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

[Angie in VA]

*Embarrassed*.. may I get some help with one of the lessons? I'm grammar incompetent - I can usually string sentences together, but never learned the basics like parts of speech.

 

Today in TC's Lesson 4, Day 1, there was an exercise to find the nouns and action verbs in the copywork. There was a sentence similar to this:

"The cat's wide eyes sparkled in the dark."

 

The answer identified 'eyes' as a noun, but not cat. Going off the "person, place, thing or idea" definition, why wouldn't it be?

Insomnia here, but I'll take a stab at it. Cat's answers whose eyes? Therefore, while it is a possessive noun, it is acting as an adjective. Right? Other adjectives from that sentence are: the (before cat's), wide, and the (before dark). Verb: sparkled. Nouns: eyes (subject of the sentence), dark. Preposition: in.

 

*Waiting for someone smarter to answer*

[8filltheheart]

*Embarrassed*.. may I get some help with one of the lessons? I'm grammar incompetent - I can usually string sentences together, but never learned the basics like parts of speech.

 

Today in TC's Lesson 4, Day 1, there was an exercise to find the nouns and action verbs in the copywork. There was a sentence similar to this:

"The cat's wide eyes sparkled in the dark."

 

The answer identified 'eyes' as a noun, but not cat. Going off the "person, place, thing or idea" definition, why wouldn't it be?

In some grammar books it would be identified as a possessive noun functioning as part of a larger noun phrase.

 

Grammar is one of those funny topics where when you start digging into it you find disagreement about how words are classified. Are they classified by function or quality? Are articles adjectives or determiners? Depends on who you ask.

 

Different books use different terms. (I remember being thoroughly confused when I was used to labeling words as subjective complement and switched to one using predicate nominative.)

 

I chose to go the simplest route and focus on basic function bc I find it easier for little kids. If you want to label them possessive nouns as part of a larger noun phrase, that would also be correct.

[stripe]

Oh my God, I thought I knew grammar. I never thought a possessive invalidated something's noun-iness. I must have spent too much time studying other languages or something that only use prepositions for possession; this never occurred to me. ugh.

 

(Just finishing week 2 here.)

[8filltheheart]

The point of the grammar instruction portion in TC is to introduce basic grammar concepts in order to identify complete thoughts in terms of subjects and verbs and that words perform specific jobs which depend on how we use them. Keeping it simple and focusing on the understanding that words perform functions is my goal for the target age group.

[Chrysalis Academy]

*Embarrassed*.. may I get some help with one of the lessons? I'm grammar incompetent - I can usually string sentences together, but never learned the basics like parts of speech.

 

Today in TC's Lesson 4, Day 1, there was an exercise to find the nouns and action verbs in the copywork. There was a sentence similar to this:

"The cat's wide eyes sparkled in the dark."

 

The answer identified 'eyes' as a noun, but not cat. Going off the "person, place, thing or idea" definition, why wouldn't it be? 

 

So, I think what is going on here is that she is introducing kids to the idea that words don't have parts of speech attached to them the way elements have atomic numbers which define them - parts of speech are decided by how a word is used in the sentence.  Right?  There are a lot of words that can be nouns or adjectives, depending on how they function in the sentence.  Grass is a noun, right? It's a thing.  But if you have the sentence "The children played on the grass field" then grass is an adjective - (even though it is still a thing) - because in this case, it is modifying field - it is telling "What kind" of field.  Words that answer the questions "what kind" "which ones" and "how many" are behaving as adjectives, just like words that answer adverb questions - how, when, where - are adverbs.  There are words that can be both prepositions and adverbs, depending on whether they introduce a phrase or modify a verb.  And of course verbals are the great example - gerunds are verbs acting like nouns, participles are verbs acting like adjectives, etc.

 

I think at this stage the point is just to introduce kids to this idea - that sentences are all about communicating meaning, and that words can be used in flexible ways by writers, depending on what meaning they want to convey.

 

ETA:  This might not be an explanation that would fly with a grammarian, but for my purposes, it's plenty deep enough for a 3rd grader!

