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Chat with me about Mosdos Press, please?


Murrayshire
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I was thinking of getting this for next year. Dd will be in 6th grade. She really doesn't enjoy using guides along with her chapter books. She loves to read, though, but doesn't enjoy the busy work. I've been making our own guides, which thankfully she tolerates better, we've been using figuratively speaking, she's been writing summaries, or she works up a project incorporating a scene or favorite character.

 

I feel a little worn out from it b/c I feel like I have to push, push to get her to finish anything. I was thinking that Mosdos would cover reading skills, more critical, creative activities & literary skills but also provide a stable reading lesson than what we are doing now. Then she could continue with reading her history readers or the next classic.

 

The site just doesn't give enough samples. I'm a touchy, feel-y consumer!

Can anyone give me more examples of what this program has to offer? How do you use it at home? Can you get by with just the workbook and teacher book? Is there another site that sells Mosdos? (I'm thinking about using it for 3rd grader, too)

 

Lots of questions waiting eagerly to be answered!

🌞

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I have the 6th grade book Pearl (2 copies actually, don't ask!). I loved what I had read about it, so decided to buy it last year so I could see it for myself. I really like the look of it, but unfortunately we never got around to using it because we are using CLE for reading and just don't have the extra time, as much as I would like to.

 

I only have the student book. The book has lots of information about plot, setting, theme, etc. It also has a section on poetry. It has questions after each selection. From what I remember reading, the teacher book is nice but can be overkill.

 

I got mine on Amazon.

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I actually bought a used copy of mosdos ruby (grade 4) for my 3rd grader this year. We are using other things too so i plan on using this for 3rd and 4th grade next year. I also bought the workbook from Rainbow Resources, but did not purchase the teachers manual because it's just so expensive! I really like it. The reading selections are very well thought out and nice (they focus on character traits a lot, so things like trustworthiness, honesty, kindness etc.) There is also some poetry mixed in. Each reading selection has a focus. Today we read a bout internal conflict and the story was about a little girl that did something she realized she shouldn't. It focused on her internal conflict of simply stopping the bad behavior, or going one step further and rectifying her mistake (which she did) there are some questions at the end of each chapter to write about. You could easily do it orally too. The questions really are made to get kids thinking. They don't ask nonsense questions like who did what or where did this take place. They are more inferential comprehension type questions or questions where they ask the reader what would they do in this situation, how would you handle this, etc. While the reading level for my DD isn't difficult for her, sometimes the questions are! They really force her to look beyond the surface of the story to find the hidden messages. The workbook has stuff like vocabulary work, more writing questions, graphic organizer and that sort of thing. The workbook does NOT have pages for every story, probably about half. 

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I have the 6th grade book Pearl (2 copies actually, don't ask!). I loved what I had read about it, so decided to buy it last year so I could see it for myself. I really like the look of it, but unfortunately we never got around to using it because we are using CLE for reading and just don't have the extra time, as much as I would like to.

 

I only have the student book. The book has lots of information about plot, setting, theme, etc. It also has a section on poetry. It has questions after each selection. From what I remember reading, the teacher book is nice but can be overkill.

 

I got mine on Amazon.

Thank you for chiming in!

 

Anyone else?

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Sometimes I wish I did have the Teachers M because honestly some of the question get pretty deep on the character/trait analysis and even I have to really think about it. However, there isn't always only one "correct" answer. The manual would be nice as a luxury but certainly not a necessity to use this program. I think the book and maybe the workbook has plenty to keep a kid occupied. We are only using it every other week because we are also using WWE2 straight through, and alternating mosdos with the new CAP fable program. It's just too much writing to do it all every week. 

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I just started using Jade with my 7th grader. She reads the story on her own and we review the questions orally without too much trouble. I have also included the Interactive Reading Lit Notebook found on Teachers Pay Teachers and love it. Before each story in Jade there is "Blueprint for Reading" that lists what the focus is. I take that focus and the find the correlating notebooking pages in IRLN and use those to expand upon the topic. So far I thing she is really enjoying it and is definitely retaining more than she would if we just ended it with the review questions. 

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I'm using the 5th and 8th grade levels this year and plan to use the 9th grade level next year if I can find a good deal on Amazon. (mosdos no longer publishes the 9th grade level but there are oop copies floating around)

 

We love these programs.  I feel good about the different genres of selections they have.  Something I wasn't very good at when I was pulling lit together on my own.  And I like the fact that my dc are learning skills and topics that often get left out when you are just reading and discussing books.   What I'm most pleased with is that my dc are having to really think about their reading in order to answer the critical thinking questions...these aren't your basic comp. questions.  The exercises in the workbooks provide extended reinforcement of the literary elements being taught in addition to vocabulary work (no need for an additional vocab program).  There are a few writing exercises that I don't assign since my dc don't care for creative writing prompts, and some of the extension exercises I skip since making a turtle out of clay or drawing a picture of a horse doesn't seem applicable to the study of literature to me, but other than that I don't find anything in the levels I'm using that I would consider busy work...and I have a pretty keen radar for work that doesn't have value. Between the text and the workbook you can find plenty of meaningful exercises. Now, I can't speak for the lower levels (3 or 4) since I haven't used those.  

