cloversandlions Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I have the full sets of MCT's Town and Voyage, but I do not have Island. Can I skip Island and start my 8yo on Town next year, or is the information in Island critical enough that Town depends on the student's exposure to the concepts in Island? As an aside, my 11yo has dyslexia and I've not put much emphasis on grammar for her, either. The same question applies - is it critical to start with Island for her? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NittanyJen Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I started my 9YO on Town this year and he has had no trouble. General background info: he is gifted (high nonverbal IQs) but has always had language and processing and memory difficulties; I worried about MCT being a good fit, but it has been brilliant (so far Grammar Town, 25 sentences in Practice Town, and three chapters of Building Poems plus 8 lessons of Caesar's English Completed; we have not yet started Paragraph Town or literature; I was going to do Para. Town after poetics ends, and start lit after the holidays). Also as background, he did do R&S 3 last year, so he was not a grammar novice, but it could be done anyway; GT does not skip anything basic such as nouns or verbs ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloversandlions Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 Thanks for your reply, Jen; that's encouraging. I'm wondering if anyone else has any input? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 It's probably fine. I've heard others recommend going through Sentence Island (not the whole level) before jumping into Town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I started my oldest directly in "town" when she was working at about a 4th or 5th grade level and she did great. Now having gone through about 1/2 of "island" with my 2nd child, I'm really glad to have started DD in "town". She would've been pretty bored with "island" had I started her in that when I switched to MCT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 (edited) It's probably fine. I've heard others recommend going through Sentence Island (not the whole level) before jumping into Town. It's totally fine, though I agree with the above - Sentence Island was a huge hit here, so I'm glad we did it! Someone here suggested that it was not to miss, even if we started with Town, and I am glad I took the advice. We did SI in 4th grade, and then started on Town, which we are currently in the middle of. There was no need for Island for a kid of this age (she was 9 when we started). Your 8 year old will probably be fine, and your 11 yo would probably be bored with Island. Everything is repeated and built upon/extended at each level, so Town reviews basic grammar concepts before going deeper into verbal phrases, clauses, etc. Edited October 25, 2012 by rroberts707 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloversandlions Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 It's totally fine, though I agree with the above - Sentence Island was a huge hit here, so I'm glad we did it! Someone here suggested that it was not to miss, even if we started with Town, and I am glad I took the advice. We did SI in 4th grade, and then started on Town, which we are currently in the middle of. There was no need for Island for a kid of this age (she was 9 when we started). Your 8 year old will probably be fine, and your 11 yo would probably be bored with Island. Everything is repeated and built upon/extended at each level, so Town reviews basic grammar concepts before going deeper into verbal phrases, clauses, etc. So...Sentence Island, and none of the other items in Level 1? Looking at the sample online, I can see why you've suggested it before diving into Level 2, especially with a younger student. Thanks, folks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChandlerMom Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I'd concur with SI being a "not to be missed" -- it is just such an amazing book. It covers (albeit quickly) all the grammar concepts of grammar island in the first chapter. My kids loved grammar Island, but they absolutely are IN LOVE with Sentence Island. We should have finished it a week ago, but they are making me read it one page at a time to stretch it out because they don't want it to end. We have 2 pages left. Sniff sniff. How I've been doing the program is a little bit daily. We cuddle on the couch (4th and 2nd grader) and read it together. I stop BEFORE they are being too taxed -- always leave them wanting more. ;) MCT has a comment in there about how we read faster than we can think about things, so I like to only cover a couple a few pages a day anyways. Let it sink in. Let them play with the ideas. In Sentence Island, when they discuss the importance of word order, my 7yo spent an hour playing with writing silly sentences by changing word order in her journal. SO if you do 5min of "instruction" and they spend 15min thinking about it, that's great. Another thing we do is I put the sentences they are to analyze on our chalkboard, rather than use a student book). After they analyze it, they will take turns replacing the words one by one with new words that are the same parts of speech and serve the same roles in the sentence to create a completely new sentence. Kind of like a Mad lib. So: Two blue Schooners sailed by the island. becomes Three wild children jumped on the couch. So they can see how the same analysis fits two sentences with completely different meanings. ;) Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CindyP Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I started my 4th grader on Grammar Town and it's going fine. We are taking it slowly, reviewing concepts where necessary. From the posts here, I am intrigued by Sentence Island and will probably pick that up. The combination of GT and WWE have sparked a new interest in words and how they go together. It sounds like SI is just the ticket to supplement that. Am I off base? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I started my 4th grader on Grammar Town and it's going fine. We are taking it slowly, reviewing concepts where necessary. From the posts here, I am intrigued by Sentence Island and will probably pick that up. The combination of GT and WWE have sparked a new interest in words and how they go together. It sounds like SI is just the ticket to supplement that. Am I off base? No, you are right on base! Sentence Island isn't going to teach your kid to write, but it will teach them to stop and pay attention to sentences and language, and to think about how they do what they do . . . and this is the key to loving reading *and* writing, IMO. Go for it! ETA: my dd finds the Grammar books ok - way better than FLL, but just ok. She has loved both Sentence Island and Paragraph Town, though, and has gotten as much (or more) grammar understanding from them as from the "grammar" books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Another thing we do is I put the sentences they are to analyze on our chalkboard, rather than use a student book). After they analyze it, they will take turns replacing the words one by one with new words that are the same parts of speech and serve the same roles in the sentence to create a completely new sentence. Kind of like a Mad lib. So: Two blue Schooners sailed by the island. becomes Three wild children jumped on the couch. So they can see how the same analysis fits two sentences with completely different meanings. ;) Enjoy! You would probably really like the Kilgallon books if you ever need something in between the MCT levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Town would work just fine as an entry point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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