Language Lesson by Queens

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  • Misty
    Participant

    Ladies, I love the language lessons by Queens and have used them for a couple years.  They are enough for our family.  I am not a big grammar person and I am confortable with what is in them.  What I am wondering is this:

    If you look at all the books here’s what I got figured:I have no use for the “little ones” being I find this is learning to read and we do that in a different approach.  So we start with the Very yound #1 after they have a sold foundation of reading.  This has and is a good point for us.  At this point that means we start this in 1st grade.

    So to go on I got this: Very Young 2 in 2nd grade, Elem. #1 in 3rd, Elem #2 in 4th, Sec. #1 in 5th & Sec. #2 in 6th.  Now here is where my question or problem starts.. this has seemed to work and be a good fit per book/age.  The next set of books is geared toward High School.  And there are only 3 books in that group. 

    So what do I do?  Do I give my child a year off, say 7th gr. & 8th and start the next 3 books in 9, 10 & 11th grade? I don’t really like this idea as it leaves a gap that I don’t like to see.  Do I just keep going and then when they finish the next 3 figure it out?

    I guess I don’t know what to do or how to fill in for that extra 2 years?  Any ideas or suggestions?  I know I have time and you might be going why is she worrying, but my 1st born is a fast learner and he I am sure will finish high school early and I don’t want to be totally caught off guard some day.  Thansk Misty

    csmamma
    Participant

    Hi Misty,

    We use Queens also. I wouldn’t suggest taking off 7th or 8th grade; But a few other things you could do –

    • You could stretch out one of the high school book to 2 years or 2 of the books to 1 1/2 years each.
    • You could have them finish all the books. The last year or two of highschool, they could focus on essays & composition.
    • Maybe Queens will put out a 4th Highschool Language Lessons when your children get there.

    I’m sure others will have more ideas.

    God Bless ~ Heather

    Oakblossoms
    Participant

    Maybe another program. We are enjoying Jump-In Writing. It goes step by step through different types of papers. We have stretched it out because my son doesn’t like writing much. I am comfortable correcting papers and I think that is probably the only con I can see for some.

    We just started the Queen’s book and they are a nice change. We were using Winston before and it was just too crazy for me to check.

    Rachel White
    Participant

    You could use Analytical Grammar; I think it can be adapted, according to their site, to a 1, 2 or 3 yr. schedule.

     Also, you could use the Daily Warm-Ups Spelling and Grammar Level 1. Another idea, piggy-backing off the one above, is that it would be a good time to throw in a writing program, like Jump-In, and use the Daily Warm-Up spelling and Grammar Level 1 as supplementary, or Jump-In and AG; that way you’d get two things, instead of one during that time, to prepare him for HS.

    Rachel

    Misty
    Participant

    Rachel – Can you tell me more about the Daily Warm Ups spelling – grammar?  Was your thought to do that as the in between?  Maybe do it in 7th grade, then finish the HS of Queens and then finish with the Jump In if time permits??  That sounds nice ?? Anyones thoughts

    Misty
    Participant

    Also, mentioning we have tried JR AG and though we liked the program they just couldn’t do it.  Would it be crazy to try it again in 7th grade?  Or even later like HS and not do the AG?

    Rachel White
    Participant

    Hi Misty,

    I personally believe grammar to be very important and if your oldest wasn’t ready for JR AG at the time you tried it, I’d definitely do it again. It’s not a full year course, being only an intro, not full instruction, so you could feasibly do it, then go into AG and also begin/do Jump-In during that time; I’d say after JR AG.

    It’d be okay if you went into the “9th grade” year with AG and Jump-In before starting Queen’s HS LL, since there are only 3. The important part is that they have a solid foundation in grammar before HS.

    I don’t have a copy of the DW Sp. and Gr., just the DW Commonly Confused Words and I like the format and I think it is good for filling in ‘gaps’ or lightening the load temporarily. Your situation is different than mine as he will have finished ILL, been doing Latin and will have started Meaningful Composition (which has a little grammar the first 8 wks.) by the the “7th” grade year so I want to avoid overkill, hence just using the Daily Warm-Ups then using Our Mother Tongue probably in the first HS year.

    But you don’t have that situation, actually having little grammar instruction via Queen’s, so I think it’d serve them better to actually do the JR AG and AG, instead plus a writing program, whichever one you choose.

    HTH, Rachel

     

    Betty Dickerson
    Participant

    I don’t want to discourage in any way, just share our experience.  I have loved Queen’s Language Lessons and used it for years.  If you look in the archives, you would find posts from me singing their praises. 

    Last year, because of two moves, we went with a boxed curriculum which included a grammar/writing program.  It looked simple enough.  My children (9th grade and two 7th graders) did horrible with it.  They just couldn’t get it!  I switched to Easy Grammar which is truly easy, and still they were not getting it.  We are now having to learn grammar and go back to the basics.

    For me QLL was so easy.  There was not alot to check or grade and it kept them busy (which to be honest was what I liked the most).  But this year has revealed to me that my children didn’t learn quite as much as I thought they would have after years and years of using it.  It was a rude awakening for me. 

    For the past few months, we have been doing different things that address grammar indirectly.  We are also starting with IEW.  I think it is so helpful to study grammar within the context of writing.  We’ve also always had fun with Mad Libs which help just to identify the parts of speech. 

