RachaelL Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 I run a few structured learning groups for homeschooling families in my area. I'm having a little disagreement with my LA teacher about our curriculum. I love FLL for how thorough, comprehensive, and explicit it is. The LA teacher has requested, "fun, fill-in-the-blank worksheets, of the type they use in school." She thinks FLL is dry.While I can see where she's coming from, I so much love the intellectualism and explicitness of FLL. I love how it is so orderly it is almost mathematical. I was hoping to use GWTM for my older group as well. Can anyone chime in on personal experience with "fun" worksheets vs. FLL? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Are you teaching the class or the other person? If the other person is doing the teaching, why not allow her to make the choice of what she wants to use? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 10 minutes ago, RachaelL said: I run a few structured learning groups for homeschooling families in my area. I'm having a little disagreement with my LA teacher about our curriculum. I love FLL for how thorough, comprehensive, and explicit it is. The LA teacher has requested, "fun, fill-in-the-blank worksheets, of the type they use in school." She thinks FLL is dry.While I can see where she's coming from, I so much love the intellectualism and explicitness of FLL. I love how it is so orderly it is almost mathematical. I was hoping to use GWTM for my older group as well. Can anyone chime in on personal experience with "fun" worksheets vs. FLL? I think it would be hard to use FLL with a group. I have never heard my kids describe fill in the blank worksheets as fun though. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisha Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 I would have to agree-fill in the blank worksheets are torture for my kids. (trying to fit the answer into the space provided as well as figuring out what word and how to spell it if no word bank is given). However, if there was a worksheet with circles, matching lines, underlining, basically anything but writing-they're all over it. Now, whether they retain anything from that is hit and miss, but..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macmacmoo Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 First Language Lessons wasn't for us. We did a lot of language arts hopping though. We finally settled down with Barefoot Meandering English Lessons through Literature with eldest. But are using 8filtheheart's Treasured Conversations this year. Next in line just turned 7 and we are using Guest Hollow's Beowulf's Grammar and he finds it extremely fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clemsondana Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 FLL didn't work at all with my older, and we switched to the not particularly fun, get it done Growing with Grammar, which both of my kids did without complaint. By the time older was in 4th grade, I had heard about MCT language arts, and we've loved it. It's worked for both of my kids. Older will start the 4th level, and younger will start the 2nd this fall. Edited to add - that being said, I probably wouldn't teach somewhere if I had to use a curriculum that wasn't a good fit with my style. At our co-op, there's some give and take to figure out is best fit between what the group needs and what the teacher is comfortable using. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Agreeing with previous posters that perhaps the person who will actually be in the class and teaching the material should pick the material that they are most comfortable with. However, if FLL has already been purchased or promised as what will be used, what about making sure to include fun supplements to be done for part of the class time to reinforce concepts, and let parents oversee FLL as done at home after the teacher presents the lesson in class? Ideas: - Schoolhouse Rock videos: Grammar Rock (parts of speech) -- gr. 1-5 - Mad Libs (parts of speech) -- gr. 1+ - Gramar Ad Libs (parts of speech) -- gr. 2-4 - Grammar Games and Activities (parts of speech, capitalization, punctuation, contractions, subject/verb agreement, verb tense) -- gr. 2-4 - Fun With Grammar: 75 Quick Activities and Games (parts of speech) -- gr. 4-6 - Awesome Hands-On Activities for Teaching Grammar (nouns, verbs, sentences, fragments, run-ons) -- gr. 4-8 - Comic Strip Grammar (parts of speech; sentences; punctuation; using verbs; special topics) -- gr. 5-8 - Take 5 Minutes: A History Fact a Day for Editing (proof-editing practice; could write a few on the board and have the kids come up and correct them) -- gr. 4-6 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RachaelL Posted July 26, 2018 Author Share Posted July 26, 2018 Thank you everyone for your replies! On 7/23/2018 at 3:44 PM, 8FillTheHeart said: If the other person is doing the teaching, why not allow her to make the choice of what she wants to use? I hear, definitely a good point. On 7/23/2018 at 3:52 PM, kiwik said: I think it would be hard to use FLL with a group. I'm wondering if that is why it was difficult. I've been looking through GWTM, which looks very nicely suited for