Questions about Kilgallon and sentence composing

[Amy M]

First, what do I buy? (I have a third grader, but don't really want to start this until 4th or 5th grade.) Do I get Story Grammar for Elementary, Sentence Composing for Elementary School, or Sentence Composing for Middle School?

 

How long does it take? Can I add this as a quick, occasional supplement to other writing and grammar programs, or do you use it as your sole grammar program?

 

Where do you purchase it? Best place for deals?

 

Is there another program out there that rivals Kilgallon in strength, but is cheaper or in e-book form?

 

Thank you!

[Clear Creek]

I like Sentence Composing for Elementary as an introduction to the series, and I have found it works best with my kids in 5th grade. We sit together and do the practice sets together aloud; the only parts I make them write are the activities. I use it as a supplement to another writing program (and another grammar program, lol). It is not long and can be finished in six weeks if you spend 10-15 minutes a day on it.

 

I bought mine used on Amazon. It is not consumable, so most used copies aren't marked up.

 

I haven't found anything better for what it does.

[kirstenhill]

I am not a Killgallon expert at all, but I did pick up Story Grammar to fill in some time at the end of the year with my DD (5th grade, but is possibly less experienced than some 5th graders in writing). I think one sequence I looked at put Sentence Composing for elementary first, then story grammar....but I thought story grammar looked a bit easier (less getting bogged down in terminology). The middle school books use more mature literature selections/examples from what I understand. The Story Grammar book uses a lot of examples that see, typical of 4th-6th grade literature choices, with a few that are typically read in younger grades.

 

We are going to go through all of Story Grammar in about 6 weeks, but we are doing a lot of it orally and only doing maybe 2-3 actual written exercises each week. It lends itself pretty well to creating sentence imitations out loud, I think. It could pretty easily be done (as we are doing it) as a short interlude between other programs, or as a once a week break from other writing/grammar. I have a hard time seeing the Killgallon books as the sole writing a student uses all year, but maybe for some students a year where they really thoroughly do three Killgallon books or something like that might work. My DD is kind of tired of the sorts of exercises in Story Grammar right now half-way through the book. I think it is good for her, but I don't think we'll do another any time soon.

 

Oh, and it is non-consumable if you just do your writing in a notebook, so it is easy to use it for multiple kids or resell when you're done.

[Aurelia]

I would not use the middle school books with a 4th grader. Even 5th grade is kind of iffy, depending on the child. DD hated the section that used an excerpt from The Fall of the House of Usher, for example. We use Sentence Composing for Middle School as a supplement, but it's not super-quick because it takes us some discussion, then DD has to write out her answers to the exercises. 

 

I bought our copy at the used bookstore because it was half the price of buying new. Amazon also sells used copies pretty cheaply, and despite the "worktext" title, it's not a workbook, so most copies have not been written in.

 

I thought Treasured Conversations covered grammar well in the context of writing, and taught outlining in addition to writing a solid paragraph. It's what I recommend for 3rd-4th grade.

[Amy M]

Is the Paragraph book good?

[SilverMoon]

None of them have enough content to be the primary source of writing or grammar for a school year. They're supplementary. You could easily weave them between other writing books.

 

I would definitely stick with elementary and wait a few years for the middle school books.

 

Story Grammar seems to be easier than Sentence Composing. Which one to get would depend on your goals. We cover grammar thoroughly enough with books we already have, so I've only acquired the Sentence and Paragraph books.

 

If you watch the used section on Amazon and others you can occasionally see the price dip.

[Amy M]

Story Grammar seems to be easier than Sentence Composing. Which one to get would depend on your goals. We cover grammar thoroughly enough with books we already have, so I've only acquired the Sentence and Paragraph books.

 

 

Thanks, Silver Moon! We already have R&S, so I wasn't really looking for a whole 'nuther grammar program, just the sentence composing aspect to help connect grammar and writing. How long did the Paragraph book take you? Was it helpful?

 

[SilverMoon]

We haven't made it through paragraphs yet. Ask me again after summer. ;)

[kirstenhill]

Thanks, Silver Moon! We already have R&S, so I wasn't really looking for a whole 'nuther grammar program, just the sentence composing aspect to help connect grammar and writing. How long did the Paragraph book take you? Was it helpful?

 

I would just like to add that, despite the name, Story Grammar isn't really a grammar book in the traditional sense. There is a quick section on subjects and predicates (we just flew through that since it is review), but the majority of the exercises are still imitation exercises to imitate whole sentences or parts of sentences (i.e. Add a new sentence opener, etc).

[PeachyDoodle]

We've used Sentence Composing for Middle School once a week this year (4th grade). DD has handled it fine. I've seen a real improvement in her writing.

 

We use it to supplement separate writing (WWE4) and grammar (R&S) programs, but on Fridays (when she does SCfMS) that is the only writing she does. We will continue working through it next year as well.

[Amy M]

Wow, I'm kinda surprised at how expensive the Paragraph book from Killgallon is. Why not just get WWS, right?

[Clear Creek]

Wow, I'm kinda surprised at how expensive the Paragraph book from Killgallon is. Why not just get WWS, right?

 

The books are really expensive on Amazon right now. I am not sure I paid more than $12-13 for any of them. The Paragraphs for Elementary book at the company's website is only $21.50, plus they have a 30% off coupon code right now, which brings it down to a more reasonable price.

 

[Farrar]

We have Sentence Composing for Elementary. I've been told that one of the main differences between the elementary and middle school books is just the selections. They're supposed to be introduction and then review/going deeper, I think, but with basically the same concepts. But I haven't used the middle school one so take that with a grain of salt.

 

We use it as an occasional supplement. I pull it out and we do some sentence imitating for a few weeks then we forget about it for awhile and then it comes back. Sort of cyclical here. I have seen it make a difference in ds's sentence variety in his writing. We have not been doing the grammar elements much. We did a few lessons about how to chunk the sentences and sometimes we discuss the parts of the sentences - clauses, etc., but mostly I've just been using it as a sourcebook for good sentences with a variety of constructions. All we do is imitating so we're not really following the rules.

 

I think the imitating is easier than I might have realized. It took my boys, who are pretty average 5th grade writers (one is pretty good, the other is slightly struggling), only a few times to get into the swing of it. And they find it a fun and creative exercise. They can make their sentences silly, zany, gruesome, weird... whatever. It's just fun.

 

I'm curious about the paragraphs book as well. I tried Sentence Composing because it was so cheap used! But all the used copies of the paragraph ones are the same price used as new, it seems.