[HejKatt]

Thank you all for your explanations! 8FillTheHeart - big thank you too for this curriculum, since I'm learning along with my DS.:)    

 

 Grass is a noun, right? It's a thing.  But if you have the sentence "The children played on the grass field" then grass is an adjective - (even though it is still a thing) - because in this case, it is modifying field - it is telling "What kind" of field.  Words that answer the questions "what kind" "which ones" and "how many" are behaving as adjectives, just like words that answer adverb questions - how, when, where - are adverbs.  There are words that can be both prepositions and adverbs, depending on whether they introduce a phrase or modify a verb.  And of course verbals are the great example - gerunds are verbs acting like nouns, participles are verbs acting like adjectives, etc.

 

ETA:  This might not be an explanation that would fly with a grammarian, but for my purposes, it's plenty deep enough for a 3rd grader!

Rose, that's a great explanation for spotting adjectives and adverbs, thank you! It's plenty deep enough for this 3rd grader's mom, who is *ahem* some multiple of years older (but sadly not proportionately wiser).  :tongue_smilie:

[RootAnn]

We had some good discussions along this point (words can be different parts of speech depending on how they are used in a sentence) when going through TC today. I have two going through it together, so one often has identified one that the other hasn't. Questions like, "Is 'hurt' a noun?" turn into great teaching moments. 

 

Completely related, I asked dd#3 on a long drive today what she'd like to do more of in school. Instead of the answer I expected ("more games"), she said, "More Bushy stories." My homemade birthday card had Cheddar on it - nibbling the cake...

[HejKatt]

Completely related, I asked dd#3 on a long drive today what she'd like to do more of in school. Instead of the answer I expected ("more games"), she said, "More Bushy stories." My homemade birthday card had Cheddar on it - nibbling the cake...

DS is a Bushy fan too! When I told him how cool it was I could email the author of the curriculum with questions, he asked me to check if there was a book of Bushy stories. Perhaps we should form a Bushy fan fiction club.  :laugh:

 

On the flip side, we did Lesson 4 Day 2 today, where we looked at a picture (of a forest), took 5 characters + 5 action verbs and created a story from them. Oy, that was hard - mostly because DS wanted to use far-out characters like talking books and jumping fish, which required all sorts of contortions  to make them fit the setting. Then, when I wrote down the convoluted storyline and told him it was his copywork, things fell apart. 

 

But nothing wrong with 8's curriculum - just a lesson to me to remind him to stay on topic when writing. And to warn him beforehand if he's generating his own copywork, so he doesn't go overboard!  :willy_nilly:

[Angie in VA]

DS is a Bushy fan too! When I told him how cool it was I could email the author of the curriculum with questions, he asked me to check if there was a book of Bushy stories. 

 

 

That can come out after 8's middle school and high school writing programs are available. I know it's only logical to have 8 publish a book about Busy first, but we need the higher levels!

[domestic_engineer]

Another Bushy-loving family here ... When our Tag-Along child spotted a squirrel in the yard, he said "Look!  There's Bushy; I think he's hunting for nouns!"   :laugh:

[Mom2TheTeam]

I've read most of the thread and looked through the samples on the site. I really like the looks of this program. My son is in 3rd. I have a few of questions:

1. Right now, we are doing FLL 3 for grammar.  I like it.  If we used TC would we drop this program?  Does TC teach grammar in depth like FLL?  Is it a complete grammar program for 3rd grade?

2.  What about WWE?  We are using that as well and we enjoy it.  My son is great at narrating back to me the whole story, but not so great yet at simplifying it into a summary of the main ideas.  WWE is helping with that.  Would we continue it also?

3.  Lastly, were do you go after this program? I don't know how to teach writing.  I feel I'm going to want something each year to help with that.  But, if this approach is different than other approaches to writing, what will fit well after this? 

Thanks!!!

[texasmama]

I've read most of the thread and looked through the samples on the site. I really like the looks of this program. My son is in 3rd. I have a few of questions:

 

1. Right now, we are doing FLL 3 for grammar.  I like it.  If we used TC would we drop this program?  Does TC teach grammar in depth like FLL?  Is it a complete grammar program for 3rd grade?

 

2.  What about WWE?  We are using that as well and we enjoy it.  My son is great at narrating back to me the whole story, but not so great yet at simplifying it into a summary of the main ideas.  WWE is helping with that.  Would we continue it also?

