Thinking this through…

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  • March 23, 2011 at 6:49 pm
    Misty
    Participant

    Are you sick of my grammar thoughts/questions yet?  I amEmbarassed!  I just don’t want to leave anything out.  So I spent about an hour going back over old posts.  I went to each seperate web-site to look at these grammar programs.  I don’t want to miss something by switching around but I also need something to change, switch, I don’t know?

    We have done LL by Queens all along.  I like it very much, but as many posts say it’s very easy.  Which is why I think it’s time for a change.  All the older posts about there HS grammar and from looking at there scope say that the HS books really focus on writing, which I find to be right on.  No grammer really in there, just a few hits and misses.  Also, when you look at all 3 HS books they look almost alike not a lot of big differnces from what I understand (again I will point out I am not a grammar/language person).

    So here is my thoughts outloud: (7th grade son) will start with Editor in Chief doing the 3-4 B2 & 4-5A2 to go back over the basics and be sure we have that down.  He will do that daily as to finish booth books.  Also hoping 1st one will be review so should breeze right through it.  He will start to write 2 narrations a week and continue to study his Spelling Wisdom M-W & Test Th.

    Then: 8th & 9th grade we will do OMT 2 days a week, Jump In 2 days a week and continue with writen narration & spelling.  At this point he should have all the grammar down.  He will have the OMT book to refer back to if necessay.  Then 10th – 12th we can finish the HS LL to help with creative writing, learning to write a research paper, etc. 

    How does that sound?  To much, not enough?  Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.  Then I will stop asking about grammar!!

    March 25, 2011 at 7:15 pm
    Misty
    Participant

    Wondering if someone with olders would see if I’m missing anything here or if it’s to much, to little.  Thanks

    March 25, 2011 at 8:07 pm
    blue j
    Participant

    We’re using OMT this year (8th & 10th grader).  It is easy in that it isn’t dry as dust and make my girls want to run screaming from the room when we pull it out… they actually like quite a lot.  I think it might be a bit overkill to do the Editor in Chief before doing OMT because you will start with the very basics and move from there at your son’s pace.  I think I will skip everything I’ve used with my other children in the past in junior high and high school and simply work slowly in OMT w/ my youngest starting in 7th. 

    I have no experience w/ Queens or with Jump In.  However we do use Writing Strands, which sounds like it might be similar to the HS LL you mention. Other than simply using the OMT, it sounds like you’ve got a good plan for HS grammar/ writing. 🙂

    Pax,

    ~jacqleene

    March 25, 2011 at 10:51 pm
    Misty
    Participant

    Jac- did your children have any grammar experience before OMT?  My son really has little other than a brief understanding.  Do you think doing OMT at a slow and steady pace would be enough? 

    March 26, 2011 at 4:17 am
    blue j
    Participant

    Yes, my girls had some grammar before hand.  However, I think if you take it slowly, you will have no problem.  I really, REALLY like the way OMT approaches this subject.  The explanations of the parts of speech and usage are VERY thorough.  There was ample practice for my girls. We sat together and I alternated questions between the girls using a dry erase board.  At the end of our lesson, I let them write up their own sentences for me to diagram, now that we are doing that.  They enjoy trying to “stump Mom”. 🙂

    I just asked my 14 yo, and she said that this is her “favorite grammar program ever”.

    ~j

    March 26, 2011 at 8:34 pm
    Rachel White
    Participant

    I think it’s fine, considering the concerns you’ve had and your knowledge of what he needs. From everything I’ve read, if you’ve had grammar instruction, then OMT makes for a final review in cementing the information in a rich way. If you haven’t had grammar instruction, it’s much harder, obviously. OMT is not meant to be a first-time grammar study book.

    After the first EinCh book/software, I think you’ll know how he’s doing with it and what to do next. I don’t know any other 1yr. concnetrated study of the subject to use besides EinC at this point. I’m sure there’s other options out there, I just don’t know what. You are wise to go back and review the past posts and links.

    How do you feel about it, Misty? Your contentment level should tell you much about your decision.

