Treasured Conversations

[Coco_Clark]

I have my 8 yr old 3rd grader in ELTL3.  A program we've used from the beginning and have loved.  Unfortunately I really feel he's ready to start writing paragraphs, and my biggest goal for this year is that he can do a short written narration by the end...and this program just isn't getting him there.  He will do copywork and dictation without trouble...he narrates beautifully...he can. not. write. a paragraph.

 

So I'm thinking of setting ELTL aside for the year, and picking up Treasured Conversations instead.  Or perhaps even running them half time beside each other (2 days a week each).

 

Questions...

 

Can I go ahead and skip the first section?  We are more than solid on grammar after 2 and a fraction years of ELTL, and I plan on continuing diagramming sentences since we just learned how.

 

Do sections 2 and 3 build on one another?  Or can they be done in any order?  This particular child cant stand "creative" writing.  He'd much rather write on our history or science topics, so I think section 3 would go down easier.

 

Is there a common "burn out" chapter, or natural stopping place within section 2, if I decide to split the program among 2 years? 

 

 

[RootAnn]

I think section 2 and 3 do build on each other. If you are the kind to figure out the big picture and how to apply it to something else, you can probably skip the second section.

 

My kids would tell you that Bushy's story is their favorite part of TC. (My author girl writes Bushy & Cheddar fan fiction still.) That's in the first section.

 

TC got dd#2 and dd#3 writing great narrations and also ramped up their ability to outline. We love TC here.

ETA: typo

Edited September 9, 2016 by RootAnn

[Guest]

I wouldn't skip the beginning, but I might double up on lessons. The conversations can go quite deep and my kids are solid on basic parts of speech too, but they really enjoyed he easy copywork and deeper chats about aspects of it. You can skip it, but I find the whole work very cumulative.

 

We haven't hit burnout so far.

[Sammish]

The part of the first section that I thought was most useful was not learning the grammar, but the discussions about word choice. We learned about nouns and verbs, yes, but also about how different nouns and verbs make more interesting sentences. "The boy ran" versus "The teenager sprinted" versus "the child scampered." So I wouldn't skip the beginning section (although you can probably go through it more quickly, focusing less on learning the grammar, and more on word choice).