Treasured Conversations, 8FilltheHeart's new writing program,......

[Soror]

We've done day1 and 2 of wk 1 so far, it is being well enjoyed. I have to say as well that I am impressed with the stories, if I understand it correctly you wrote them 8, they're wonderful. I had started to use another program last year and the writing was so basic and uninspiring that I found it boring to read and certainly not something I wanted the kids to model after, very well done. 

[alicai]

We started yesterday and it's going well so far. I really feel like this sort of explicit connect-the-dots is precisely what my reluctant writer needs. I am very, very happy that TC came out in time for me to realize that W&R was better saved for late in the year.

 

Also, one of the girls' most treasured stuffies was named Bushy and featured in a great many of their pretend plays, so we got off to an auspicious start :)

[8filltheheart]

Glad you like the stories.   :)

 

You might want to share the antics of the squirrels in our backyard with your kids.  Last year we had a small toy net that the kids had left outside in the yard.  One day we watched a squirrel play with it, leave, come back and play with it, leave, and then it came back and stole it!   Yesterday my little girls were playing with their Barbies in the backyard, and they came in for a drink.  As we were looking out the window, a squirrel came and stole one of their Kelly dolls!!  

 

My  12 yr old dd has been writing her own stories about this squirrel society.   She is convinced the squirrels spy on them and make plans!   ;)

[linguistmama]

We are loving Bushy too!  8, I was rereading some of your posts on writing and just wanted to repeat that I would love to buy future levels of TC. :)  The instruction is just so clear that I would love some more for introductions and conclusions, essays etc.

[blondeviolin]

My DD will be a 3rd grader this year. She has had little grammar and we have not start paragraph wriitng... still working on a cohesive complete 1-2 sentences. Reading and writing have been a struggle here. Will this be a good place to start with her? Also I am thinking about having my older child (8th) go through the note taking/outlining sections since she has not been taught this in public school. Thoughts?

This. My girl has successfully completed WWE 1 and 2. She's needing a bit of a change and I was planning on doing Fable. She freezes when she's asked to compose her own stuff, though. Is this a good program to begin at 3rd grade?

 

And what do you do with younger kids? (First and second grade?)

[kiwik]

Does anyone know this? If the pdf was purchased by someone in NZ using an address they set up while in the US (ie a visitor/student/recent immigrant) would it be treated as a domestic sale and be able to be downloaded here?

 

I am planning to wait until international sales get sorted but I really don't get why it should make a difference where I live when I am buying a PDF of something that is not available anywhere else. I can get round it for physical stuff by using a forwarder but I can't get round it for a pdf without copyright infringement.

[texasmama]

After looking at the program, I am thinking of using it to replace the FLL3 and Writing Tales 1 in my siggie.  For those who have beta-tested it, does this seem a reasonable idea for a third grader?

[atozmom]

Why did I subscribe to this thread? :lol:   I already have my writing for this year and I can't afford to buy anything else, but man, all these posts are really making me  :drool5: . I love this looks of this 8. Fantastic job!

 

 

[8filltheheart]

My DD will be a 3rd grader this year. She has had little grammar and we have not start paragraph wriitng... still working on a cohesive complete 1-2 sentences. Reading and writing have been a struggle here. Will this be a good place to start with her? Also I am thinking about having my older child (8th) go through the note taking/outlining sections since she has not been taught this in public school. Thoughts?

This. My girl has successfully completed WWE 1 and 2. She's needing a bit of a change and I was planning on doing Fable. She freezes when she's asked to compose her own stuff, though. Is this a good program to begin at 3rd grade?

 

And what do you do with younger kids? (First and second grade?)

After looking at the program, I am thinking of using it to replace the FLL3 and Writing Tales 1 in my siggie. For those who have beta-tested it, does this seem a reasonable idea for a third grader?

 

This is my response to how the program teaches in general. I have not used WWE, FLL or WT, so I cannot compare it those programs.