    Rachel

    March 27, 2011 at 3:10 pm
    Rachel White
    Participant

    I just remembered; have you read aloud, or had your two older children read, Grammarland? It’s a living grammar book for ages 10 and up. It’s free, too; Here’s the contents so you know what’s covered and you can look through it and determine if it’s too young for your oldest or not. Some worksheets have been created. Although I’m sure you don’t want more ideas, this one is will save you money. I don’t want to cause you frustration, so I was thinking-what do you think about these two ideas?

    • 1) read and do the free (or just buy it, it’s cheap) Grammarland book and free worksheets, then do one of the Editor-in-Chief books/software as reinforcement/review. You could decide then which Editor-in-Chief would be appropriate after analyzing what he’s learned from Grammarland.

    • 2) do the Editor-in-Chief first, then do the Grammarland afterwards.

     

    What do you think? I hope I haven’t frustrated you.

    Rachel

    March 27, 2011 at 10:44 pm
    Misty
    Participant

    Thank you I will look at this!

    March 28, 2011 at 3:01 am
    Rachel White
    Participant

    Misty,

    Let me know what you think after looking through it, please!

    Rachel

    March 29, 2011 at 7:07 pm
    Misty
    Participant

    Ok so I finally had time to try the Editor and Chief and I HATED it!  I and yes I said I had to use the hints almost every time.  AHH… also I can’t see my boys enjoying it either.  I tried to look at grammar-land and haven’t ruled it out for a read during the summer but can’t open it on my dial up.  Have to head to parents or library to do that.

    I got OMT today finally in the mail and had a chance to really look at it.  I LOVE this format and know my boys will also.  So here is my revised plan because looking at this and comparing ti to LL I now feel he has more grammar than I thought he had.  Maybe because it’s not just one book of grammar it felt like he had non.  That’s not true.

    New Plan:7th grade we will do OMT 2 days a week.  He will start to write 2 narrations a week and continue to study his Spelling Wisdom M-W & Test Th. 8th grade he’ll continue on OMT 2 days a week and add Jump In 2 days a week.  Continue with narration and Spelling as above.  When completed with OMT & Jump In we’ll head back to Queens LL HS for the 3 books they have.  If time allows in his HS journey he’ll finish with Total Language Plus for what time he has.  This seem slike a good fit for us.  It feels right and it will not cost me anything more.

    I believe at that point “when completed” do we stop narration or is that a forever thing?  Spelling we’ll just keep trucking along! 

    Thanks Misty

    March 30, 2011 at 6:25 pm
    Misty
    Participant

    rachel hoping this will catch you to see what you feel on this idea?  Your thoughts greatly apprecaited

    March 30, 2011 at 8:20 pm
    Rachel White
    Participant

    Oops, I meant to respond yesterday; something must’ve distracted me.

    I think it sounds very good and you come across as feeling confident. With your addition of Latin (as I saw on your other post), I think things will be fine.

    Yes, keep up the written narrations and the expectation of correct grammar usage and sentence sturcture, so-on- and-so-forth. If you need help knowing what correct writing structure would be, you may find Writer’s Inc. helpful (really cheap used). It’s a resource book for all things pertaining to proper writing if you need something like that to ahve around to refer to if you’re stumped on how to teach or correct something. Just continue with your wonderful eye on him (them) and you’ll be able to catch what you can and correct it or practice something more.

    This is from Sonya’s Blog post on CM Through High School

    Narration

    The third mainstay is narration. Once the student has mastered oral narration, he should transition into written narrations. The high school years are prime opportunity to polish and refine written narrations in various styles, both poetry and prose.

    Narration requires a much higher thinking level than fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, or true or false. And if we saw the value of this method during the earlier grades, how much more should we require this higher thinking level now that our children are older?

    Even if our students will have to face fill-in-the-blank-type questions if they go on to college level courses, being able to read a passage once and narrate it to yourself is an invaluable study skill.

    Yeah!!LaughingForward On to 7th grade!

    Rachel

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