 

3.  Lastly, were do you go after this program? I don't know how to teach writing.  I feel I'm going to want something each year to help with that.  But, if this approach is different than other approaches to writing, what will fit well after this? 

 

Thanks!!!

1.  IMO, yes.

3.  I will likely use Writing Tales for two years after TC as a bridge before using WWS for my dd.  I had WT planned for this year but scrapped it in favor of TC.  I will likely also look into something like Creative Writer, as my dd loves to write creatively. 

[Mom2TheTeam]

I've never heard of Writing Tales. I'll have to look that up.  My plan is to use WWS eventually also.  But, since that is a few years away who knows where we will ultimately end up.  I wasn't expecting to need a writing program (other than WWE) yet, but really feel we do.  So, who knows the future holds.  LOL. 

Any thoughts on WWE along with this or dropping WWE? Honestly, I'm slightly tired of WWE, but he definitely needs more dictation and I know he will benefit from continuing to work on summarizing.

[texasmama]

You can continue to use it if you feel it necessary, IMO. It would not hurt.

 

Writing Tales is a sweet little fable-based program. It has two levels. It contains light grammar, but I supplement the grammar. I will evaluate which level of WT to put dd into after TC.

[RootAnn]

Both levels of Writing Tales includes re-telling (not in the WWE method, BTW - more Charlotte Masonish) & copywork along with grammar & rewriting stories (including fables). The games are great & what we loved the most about it. I thought the grammar in Writing Tales 1 was wonderful for the ages/grades it is recommended for (3rd/4th). It would be light for those who love FLL or have used FLL. I do supplement the grammar in WT2. 

 

I have both levels of Writing Tales on my shelf & am about halfway through WT1 with one of my TC kids. I might actually go onto CAP's Narrative 2 with the older child & take the younger one through a level of WT when she hits a wall with TC. We'll see where they get stuck & need to go into a holding pattern. We're only in the first section of TC.

[Melinda S in TX]

Is anyone else having trouble getting it copied?  Staples won't copy it for me.  They say the copyright covers me printing a copy for my own use, but they (Staples) is a third party and they won't print it without a release from the publisher.

[texasmama]

Is anyone else having trouble getting it copied?  Staples won't copy it for me.  They say the copyright covers me printing a copy for my own use, but they (Staples) is a third party and they won't print it without a release from the publisher.

Staples did not give me this trouble.  I had other issues with Staples which we worked out regarding formatting, but they did not do this.

 

I would try a different Staples.

[8filltheheart]

Is anyone else having trouble getting it copied?  Staples won't copy it for me.  They say the copyright covers me printing a copy for my own use, but they (Staples) is a third party and they won't print it without a release from the publisher.

 

If you have them email me, I will email them a release.   I had this happen to someone else.   It was an easy fix.  (FWIW, they are misinterpreting the copyright.   You are the original purchaser, therefore you have the ability to print for your own use.)

[blondeviolin]

Okay, next week we finish section 1! My 8yo hasn't really struggled with any of the concepts or ideas introduced in the first section. She sometimes takes forever doing the copy work (daydreaming) or misses a noun, but not because she doesn't get the concept. I've not been having her do any of her own writing at this point either.

 

So... Is she ready to move to section 2 and paragraphs?

 

I also have WWE 3 and CAP W&R 1. TC has been such a nice break from WWE for this particular child. I guess I need to read over section 2 again...

[texasmama]

Just popping in to say that I've been really pleased with the retention and understanding of grammar that my dd has had using TC.  We are on week 7.  It is an efficient program.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Go for it!! Just take it slow.  You can always take breaks, alternating weeks of TC & Fable, if you want a change.  You can also do TC-type analysis on other stories once you have gone through that section and gotten it down.  I think it's really smart to stop and assess where you are when you get to the end of a section, and decide whether to forge ahead or take a break and/or do more practice.

 

Morgan has done Grammar Island, Sentence Island, and is mostly done with section 1 of TC.  We are definitely going to move straight into Section 2, but we are going to keep the grammar concepts fresh by having fun with Grammar Land - I think she'll like that book.  We have also picked back up with Fable and we're working on Lesson 9 right now.  We also do Write From History when it matches up with our history topics.  So we have a lot going on in the grammar and writing departments, but we don't do everything every day.  She likes that I let her choose what she wants to work on next, and some days we run out of time & juice before we get to every single thing, but we're moving forward in all topics, so it's all good for now.

