MCT Grammar Island and W & R Fable...should we do these simultaneously?

[icngirl119]

Hi,

 

I'm planning next school year for my 4th grader.  He'll be 9 in August so he's a very young 4th grader.  This year he's been doing ELTL 2 and while it does have some grammar work, I think it's pretty light. 

 

I already have Fable and would love to use it next year for him as I feel he needs some good instruction in writing, but I don't feel like he has enough of an understanding of what makes a complete sentence vs. sentence fragment.  

 

Should I do MCT Grammar Island Level 1 in conjunction with Fable this next year or should I do ELTL 3 and MCT Grammar and work into Fable the following year once he has a better grip on grammar, parts of speech, parts of sentences, etc.? 

 

Thanks for your help!  I always appreciate the input!

[Five More Minutes]

We love MCT here, and I think that using it along with Fable would be excellent. I've used Paragraph Town along with some of the other levels of W&R this year and have enjoyed the combination.

 

I wouldn't think you would need to wait to use Fable, but if you find it's rocky, you could always pause and do something with more copywork for the first few months. Fable is designed to be completed in 10 weeks, so you will have lots of time to lead into it next year.

 

(I know nothing about ELTL and can't comment there.)

 

 

[icngirl119]

Also, how important is the teacher's manual for MCT?  

[rimk3]

We followed ELTL 2 with MCT Island and Fable. We did Treasured Conversation (section 1) as well this year. The first part of Island was review for us after ELTL 2. But it was presented in a differmt way, so it didn't feel boring. ELTL 2 was enough to move into Fable. You may need to give the dictation sentances in Fable one at a time for bit since there was no dictation in ELTL 2. I found TC, Fable, and MCT Island played really nice together. I would do MCT/Fable OR ELTL 3. I think ELTL 3 and MCT would be a lot grammar and sentance diagraming.

 

I only have the teacher's manuals for grammar island and practice island. I bought them used and never bought the student books. I like having the manuals and haven't missed the student books.

[kiwik]

W&R is meant to be alternated with grammar so why not?

[LMD]

I don't know anything about w&r fable, but I used mct island level with classical writing's Aesop - which I'm assuming is along a similar theme to fable. It worked well. I have both teacher/student book and if I was only going to get 1 it'd be the teacher one.

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

We are using WR Fable this year (3rd) and starting MCT next year with WR Narration (4th).  We plan to stick with CAP's Writing and Rhetoric along MCT's program.  I think they will go well together.  You can alternate with MCT easily.  Most of the WR assignments will be summary and amplification with some sentence play, copy work and dictation.  It is gentle.  The amplifications can be a bit long sometimes, but it is very good.  In Sentence Island, they will be learning how to write good sentences.  If you like, you can do Sentence Island first and then Fable in your course sequence or you could simply alternate, depending on your son's abilities.