mo2 Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I've been looking at vintage grammar texts for the early years. I've looked at PLL by Serl, The Mother Tongue, and With Pencil and Pen (interestingly, I just noticed the latter two are by the same author). I haven't read them cover to cover, but in skimming them, they really look quite similar. Is there any particular reason to choose one over another? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 Hunter, maybe you know the answer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 With Pencil and Pen is for younger kids than The Mother Tongue. I think With Pencil and Pen is for younger students than Serl's PLL, and, although I haven't looked at it recently -- though I swear I've been meaning to for the last week! -- the Mother Tongue book seemed a bit ahead of PLL. It (MT) seemed to focus on taking a few longer passages and going back to them repeatedly. Weirdly enough, I tracked down one of them, the one about Gamela, and it had been strangely altered from the original source. I looked at With Pencil and Pen years ago but forgot, but it is very introductory, isn't it? PLL is getting on my nerves, so I am planning to jump the Serl ship soon, and was thinking about MT, actually. Otherwise I think I may use Galore Park and skip the vintage theme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 Yes, With Pencil and Pen seems to be for very young children. I downloaded The Mother Tongue from Forgotten Books and am going to try to read through it tonight to decide what grade level it might be best for. And, oh dear, why is PLL getting on your nerves? I almost hit the order button on that today, thinking I would just use it and forget about trying to figure out the others Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 And, oh dear, why is PLL getting on your nerves? I almost hit the order button on that today, thinking I would just use it and forget about trying to figure out the others I have never cared for the poem or artwork selections. I am working my way through it, basically avoiding those. Have you seen it? http://books.google.com/books?id=JfAsAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 18, 2013 Author Share Posted March 18, 2013 I have never cared for the poem or artwork selections. I am working my way through it, basically avoiding those. Have you seen it? http://books.google....epage&q&f=false Yes, I've skimmed it. It's not perfect, but I've given up on finding the perfect curriculum for us. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I've given up on perfect too. I've been driving myself batty the past couple weeks with grammar and comp. I need to entirely separate MY personal self-education goals from those of my students. Writing is a big part of MY life and I expect that to only increase. On the other hand, my STUDENTS really only need a lattice that the junior college teachers can build on just enough for them to pass their courses. Most of them have other pursuits that are NOT based on perfect punctuation. MY strengths and dreams are not THEIR strengths and dreams. So that said, I'm realizing that it doesn't matter so much which shape the lattice is built in. All have their pros and cons. All will leave massive gaping holes so big a ship can sail through. Trying to close all those gaps, will do my students more harm than good. They need me to do SOMETHING and also provide them with a calm rested teacher who is enthusiastic about being WITH them, and had a VARIETY of activities planned for the study session instead of JUST grammar. Today I'm using Learning English with the Bible by Louise Ebner and Understanding Writing. Neither are vintage. I also like Write On! I've learned a TON by READING vintage texts and plan to continue my self-education with them both as a teacher and a student. This week at least, I'm not using any of them directly with students. As for Harvey's, I think the Mott Media REVISED edition is worth it, rather than using a free copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 Thank you, Hunter. You're always the voice of reason. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I am taking another looking at Mother Tongue. It seems to have more writing in it than PLL (so it seems to me to be more advanced than it). I think I may use it instead of ILL by Serl, as we are towards the end of what I want to cover in PLL, or else go to Galore Park's, as I already own Junior English 1 and 2. As I noted, Arnold changed the selection on Gamela, adding material that was not in the original - no idea why. I thought about using a book I found on Google Books called How to Talk, too, but haven't looked at it recently. I remember some people (esp Tara the Liberator) suggested Sheldon's books, but I get overwhelmed when I have too many to look at. I too have trouble figuring out which will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 ... I get overwhelmed when I have too many to look at... :iagree: :willy_nilly: :banghead: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Yeah, I looked at ILL again, and I still don't like it. Ha! At least the list is one shorter. I am narrowing it down to avoid doing nothing because of too many options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 I am taking another looking at Mother Tongue. It seems to have more writing in it than PLL (so it seems to me to be more advanced than it). I think I may use it instead of ILL by Serl, as we are towards the end of what I want to cover in PLL, or else go to Galore Park's, as I already own Junior English 1 and 2. As I noted, Arnold changed the selection on Gamela, adding material that was not in the original - no idea why. I thought about using a book I found on Google Books called How to Talk, too, but haven't looked at it recently. I remember some people (esp Tara the Liberator) suggested Sheldon's books, but I get overwhelmed when I have too many to look at. I too have trouble figuring out which will work. I get overwhelmed and complain when there are too many choices, but when there are not enough choices (secular science, for example), I complain about that too. Maybe I'm just hard to please. :) I still haven't decided, but I need to make a decision soon so I can start placing my orders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I just recently downloaded free copies of William Henry Maxwell's grammar books: Introductory Lessons in English Grammar and Advanced Lessons in English Grammar. I got them from Google Books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 I just recently downloaded free copies of William Henry Maxwell's grammar books: Introductory Lessons in English Grammar and Advanced Lessons in English Grammar. I got them from Google Books. Have you begun using them yet? What are your initial thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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