a group. Maybe FLL just isn't. On 7/23/2018 at 4:07 PM, alisha said: However, if there was a worksheet with circles, matching lines, underlining, basically anything but writing-they're all over it. Any suggestions? On 7/24/2018 at 12:58 PM, macmacmoo said: We finally settled down with Barefoot Meandering English Lessons through Literature with eldest. But are using 8filtheheart's Treasured Conversations this year. Next in line just turned 7 and we are using Guest Hollow's Beowulf's Grammar and he finds it extremely fun. Thank you for all those suggestions! I'll look into them. On 7/24/2018 at 1:56 PM, ClemsonDana said: FLL didn't work at all with my older, and we switched to the not particularly fun, get it done Growing with Grammar, which both of my kids did without complaint. By the time older was in 4th grade, I had heard about MCT language arts, and we've loved it. It's worked for both of my kids. Older will start the 4th level, and younger will start the 2nd this fall. Edited to add - that being said, I probably wouldn't teach somewhere if I had to use a curriculum that wasn't a good fit with my style. At our co-op, there's some give and take to figure out is best fit between what the group needs and what the teacher is comfortable using. Thank you for the suggestions; what does MCT stand for, or is that what it's called? And I'm totally supportive of my teacher, just trying to figure out what's best for everyone. On 7/24/2018 at 4:39 PM, Lori D. said: However, if FLL has already been purchased or promised as what will be used, what about making sure to include fun supplements to be done for part of the class time to reinforce concepts, and let parents oversee FLL as done at home after the teacher presents the lesson in class? Ideas: Such great ideas! Thank you so much, lots to look through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormaElle Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 I don't think FLL or GFTWTM would work well in a group. The lessons are so short and clearly written to be taught one-on-one. I know some people do these books with 2 or 3 kids and I just can't fathom it. It would take so much work for me to make that work, and that would sort of defeat the purpose of how easy it is to implement in how it appears to have been intended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clemsondana Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 MCT language arts is a quirky program by Michael Clay Thompson, sold by Royal Fireworks Press. My kids have different likes - even when I use the same topics, I tend to cover them differently (the only program that I've used identically for them is Singapore Math) - but this one worked with both of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 I think the suggestion of Beowulf's Grammar would totally fit. The activities are fun and my kids retained a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Can I throw a full Language Arts program into the ring? Writing Tales has a full set of co-op lessons in addition to their individual lessons. And it's fun, has worksheets, adds in physical activities, and is explicit as it is a progym style program. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 5 hours ago, Paradox5 said: As an aside-- would this fit well as an inbetween after FLL/WWE but before GWTM/WWS? I have looked at it for years but never jumped on it. We never did WWE - it wasn't out yet when my oldest was that age - but it did fit very well before WWS. It was very incremental and didn't expect too much individual writing in the first book, just learning how to sequence, retell, change details, and finally write similar pieces. It was also his first introduction to a detailed rubric. WWS was a nice follow-on after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RachaelL Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 On 7/28/2018 at 9:51 PM, Paradox5 said: Fun wkshts = learn and retain nothing FLL = remember forever Not everything needs to be fun. It needs to be mastered. Stand your ground. Checking this after not being on here for a while - LOVE this! And I do agree - I think my teacher is scared of the rigorousness. She's new to the classical method. In the end, we compromised - she's teaching Beuwolf's Grammar to the younger kids, and I have the older kids; we're doing FLL4 and loving it! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 On 7/23/2018 at 2:39 PM, RachaelL said: I run a few structured learning groups for homeschooling families in my area. I'm having a little disagreement with my LA teacher about our curriculum. I love FLL for how thorough, comprehensive, and explicit it is. The LA teacher has requested, "fun, fill-in-the-blank worksheets, of the type they use in school." She thinks FLL is dry.While I can see where she's coming from, I so much love the intellectualism and explicitness of FLL. I love how it is so orderly it is almost mathematical. I was hoping to use GWTM for my older group as well. Can anyone chime in on personal experience with "fun" worksheets vs. FLL? FLL is grammar, yes? My favorite grammar is Easy Grammar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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