[8filltheheart]

Okay, next week we finish section 1! My 8yo hasn't really struggled with any of the concepts or ideas introduced in the first section. She sometimes takes forever doing the copy work (daydreaming) or misses a noun, but not because she doesn't get the concept. I've not been having her do any of her own writing at this point either.

 

So... Is she ready to move to section 2 and paragraphs?

 

I also have WWE 3 and CAP W&R 1. TC has been such a nice break from WWE for this particular child. I guess I need to read over section 2 again...

 

I would recommend reading through the section and making a decision based on your assessment of your dd's abilities.  The 2nd section offers a lot of scaffolded support for learning how to write a paragraph.   Students are not expected to write a paragraph without first really understanding how to write one.   They spend several weeks on paragraph analysis and writing paragraphs with topic sentences and details provided before they write paragraphs independently.

[Flaura]

My 8yo ds is having a great time with this program. We started lesson 7 this week and are learning about adverbs. I am happy he is having so much fun with it as he is typically most interested in math. When we were talking about adverbs and changing their position in the sentence he started referring to the commutative property of adverbs ;)

 

Thanks for writing this, our whole family loves it!

[Hakg]

Does anyone know if this is available to overseas customers yet?

[TracyP]

We, also, are enjoying this program. DS will be 9 soon and is on week 6. Some of the grammar is review, but I feel like he is truly mastering it now. He loves Bushy and the other stories. He also enjoys the way he is treated like an author with TC. We both have fun with this program. Today we did the second lesson on adjectives and he followed me around the kitchen creating silly sentences after our lesson was done. He is resistant to being taught in general, but he likes Beast Academy and "the Bushy book." Just as important, Mom likes it. I am actually excited to teach ds paragraph writing. :)

 

I have recommended TC to several friends. Thanks, 8, for this great program.

[texasmama]

FYI, today dd is ill and she said, "I feel so sick!  I think I can only do my Treasured Conversations work!"  :D

[texasmama]

Also, using colored pencils to label and mark the parts of speech is genius.  It makes such a lovely and colorful end result that dd and I admire every time she does it. 

[texasmama]

My dd told me to look up "the lady who wrote TC" and say the following:

 

"I wish they had your curriculum until college.  Actually, after college.  I like how you suggested that it would be good to use colored pencils for the copy work.  Me and my mom have lots of fun doing it.  Thanks!"

[alisoncooks]

Aw, what a great commendation!  Now I'll have to put this on the radar for next year, for oldest DD!

[FairProspects]

It is still working well here too, but in the midst of lesson 6, I will add that IMHE many dyslexics/dysgraphics are going to need more practice and grammar than is provided in TC. I'm very glad we did MCT Island first because I think it is the only reason ds is keeping up with the grammar in TC. He would not be able to do it otherwise. We are also having to divide the lessons in half now because so much of the language gets twisted up and confused in his brain. I'm glad that the material is structured as it is because I feel like it is flexible enough to adapt however, but I just thought I would put that out there for others teaching dyslexics.

[Soror]

8, you have a real gift for writing, I can see now how you were able to teach your children so well. We just finished the 10th week and ds is especially loving the current story about Anthony, he keeps reading ahead. Much to my surprise he is blowing through the outlining, we had never done any type of outlining so I've been a bit surprised with how easy it has been for him so far but I love the incremental building, he really needs that.

[Soror]

I would agree FP that the grammar can be tough, I think ds' work in MCT was a good prep. I don't know that we would have been able to really grasp it as well otherwise. We had made it through all of Island and Grammar and Paragraph Town(we skipped most of the writing assignments however) before starting. We've been doing Practice Town on our TC days without grammar review and we also work on the other parts of speech we've learned in MCT while doing TC. I've been toying with the idea of bringing back some KISS grammar for extra practice but I'm trying to decide if that is overkill or needed. I'm a bit annoyed with the fact that we learned these different phrases in MCT yet the practice sentences rarely require the use of them. I love the complex sentences in TC and after using it the MCT sentences seem a bit too easy in comparison, tbh. Ds is turning into quite the language lover but as with anything I'm always trying to keep the line between stroking the fire and adding to much.

