Grammar Help

[Tawlas]

Every year I flounder with this kid!  I can't seem to make a decision stick.
 

He finds academics easy, but is a typical kid in that he doesn't have a ton of focus.  He's played nearby my older kids' home school lessons since he was a toddler and has captured and retained a ton of info (sometimes more than my olders lol).  With the combination of strengths, challenges and personalities in our family, my time with each kid is limited.  

 

In the fall I've decided to continue to do AAS for one more level with him, as well as Latin For Children A and Writing with Ease 2/3.  That's about it for one-on-one time with him in Language Arts.  What I'm looking for is a grammar book he can do mostly independently and fill in any gaps he has.  He doesn't mind workbooks, this year (in second grade) he already does ETC books for fun as well as Challenging Word Problems and Logic Safari pretty much entirely independently without complaint, but is a bit limited by how much writing he needs to do.  His reading and comprehension level is amazing - I'm pretty sure I could almost let him loose with Math Mammoth and he'd be able to teach himself lol.  

 

He'll be in third grade in the fall (reading well above a sixth grade level, I suspect)  What does he need?  Rod and Staff?  CLE?  Something else?  We're secular, but I'm okay with sorting through Christian content as long it's not too pervasive.

 

I know that he'll get a lot of grammar through Latin . . . that's what I told myself for this year (he's not doing grammar right now).  Should I continue to leave it at that?

[Guest]

If you prefer NOT to have pervasive Christian content, then you likely won't be pleased with R&S. You could probably scratch that one off your list.

[mom31257]

What about Growing with Grammar? I had a friend who loved that curriculum. 

 

 

[Guest]

You could leave grammar to Latin. It's a valid choice. Just be proactive about pointing out the crossover irl.

 

If you want to do a separate grammar, given what you've said here, I recommend first language lessons.

Edited April 9, 2017 by OKBud

[winterbaby]

Does he make grammatical mistakes? Is he at all unclear on how an English sentence is supposed to sound? I don't think a kid that age needs more than an intuitive working knowledge, though obviously not everyone agrees.

[Tawlas]

If you prefer NOT to have pervasive Christian content, then you likely won't be pleased with R&S. You could probably scratch that one off your list.

 

I suspect you're right.  I use CLE math and it's no problem.  I've used CLE LA briefly, and didn't mind the references (they seemed light and random).  I've heard R&S is very good, but very religious, so it may not suit.  I may see if I can find a sample at an upcoming conference just to be sure.

 

What about Growing with Grammar? I had a friend who loved that curriculum. 

 

I forgot about this!  This might work well!  Something else to check out, thanks!

 

You could leave grammar to Latin. It's a valid choice. Just be proactive about pointing out the crossover irl.

 

If you want to do a separate grammar, given what you've said here, I recommend first language lessons.

 

I worry about forgetting to be proactive, but this is still an option if just nothing else seems right.

 

Does he make grammatical mistakes? Is he at all unclear on how an English sentence is supposed to sound? I don't think a kid that age needs more than an intuitive working knowledge, though obviously not everyone agrees.

 

Do nothing.  Another valid option.  You might be right, I could be making a mountain out of a molehill, here.

 

 

Thank you for your suggestions!

[Guest]

http://www.milestonebooks.com/list/Building_Christian_English_Series/

 

This where I go for R&S samples. 

 

 

If you search, you will find that GWG gets the thumbs down over and over. It is too easy for a kid to just 'plug and chug' and not remember a thing. I speak from experience...

Edited April 10, 2017 by Paradox5

[Bay Lake Mom]

Have you looked at CAP Well Ordered Language? At the beginning level (3rd grade), it introduces everything like its the first time they're seeing it. We just started it, but it seems that the child could do most if not all of it by himself. Each chapter lasts 2 weeks. The first Monday there is a lesson, but it appears the "jest" of the lesson is written in the student book and written directly to the student. The other lessons are review. There are songs/chants to help memorize the rules or grammar vocabulary.

 

I have looked at just about every English/grammar curriculum out there. I'm very pleased with this curriculum.

[Tawlas]

I love CAP.  Never crossed my mind to check out their grammar program (it's new, right?)  I'll go do that thanks!

[Tawlas]

http://www.milestonebooks.com/list/Building_Christian_English_Series/

 

This where I go for R&S samples. 

 

 

If you search, you will find that GWG gets the thumbs down over and over. It is too easy for a kid to just 'plug and chug' and not remember a thing. I speak from experience...

 

Okay, interesting (about GWG).  I wonder if I'll be able to find a copy to thumb through at the upcoming conference.  I'm sure I"ll be able to find Rod and Staff - but from the samples (thanks for that link!), it doesn't seem like the religion is too bad . . . Now I"m going back and forth between R&S and CAP.

 

I appreciate everyone's input!

[Clemsondana]

My child has done well with books that seem to be at opposite poles in methodology. Growing with Grammar has been good for us. It teaches the details - where to put the commas and quotation marks, parts of speech, intro to diagramming. We don't need a lot of repetition, so this quick 'get it done' series is sufficient.

 

In an attempt to help my student write better, I decided to try MCT's entire series, starting with Grammar Island. It did an amazing job of teaching about language and why we put words together in the way that we do. The Sentence island (and subsequent Parahgraph Town) books are silly, and I thought my kid would think they were childish. For some reason, he thinks they are hilarious. He has loved that the examples that are used in the exercises come from history (today we used the Gettysburg Address to talk about main ideas for paragraphs). I think he's finally starting to see how to organize his writing instead of it being a download of his brain that makes no sense to anybody else.

 

You'll find people on here who like and don't like both of these, but it's really about finding what works for you. Many have great success with FLL, but we made it through less than a week of reading the same definitions repeatedly before my student thought I'd lost my mind.

 

Next year my older student will be in 6th, and I'm planning to use both of the series that I listed above. For us (or at least that child - I'll see what my younger student thinks), the MCT books have really helped and are enjoyable. I'm planning to continue with the GWG workbooks, too, but I'll cut out some of the exercises that we don't need (like subject-verb agreement) and just us it for a quick review of punctuation, etc. I'm planning to do a good bit of writing next year, but I could easily see us forgetting how to punctuate dialog while we're focused on how to write an essay!

[Tawlas]

How independent would you say MCT is?  I've looked at this program before but I don't really know why I ruled it out. I think this kid has a fairly intuitive grasp of things like punctation etc just cause he reads so darn much and retains it all after a few glances, it seems.  So I don't want to spend precious one-on-one time in grammar when I could be doing other things with him, ya know?

[Clemsondana]

MCT is intended to be done with your student. We did the grammar in 15 min/day. Once you get through the read-aloud grammar book, which could be done in a few weeks if you do it daily or a few months if, like us, you did it only a few times/week, you move to the practice book. You're supposed to do 3 sentences/week for analysis, so 5 minutes 3x/week? In his plan, grammar isn't an all year subject, it's something that you do to move on to the writing book, vocab book, and poetry book. If all that you need is grammar, you can get just that part. My husband and I are STEM people, so we're happy to have something that teaches poetry. The vocabulary is meant to be done as read-aloud together, but I let my child read it on their own, and I just step in and quiz them on vocab sometimes. The 'how-to' silly books, Sentence Island or Grammar Town, depending on level, are also meant to be done as read-aloud. Sometimes I let my student read ahead and just discuss the lesson part at the back of the teacher manual.