scbusf Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 In SWB's thread about MCT, a couple of people mentioned using a separate Writing program along with MCT. I have the entire MCT Island level, and we have only started the Grammar portion so far. If you use a different Writing curriculum, which one do you use? Oh, and my kids are 2nd and 4th grade. I know the 2nd grader is a bit young, but she is following along as much as she can/wants to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 You can use anything, really. WWE, or CAP W&R, or BW's Partnership Writing, or Treasured Conversations, or whatever floats your boat, really. I think the main issue is that MCT's writing books are *about* writing, but they don't offer a lot of concrete, systematic practice in, actually, writing. They are great for helping kids understand what sentences are, and how to make good ones; what paragraphs are and what are the different kinds/purposes of paragraphs; what is the purpose, content, and structure of an academic essay. But they don't offer very concrete exercises for either the student or the teacher. We used MCT's writing as a big picture/see the forest intro into writing activities that we then practiced using other materials. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 My personal favorite for writing at that level is Treasured Conversations. You can, as Rose said, use any program you want. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 We are using MCT with W&R for 5th grade, MCT and WWS 1-2/something else second semester? for 8th grade, and MCT and copy work/journal writing/W&R Fable for 3rd grade. The presentation of the grammar, the work in analyzing sentences, the big picture of writing (like Rose mentioned above), and the poetics are all spot on for what my kids need. However, they each have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to writing and need different things in order to be successful. We also really like the vocabulary in the elementary levels but we study Latin instead. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Just because no one has mentioned it yet, and I'm obsessed, The Most Wonderful Writing Lessons Ever. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMD Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 We do Classical Writing alongside MCT. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanDiegoMom Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 We did the Island Level last year and I only liked a very few of the writing assignments. We used Treasured Conversations, some Kilgallon, WWE and MovingBeyond the Page. (First year homeschooling- trying to find our groove!). This year we are doing Town level, and I like a few more of the writing assignments- mostly the paragraph ones. He jumps into essays without any real instruction on how to get there, so we are waiting on that and just focusing on the paragraph writing. So we are doing two days of WWE, one day of "Paragraph Workshop" using either MCT writing or Killgallon Paragraphs for Elementary, and then a day of creative writing using a program called Sparks that I found on the Internet. That one is the wild card- if it doesn't work I might look into Partnership Writing for project ideas. My kids like variety! The assignments in Island level were not very appealing and I also felt inappropriately challenging for their age. Some of the town level assignments make more sense to me (write a papargraph describing a setting as you look at it from left to right, write a paragraph describing events chronologically). And I haven't yet looked at the poetry book too much- they loved the poetry book last year but the assignments are pretty difficult there as well and we did very few. (One or two maybe?) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Verticy Writing (Calvert for dyslexics) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambrosia Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 You can use anything, really. WWE, or CAP W&R, or BW's Partnership Writing, or Treasured Conversations, or whatever floats your boat, really. I think the main issue is that MCT's writing books are *about* writing, but they don't offer a lot of concrete, systematic practice in, actually, writing. They are great for helping kids understand what sentences are, and how to make good ones; what paragraphs are and what are the different kinds/purposes of paragraphs; what is the purpose, content, and structure of an academic essay. But they don't offer very concrete exercises for either the student or the teacher. We used MCT's writing as a big picture/see the forest intro into writing activities that we then practiced using other materials. Will the MCT Island be enough level to give the child the big picture if I am using it with another grammar and writing? And I will continue with grammar and writing every year, just wondering if I need to continue with the MCT level 2 and so on every year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 I used WWE/WWS. If I could go back and time and use something else it would be IEW (which I am currently using). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 We tried more things than I wish to think about. My 2e ds tended to respond best to the Bravewriter approach. That might be different for yours though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Will the MCT Island be enough level to give the child the big picture if I am using it with another grammar and writing? And I will continue with grammar and writing every year, just wondering if I need to continue with the MCT level 2 and so on every year? Well, I actually liked the Town level the best of the three, so I wouldn't have wanted to miss that. As far as big picture for writing, I think that Paragraph Town and Essay Voyage were very helpful. I did find the two Grammar books - Town and Voyage - pretty repetitive. And CE is the best part of the whole program, IMO, so I'd never suggest anyone skip that. That said, you don't have to use everything at every level. My personal, idiosyncratic don't miss list is: Sentence Island CE1 & 2 Grammar Town Paragraph Town Essay Voyage So I'd be inclined to use all of the Town level, and be choosy about the other two levels. I wasn't a big fan of the poetry books, though I know they get a lot of love from MCT-lovers. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambrosia Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Well, I actually liked the Town level the best of the three, so I wouldn't have wanted to miss that. As far as big picture for writing, I think that Paragraph Town and Essay Voyage were very helpful. I did find the two Grammar books - Town and Voyage - pretty repetitive. And CE is the best part of the whole program, IMO, so I'd never suggest anyone skip that. That said, you don't have to use everything at every level. My personal, idiosyncratic don't miss list is: Sentence Island CE1 & 2 Grammar Town Paragraph Town Essay Voyage So I'd be inclined to use all of the Town level, and be choosy about the other two levels. I wasn't a big fan of the poetry books, though I know they get a lot of love from MCT-lovers. Thank you! I'm going to save this list. ðŸ‘🼠1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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