Jess4879 Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 Can you use just the grammar portion of MCT and if so, what do I need to buy? and approximately how long does a lesson take to complete? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paige Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 You could. You'd need the grammar book and the practice book. I think you would miss out on a lot, though. The way he connects the books together is really nice and there are things in the other books that add more meaning to what is taught in the grammar books. A lesson takes as long as you want it to. Usually with the first 2 levels we would spend about 20min not counting the practice sentence DS did on his own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 If you're starting with Island level, then you need to buy Grammar Island, Sentence Island, and the practice book (you can get away with just the teacher's manuals for GI and SI but you need both the student and teacher books for the practice book). For the Town level, all you need is Grammar Town and the practice book. Voyage, same thing--Grammar Voyage and practice book. Since the books aren't divided into lessons, a lesson takes as long as you want it to. We would simply stop at a logical stopping point. The practice book pages take maybe five minutes each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 We use only the grammar portion. I have a grammar teacher's edition (grammar island, grammar town, grammar voyage, magic lens 1, 2 and 3) and I have a teacher's version of the practice book that accompanies each level. We usually school 40 weeks so we spend the first 15 weeks going over the grammar book together. Then we parse 4 sentences a week for the rest of the year. I dictate the sentence to the child and s/he writes it on a white board. This way we get spelling/dictation practice out of the lesson too. MCT also has notes at the bottom of each sentence that we go over. The notes include vocabulary, poetry structure, etc. We generally spend 15-20 minutes twice per week throughout the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted February 15, 2013 Author Share Posted February 15, 2013 Thanks for the help! I am very undecided....I am debating between MCT, Brave Writer or just throwing in the towel. haha We currently use AAS, copy work (from current read alouds) and BJU English...all the seperate elements are time consuming though. I'd love something we could work on more as a family, with my 7 year old also involved, with different expectations of course. I love the idea of MCT but I love the philosophy behind BW. What to do, what to do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 bravewriter does not cover grammar specifically, but expects kids to pick it up through reading and copywork and dictation and just regular grading of papers. I love both . . . i think it would be reasonable to do just the grammar portion of MCT and also do bravewriter style writing 'lifestyle'. it depends how much time you want to spend, really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted February 15, 2013 Author Share Posted February 15, 2013 bravewriter does not cover grammar specifically, but expects kids to pick it up through reading and copywork and dictation and just regular grading of papers. I love both . . . i think it would be reasonable to do just the grammar portion of MCT and also do bravewriter style writing 'lifestyle'. it depends how much time you want to spend, really. Ideally I'd just like to be greedy and get both programs...but yikes! on the cost! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChandlerMom Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 ADORE MCT -- You can do it with just the TM of Grammar Island, Sentence Island (which is the BEST!) and Practice Island. I did NOT get the student book for the practice book -- I copied the sentence onto our chalkboard, but you could also use the sentence for dictation. Grammar Island is done first (6-10 weeks) then you do a few sentences a week from the practice book (which has 100 sentences). The practice book has continuing instruction in it. Sentence Island explores what makes a good sentences through the adventures of Mud the fish. Both GI and SI I did with my 9 and 7yo together on the couch. We did it every other day, just 3-5 min a day. We would just read 1-3 pages. It is deep and profound, so you want to cover just a little and let is sink in. Always leave them wanting more. And they did. Want more. They drew pictures of Sentence Island. They talked about the characters. They tried to write the different types of "wrong" sentences. They played with words. They asked to analyze more sentences. The other day my 9yo asked if we could do more grammar in our lessons. How weird is THAT?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess4879 Posted February 15, 2013 Author Share Posted February 15, 2013 ADORE MCT -- You can do it with just the TM of Grammar Island, Sentence Island (which is the BEST!) and Practice Island. I did NOT get the student book for the practice book -- I copied the sentence onto our chalkboard, but you could also use the sentence for dictation. Grammar Island is done first (6-10 weeks) then you do a few sentences a week from the practice book (which has 100 sentences). The practice book has continuing instruction in it. Sentence Island explores what makes a good sentences through the adventures of Mud the fish. Both GI and SI I did with my 9 and 7yo together on the couch. We did it every other day, just 3-5 min a day. We would just read 1-3 pages. It is deep and profound, so you want to cover just a little and let is sink in. Always leave them wanting more. And they did. Want more. They drew pictures of Sentence Island. They talked about the characters. They tried to write the different types of "wrong" sentences. They played with words. They asked to analyze more sentences. The other day my 9yo asked if we could do more grammar in our lessons. How weird is THAT?!? This was very helpful! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeeterbug Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 :lurk5: We are doing Grammarland now, I'm debating whether to do MCT next or FLL3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 :lurk5: We are doing Grammarland now, I'm debating whether to do MCT next or FLL3. We did Grammarland, and then went straight into Sentence Island, and then did the Town level. It was perfect! SI has a similar "feel" to grammarland, and it was really a seamless transition. If your dc really loves Grammarland, FLL could be a rude shock . . . so very different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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