Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.



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Language Arts Come Alive
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mom2mpr
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Posted: July 23 2007 at 1:47pm | IP Logged Quote mom2mpr

What would YOU do? I am going to have you experienced ladies give me suggestions and go with it!! Thanks for helping me out....
Ds is 9 and doing OK with reading, spelling and though he dislikes to write, that is on par too!! We did Sonlight LA through SL1. This year we did LLATL yellow book-some. Maybe 10 lessons. It seemed to be like SL, but wasn't really.
I am trying to figure out what to do with him-simple, and maybe he could do on his own.
Thinking of going back to SL but not sure things will "stick" and it might require a lot from me--learning that is
> I am not sure I have that this year trying to get 4 year old dd in our "school."
Another option is Bravewriter. I think it might work for him as he did enjoy some Friday Freewrites last year. But, I am missing grammer(yuck!).
I try to mix our days up, like day 1,2 was LLATL, then a Friday Freewrite and then another LA type activity-School house Rock, a game, etc.
I need some structure, because I am putting most of my planning energy into religion this year. But, I also need relaxed, not too workbooky, ever changing-but reviewing, fun, and slightly challenging.
There, I think that is all you need to give me a prescription.
Ummm, maybe I am asking too much?
Well, thought I would try   
Anne
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LLMom
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Posted: July 23 2007 at 2:37pm | IP Logged Quote LLMom

Well, Anne, I always recommend Bravewriter. It just wonderful to me and is great for reluctant writers.    Do you feel like you need to do heavy grammar every year? Julie from Bravewriter recommends heavy grammar 3 times, once in elementary, once in junior high and once in high school. The copywork/dictation she uses help with practical grammar and the issues of Arrow focus on a writing element or grammar topic.
If you feel you need grammar every year, how about PLL (although this is more teacher intensive) or CHC Language of God. (although these are workbooks, they appear fairly gentle--I am sure someone could give a better review for you.)

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mom2mpr
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Posted: July 23 2007 at 9:35pm | IP Logged Quote mom2mpr

LLMom wrote:
Well, Anne, I always recommend Bravewriter. It just wonderful to me and is great for reluctant writers.    Do you feel like you need to do heavy grammar every year? Julie from Bravewriter recommends heavy grammar 3 times, once in elementary, once in junior high and once in high school. The copywork/dictation she uses help with practical grammar and the issues of Arrow focus on a writing element or grammar topic.
If you feel you need grammar every year, how about PLL (although this is more teacher intensive) or CHC Language of God. (although these are workbooks, they appear fairly gentle--I am sure someone could give a better review for you.)

I wasn't aware Bravewriter did ANY grammar. I don't need to go heavy. I just want him to be exposed to it and understand it. I may look into the CHC LA. Thanks for the suggestions.
Ane
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Erin
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Posted: July 24 2007 at 6:10am | IP Logged Quote Erin

Anne
I have a 4th grade boy, he likes to read, is only just this year becoming strong in that area. I feel he is way behind in writing but we are upping the focus for him this year Grammar also is not easy for him as it is his siblings, he has to correct himself a bit.

If it helps I'll share his LA approach. Three times a week he does spelling, very simple, he writes out 16 words over two days and is 'tested' on the third. On those days he also does dictation, I have just extended it to a paragraph. The passage is taken from a book he enjoys, currently the Hobbit which may be too hard for him. He really struggled with dictation when he started this year, he cried and said it was too hard, it is now his favourite 'subject' I think it the sense of accomplishment. He also struggles with letter formation and spacing his letters evenly apart.

On the two alternate days he does copywork, at present we are copying the Catechism and he does grammar with his brother. We are using Intermediate Lessons by Emma Serl. We do all these lessons orally.

On all five days the plan is to also have time to work on their story writing. At present he has an ongoing creative story about 'finding gold on our property' this has been going on all year. Some days may only see a few sentences written. I'll be honest I would like to see more but I guess I am happier as finally I see writing happening at least.

Hope this answers your question some.

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italianalaskan
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Posted: July 24 2007 at 11:33am | IP Logged Quote italianalaskan

For witing I've seen incredible improvments with my 4th grade ds using The Institure for Excellence in Writing http://writing-edu.com/writing
and for grammar "Winston Grammar" or Easy Grammar.

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LLMom
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Posted: July 24 2007 at 1:48pm | IP Logged Quote LLMom

Quote:

I wasn't aware Bravewriter did ANY grammar. I don't need to go heavy. I just want him to be exposed to it and understand it. I may look into the CHC LA. Thanks for the suggestions.
Ane


She recommends you using the program of your choice 3 times in a child's school career. I think she likes Winston grammar. In the issues of Arrow, she uses Nitty Gritty Grammar for some of the topics studied in the dictations.

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