase, adverb clause, etc. Sentence Composing then does start to teach the actual grammatical names for the phrases and clauses. (You can see these in the TOC of the book.)

 

Once you get to the middle school books I would do Grammar for Middle School first and then Sentence Composing afterwards. Grammar, as the name implies, contains far more grammar instruction whereas Sentence Composing focuses on sentence structure and doesn't have specific grammar instruction. I think waiting until the end of middle school to do Sentence Composing is best, when grammar instruction is about at an end in favor of more composition.

 

I can't speak to the highschool books as I haven't read through them thoroughly.

 

Hope that helps!

[ThreeBlessings]

I read aloud the lesson, and we go over the example together. I don't make it any more complicated than that. If necessary we go over the first part of the assignment together so that I am sure they understand, but this isn't usually necessary. I think really it just takes doing several of the lessons to get the feel of it, for the student and the teacher, then it is easy. I recommend just plowing through a few lessons, fumbling if that is what it takes, and see if you get it after that.

[UmMusa]

We just opened the book and started. I felt a little 'fish out of water' because I wasn't sure what or where the instruction was. I had DD read the model and look at the samples. She would then go to the next page, do the combining, and write her own sentences on a separate piece of paper. DD likes to do the sentence composing book by herself. She doesn't like me to help her. I check her answers with the back of the book and correct if needed.

 

I just bought the grammar one and will crack it open this week.

[ChrissySC]

:lol:

*snarky*

 

With a pencil and a piece of paper!

 

Oh, I have been working tooooooo long today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really, I pair it with the grammar studies. I only do those sections that apply to the learning.

[Heathermomster]

WHEW. I began the year with this for my DD but bailed. LOL. I am just now returning to these books. However, I am retyping the lessons because I can't stand how it is laid out for some reason.

 

Your posting is very helpful to me. I don't like the physical format of the book either; however, I'm not retyping the work. DS has dysgraphia, and I have other things that are more important. It would be much better if the book were larger or had a spiral binding. I also would prefer extra practice in a workbook form. Does such an animal exist?

 

I'm on the verge of returning this book for a refund.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Heathermomster

[amyrjoy]

Your posting is very helpful to me. I don't like the physical format of the book either; however, I'm not retyping the work. DS has dysgraphia, and I have other things that are more important. It would be much better if the book were larger or had a spiral binding. I also would prefer extra practice in a workbook form. Does such an animal exist?

 

I'm on the verge of returning this book for a refund.

 

I don't think it has an accompanying workbook, sorry to say! That would be so helpful, you know?! And, I am a pretty fast typist, so it only took a little bit of time, but totally understandable if one does not wish to do so. I hope you are able to work things out, either way, return or keep!

[sagira]

:lol:

*snarky*

 

With a pencil and a piece of paper!

 

Oh, I have been working tooooooo long today!

 

Really, I pair it with the grammar studies. I only do those sections that apply to the learning.

 

:lol: Hey, you were helpful away ;)

[Crimson Wife]

Your posting is very helpful to me. I don't like the physical format of the book either; however, I'm not retyping the work. DS has dysgraphia, and I have other things that are more important. It would be much better if the book were larger or had a spiral binding. I also would prefer extra practice in a workbook form. Does such an animal exist?

 

I'm on the verge of returning this book for a refund.

 

Harry Noden's Image Grammar is supposed to be similar to Killgallon and there is a workbook that goes along with that program.

 

I have used Killgallon with a child who hates physical writing (no formal dysgraphia diagnosis however). I allowed her to either dictate her imitations to me or type them in Word.