Meadowlark Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 We just started the 2nd grade program. It's fine so far, but we haven't done anything else so I can't really compare it to CAP or TC or anything. I'm just not sure whether to continue with it next year, or jump ship and try the above options. I do like that it's 5 minutes of someone else teaching, and my kids all love to watch it. I'm just concerned about retention. We've been doing subjects/ predicates for 4 days and today my son said "what's a predicate?" No retention. That worries me and reminds me of public school when I taught. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasperstone Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Some children just need lots of revision. My dd is finishing EWI Grade 6. It's not as rigorous in grammar as CLE. So we use it together with CLE 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Could be they need a spiral, mine do. We also use CLE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 Keep in mind that your child will learn what a predicate is again in the first few lessons of Level 3, and again in Level 4, and again in Level 5, oh, and again in Level 6. ;) Check out the S&S of each level and you'll see that all parts of speech are taught over and over again in each level up to 6. Most traditional grammar programs repeat concepts each year so if your child is sketchy on it one year don't sweat it...they will get the info again the next. Not to mention that during the course of the year you are in they will hear the word predicate again and again in the lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I don't think your child is supposed to have much retention in level 2. If kids had 100% retention the first time you wouldn't need 13 years to educate them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meadowlark Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 What about the depth of the writing? I guess I was hoping someone could compare/contrast the EIW way of teaching vs. CAP or TC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 What about the depth of the writing? I guess I was hoping someone could compare/contrast the EIW way of teaching vs. CAP or TC. We've only used upper levels--7-10, and I'm not able to compare to CAP or TC. However, I can say that it has been great for teaching my kids writing (including a reluctant, struggling writer). I only wish EIW existed sooner, so my oldest could have used it for a few more years. It's given him a solid base though. Here's a review I did a few years ago when we first started using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 What about the depth of the writing? I guess I was hoping someone could compare/contrast the EIW way of teaching vs. CAP or TC. I've used and\or read through for my own knowledge, many writing programs and typically always taught writing using an amalgamation of the parts of each program I liked best or that worked best for my children. We used several programs as written as well, including IEW, WWE, and WWS. In addition to those, we wrote across the curricula A LOT, and I would teach writing through those assignments. The reason we switched to EIW this year is because it actually gets done more consistently than when we did the other programs or when writing for the day relied on me creating an assignment from our content subjects. I would say that the depth of writing is similar to other programs like it that are out there. The only programs that I've used that have more depth of writing would be WWE and WWS and that is due to them using content material to write about. However, if you have your dc use what they learn using EIW to write across the curricula then you will be getting the ease of the implementation of EIW along with the benefits of writing about content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 A little late to the party, but I had a question about the levels. My son has a writing background and is supposedly good at it for his age. Right now, however, writing is not very independent. Essentials is my attempt to fix that by nudging this boy out of the writing nest. I know we are going to start at level 7 next year. Then looking at Level 8, it appears to cover much of the same things as 7 for the first half and then transition to the content covered in Level 9. Is this accurate? I know that when we did Easy Grammar just looking at scope/sequence had you thinking every year was more of the same, but it actually got much deeper year after year. Is that the same case here or could we just skip 8 and jump into research papers in 9 without the repetitions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 A little late to the party, but I had a question about the levels. My son has a writing background and is supposedly good at it for his age. Right now, however, writing is not very independent. Essentials is my attempt to fix that by nudging this boy out of the writing nest. I know we are going to start at level 7 next year. Then looking at Level 8, it appears to cover much of the same things as 7 for the first half and then transition to the content covered in Level 9. Is this accurate? I know that when we did Easy Grammar just looking at scope/sequence had you thinking every year was more of the same, but it actually got much deeper year after year. Is that the same case here or could we just skip 8 and jump into research papers in 9 without the repetitions? I actually really like Level 8 because of some of the things it covers, but yes, each level basically covers the same types of writing but at progressively more advanced levels. So, you could easily do 7, do something else for 8th grade, jump back in at 9...whatever you want to do. My oldest did 7 in 9th grade (it was the highest level out at that point), and then jumped to 9 for 10th grade while my dd did level 8. Sometimes there are different literary devices covered, and sometimes what he emphasizes is slightly different. 9 is a jump up from 7 in some ways (for example, in 7 and 8, when they analyze sentences, the sentences are provided. In 9, the student is to go find examples of various things--this takes longer and requires more thought.) 9 seemed like less of a jump up for my dd after doing 8, but it could also be she didn't struggle with writing as much. As far as Easy Grammar goes--we only did Easy Grammar Plus--we'd never done earlier levels. Even though there was a learning curve, it was doable because they were older. I'm sure doing earlier levels would have helped--but it wasn't absolutely necessary. I think EIW is that way--sure, someone who has done younger levels might catch more of the nuances of what he's teaching, while someone new to it might not, but they'll still learn and find it beneficial. HTH some! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Merry! This is exactly the information that I need! So very helpful. I might start surfing about to see if I can find Level 8 at a discount somewhere. I like the idea of repetition and the slow progression. Sometimes my Ds has a bit of a grumbling push back at repetition. Hopefully I can find it somewhere and sneak it in. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 EiW is essentially a school programme. Schools cover much the same stuff every year, slowly moving forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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