[Angie in VA]

 

"I wish they had your curriculum until college.  Actually, after college."

 

Don't we all!

[texasmama]

The grammar is challenging, but my dd is doing pretty well with it. I expect her to identify possessive noun adjectives as nouns at this point and correct that, as needed. 

 

Her background is FLL 1 and 2, then R&S 2.  I had FLL3 on the docket for this year and switched to TC instead at the very last minute.

[FairProspects]

Ok 8, we are really struggling and I'm hoping maybe some of your experience can help us because I know you have said in the past that you had a severely dyslexic son. At what age was he successful with the material in Treasured Conversations? Specifically the later grammar lessons 6-8. Would he have needed more time or to go more slowly through that section? Was he also dysgraphic and struggle with all types of language processing?

 

Ds is 10 and even though we are going slowly splitting the grammar lessons in half or less, he is in tears because the language is flipping all around in his brain. Ds genuinely cannot retain all the language - possessive noun adjective, article, etc. How did you handle these types of problems with your dyslexic son or did he not struggle with these types of issues?

[8filltheheart]

Ok 8, we are really struggling and I'm hoping maybe some of your experience can help us because I know you have said in the past that you had a severely dyslexic son. At what age was he successful with the material in Treasured Conversations? Specifically the later grammar lessons 6-8. Would he have needed more time or to go more slowly through that section? Was he also dysgraphic and struggle with all types of language processing?

 

Ds is 10 and even though we are going slowly splitting the grammar lessons in half or less, he is in tears because the language is flipping all around in his brain. Ds genuinely cannot retain all the language - possessive noun adjective, article, etc. How did you handle these types of problems with your dyslexic son or did he not struggle with these types of issues?

My ds was still a struggling reader at age 10 and the vocabulary in TC would have been a stretch for him to read. And, no, ds was not dysgraphic. He does have a slow processing speed though.

 

I never progress to a new concept until the former one is mastered. That is true with all of my kids. I use copywork selections and instructions exactly the same as presented in TC, but until they are confident with concepts, they stay focused on just that concept.

 

Fwiw, the concepts in lesson 8, I would not expect most kids to be able to master with just the instruction in the book. I wanted to make sure the concepts were introduced so that parents would have a vocabulary for discussing with their students. (I tried to teach the teachers as much as the students.)

 

What I would recommend doing is skipping forward to the second section and focus his energies there. I would either select or create a single sentence everyday for grammar review. I would also ask as many questions as you need to in order for him to be successful.

 

For example, if the sentence is The hard ground trembled from the pounding footsteps of the approaching creatures, ask him, what trembled, what kind of ground, what caused the trembling, what kind of footsteps, whose footsteps, what kind of creature, etc.

 

It is through the questioning and the labeling that they learn to see and understand the concepts. If the sentences are too difficult, reduce them to the base sentence and try adding the parts of speech back in. The ground trembled. What kind of ground? Let him have the original to look at and use your questions to build it. Discuss what part of speech it is that does that job.

 

I have to leave, so I'm sorry if that isn't very clear. I don't have time to even look at what I typed. Please ask questions in order to clarify, and I will respond tonight when I get back home.

[Lakeside]

Also, using colored pencils to label and mark the parts of speech is genius. It makes such a lovely and colorful end result that dd and I admire every time she does it.

How are you using the colored pencils? I saw that it suggested them, but I can't find the instructions on how to use them.

[texasmama]

How are you using the colored pencils? I saw that it suggested them, but I can't find the instructions on how to use them.

I give dd 8-10 colored pencils and have her mark a line next to each instruction in a different color.  (Underline the nouns is red.  Circle the verbs is yellow.  Etc)

 

The end result is very colorful.  :)

[Soror]

Here is ds first paragraph from outline, we are on Lesson 12, the topic sentence is provided and then they have to make an outline with supporting details and make it into a paragraph. There are subsequent paragraphs as well so it has to stay within that story line:

 

Dad yelled at Anthony to follow him as he raced for an opening in the rock wall that looked too small for the troll to enter. They ran into the hole breathing hard and exhausted. Lying down to catch their breath they laughed, happy they were alive. Getting up slowly they hugged each other. Tired and scared they headed down the tunnel.  

