lifesadream83 Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Does anyone use MCT? My dd8 is currently using K12's 3rd Grade LA. I would like to switch to MCT next year but I am not sure where I should place her. Would I start her with their 3rd Grade or 4th Grade. Is there a placement test that she can take? Any information anyone has would be helpful! Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathleen. Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 I use Grammar Island with my third grader (8yo), and my first grader (6yo) loves to listen in. I could have started my oldest on this last year, but being one year older she picks up the info even faster. You'll get more responses from other MCT users with more experience, but you'll most likely hear - start with Grammar Island because it will lay the foundation and there's a big jump between levels and there's more writing. Hope that helps :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 I would place by the writing. The grammar portion is by far the easiest, and Grammar Island is something that I would think any child who has finished FLL 2 would find rather repetitive. However, there is a big leap in the writing between "island" and "town" and another one to "voyage". LA is my oldest's strongest suit and I started her directly in "town" when she was working at about a 4th or 5th grade level. That was the correct placement for her. However, she wasn't able to continue on to "voyage" with the exception of the vocab portion because of the writing issue. She'll most likely do Essay Voyage some time this spring after she finishes WWS 1. My DS is finishing up "island" now but he won't be able to go straight on to "town" because of the writing issue. He'll do some other things in the interim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifesadream83 Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 I would place by the writing. The grammar portion is by far the easiest, and Grammar Island is something that I would think any child who has finished FLL 2 would find rather repetitive. However, there is a big leap in the writing between "island" and "town" and another one to "voyage". LA is my oldest's strongest suit and I started her directly in "town" when she was working at about a 4th or 5th grade level. That was the correct placement for her. However, she wasn't able to continue on to "voyage" with the exception of the vocab portion because of the writing issue. She'll most likely do Essay Voyage some time this spring after she finishes WWS 1. My DS is finishing up "island" now but he won't be able to go straight on to "town" because of the writing issue. He'll do some other things in the interim. Did you also use WWE prior to WWS? I am just curious. I posted this question here and on SL and that seems to be what most people are doing. However, I was going to use WWE 2 last year and dd couldn't answer the questions and do the narratives. She has progressed with that more so this year using SL for history, readers and read alouds though so maybe I should revisit this idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 DD used the WWE1 workbook with more advanced narrations in 1st and then I just used the Complete Writer text after that. The beginning weeks of WWS 1 does a quick review of WWE skills before moving on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 I believe the general advice is to place an average 4th grader in Island, as that level is designed for gifted 3rd and 4th graders. They don't go specifically by grade because even among gifted kids, skills can vary widely. We use WWE along with MCT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mukmuk Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Tks for posting this. I've been reading the archives and am very sold on MCT. I have a hard to please DS, so am crossing my fingers. I just bought Island. We will try this with WWE as well. It isn't his style, but I'm hopeful it can draw him to the beauty of language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChandlerMom Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 I would recommend starting with the Island level, maybe skip Grammar Island and start with Sentence Island (the first part reviews the grammar covered in GI) and do Practice Island. My older DD had completed K12s LA4 and she STILL loved the Island level and learned lots. MCT covers things much more deeply. Also be aware that a lot of the grammar instruction is in the practice books (Practice Island) so don't ignore the comments in the TM for each sentence. ;) FWIW, she commented at least once a week that it wasn't fair that her sister was getting to learn grammar via MCT instead of the way she'd learned it. You could start PI once you'd covered the grammar chapter of SI and explain the 4-level analysis method (pretty straight-forward) The tale of Mudd the fish in Sentence Island is just too precious to miss, and few programs really take the time to talk about what makes a good sentence. I think people underestimate the power of MCTs writing component. My girls really love to think and talk about what makes a good sentence, and I've really seen my older dd take the concepts and appy them to her free writing and work. Personally, I wouldn't do any other writing program while you are doing SI (it has some writing assignments and a lot of just letting stuff sink in). Once they move into the other books, you can add in other writing programs if you desire. If your dd's done LA3, you might skip Building Language (the Island vocab part, and IMO the weakest part of the curric). I love Music of the Hemispheres (poetics) -- not childish at all (understatement, haha). HTHs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mukmuk Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 This is super information for me. DS has never done any grammar. He has super vocabulary and has some basic rules from reading so much. I'm hoping to parse through what he may already know while filling the gaps of what he doesn't. I see what you're saying, and will hold off WWE or Bravewriter (still deciding :p) till later. Does it make sense to go through MCT literature, ie, the Mud the Fish trilogy? At what point should we start on that? I inadvertently bought it without realising that its part of a different study. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 I agree with Chandler Mom. Grammar Island was fun, but in retrospect it felt slow, so either I should have sped it up, or moved into Sentence Island sooner. Ds had done a lot of grammar work previously though, and maybe I should have done Island with him last year. Poetry has been a good challenge, but the rest I think we could easily have done last year and I'm really glad I didn't wait until next year like some of the advice that was given. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccolopy Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Thanks for posting that, ChandlerMom. I had searched earlier posts and found that some skipped GI, and was wondering how you could start PI without it, but having the review at the beginning of SI makes sense! I'm going to start MCT with DD after Christmas, and I think now that SI, PI and Music of the Hemispheres will be enought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mukmuk Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Thanks, Fair Prospect. I'm mentally ready to fire it up and move on to Town when it starts to feel slow. Havent made that purchase yet, but will do once Island arrives. So exciting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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