 

The program starts with teaching students how create strong sentences. It covers basic grammar concepts. The approach to learning how to write paragraphs is structured and provides scaffolded support. Students learn how to write paragraphs through continuous story lines where they are provided the topic sentences and the details for constructing their supporting detail sentences. Overtime, the student is gently weaned off the supports and writes independently. The section for learning to write reports is equally scaffolded. The student is guided step by step through the entire process.

 

Does anyone know this? If the pdf was purchased by someone in NZ using an address they set up while in the US (ie a visitor/student/recent immigrant) would it be treated as a domestic sale and be able to be downloaded here?

 

I am planning to wait until international sales get sorted but I really don't get why it should make a difference where I live when I am buying a PDF of something that is not available anywhere else. I can get round it for physical stuff by using a forwarder but I can't get round it for a pdf without copyright infringement.

I only have today and tomorrow to spend time with my ds who is leaving for college. I will be pursuing the international answers starting on Friday. Sorry I can't do it sooner, but I hardly got to spend time with him this summer b/c I spent so much time on the book.

[Chrysalis Academy]

This. My girl has successfully completed WWE 1 and 2. She's needing a bit of a change and I was planning on doing Fable. She freezes when she's asked to compose her own stuff, though. Is this a good program to begin at 3rd grade?

 

And what do you do with younger kids? (First and second grade?)

 

It's *perfect* for this kid.  This is a good description of Morgan, too - she needs more than WWE but she isn't ready to compose her own stuff without me scribing, so I felt we weren't getting the full benefit of Fable.  TC is perfect - it will take their understanding of writing to the next level with a manageable quantity of writing.  Then do Fable, once she is comfortably writing paragraphs on her own! This is what I've concluded, at least.

[idnib]

I wish I could get going but I have houseguests right now. And they're not very pro-homeschooling so I'm not going to fumble around trying to try something completely new in front of them.

 

Thanks to those posting their experiences. I'm living vicariously. 

[alicai]

It's *perfect* for this kid.  This is a good description of Morgan, too - she needs more than WWE but she isn't ready to compose her own stuff without me scribing, so I felt we weren't getting the full benefit of Fable.  TC is perfect - it will take their understanding of writing to the next level with a manageable quantity of writing.  Then do Fable, once she is comfortably writing paragraphs on her own! This is what I've concluded, at least.

 

This was us too. We had planned to start Fable. I had taught a unit out of it in the spring and we both liked it, but the parts where she had to really write, she was like a deer in headlights. I also have MCT and Killgallon on hand, but after sitting down with it all, I realized that TC was the one connecting all the dots. My plan is to proceed through Section 1, pick up some additional grammar, spend a good chunk of time on writing good sentences with both TC and Killgallon, and then start Fable nearer the end of the year.

[FairProspects]

This is definitely my teaching style. It reminds me a bit of FLL and MCT for the grammar section, but not exactly like either one. I'm planning on doing FLL 2 with my 2nd grader after he finishes Sentence Family and I think that will be a good segue into Treasured Conversations. The grammar section so far as been completely review for my 4th grader who has done MCT, but hey, it has been summer and a little review never hurt anyone. We have already had some great conversations. :)

 

We have been skipping the physical copywork just because I have severe dysgraphics, but I do like using the copywork for analysis.

[Roadrunner]

I haven't seen any other program that really teaches paragraph construction so well. My kids can write a ton, but both need work on polishing their writing. If you have a "natural" writer (in parenthesis because I am talking about born writers, but kids who don't mind writing), you will still greatly benefit from this program. By the way, if anybody is working through MCT Paragraph town this year, TC is a much needed and perfect companion! 

[WahM]

I've read the entire thread and didn't seem to see this question asked. I may have missed it though. Is this a writing program only or is it grammar and writing combined?