 

   

At first he had the same order for every sentence. Then we went through them together and I first encouraged him to vary his subjects, instead of just using they. Next I had him look at adding in some details and lastly look at varying the sentence structure (our prior work in WR and Killgallon were a help here). 

[ForeverFamily]

Just wanted to say thank you 8 for such a great curriculum.  My daughter and I are loving it, we are in week four.  She absolutely adored the stories about bushy.  On the day it was assigned to finish the story of bushy she was thrilled.  She voluntarily sat down at the end of the school day and spent 3 hours writing a 7 page story of what she imagined would happen next.  She was extremely proud of the result! TC is brilliant and it came at a perfect time for us.  Thank you! :)

[FairProspects]

What I would recommend doing is skipping forward to the second section and focus his energies there. I would either select or create a single sentence everyday for grammar review. I would also ask as many questions as you need to in order for him to be successful.

 

For example, if the sentence is The hard ground trembled from the pounding footsteps of the approaching creatures, ask him, what trembled, what kind of ground, what caused the trembling, what kind of footsteps, whose footsteps, what kind of creature, etc.

 

It is through the questioning and the labeling that they learn to see and understand the concepts. If the sentences are too difficult, reduce them to the base sentence and try adding the parts of speech back in. The ground trembled. What kind of ground? Let him have the original to look at and use your questions to build it. Discuss what part of speech it is that does that job.

 

 

 

I think this might work. I may retype the sentences into Startwrite with your permission too. I think having 8 or so sentences in a small space is visually tripping up his reading/language skills and having more negative space or a sentence per day may reduce this problem. I might go back to the color coding by part of speech that we did with MCT last year too.

 

Also, issues with word retrieval make it really hard for ds to expand or write sentences. In your opinion would having lists of words like the Words without Walls from IEW be an appropriate accommodation that accomplishes the same end goal? He just doesn't have the words in his head available for retrieval (not from lack of language exposure but language processing/dysgraphia issues) but seems to do much better with lists of words as options.

 

[RootAnn]

She voluntarily sat down at the end of the school day and spent 3 hours writing a 7 page story of what she imagined would happen next.  She was extremely proud of the result! TC is brilliant and it came at a perfect time for us.  Thank you! :)

 

Come to the Student Treasures Yahoo group & share it! We're loving the other short stories that TC students have written. SEVEN pages would thrill my Bushy-lovers!

My kids have determined that Heart needs to write a five-book series involving Bushy & Cheddar. (There is also apparently a rabbit named Clover that comes into the fifth book. But you knew that already, didn't you?)

[8filltheheart]

I think this might work. I may retype the sentences into Startwrite with your permission too. I think having 8 or so sentences in a small space is visually tripping up his reading/language skills and having more negative space or a sentence per day may reduce this problem. I might go back to the color coding by part of speech that we did with MCT last year too.

 

Also, issues with word retrieval make it really hard for ds to expand or write sentences. In your opinion would having lists of words like the Words without Walls from IEW be an appropriate accommodation that accomplishes the same end goal? He just doesn't have the words in his head available for retrieval (not from lack of language exposure but language processing/dysgraphia issues) but seems to do much better with lists of words as options.

 

 

Absolutely do whatever you need to do in order to help your child.   Another thought is to use different colors on a dry erase board and build off the base sentence that way.   You could have a color-code key for each part of speech and always write the parts of speech in that color.   While the preference would be for him to be able to associate the correct grammar term with the function, actually understanding the function is far more important.     Building strong sentences is the main objective, so focusing on building vs. deconstructing might be far more useful to him in the long run.

[8filltheheart]

Here is ds first paragraph from outline, we are on Lesson 12, the topic sentence is provided and then they have to make an outline with supporting details and make it into a paragraph. There are subsequent paragraphs as well so it has to stay within that story line:

 

   

At first he had the same order for every sentence. Then we went through them together and I first encouraged him to vary his subjects, instead of just using they. Next I had him look at adding in some details and lastly look at varying the sentence structure (our prior work in WR and Killgallon were a help here). 

