MCT Island with FLL/WWE -- Too confusing?

[Squawky Acres]

I fell in love with the idea of MCT Island, and bought it for my creative and verbally precocious third grader.  When I flipped through it, I felt that it spoke her language precisely, and would be a wonderful addition to our homeschool year.  The problem is that I can't give up FLL and WWE, as she still needs that detailed and precise instruction.  I also would like to add in CAP Fable.  I think I can schedule all of this in together by omitting the MCT writing assignments and scheduling a bit out into the summer, but I am wondering if the MCT four-part analysis would be confusing to learn along with the traditional diagramming in FLL 3, in particular. 

 

Does anyone have experience in using these two programs together?  

[ForeverFamily]

Last year with my 3rd grader we used MCT Island (we didn't do any of the writing assignments), WWE, FLL, and TC. We attempted to use W&R Fable but it wasn't a good fit for her. It was definitely a Language Arts heavy year, but that subject area is one of her strengths so it worked out just fine. MCT grammar island, and sentence island really deepened her understanding of grammar. The 4 level analysis in practice island really helped reinforce and solidify what she was learning. After learning the concepts in MCT the lessons in FLL, with the exception of diagramming, were mostly review and my Dd was bored most of the time. I got a few eye rolls from her, but we pushed on as we did come across a few new concepts here and there and the review didn't hurt. She actually really enjoyed learning how to diagram sentences, to her it was a fun puzzle. She even attempted to diagram some of the sentences from her practice island, although there were many things she wasn't sure how to diagram ( I.e. Prepositional phrases). Doing both the 4 level analysis and diagramming was not confusing at all for here. In fact I think doing both is what really helped her gain a deeper understanding of grammar. We are planning on doing both again next year.

 

For next year I am definitely going to have her do MCT town as well as an additional grammar and writing program. I am debating between FLL and Jr. Analytical grammar. For writing I am planning on using the rest of TC as well as Classical Writing. This seems like a lot again this year but I plan on staggering them a bit like I did last year.

 

Hope that helped some, I would be happy to answer anymore questions.

[Kathryn]

We did WWE3, FLL3, and MCT Island level together. We continued with all three the next year. We started CAP W&R with MCT Voyage after that (this school year).

 

ETA we don't do the writing assignments in MCT.

[Squawky Acres]

This is all very helpful -- thanks.  And oh yes, I did forget about TC.  I haven't bought it yet, but it looks fabulous, and I would really like to use it as well.  I just didn't mention it, as I didn't want to appear to be insane.  Writing is my daughter's strength and passion, but I find that she still needs quite a bit of direction and refinement.  We are actually still finishing FLL 2 and WWE 2 this year, as we got a late start with writing and language instruction.  Handwriting and fine motor skills were a struggle in her K and 1st grade year, but are absolutely fine now, so we are making up for some lost time.

 

I like the idea of finishing up our FLL 2/WWE 2, while diving into MCT Island, and hope that by the time we get to FLL 3, it will seem like a nice review.

[benzino]

Planning to do the mct level 1 and fll this year, fingers crossed.

[Penelope]

I don't think it's too confusing. And actually, we diagrammed many of the sentences in Practice Island and Practice Town, along with the four-level analysis.

 

So it's not confusing, it's just too. Much. Grammar. to do all of both programs. And not necessary, I don't think. I did use both Island and then Town along FLL 3 and 4, but I skipped lessons in FLL and didn't do all of the MCT sentences. And even still, it was definitely too much. Partway through the second year, I gave up on Practice Town. But I am still glad we did what we did and that I learned the four-level analysis as a helpful teaching tool. I am using some of the sentences from the practice book with another child, even without using the other MCT books.