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, it's both, really.  It teaches grammar through analysis of sentences, grammar as a tool for writing, grammar as a tool that a writer can wield to create specific images in the reader's mind.  You definitely learn the parts of speech, but it's not isolated.

 

I always thought it was funny that SWB starts her writing lectures talking about grammar, but when I read this program, I really got it.  Unlike FLL, where the grammar is pretty isolated from writing, this has grammar fully integrated into writing instruction.  Does that make sense?

[Scuff]

So, a few questions for 8. Where are you planning on going with this? How many books? Where will this book leave a kid? Ready for middle school? high school? What's the next step? (Forgive me if these questions have been answered. I've read this thread over the past few days as I thought about it. Trying to accomplish my goal of planning this week, while also dealing with unexpected crisis on the homefront.) 

[Soror]

I haven't seen any other program that really teaches paragraph construction so well. My kids can write a ton, but both need work on polishing their writing. If you have a "natural" writer (in parenthesis because I am talking about born writers, but kids who don't mind writing), you will still greatly benefit from this program. By the way, if anybody is working through MCT Paragraph town this year, TC is a much needed and perfect companion! 

We are doing Town this year as well as WR Narrative 2 and we are (so far) enjoying them all so far. I'm really excited about writing this year.

[Roadrunner]

We are doing Town this year as well as WR Narrative 2 and we are (so far) enjoying them all so far. I'm really excited about writing this year.

 

We have the exact same lineup in writing! 

So far we completed 11 chapters in the Paragraph town and one in Narrative 2. Neither of those have paragraph writing exercises like TC. 

[WahM]

Well, it's both, really. It teaches grammar through analysis of sentences, grammar as a tool for writing, grammar as a tool that a writer can wield to create specific images in the reader's mind. You definitely learn the parts of speech, but it's not isolated.

 

I always thought it was funny that SWB starts her writing lectures talking about grammar, but when I read this program, I really got it. Unlike FLL, where the grammar is pretty isolated from writing, this has grammar fully integrated into writing instruction. Does that make sense?

Thank you! This is very helpful.

[Chelli]

We are doing Town this year as well as WR Narrative 2 and we are (so far) enjoying them all so far. I'm really excited about writing this year.

 

We have the exact same lineup in writing! 

So far we completed 11 chapters in the Paragraph town and one in Narrative 2. Neither of those have paragraph writing exercises like TC. 

 

I'll make three! That's our exact writing choices as well!

 

ETA: Are you skipping the first section of TC and going right into the second section? I was thinking about going that route since grammar is pretty solid here thanks to MCT.

[FairProspects]

I'll make three! That's our exact writing choices as well!

 

ETA: Are you skipping the first section of TC and going right into the second section? I was thinking about going that route since grammar is pretty solid here thanks to MCT.

 

I thought about it since we have already done MCT Island and Town, but IIRC as I looked through it there were a few grammar terms applied in ways that we had not done in MCT. So we are just going to buzz through it quickly as a review.

[atozmom]

Ok, TC just keeps popping back into my head.  I can't tell you all the times that I have gone back and looked at all of the samples and reread the "why" behind the curriculum page just in the last couple of days. I really like everything that I see. However, since I have already purchased all of our curriculum for this year (writing included), I am having a hard time even considering purchasing anything else when money is so tight. (A single momma's income only goes so far)  I am planning on using IEW's All Things Fun and Fascinating along with the last couple of lessons in SWI-A that we didn't finish up last year. My son's seems to do well with IEW and his writing has improved. However, there is still this nagging little doubt that there are some holes and we are missing some things with his writing.

 

Is there anyone that has already purchased TC that has also used IEW? If so, can you please compare the two? Would combining the two work?

 

Sorry for all of the rambling. It's been a long day at work. 

[Roadrunner]

I'll make three! That's our exact writing choices as well!

 

ETA: Are you skipping the first section of TC and going right into the second section? I was thinking about going that route since grammar is pretty solid here thanks to MCT.

