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Posted

We pulled our 3rd grade DD out of public school this school year (in October). In many ways, we're still trying to figure out what works best for us, and I can't for the life of me decide on what to use for LA next year! I'll have two 1st graders and a 3rd grader.

 

So, for Grammar this year (3rd grade), we've used Abeka Language and a little bit of FLL 3. Abeka came highly recommended to me, and I figured we would continue it next year, but now I'm not so sure. I go over things with my DD, but many pages seem like "too much" for her in independent work (she gets a lot wrong on some pages). I'm wondering if grammar needs to be something that I do WITH her the whole time? I was wanting something more independent, though, as I'll also be working with two in 1st grade next year.

 

My DD and language: She HATES writing! Says she "likes" Abeka Language, but some pages are "too hard." We haven't done much of the writing in Abeka. Instead, we've done narrations/copywork for history (SOTW) and a little science. We're just now trying a bit of WWE2. We're using Spelling Workout, which seems to be okay, but she's not a great speller (we're in book C). As far as writing, I'm intrigued by what I hear of IEW, but our budget is pretty tight. When using the WWE books, is other writing instruction necessary? Or is that enough for writing? It seems more like reading comprehension exercises?

 

I've looked at MCT, which seems expensive. My DD doesn't LOVE language, so I'm not sure if that would be a good fit. Or does it help to instill a love of language? If I did try that out, is it very teacher intensive? What particular books (Island) would I need to get? I hear a lot of good things about R&S, but it looks a bit boring to me? Does MCT do diagramming? Or should I maybe just do FLL3 next year, since I already have that? I don't want to overload my DDs with "workbook" stuff, but I can't seem to figure out a good combo of curriculum.

 

Sorry for the randomness and confusion of this post. I'm confused! Ha ha! I just want to figure out what LA would be best for a child who doesn't get super excited about language, and has trouble being motivated to "do her work." She's not real big on reading yet, either, but there's improvement as we continue to work on that. At this point, some of school seems too mundane and boring for her, although I'm trying to make it fun. :)

 

What has worked well for your kiddos who may not be very excited about language? Oh, she DOES love to learn poems, although we haven't done a lot of that yet.

Posted

Easy Grammar is short and sweet at that age. You can easily do 2-4 pages with her each morning until done. Combine it with the Daily Grams or Evan Moor's Daily Language Review and it could be a great way to get some grammar into a grammar phobic kid. I don't really feel that everything needs to be colorful and fun and games. Easy Grammar gets the job done. I'm just going to throw it out there that I don't necessarily feel kids should be pushed into doing independent work at those ages. Especially if lang arts isn't her favorite, she's not going to accomplish much. Give her some math practice for independent time instead.

 

I use WWE and I love it. I understand about the worry that it may not be enough writing. I use Bravewriter along with it and Sequential Spelling has some writing activities. That makes for a nice well rounded program.

Posted

I use WWE and I love it. I understand about the worry that it may not be enough writing. I use Bravewriter along with it and Sequential Spelling has some writing activities. That makes for a nice well rounded program.

 

 

What elements of Bravewriter do you use? And what have you found most helpful? As far as Sequential Spelling, I can't seem to find a sample?

Posted

You could probably read MCT Sentence Island as a read-aloud to all 3 at the same time.

 

We use the Bravewriter general approach--freewrite first, then narrow down, and expand and freewrite more, finally revise, edit and check for grammar and punctuation.

 

We did use Zaner-Bloser for some aspects--including grammar. This next year we will probably be using Critical Thinking's Editor in Chief.

Posted

 

What elements of Bravewriter do you use? And what have you found most helpful? As far as Sequential Spelling, I can't seem to find a sample?

 

I use TWJ and Arrow guides and I've used JotItDown with my Kinder and will next year as well. I do all of the BW stuff! I really like (have found most helpful) the sections of TWJ that deal with the revising/editing and the writing process. I also really enjoy the freewrites and the writing activities in the Arrow guides. Dictation didn't make any sense to me until I read TWJ. So my ds has really come far using WWE as well, but I was ready to drop it. I listened to the SWB lectures, watched Dictation with Dan, read WTM and The Complete Writer text, but it still did not resonate with me at all until I read TWJ.

 

 

http://avko.org/sequentialspelling.html

 

Here's my tried and true spelling program. It seems to be either loved or hated on the forums. I'm solidly in the love camp.

 

 

You could probably read MCT Sentence Island as a read-aloud to all 3 at the same time.

 

We use the Bravewriter general approach--freewrite first, then narrow down, and expand and freewrite more, finally revise, edit and check for grammar and punctuation.

 

We did use Zaner-Bloser for some aspects--including grammar. This next year we will probably be using Critical Thinking's Editor in Chief.

 

I really like the EditorInChief books. I'm starting to adopt the philosophy that grammar doesn't need to be hashed out each year (unless they're having a hard time with it) and that little book was great to keep my ds's skills sharp. I also have been using the BW idea of revise and edit and dictations to touch up on grammar. But before my ds got to this point I did go through a level of Easy Grammar with him.

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