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EFTTC, vol 2, lesson 29
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My ds (almost 8) is having a heck of a time with this lesson. The previous lesson about synonyms wasn’t easy for him either. One sentence, in which he was supposed to fill in the blank with the best word, was this: The starving dog (blank) his food. My son filled that blank with “slowly ate”. I asked him if he would slowly eat his food if he was starving, to which he said he wouldn’t. So I asked him how he would eat if he was starving, and he said “quickly ate!”. I was looking for “gobbled” or “devoured”.
We do these lessons verbally, together at the table. I am just wondering if I need to try a different approach, and if so, what? If you have done EFTTC, specifically this lesson, could you please give me some insight?
Thanks,
Lindsey
P.S. I thought I should add that he LOVES grammar. We do it twice per week, but he asks for extra lessons. He is very good at it and catches on quickly. I wanted to clarify that just in case someone thinks he isn’t ready for grammar yet. Thanks!
I’d help you out but my 9yo is still in Vol. 1. So, all I can say is that I’m impressed that your ds is only 8 and already in Vol. 2, way to go!
We are in Vol 2 but haven’t reached that lesson yet. I’m interested to hear what others say so we are ready when we arrive!
Tara
Just reading your post Lindsey, it sounds like your son gave a straightforward answer that is typical of a boy. At least my son is like this anyway. Most boys’ brains are not geared to exploring the emotional side of things so adjectives/adverbs and descriptive writing will naturally be more taxing for them than for girls. It might help to give him many examples of descriptive words and just discuss what this means as you go along in the book.
I am exploring writing programs for my son and these things are currently fresh on my mind. I hope this helps you some.
I think that lesson is included just to plant the seed of word choice at this point. It’s purpose seems to be to introduce the idea that specific words can paint different mental pictures. It looks like Exercise 3 might work well as the basis for some physical examples or illustrated examples. You might ask him to show you the difference between “dancing” and “capering.” If he doesn’t know the difference, explain it and then ask him to demonstrate. Same with “walking” and “striding.”
I would probably use that lesson not so much to see if he knows the difference between the words given, as to explore the idea of the different mental images the words evoke. So it would become more of a side-by-side discussion about the power of word choice, rather than a put-on-the-spot quiz about word meanings. Does that make sense?
Yes, simple home and Sonya, you’re both making sense to me. I was debating on whether to stay on the lesson until he “got it” or to move through the exercises one more time and call it good. As grammar is a finite body of knowledge, it’s not like this concept is going to change. And I don’t suppose expecting mastery at the ripe old age of 7 is fair to either of us. So…we will say that our introduction to synonyms was a success and there is much more to be learned later. Thank you for putting my mind at ease.
my3boys, don’t be too impressed! Ds comes by it honestly. His momma was in every advanced English class in high school and went on to be an English major before dropping out of college to start her family. I LOVE grammar…funny that I passed it on to my son, rather than my daughter! Thanks for being impressed with us though!
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