 

Come to the Student Treasures Yahoo group & share it! We're loving the other short stories that TC students have written. SEVEN pages would thrill my Bushy-lovers!

My kids have determined that Heart needs to write a five-book series involving Bushy & Cheddar. (There is also apparently a rabbit named Clover that comes into the fifth book. But you knew that already, didn't you?)

 

Definitely post it on the loop!  He did a great job.   Your approach is how I work with my kids.   I never let them drop the skills that they have been working on, so when we discuss their writing, we look at how what they have written compares to what they have learned (of course based appropriately on age and ability.)

 

 

 

 

 

[8filltheheart]

Just wanted to say thank you 8 for such a great curriculum.  My daughter and I are loving it, we are in week four.  She absolutely adored the stories about bushy.  On the day it was assigned to finish the story of bushy she was thrilled.  She voluntarily sat down at the end of the school day and spent 3 hours writing a 7 page story of what she imagined would happen next.  She was extremely proud of the result! TC is brilliant and it came at a perfect time for us.  Thank you! :)

I am so glad it is a good fit for your family.    :001_smile:   And I second RootAnn's suggestion of sharing it on the loop.  Bushy Fan Fiction!  Love it!!

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Today we did Lesson 8 Day 1 - Helping verbs.  All the Jack playing football sentences with various helping verbs?  She had a whole elaborate story - she was Jack's mother -  to go with each one.  It was a hoot, I was totally cracking up.  Her imaginary husband is kind of a pushy jerk, but I was rolling about all her travails with Jack the wannabe football player!!

[ForeverFamily]

Come to the Student Treasures Yahoo group & share it! We're loving the other short stories that TC students have written. SEVEN pages would thrill my Bushy-lovers!

My kids have determined that Heart needs to write a five-book series involving Bushy & Cheddar. (There is also apparently a rabbit named Clover that comes into the fifth book. But you knew that already, didn't you?)

 

 

 

I am so glad it is a good fit for your family.    :001_smile:   And I second RootAnn's suggestion of sharing it on the loop.  Bushy Fan Fiction!  Love it!!

 

 

 

My Dd is excited to share her story, and can't wait to read other bushy stories!  I just joined the groups, so I will definitely post it.  Thanks! :001_smile:

[ForeverFamily]

I did get her story posted.  It was surprisingly easy, yahoo groups have always been confusing to me.  Her story was actually about 6 pages long (skipping every other line on lined paper as suggested in TC), I forgot that her seventh page was mostly a picture.    We both enjoyed reading through all the other stories on there, all your kids have great imaginations and are great writers!  So many fun stories! :)

[In2why]

Question about downloading. I would want the book on my Kindle so I could have the teacher's book with me while teaching without having to print it and then on the computer so I can print off the student pages. (I can't print with my kindle....wish I knew how but beyond my tech ability)

 

Would I be able to copy the file on to my kindle after I save the file or is it read/print only?

[HejKatt]

It is still working well here too, but in the midst of lesson 6, I will add that IMHE many dyslexics/dysgraphics are going to need more practice and grammar than is provided in TC. I'm very glad we did MCT Island first because I think it is the only reason ds is keeping up with the grammar in TC. 

DS isn't actually dyslexic/dysgraphic (AFAIK) but this is our first introduction to grammar and I agree that  lessons 6 and 7 are difficult. 

 

To be precise, the instruction is very clear and the verbal drills are great. But the copywork/marking exercise at the end seem, I don't know, a notch harder. DS continually gets tripped up by nouns that aren't obvious, e.g. 'cave-dways' (an imaginary animal from the context of the passage), 'unseating' (context is a knight's being unsaddled at a tournament). When he misidentifies those as nouns, he will subsequently label the adjectives incorrectly and the number of errors cascade so he's getting discouraged.

 

8FillTheHeart, I would love if you added that option in another revision, but I know you are busy and this doesn't detract from the fact this is a wonderful curriculum :coolgleamA: .  So I don't know, perhaps I should find a page of simpler paragraphs to label as an optional exercise for those lessons? Anyone have suggestions on how I do that? I would write up my own if I could but frankly, I'm learning along with DS and my only advantage over him is that I hold the teacher's manual.  :blushing: