Runningmom80 Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 (edited) Ok, I've decided this year is a grammar year. My 8 year olds have not yet done any grammar and my oldest did Island and Town levels of MCT. I'm of the mind that I don't want grammar to be a big to-do or take a lot of time, which is why I'm hesitant to use more MCT. (I sold Island & Town levels years ago as I was not planning to homeschool my twins. Lol that was pretty delusional.) I'd rather spend the money on other resources, my DD is more STEM inclined and my younger DS is a globally gifted dude. I think they would both enjoy it, but at over $200 for all the books, I'm just not convinced it's where we should spend our money. My oldest is definitely verbal so I felt like MCT was "worth" it, but again, not sure if our time and resources are best spent on grammar now. He likes to write fiction and is a pretty good academic writer (so far, we just started las year with essays.) I don't even know if he "needs" more grammar. He loves words and etymology, so maybe I need to think more out of the box with him anyways. Ok, grammar ramble over. Here's what I'm looking at 1.MCT - not really wanting to spend the time and money on it but oldest really did love it so I keep going back to it. 2. Killgallon - I can't really tell if this is complete, but I like the looks of it. 3. Maybe a mish-mash for the oldest using Figuratively Speaking, The Lively Art of Writing, They Say, I Say, etc. He has read "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" for fun a couple of times if that tells you anything about his love of language. He is also going to take the Judy Blume master class. 4. Twins - IDK. Help! 5. Should I just teach them all Latin? ? This is all over the place. If you followed it and made it to the end, I commend your perseverance! TL;DR - I need a secular grammar program that won't break the bank and will get done, or talk me into MCT. ETA: we use Bravewriter Arrows and Boomerangs and the twins will do Partnership Writing this year. Edited August 14, 2018 by Runningmom80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted August 14, 2018 Author Share Posted August 14, 2018 4 minutes ago, Florimell said: DS10 has a pretty strong command of grammar, so we are using this Strunk & White workbook along with the original text and some creative writing on the side. I'll turn to academic writing in the next few years. I am doing Fix-it with DD8. I don't *love* the program, but it combines mechanics, grammar, and handwriting practice and takes very little time. We have also worked through Grammar Island and Town, but I haven't done more than just read through/discuss those (none of the assignments). It's also relatively inexpensive. I've looked at Fix It! Maybe I need to just buy that. I added the Elements of Style workbook to my cart, that actually looks great for my oldest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted August 14, 2018 Author Share Posted August 14, 2018 Has anyone tried this Time Magazine grammar book? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1603209549/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted August 14, 2018 Author Share Posted August 14, 2018 Has anyone here used anything from CTC? Like the Editor in Chief books? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 I was coming to suggest Editor in Chief, especially for kids who would just want the nitty gritty and not the “love all language and eat up MCT” type. My kid does eat up all the language and love MCT, and I still ran her through two levels of Editor in Chief to clean up some written grammar that we had skipped over. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cake and Pi Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 (edited) And on the same vein as Editor in Chief, there's also Language Mechanic from CTC. I bought the latter at a HS conference this summer after thumbing through both, but I haven't used it with the boys yet to offer any real opinions. It seemed very similar to Editor in Chief, but the pages were a bit more visually appealing, which is a big deal for DS#1. It might be less get-'er-done, though. I see a fair bit of instruction, and a decent amount of free response questions mixed in with the multiple choice ones. We've only used the first two levels of MCT, so I can't talk you into anything beyond that. Maybe it would be okay to just do the grammar and practice components of MCT since you don't think your kids want so much focus on language and you're all set with other things for writing? That would save you quite a bit. Then again, Latin could be fun to learn... We did Fix It last year. The first level was really good. Both boys liked it. The second level wasn't well received. They didn't like the Robin Hood story, which I thought was kind of weird since, Robin Hood, right? DS#1 only got about 2/3 of the way through it before he asked to stop. DS#3 said he didn't want to do it at all. I'd love to hear if the third level and beyond are better. Edited August 14, 2018 by Cake and Pi to add thoughts on Fix It 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted August 15, 2018 Author Share Posted August 15, 2018 3 hours ago, Cake and Pi said: And on the same vein as Editor in Chief, there's also Language Mechanic from CTC. I bought the latter at a HS conference this summer after thumbing through both, but I haven't used it with the boys yet to offer any real opinions. It seemed very similar to Editor in Chief, but the pages were a bit more visually appealing, which is a big deal for DS#1. It might be less get-'er-done, though. I see a fair bit of instruction, and a decent amount of free response questions mixed in with the multiple choice ones. We've only used the first two levels of MCT, so I can't talk you into anything beyond that. Maybe it would be okay to just do the grammar and practice components of MCT since you don't think your kids want so much focus on language and you're all set with other things for writing? That would save you quite a bit. Then again, Latin could be fun to learn... We did Fix It last year. The first level was really good. Both boys liked it. The second level wasn't well received. They didn't like the Robin Hood story, which I thought was kind of weird since, Robin Hood, right? DS#1 only got about 2/3 of the way through it before he asked to stop. DS#3 said he didn't want to do it at all. I'd love to hear if the third level and beyond are better. First bolded: Good to know! Second Bolded: I would think mine would too but I guess academics can ruin even the best story! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanDiegoMom Posted August 15, 2018 Share Posted August 15, 2018 We've done the island and town levels, parts of voyage and now plan to do just the grammar of the level four, with the Caesar's English from the Voyage that we didn't do. So I plan to buy just the grammar book and practice books for this year. A little bit less than a 200 dollar investment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal_Bear Posted August 15, 2018 Share Posted August 15, 2018 I think Jr.AG would get it done and get it done quicly. I just used it over the summer with my son. https://cathyduffyreviews.com/homeschool-reviews-core-curricula/composition-and-grammar/ungraded-multi-level-resources-grammar/analytical-grammar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted August 15, 2018 Author Share Posted August 15, 2018 13 hours ago, calbear said: I think Jr.AG would get it done and get it done quicly. I just used it over the summer with my son. https://cathyduffyreviews.com/homeschool-reviews-core-curricula/composition-and-grammar/ungraded-multi-level-resources-grammar/analytical-grammar I haven't heard much about this one, I'm going to take a look. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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