MTC\'s Grammar Island

I know that people are starting to wrap up for summer and may be thinking about next year curriculum and I wanted to share my experience in hopes that it may help someone else. My children are ages 10 & 11 just turned both of them. We have been homeschooling for a few years now. I used First language lessons one year (repetition killed us), tried easy peasy for a few awhile(my attempt to make it “fun”, but they retained or learned nothing, then bought Essentials in Writing (thought perhaps if someone else taught it might help), went Charlotte mason style with Winter Promise’s LA …….My kids  didn’t get grammar at all and were completely lost. They can and will orally narrate anything with ease, but as soon as I ask for it in writing they look at the pencil like it is a knife!  So, I banged my head against the wall for awhile and while researching things and re-reading charlotte mason’s thoughts on the subject, I came across Michael Clay Thompson’s Language Arts and my interest was peaked. I decided to try the first level since it is a building curriculum and they were close enough that it should be easy for them. We started it about a month ago. I gave them a short little worksheet or pre-test and they could barely locate a noun and verb that was it. I saw the pre-test results and was just floored because I know how many hours we apparently wasted doing all those other curriculums. So we began the book, which is almost like a story book, but does teach the eight parts of speech and parts of a sentence and about phrases and clauses. In a month of doing 3 days a week, we have finished the book grammar island. I gave my kids the post test and they both missed one only! They have a firmer grasp on the eight parts of speech than they ever have and are finally getting how a sentence works. For the first time ever they are not grumbling to do grammar. My son is writing a story on his own! This is the first time he has shown any interest in writing anything and he is using the Grammar Island story maker page to do so. This is a huge huge thing for us. So, if you really need to try something different and you want it to be fun and get results for your efforts, research MCT’s program. I am not doing his reading stuff, just the grammar, poetry, & vocab.  BTW, the poetry book is beyond comprehensive and easy to understand. I never learned about poetry and now I am and it really is fascinating. Anyway, both my kids are now identifying all eight parts of speech and they can find the subject and predicate of a sentence and they understand about direct objects, indirect object and subject complements. They are slowly understanding prepositions and phrases and have finally figured out the whole clause business. The most important thing though is that they no longer shut down to the idea of grammar nor do they feel it is so overwhelming a concept and give up. This book made them both feel empowered and smart and they are responding accordingly. We sit together on the couch and read this book. We discussed the why and hows. We laughed together over the very funny stories and we also laughed at each other’s made up sentences. I say that Michael Clay Thompson took Montessori’s color coding, Charlotte mason’s read together and discuss, and mushed them together and I swear he is pure genius! How he ties in the poetry and vocab with the grammar is just genius. My kids are writing poetry (not well mind you LOL) but they are writing! They are engaging. We will be finished up with the first level in another month and then next year they will move into the level that is really for them and I can’t wait to see them start putting their ideas on paper. Anyway, just wanted to share for anyone who is really tired of the boring worksheets and fill in the blanks and mundane grammar and wants something different.