Please Help with Language Arts Curriculum Choices for Boys!

[LaurieinCA]

Hi Everyone,

I have two accelerated learners, ages 10 and 8, and they complained that this year language arts wasn't "fun" enough. We did too many workbooks, and too much writing (boys!)! I need to change my approach for this year, in order to keep them interested (even laughing!) as well as learning. Specifically, I am looking for ideas/ alternatives to the Easy Grammar/ Wordly Wise/ Vocabulary from Classical Roots/ Writing Strands choices we tried this year. They are working 1-2 grades above level in each of these series. Should I replace these with Michael Clay Thompson's Grammar Town/Sentence Town/Practice Town/Buildlng Poems/Caesar's English I? Would this be more fun, and as comprehensive? The samples look intriguing, but I hesitate to spend so much money not knowing anyone who has used the program successfully. What about IEW? Does this compliment MCT, or are we taking on too much???

Thanks for any advice!

Laurie

[Bloy]

As a mama of a boy who loves reading and language, I would highly, *highly* recommend Michael Clay Thompson's stuff.

It is interesting, to the point, and when it seems like it will be dull, it gets silly (in a refreshing, good way).

We've just used the teacher's manual this year (grammar island), but we will begin and use Grammar Town, Building Poems (I debate whether using the poetry book before this, but my guy really seems to 'get' poetry, so well try this) and Caesar's English...

I don't think you are taking on too much. We did Grammar Island in five months, and just sitting on the couch reading through it, and doing the exercises in a real relaxed fashion. At the end we did all the exercises at the end at the table for 'review.' But he remember most of it because it is presented really well...

So I could see doing Grammar Town, then doing the poetry for the second half of the year, and all the while (throughout the year) doing Caesar's E...

And the writing was interesting, too. My guy was six at the time, so we did a lot of the writing prompts dictation style, orally, but he did want to write many of the stories down, as well (which is a testament to the books)...

I'd like to get some more of his critical thinking, philosophy books by royal fireworks press as well...

[LaurieinCA]

Thanks for your reply! With the MCT stuff, do you need the student workbooks, or just the Teacher's Manual? Are all of the exercises contained in the Teacher's Manual? Also, do you think we should also get Practice Town and Sentence Town, in addition to the Grammar Town and Building Poetry?

Laurie

[Camy]

We have always kept things very simple and short by using copywork and R&S (just ask them their opinion of R&S!!!).

I have loved what IEW has done for my boys. They loved Andrew Pudewa's presentation style. I never heard them complain too much about doing the writing assignments either. Not that they are doing backflips of delight over IEW, but this program caught their attention and gave them some practical info. on how to get writing.

The IEW dvds were also a big blessing and lightened my load tremendously! Put is this way, I only had $150 to spend on homeschooling this year, and the IEW program took up 2/3's of that budget. It was worth it to me.

Blessings,

Camy

[LaurieinCA]

Hi Camy,

Which IEW program did you purchase? The DVDs for the parent, or one of the writing intensives? We are watching our budget also (isn't everyone these days?), and the fact that you consider the program worth the investment is important to me. Thanks for sharing!

Best,

Laurie

[Jenny in Florida]

My son is 10. This past year we started Galore Park's English Prep, which he seemed to like pretty well. We did most of the grammar and punctuation exercises orally, since they were largely review for him.

He did most of the writing assignments on paper, although I let him type them.

We didn't do any formal vocabulary this year. I had planned to have him work throught he next level of Word Roots, but we had a computer glitch my husband didn't get around to fixing. It didn't seem to hurt him. We got back his standardized test results a couple of weeks ago, and the vocabularly scores were about as high as they could go, anyway.

He is studying both Latin and Spanish, which I suspect helps with the vocabulary as much as or more than a "program."

For next year, we're planning English Prep 2, the Word Roots (B1) we didn't get around to this year and Classical Writing. He writes pretty well once you tie him to his chair and make him do it, but I'm determined to get past it being such a chore.

Other than that, he just reads a lot.

[JaneGrey]

Grammar Island: You don't need both! Bloy (who responded earlier) said she just used the teacher's manual. Bloy can comment more on whether those teacher's notes were helpful. I remember being very surprised at how little difference there was between the teacher's manual and student book for each of these when I checked out a friend's copy of GI and Sentence Island.

I liked GI; it looked like fun and I really liked how it just focused on the eight parts of speech. My friends, who have older boys and who had despaired of ever finding something enjoyable and good for both child and parent, really enjoy this series. I'm just not committed to spending the moolah on the series. I'm not sure how I feel about the writing program. I don't remember being impressed with Sentence Island.