 

The TM isn't necessary for using the program unless you want to spend 3 hours a day on literature...honestly there is so much packed into those TM's it was overwhelming to me.  It just about paralyzed me from using the program at all, but once I put those aside and focused on what was in the text and the workbook I found a wonderful open and go, semi-independent curriculum.  The TM is useful for answers since, as a pp mentioned above, some of the questions really make me think too, and I like to refer to the TM to see if my dc and I are on the right track in our thinking.  The answers to the workbook are in the TM as well.  However, I feel that even without the answers this could be a very do-able program. Even if you don't answer some of the critical thinking questions perfectly right you've still gotten your dc to stretch their brain and consider the different possibilities.

 

 

 

 

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I'm using the 5th and 8th grade levels this year and plan to use the 9th grade level next year if I can find a good deal on Amazon. (mosdos no longer publishes the 9th grade level but there are oop copies floating around)

 

We love these programs. I feel good about the different genres of selections they have. Something I wasn't very good at when I was pulling lit together on my own. And I like the fact that my dc are learning skills and topics that often get left out when you are just reading and discussing books. What I'm most pleased with is that my dc are having to really think about their reading in order to answer the critical thinking questions...these aren't your basic comp. questions. The exercises in the workbooks provide extended reinforcement of the literary elements being taught in addition to vocabulary work (no need for an additional vocab program). There are a few writing exercises that I don't assign since my dc don't care for creative writing prompts, and some of the extension exercises I skip since making a turtle out of clay or drawing a picture of a horse doesn't seem applicable to the study of literature to me, but other than that I don't find anything in the levels I'm using that I would consider busy work...and I have a pretty keen radar for work that doesn't have value. Between the text and the workbook you can find plenty of meaningful exercises. Now, I can't speak for the lower levels (3 or 4) since I haven't used those.

 

The TM isn't necessary for using the program unless you want to spend 3 hours a day on literature...honestly there is so much packed into those TM's it was overwhelming to me. It just about paralyzed me from using the program at all, but once I put those aside and focused on what was in the text and the workbook I found a wonderful open and go, semi-independent curriculum. The TM is useful for answers since, as a pp mentioned above, some of the questions really make me think too, and I like to refer to the TM to see if my dc and I are on the right track in our thinking. The answers to the workbook are in the TM as well. However, I feel that even without the answers this could be a very do-able program. Even if you don't answer some of the critical thinking questions perfectly right you've still gotten your dc to stretch their brain and consider the different possibilities.

 

Thank you for such a detailed description of Mosdos!😀

 

I'll have to try and find some samples of the 9th grade book, too. We'll be leaping into high school next school year.😬

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I want to chime in on this one for high school suggestions for Mosdos lovers!  We used Mosdos and are SO glad we did.  It is everything mentioned above, so I won't go into it further, but I wanted something equally good for high school.

 

Oh boy, did I find it.  It appears to be done in almost the same style as Mosdos, without the full page illustrations.  We are using Textword's Implications in Literature series:  http://www.textword.com/about.html  It has the same high quality literature, terrific student work at the end of each selection, great introductions to each selection, awesome vocabulary work, all you need really for writing practice and a full language arts course for high school other than additional writing instruction here and there as needed.  I have been thrilled to find it, as it partners beautifully with Mosdos, and if I didn't know any differently, I would have assumed it was the same publisher, it is that similar.

 

Hope this helps someone!

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I want to chime in on this one for high school suggestions for Mosdos lovers! We used Mosdos and are SO glad we did. It is everything mentioned above, so I won't go into it further, but I wanted something equally good for high school.

 

Oh boy, did I find it. It appears to be done in almost the same style as Mosdos, without the full page illustrations. We are using Textword's Implications in Literature series: http://www.textword.com/about.html It has the same high quality literature, terrific student work at the end of each selection, great introductions to each selection, awesome vocabulary work, all you need really for writing practice and a full language arts course for high school other than additional writing instruction here and there as needed. I have been thrilled to find it, as it partners beautifully with Mosdos, and if I didn't know any differently, I would have assumed it was the same publisher, it is that similar.

 

Hope this helps someone!

These look wonderful! I do like the short story book, too. That could be added to any literature study! I do wonder if these books are easy to implement in a homeschool setting. I would like to stick with something that is going to be smooth sailing for my high schooler to use on her own for the most part.

 

Thank you for filling us in on this great find!

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These look wonderful! I do like the short story book, too. That could be added to any literature study! I do wonder if these books are easy to implement in a homeschool setting. I would like to stick with something that is going to be smooth sailing for my high schooler to use on her own for the most part.

 

Thank you for filling us in on this great find!

 

 

We have had no trouble at all using the Textword Press anthologies for high school.  Couldn't be easier to use independently by a student, with touching base with mom and perhaps having mom/dad grade/read the reading responses.  

 

The educator can be as involved as they elect to be.  We read some together, mainly because we enjoy reading together, and I send him off to do 2-3 selections on his own.

 

Glad you liked it!  I was certainly thrilled to find it after using Mosdos so long and loving it.

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I purchased one of the volumes of Implications of Literature for dd16 upon the recommendation of Cyndi.  I agree with everything she says about it.  :)  Dd16 isn't using it exclusively...she has other whole books tied to her history, but I do like it for the additional genres, critical thinking questions, writing assignments and vocab work.  It provides us with enough high school English work so that her whole books don't have to be analyzed as much and she can just enjoy reading them.

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