For those that tried MCT Grammar Island and didn't like it,

[JRmommy]

please share why.

 

Also, what did you end up using?

 

We just finished FLL2 with my 7 year old, and I don't think I can take another year of FLL. I've been considering MCT Grammar Island.

 

FWIW, I tend to over research EVERYTHING! I just really dislike wasting money. On the other hand, I realize that it is ok to make mistakes. I love this forum because you get to hear from so many varied opinions especially those that have been homeschooling much longer than me.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, I'm all ears, because my 2nd grader has found GI to be boring.  I didn't use it with my older, we started hsing in 4th grade, and after bailing on FLL4 (hated it), we read Grammar Land and then did Sentence Island, which we loved.  I'm not sure if I started GI too soon this time, or if it just is kinda boring - definitely it is compared to SI, but it's still pretty great compared to other grammar programs I've looked at.

 

I decided to just hold off for a year or so, then maybe try it again, or try what worked with my older.  My little one knows the parts of speech and parts of a sentence, that's enough for now.  We work on mechanics through copywork and dictation, and review parts of speech/parts of the sentence with our copywork, too.  I really think you can cover a lot of grammar by analyzing and discussing your copywork at this stage.

[Crimson Wife]

GI is okay, but if you're on a tight budget, you can totally skip in in favor of Sentence Island. Everything in GI is covered again in more detail in SI. In fact, if you're on a tight budget, I would skip the entire "island" level and then get "town" + SI when your child is a bit older. Start with SI, then move directly into "town".

[BatmansWife]

We've only gotten through half of GI.  We both hate it.  I didn't like it from the beginning.  As I read the lessons aloud I often was left thinking.....what??  It seemed to way over complicate things (at least for me).  I also found that in the TE the little boxes often asked a question, but wouldn't give the answer.  So, I often had to say, "Well....I guess I don't know, maybe we'll find out later".  We love stories, and we came into GI right after using The Sentence Family, which we loved.  I didn't like the stories in GI at.all.  I thought they were just plain dumb (sorry!) and made what they were trying to teach more difficult to understand.  Despite my feelings, I tried to keep out lessons upbeat and to not be negative about it.  I didn't realize Jr. Batgirl was having any problem with GI until about 1/2 way through it.  She literally burst into tears when I got it out one day.  I'm not kidding...my shirt and the couch had tear stains.  She was begging me to do something else for grammar...anything else.  She asked if I could please burn it.  She has never, ever literally cried about any school work before.   

 

Here's an example of one story that just leaves me thinking.....why??  I mean, I do understand what the story means.  Maybe I just don't care for this style of writing.

 

The Story of Princess And

 

There was a bland princess, named Ann,

who loved every word in the land. 

If she had her way, she would spend every day

playing, with a word in each hand.

In the spring when the green grasses stand,

And went out to the sand.

She saw Green and Cloud,

and said, "Will you play with me loud?"

"Can't!" they panted, and ran.

Then And saw Slowly and Bugs,

and asked, "Do you want to hold my hand?"

But Slowly and Bugs ran off with a moth,

in a hurry, you understand.

Then under a grand pine branch,

And saw You with Me.

"Where are your nouns?" asked Ann.  "Want to play?"

Then, You took And's hand, and Me took And's hand, and away

danced You and Me.

 

I am up in the air about what to use for grammar now.  I'm considering Easy Grammar or Junior Analytical Grammar for next year. 

 

ETA: Here's another story from the first half of the book:

 

There were three friends.

The, who was an adjective,

rhinoceros, who was a noun,

and is, who was a linking verb.

They spent all their time together.

 

One day, the rhinoceros is decided to hike down the beach,

looking for a new pal.

First, they found the adjective Fluffy,

and they said, will you be our pal?

"This is very funny -- funny, I think," said Fluffy, who flew away.

Next, the rhinoceros is found Swam, an action verb.

"Hi Swam," they cried, "wanna be pals?"

"Gosh," spluttered Swam, "special situation,

but I'm not s'posed to socialize with is."  And Swam swam.

Finally, the rhinoceros is saw the sleepy adjective Gray

hiding in a shadow.

"Hey Gray," the rhinoceros is whispered, "you want to be our friend?"

"Uh, yup," said Gray, "uh, uh, yup."

And away, far away, hiked The rhinoceros is gray.

You could hear them laughing.

 

:huh:

 

 

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Now see, the little stories are our favorite parts - the illustrate, kind of whimsically, the way the parts of speech work together.  We just found the rest of it pretty dull - just too many words, taking too long to say something simple, saying it too many times . . . . I dunno.  It just didn't have the magic that SI did for us.