There are sample pages online at the Royal Fireworks website.

A friend who has taught English at the local classical "support" school recommended these to us all. For junior high students, she has used with success the older level grammar and vocab books (The Magic Lens and the Word within the Word, respectively).

IEW is fun to watch because Pudewa is entertaining.

Please keep us posted on how it works out for you!!

[Camy]

I had a generous and kind friend who allowed me to borrow the parent dvds. This was helpful, since it introduced me to the program concepts.

The generous friend whom I mentioned also encouraged us to borrow her IEW SWI (student writing intensive). We went through the first level (A).

I have purchased IEW SWI level B, which was $99 from Rainbow Resource. Ouch. But worth it. I will use this will my other children as well. They aren't quite there yet. Check the IEW website for more info. on which level you should purchase.

BTW, *I* have also benefitted from viewing IEW with my children. It has helped me to refine and improve my own writing. This is an added bonus. Also, if you have the time and energy, you can view IEW's website which has numerous helps and extremely cheap writing lesson plans (sometimes free!). These are done by parents and are extensions of the program itself. So, after you finish the videos, you can keep practicing the concepts through these lessons.

HTH!

Blessings,
Camy

[Bloy]

Thanks for your reply! With the MCT stuff, do you need the student workbooks, or just the Teacher's Manual? Are all of the exercises contained in the Teacher's Manual? Also, do you think we should also get Practice Town and Sentence Town, in addition to the Grammar Town and Building Poetry?

Laurie

Well, we *just* used the teacher manual, and we were fine with that. But my guy was younger, and we didn't really do much writing.

Next year we will use the additional books, but only if necessary (if he needs practice on a certain concept). If they're as fun as grammar island, though, he will probably want to do them :)

So you could if you had some extra money, but they're not necessary (although I've read that Sentence Town is good). You can just read through Grammar town at the beginning of the year, and then refer to it and review later... And do additional exercises if needed. Maybe get one of each and have the boys share it?


:)

[Bloy]

Grammar Island: You don't need both! Bloy (who responded earlier) said she just used the teacher's manual. Bloy can comment more on whether those teacher's notes were helpful. I remember being very surprised at how little difference there was between the teacher's manual and student book for each of these when I checked out a friend's copy of GI and Sentence Island.

I liked GI; it looked like fun and I really liked how it just focused on the eight parts of speech. My friends, who have older boys and who had despaired of ever finding something enjoyable and good for both child and parent, really enjoy this series. I'm just not committed to spending the moolah on the series. I'm not sure how I feel about the writing program. I don't remember being impressed with Sentence Island.



No there isn't much difference, that is why we *only* got the teacher's manual--because it does have little notes in the bottom corner about discussing a topic, or making connections that were helpful--but it didn't have the answers or anything, so you could just give it to the student and have them read it. The teacher manual-ness won't spoil it for them. My son reads the book now, for fun (because it is really fun).

So you could send $20 or $25 dollars on the teacher's manual alone and have a lot of good stuff to work with... this was what we did this year and it worked well. I think that this is a very reasonable price, and you don't have to get the other practice books. There are many practice examples within the teacher's manual--and it is simple to riff on those and make up your own.

HTH

[LaurieinCA]

Thank you all so much for your wonderful replies! I am really determined to have a better homeschool year, and this forum is giving me some great ideas. I am going to order TWSS and view the DVDs over the summer, and also order MCT, although I am still unsure on the level. I will probably order Grammar Town/Paragraph Town/Building Poetry/Practice Town. What should I use in addition to MCT for Language Arts - do I need a separate spelling, vocabulary, literature, or writing program, or is that overkill...? I want to make sure I have everything covered!

[wimseycat]

I would highly recommend IEW. The nice thing is you can pick an area of study they are interested in for the year. This could be the Middle Ages, US History, Scientists, Composers etc... I found their writing process to be interesting and not too overwhelming. I also like the checklist they give you for grading each assignment. It took away a lot of the subjectiveness in grading your child's writing.

Hope this helps,
Annika

[Wendi]

If I want to start using MCT's stuff with a sixth grader, do I need to start at the beginning, or start at the 5th/6th grade level?

I think these books might be perfect for my ds!

Wendi

[ciyates]

I love Pudewa (especialy for boys!)

[Stacia]

We're using Vocabulary Cartoons (http://www.vocabularycartoons.com/index.php) this year (7 & 10yo). My dc love it. We just review a couple of pages every few days & we try to make up silly sentences. We have a lot of fun with it & it takes just a few minutes a week.