    I think, looking back, that it would have been good to do something like Winston Grammar at least once before entering high school.  I’m looking into that for this coming year.

    I hope this was helpful in some way,

    Betty

    csmamma
    Participant

    Betty, thanks for sharing your thoughts on Queens. I always wondered if LL would be enough. We’ve supplemented with Spelling Wisdom, The Writing Course & Our Mother Tongue – also recently added Total Language Plus. We’re really enjoying this and considering dropping Queens for TLP – so hearing your experience has helped Wink. Trying to stay warm, Heather

    Misty
    Participant

    Ok.. so just to understand.  Going with the fact I will continue with LL. 

    So start 7th grade with JR AG, then do the Jump in (can I get a link please) then do the AG and finish up by 9th grade at that point I could continue with the 3 HS Queens LL for 9, 10 & 11 and then do a final year of what needs work?  Does that seem ok and enough?

    Rachel White
    Participant

    That’s a good order, but in looking at the materials, you’ll end up doing AG and LL in the same years.

    JAG-eleven week or so program

    Jump-In-1 1/2 to 2 year program; also here

    AG-1-3 years; see timeline at bottom of linked page. It shows you how long to use it for based on when you start and what you’ll need.

    So it breaks down like this:

    JAG for about 3 mths. starting in 7th; then start Jump-In the same year, probably taking you through to the beginning of 9th or so; then start AG after that, sometime in 9th or beginning of 10th (see aforementioned timeline on the link); you can start LL in 9th or wait till 10th for 3 yrs.

    Does that clarify, Misty?

    Rachel

    Misty
    Participant

    Rachel – tried to pm you but it will not let me do it?  Anyway here are my thoughts bare with me –

    Csmamma made me think and I took a good look at LL in the HS.  Lots of fluff and easy.  That said it might not be the best for me.  I have very limited resourses and $.  I don’t want something that will not help my children or give them enough if they want to do more with any type of english program in the future.

    I have Jr AG and will try it again hoping he’s ready in 7th grade.  If I do this and say I know nothing about anything, which is true.  I do not understand grammar so much, I don’t write grammarly correct and I’m a terrible speller.

    What would your suggestions be?  I need something that is easy to understand, has some type of follow along program for the student to do independantly and or an answer key.  I want them to have a good understand of it and to know how to use it.  Why learn if you don’t know what to do with it right?

    Also, I’m going to be doing sign language with my children and adding I think either Spanish or Latin for my 7th grader.  I understand Latin would help him more so I am leaning toward that.  As above I need something he can do more independently any suggestions.

    I really apprecaite all advice and wisdom in this area as I am very weak.  Misty

    Rachel White
    Participant

    Hi Misty, I’m sorry my box was filled up and you couldn’t reach me; I’ll take care of that.

    I think he’ll be ready to do JAG; with the others, you could probably start sooner. Don’t you have one around 10 or 11? You could even kill two birds with one stone by having your two older boys do JAG together.

    According to the reviews and the website (above), the teacher is given all the answers she needs and, for the exception of the first lesson in a Unit, the child can be fairly independant. Here’s some past posts about AG with Sonya’s input, who’s used it personally:http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/analytical-grammar  and http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/analytical-grammar-or-our-mother-tongue#post-1235 and http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/analytical-grammar-1#post-2241

    Latin will help them a great deal. My only concern, and probably yours, too, is the cost factor. You only have to get the Teacher’s Guide once for each program; each student text in JAG is around $20 and for AG around $50 (of course, that is for 2 years, so only $25.00 a yr.), so you’d have to plan for that for each child. Then the Review and Reinforcement, which is recommended when stretching it out, is $20.

    Two ideas to lessen the cost factor is to require your child to write the sentences out themselves, instead of writing in the student book; the other idea (but don’t know if it’s legal) is to copy the practice part of the lesson. That way you’d only have to purchase one student book and one TG for all your children. It’s more of a hassle that way and like I said, don’t know if it’s legal. It wouldn’t kill them to have to write out the sentences themselves, that’s how children did it in the past and it’d save you a bundel, since only one student book would be required, thereby making it a non-consumable text. You may want to PM Sonya to get her thoughts about the copying out of the book possibility in order to save money.

    There may be a non-consumable text out there to help you, but don’t know which would suit your needs best, as AG is very incremental.

    You’ll be learning along with them Misty and by the end of your first or second go-round with it, you’ll be an expert! Remember, you’ll still need a writing program, like Jump-In mentioned above (just confirm that it covers all the writing concepts needed, check out the review I linked above and perhaps ask more specifically about it on the forum). I think the order I laid out above would be good, minus LL. In HS, they’ll still have copywork via the Book of Mottoes, spelling/dictation and written narrations, too, so they’ll have practice writing the concepts learned in Jump-In.

    Is that helpful?

    Rachel

    Misty
    Participant

    Yes thanks so if I just skipped LL I could do copywork, spelling (which will continue anyway) and written narration (just needed to re-write it) and skip the fluff of more “books” from Queens.  Thanks

    Rachel White
    Participant

    You’re welcome! I hope you feel better about your direction for the future.Laughing

    Rachel

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