FLL, The Wand/The Arrow, or MCT?

[Jackie]

My daughter has asked for more language instruction. She is asynchronous in her abilities, which makes finding new curric a bit challenging for me. Reading is a fifth grade level or so, we're wrapping up AAS level 2, but she does very little handwriting (we do AAS with very slow typing). Curriculum where I can easily adjust pace has been necessary; if there is too much repetition she loses interest quickly. We've done best with programs that are intended for a wide range of ages or by getting programs aimed at late elementary and slowing the pace and omitting written output. She specifically wants grammar and vocabulary and she also likes narration and etymology. She isn't so interested in memorization/recitation, but could probably be persuaded if it is really integral to a program. I would be skipping any copywork included for now.

 

FLL - It appears very easy to implement and it's by far the least expensive out of what I'm looking at. A lot of reviews mention the slow pace and repetition, which will kill the joy for her unless it is easy for me to speed it up by combining or omitting lessons.

 

Brave Writer - I have The Writer's Jungle, love the concept but never seem to implement any of it. I need more hand holding and intended to order Jot It Down in the spring or next year to start on creative writing. The sample of The Wand online appears way too easy but I've seen reviews saying it ramps up. The sample issue for The Arrow looks more on target for where she is at, so I might have to contact BW for level if we go this route.

 

MCT - More comprehensive than others, and also more expensive than others. (I can swing the cost but hate to spend it and be wrong about it.) I would do adapting for writing and likely slow the pace considerably, but it would possibly work for us for multiple years. I don't *think* it would start over her head, but it's a risk.

 

Any opinions on one of these over another? Or something else entirely I should be looking at?

[MrsWeasley]

I like Bravewriter Jot It Down and the Writer's Jungle, but I don't like the Arrows: I just didn't find enough retention, the spacing made it difficult to implement for me... I used Writing with Ease instead.

[kiwik]

you could just skip to FFL3

[Farrar]

We don't usually use the Arrow, partly because of the price and partly because I like picking the passages myself and reading on our own schedule. But I do like the layout and the ability to omit or add or make it copywork or dictation or French dictation...  But the main thing in the Arrow is the copywork/dictation. So if she wouldn't be doing that, then I wouldn't do that.

 

Instead, if you wanted to do some Brave Writer stuff, I would maybe consider getting Jot It Down or Partnership Writing, which is the writing projects supplement. Since she's doing so little writing, I would lean toward Jot It Down, but I'd say look at them and see which one sounds better for her. You do one a month. It's pretty laid out. It could be easily used alongside something else because it's different from all the other things you've listed. Also, it's a once a month thing (though the projects can take multiple days).

 

We've done MCT and it wasn't for us, but she might enjoy it. It resells very well. You could just get Grammar Island and see how she likes it. If she's in WWE2, I'm sure it wouldn't be over her head. Grammar Island goes pretty fast. Sentence Island is much longer - just to get a feel for the components.

 

That said, if you just wanted to add grammar, FLL would certainly be a simpler, less expensive option to try.

[Loves Light]

How old is your daughter?  

 

We completed MCT Island level last year and are starting town level now.  My kids, now 3rd and 5th graders, loved Island level but there are portions that don't seem to fit what your dd enjoys.  For example, Building Language only introduces ten to fifteen stems and is light compared to Caesar's English (stems/vocabulary for town level).  What you won't find in MCT is a lot of copywork and memorization, though the four level analysis in Practice Island might become a little repetitive.  Depending on your daughter's age, you might be able to go with Town level and take it really slow.  Narration could be added easily to any literature you are reading.

 

We are fans of the Bravewriter lifestyle but I have difficulty with the Arrow issues, specifically choosing books that we are interested in and forming a cohesive program from there.  I felt I would be jumping around too much for the kids to retain the concepts.   

 

 

 

[Kerileanne99]

We have adapted a couple of more advanced programs for Alex. I tried FLL with her...it is really gentle and sweet. Whilst she was fine with doing it, it just doesn't fit her needs. She needed to be handed all the parts of speech and then allowed to practice and absorb them, not have 25 lessons on nouns before moving on.

 

We have MCT, and I pull from that. It isn't quite what we need either, but much much closer. I can give you some more details if you like...

Funnily enough, she saw Easy Grammar one day when we were browsing. It is workbook style, and she can pretty much do it independently...so I bought it for her to play with. Very little writing. We do MCT together when she wants it, but she really likes the layout of Easy Grammar for just 'getting it done.'

 

I also have Jot it Down. I actually would wait on any of these until she is writing. She will get so much more out of it, and it makes great handwriting practice as well:)

 

Are you set on a more scripted program? Until Alex was writing well, we did a homemade program. We did things like Brian P. Cleary books. I printed out the FLL definitions for her to use, and bought wooden Montessori parts of speech symbols. When she wrote her sentences from WWE or AAS (you could easily print out her typed sentences) she just put the symbols above the words to identify the parts of speech. We did literary and poetry concepts whilst reading children's books. There are actually books you can get to teach these more advanced concepts through picture books, but it is pretty straight-forward:)

 

For vocabulary, when we read I allow her to gently underline any words she doesn't know in pencil (in our books) and we write them in a little book for her. Sometimes she likes to draw a picture to go with it. We also have Marie's words, and she chooses 10-20 of those she 'likes' every week or so. Since they are picture based, these are fun for kids. I actually have a fishing line with clothespins in our school room and she clips the cards up. We make a game of narrating a story using as many of them as possible, which usually dissolves into fits and giggles. Daddy does this wih us, so it is a family thing.

 

One of the very best purchases I have made is a card game...Rummy Roots and More Rummy Roots. It has over 100 Greek and Latin roots. You play it kind of like Go Fish at first. There is a master list to check if you can't remember, but you have a root and must ask your opponent for the meaning to make pairs. Really, if she likes vocabulary and etymology, make this your very first purchase:)

After only a couple of times playing, Alex would take words (I think her first were photosynthesis and autobiography) and break them into their roots spontaneously. These weren't words she didn't already know, but the ability to apply the roots is really neat. Not to mention she uses them to try to figure out unfamiliar words. Really, a fun game and very useful:)