We aren't. I loved the discussion on word choice. We are halving the copy work in the first section and going double speed (or triple speed maybe), but I am making sure we read everything, work through the text, discuss, and do end of the week writing assignments. So the only cheating we are doing is on copy work. 

[Soror]

We aren't. I loved the discussion on word choice. We are halving the copy work in the first section and going double speed (or triple speed maybe), but I am making sure we read everything, work through the text, discuss, and do end of the week writing assignments. So the only cheating we are doing is on copy work. 

That is what we are doing here as well.

[8filltheheart]

So, a few questions for 8. Where are you planning on going with this? How many books? Where will this book leave a kid? Ready for middle school? high school? What's the next step? (Forgive me if these questions have been answered. I've read this thread over the past few days as I thought about it. Trying to accomplish my goal of planning this week, while also dealing with unexpected crisis on the homefront.)

This program will provide students with the foundational skills they will need for more advanced writing. The program focuses on teaching students the essential skills required for creating strong, effective paragraphs and on reading non-fiction selections for the narrowed information required for note taking and turning notes into paragraph-length reports.

 

The next step for students completing this program would be independently writing multi-paragraph length assignments. Bc of the foundation the program provides, that transition should be the natural progression for the student. Students will have been exposed to how multiple thoughts build upon each other since they will have written three short stories where the paragraphs have transitioned into the next paragraph. The focus, however, has been on the individual paragraphs. Multiple paragraph construction would be the next level of direct instruction.

 

As far as what I have planned next, I have ideas rumbling around in my head, but I have nothing formally planned at this point.

 

ETA: Are you skipping the first section of TC and going right into the second section? I was thinking about going that route since grammar is pretty solid here thanks to MCT.

To ensure the concepts behind strong sentence construction have been covered, I would encourage people to read this section before making the decision to completely skip it.

 

The entire book can be read as a methodology vs day by day assignments. No one should feel bound to the layout of the program. As I wrote in the intro, it is written for the non-existent avg child, and you are teaching a real one. :) The first section, however, is far more than grammar. Over the yrs I have written that I do not understand how grammar and writing are separate, and I believe this section does convey why I believe that. The goal is to develop clear expression through word choice, and the language for that discussion is couched in grammatical terms. By the end of the first section students should be expressing themselves with more mature sentence construction bc they understand why word choice matters.

[lorisuewho]

The entire book can be read as a methodology vs day by day assignments. No one should feel bound to the layout of the program. As I wrote in the intro, it is written for the non-existent avg child, and you are teaching a real one. :)

Yes! I read through the entire book and it was as if I was a fly on the wall in your home. At this time I am not planning to do the assignments as written, but I am incubating all the ideas and discussions and methods in my head as I approach our school year. Although you are teaching outlining to students, I felt like I myself gained an outline of how to approach teaching sentence and paragraph construction.

[8filltheheart]

Yes! I read through the entire book and it was as if I was a fly on the wall in your home. 

 

I am so glad you felt this way.   I tried to encapsulate my teaching methods as an ongoing conversation with my children.   If you felt that way, I guess I succeeded!

 

I actually had a tri-fold objective: 1-obviously teach children solid writing skills, 2-provide parents with background knowledge on topics they might lack knowledge in how to address, and 3-teach a methodology course via teaching children.

 

How did I do? 

 

ETA:  I tried to provide thorough explanations for concepts.  Parents should not feel "unqualified" to teach writing and grammar b/c all of the instruction and explanations are incorporated in the book.

[lorisuewho]

I am so glad you felt this way. I tried to encapsulate my teaching methods as an ongoing conversation with my children. If you felt that way, I guess I succeeded!

 

I actually had a tri-fold objective: 1-obviously teach children solid writing skills, 2-provide parents with background knowledge on topics they might lack knowledge in how to address, and 3-teach a methodology course via teaching children.

 

How did I do?

 

ETA: I tried to provide thorough explanations for concepts. Parents should not feel "unqualified" to teach writing and grammar b/c all of the instruction and explanations are incorporated in the book.

I believe you succeeded! Now to see how well I do integrating and implementing this on my own. I love that if I don't feel like I'm doing it well, I can always just fall back on doing the scripted exercises. But for now, I'm treating what I learned as a secure scaffolding on which to build our own integrated writing instruction. I love materials that empower me as a teacher and leave me wiser for having engaged in their texts.

[linguistmama]

I am so glad you felt this way. I tried to encapsulate my teaching methods as an ongoing conversation with my children. If you felt that way, I guess I succeeded!

 

I actually had a tri-fold objective: 1-obviously teach children solid writing skills, 2-provide parents with background knowledge on topics they might lack knowledge in how to address, and 3-teach a methodology course via teaching children.

 

How did I do?

 

ETA: I tried to provide thorough explanations for concepts. Parents should not feel "unqualified" to teach writing and grammar b/c all of the instruction and explanations are incorporated in the book.

I also felt like a fly on the wall. Your posts describing how you teach writing at this stage really make sense now.

[Ethel Mertz]

I'm #205!

[maize]

Glad you like the stories. :)

 

You might want to share the antics of the squirrels in our backyard with your kids. Last year we had a small toy net that the kids had left outside in the yard. One day we watched a squirrel play with it, leave, come back and play with it, leave, and then it came back and stole it! Yesterday my little girls were playing with their Barbies in the backyard, and they came in for a drink. As we were looking out the window, a squirrel came and stole one of their Kelly dolls!!

 

My 12 yr old dd has been writing her own stories about this squirrel society. She is convinced the squirrels spy on them and make plans! ;)

We used to have a squirrel who would come in the house if the back door was left open and chew bites out of any fruits or vegetables that happened to be sitting on the counter. She would climb around on the screen door of it was closed so I got a good look at her belly at it was obvious she was a lactating mother. As a nursing mother myself I couldn't fault her for being hungry...

[tjlcc]

8fill, will this eventually be available for Canadians? :)

[ChrisB]

Does anyone know this? If the pdf was purchased by someone in NZ using an address they set up while in the US (ie a visitor/student/recent immigrant) would it be treated as a domestic sale and be able to be downloaded here?

 

I am planning to wait until international sales get sorted but I really don't get why it should make a difference where I live when I am buying a PDF of something that is not available anywhere else. I can get round it for physical stuff by using a forwarder but I can't get round it for a pdf without copyright infringement.

 

 

I only have today and tomorrow to spend time with my ds who is leaving for college. I will be pursuing the international answers starting on Friday. Sorry I can't do it sooner, but I hardly got to spend time with him this summer b/c I spent so much time on the book.

 

 

8fill, will this eventually be available for Canadians? :)

 

Does this partially answer your question?

[8filltheheart]

Joan in Geneva just sent me information that helped me immensely. ( http://export.gov/fta/ if you are curious.)

 

It looks like we should be able to sell the first 2 sections of the book to Canada, England, and Australia almost immediately.  (I need to create a pdf w/o the third sections)   Tax laws and copyright laws are the main issues.   The third section is the only section with anything that was not completely original in creation.  

 

Maybe by Monday night.  

[Twilight Woods]

Thanks 8 for answering those questions. 

 

My we just found out that my 3rd grader reading instructional level and independent level is a lot higher than we expected. So now I can really focus on her writing :) We originally were going to use MP Intro to Comp but I think we will be doing TC instead b/c of the amount of scaffolding it has. Thank you! 

[RachelChick]

Can anyone tell me - would you feel that you would need to have FLL in addition to TC? We are jumping into homeschool this year with my 4th and 5th grade daughters. I am pretty set on starting W&R and I really like what I'm seeing here with TC, so I'm just trying to decide if adding FLL would just be redundant overkill? I truly have very little idea what we're doing yet, as we haven't even started yet, but I feel good about W&R. I would love any insight you could give me.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I don't think you'd need both FLL and TC, but then, you're talking to a girl who wanted to poke her eye out with a fork after using FLL for a couple of months . . . .  :tongue_smilie:

 

FLL will give lots, and lots, and lots of practice, but it's definitely less integrated with writing than TC.  I think it might be overkill unless your kids really need a lot of repetition to learn grammar.

[RachelChick]

Great to know! Thank you, Chrysalis! I've heard so many wonderful things about FLL. Does anyone have a good idea what they would do with a 1st grader at this point? TC is more for 3-5 graders, W&R is the same. Where to start? WWE? I am beginning HSing my 9 & 10 year old, but I also have another daughter starting 1st grade. If I start into TC with the older girls, where would you start with a child as a precursor to these programs?

[Soror]

Writing with Ease 1 would be a great start for a first grader and doing WWE1-2 or 1-3 would be a good preparation for TC. There are other fine programs out there but WWE is easy to implement and practices skills to prepare for TC.

[texasmama]

I have decided to use TC to replace FLL3 and Writing Tales 1 with my 3rd grader.  I've already pulled the FLL and WT pages out of the 36 week's worth of file folders.

 

Also, I priced printing the entire student book at Staples, and with tax, single sided, it came to about $12.  That is worth it to me to have it in hand for the entire year (even knowing I've printed pages we might not need printed.

 

Need to go change my siggie to reflect the changes in curricula.

[RachelChick]

You gals are the best. Thank you for so much info and help!

[*Jessica*]

We are also using W&R Narrative II along with TC and PT! We did skip the first section of TC because I felt that Nik had a really good grasp of the grammar portion, but perhaps we will go back and do it.

[texasmama]

Check out my siggie now.  Boom!

[ChrisB]

Writing with Ease 1 would be a great start for a first grader and doing WWE1-2 or 1-3 would be a good preparation for TC. There are other fine programs out there but WWE is easy to implement and practices skills to prepare for TC.

 

I completely agree.  I'll be finishing WWE3 and MCT Island with my 3rd graders and then move on to TC.  I'm also running through TC with my 5th grader now that she's completed WWE3.  You backtrack a bit after finishing WWE3 and then moving into TC, yet using WWE through level 3, as with MCT, helps reinforce the skills taught in TC.  You don't need something like MCT before beginning, but we will for the additional reinforcement.

[SeaConquest]

Great to know! Thank you, Chrysalis! I've heard so many wonderful things about FLL. Does anyone have a good idea what they would do with a 1st grader at this point? TC is more for 3-5 graders, W&R is the same. Where to start? WWE? I am beginning HSing my 9 & 10 year old, but I also have another daughter starting 1st grade. If I start into TC with the older girls, where would you start with a child as a precursor to these programs?

 

I would compare ELTL1 to WWE1 and decide which you like better. We decided to go with ELTL because I like the literature selections vs. excerpts and the picture study. 

[RachelChick]

I would compare ELTL1 to WWE1 and decide which you like better. We decided to go with ELTL because I like the literature selections vs. excerpts and the picture study. 

I am still really stinking at acronyms . . . ELTL? Thanks!

[linguistmama]

English Lessons Through Literature :) That would be my pick as well. WWE worked fine, but we like ELTL better. With my 1st grader I just help her choose her copywork from our read aloud and she knows a few basics like beginning with a capital letter and ending with punctuation.

[RachelChick]

We are also using W&R Narrative II along with TC and PT! We did skip the first section of TC because I felt that Nik had a really good grasp of the grammar portion, but perhaps we will go back and do it.

 What is PT?

[*Jessica*]

 What is PT?

 

PT is Paragraph Town, part of Michael Clay Thompson's (MCT) English language arts program.

 

http://www.rfwp.com/series/mct-writing-program#book-writing-paragraph-town