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Three Cheers for Using Language Well !
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Well done to the SCM team for yet another excellent product. I was so thrilled when I opened my Inbox this morning and read your announcement about Using Language Well.
This is JUST what I have been looking for and will be perfect for my girls. I have tried to do this on my own, but it is so time consuming and involves so much preparation the night before. I am very excited and appreciate the effort that must go into making these resources. I am also very grateful that you offer the option of ebook downloads, as international shipping costs are prohibitive. Thank you to all at SCM.
And now, the burning question…. when do you think Book 3 will be available, please? I also have a 7th Grader, so I wait in eager anticipation.
Many thanks, Lindy
I found this resource last night before going to bed as I had been eagerly looking for the promised resource. Sonya, you’ve outdone yourself again. You are truly gifted at making CM simple and doable. I’m ordering today.
Thank you for your kind words. I’m so glad Using Language Well will be helpful to you!
As far as future releases go, I don’t have a definite date for you but here’s the big picture. We have been working on getting the final pieces of a complete framework in place to make doing CM simple. (One more piece will be announced later this summer.) Once that framework is in place, we will work on filling in all the slots within it. That’s why we have several series of books that are awaiting future titles; they are part of the framework. I will work on completing those series (and I would appreciate your prayers as I do!), but we wanted to at least get the first ones done and in place so people could get started as soon and as simply as possible.
We really appreciate all you ALL do! Even us oldie CM moms need a little help from our friends! I’m ordering today as well
This looks wonderful! It’s the perfect product at the perfect time for me. I want to join with the others in saying thank you for all the time and effort you invest in our CM journeys.
I will be ordering today as well!
Thank you so much for this new resource! I is exactly what I have been looking for, but was not sure how to find. I just placed my order.
Thank you for all the SCM resources and the work put into them.
I’m curious, if a student isn’t going to be using Spelling Wisdom, would it just not make sense to use Using Language Well? Dd is just not ready for dictation, and is instead having some spelling success with All About Spelling. I do think the mechanics in ULW would be helpful for her. Also, we will be trying to solidify her oral narrations and hopefully move into written narrations this year. The description says ULW goes over composition, does that mean walking through an intro to written narration?
eawerner – if you look at the samples for Using Language Well you’ll see you can’t really use it without Spelling Wisdom, the passages are not IN Using Language Well.
Will diagramming sentences be part of Using Language Well? I’m trying to decide if I want to switch over from the current spelling and grammar programs we are using. Thanks!
We are planning to analyze sentences in Book 3, but not with diagramming. We will continue to recommend Analytical Grammar for that technique.
Sonya, can you speak to how to jump a kid in the middle with these new books? Say, a 5th or 6th grader, either new to dictation or not. If you’re on lesson 75 in book 2, would you jump in there and use the rubrics for that level or would you recommend backing up a bit?
Thanks!
Christie
Christie – you stole my question! I have 3 children who have been using Spelling Wisdom so far (slowly – very slowly) and wonder where to place each one. My 4th and 5th graders are in Spelling Wisdom book 1, not to the middle yet, so I know I would start them with book 1 of this. However my 9th grader is in book 2 of Spelling Wisdom, would I move her backward into book 1 of Using Language Wisely or could we start with book 2?
There are basically two parallel tracks going on throughout Using Language Well, Books 1 and 2: on one track you have the English usage and grammar lessons, on the other track you have the narration rubrics. Now, the rubrics are based on what has already been covered in the lessons, but they can (and should) be used at the child’s pace.
So I’ll speak to your question, Christie, regarding both tracks.
If you think your student would benefit from the grammar lessons in Using Language Well, Book 2, I would recommend taking a few weeks to go back and cover Lessons 1–74. Since you have already done the dictation portion of those lessons, you could omit that part and move pretty quickly through just the grammar questions and probably complete more than two per week. Along the way, you could review a few dictations if you wanted. Once you got caught up to Lesson 75, you could proceed with both books as planned, completing two lessons per week with both the Using Language Well lessons and the Spelling Wisdom dictation exercises.
Regarding the written narration rubrics: each rubric adds only one new expectation/guideline. Looks like, in your case, Rubric 2.4 is introduced in Lesson 77. So I would recommend that you read through the expectations listed on Rubrics 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 and see how they fit where your student’s narrations are currently. If you see several points on Rubric 2.3 that he needs work on, you might want to back up and start with 2.2 or 2.1. If, on the other hand, he understands and follows all the expectations on 2.3, he would probably be ready for 2.4 when the time comes. He doesn’t have to be perfect before you introduce the next rubric, but he should demonstrate a solid understanding of the guidelines and be consistently making progress toward mastering them. In Book 2, since only Rubrics 2.4 and 2.5 are used throughout those remaining lessons, you would have wiggle room to go back and start with an earlier rubric and proceed from there. Does that make sense?
Tristan, in the sample of Book 1 the final pages give a complete list of all the English points covered in that book. You might take a look at that list and see how many of them your 9th grader already knows. That might give you a feel for whether she would benefit from those lessons.
Another idea might be to have your 9th grader be the one who oversees those lessons for your younger ones. That way she would get a review but not feel like she was having to play catch up. She could continue with her Book 2 during her regular lesson time, but if you schedule your younger ones’ Book 1 lessons at another time, she could help you by being in charge of those too. Just a thought.
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