[prissygirls]

Now see I really liked MCT. I am wanting to re-do it in a couple years with my son when he is in 3rd grade. I found it very easy to understand and it was great not to have another workbook.

[Crimson Wife]

If you see the phrase "green cloud", can you put an "and" in between the adjective and the noun?

 

If you see the phrase "bugs slowly", can you put an "and" in between the verb and the adverb?

 

If you see the two pronouns "you" and "me", can you put an "and" in between them?

 

The stories demonstrate MCT's love of the English language and are one of the best parts IMHO of his grammar. I personally have a love/hate relationship with MCT's grammar (the ADD nature of how he jumps from topic to topic and then circles back around to the first topic absolutely drives me bonkers!) but overall the pros outweigh the cons.

[sunnyday]

Well, this is decidedly not a BTDT perspective as my MCT books are in the mail to me right now! :) But Grammar Island, alone, is just a first introduction to the parts of speech, maybe a brief mention of phrases and clauses. It's meant as a quick prelude to the bulk of the language arts program, as I understand it. I'm guessing that right after FLL, it will feel like a whole bunch of review. It's supposed to be the spark for a juicy few-weeks-long conversation about words and their uses...a conversation my 7yo is very ripe for, so I am expecting this will be a hit. But I think the actual *learning* of grammar is supposed to come from the rest of the program, layering that foundational parts-of-speech vocabulary through the whole language arts program: naming parts of speech in the vocabulary study, putting them together to form sentences in the writing study, analyzing them in the practice book.

 

There's a pretty hefty sample of GI available online (32 pages?) so you should be able to get a good feel for whether it will be a useful guide for you and your kiddo or not. But I'd also check out the rest of the level while you're there.

[Haiku]

Have you looked at FLL3? It's totally different than 1/2. FLL 1 and 2 made me want to gouge out my own eyes, but I loved 3 and 4.

[ladydusk]

Have you looked at FLL3? It's totally different than 1/2. FLL 1 and 2 made me want to gouge out my own eyes, but I loved 3 and 4.

 

I agree with Tara about 3.  I like 1 and 2 and definitely don't want to gouge my eyes out.  My last little one is almost done with 2 now.  I do understand the frustrations with it 1/2, but it ended up being really solid for my kids.

[madteaparty]

I guess I don't believe in formally teaching grammar, diagramming, etc. Also as a beginner homeschooler, the packet with a million books was overwhelming. I like Ceasar's English (saving it for 5th grade) but even there some of the poems seem contrived. Anyway, we use Galore Park. It fits us much better.

[Crimson Wife]

I guess I don't believe in formally teaching grammar, diagramming, etc.

I would *STRONGLY* encourage you to teach your kids grammar. Some bright kids might be able to pick it up intuitively just through reading, but most kids won't. You don't necessarily need to teach your kids formal grammar year after year after year as in TWTM, but at the very minimum work through a program like Analytical Grammar in middle school.

 

My brother was a voracious reader growing up and scored >700 on the verbal portion of the SAT but he struggled with writing because he went through during the "whole language" fad in the '90's and never was taught formal grammar. He asked me for feedback on his college honors thesis and I had an extremely difficult time figuring out what he was trying to say because there were so many mistakes. He could hear that what he'd written didn't sound right, but he couldn't figure out how to fix it.

 

So I mentioned that sometimes when I was having trouble fixing a sentence, I found it helpful to diagram what I'd written because that often made it clear what the problem was. My brother had never heard of diagramming so I had to spend the better part of an evening giving him a crash course on grammar and sentence diagramming. After I'd finished, he thanked me profusely and expressed regret that he hadn't learned it in 6th grade as I had.

 

Seriously, you don't want your student to wind up struggling with writing in high school and college just because you "don't believe in formally teaching grammar." Would you blithely declare that you don't believe in formally teaching some key part of math like long division?

[Momling]

My daughter didn't like the story line. Also, it bothered me that the author kept calling determiners adjectives. I suspect he had never actually taken a syntax class.

[Crimson Wife]

I've done "Grammar Town" with two 2nd graders but only my oldest was able to do "Paragraph Town" at the beginning of 3rd grade and that was a real stretch. It's going to be a while before my DS is ready for the writing in PT. Right now he is working through Singapore Sentences to Paragraphs book 3. I plan to do Sentences to Paragraphs book 4 (since I own that) and then probably EPS' "The Paragraph Book" series but I might give Classical Academic Press' Writing & Rhetoric a try.

 

The problem with starting MCT on the younger side is there are big leaps in the writing between the levels. I don't mind doing other programs in between levels of MCT but if I were to use the books in the recommended grades of 3rd-5th, that probably wouldn't be necessary. But "island" would be far too easy for my kids by 3rd.