| | |  | New in June | Home » » » First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind Level 4 | | | | | | | Description: | | A simple-to-use, scripted guide to grammar and composition that makes successful teaching easy-for both parents and students.This volume, the fourth in the complete elementary grammar series, uses classical techniques of memorization, dictation, and narration to develop your child's language ability in the important, foundational years of language study. The text covers a full range of grammar topics, including parts of speech, punctuation, sentence diagrams, and skills in beginning writing and storytelling. Optional end units provide practice in dictionary use and letter writing. Designed to follow Levels 1-3, Level 4 can also be used as a first grammar text for older students. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Jessie Wise | | Paperback:
| 450 pages | | Publisher:
| Peace Hill Press | | Publication Date:
| December 22, 2008 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1933339349 | | Product Length:
| 11.02 inches | | Product Width:
| 8.38 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.32 inches | | Product Weight:
| 3.44 pounds | | Package Length:
| 10.94 inches | | Package Width:
| 8.43 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.42 inches | | Package Weight:
| 3.48 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 9 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 9 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 Excellent TextApr 29, 2011
By Aaron Lawhorne
During the first portion of my oldest daughter's fourth grade year, I was out of the country. When I returned, I discovered she was having difficulty with the writing exercises she was being assigned. My daughter was going to school in Florida and her teachers were focusing all their efforts on trying to get their students to pass the fourth grade creative writing FCAT. After reviewing the grading criteria, I questioned my daughter on her knowledge of basic grammar. I was shocked and dismayed by what I found. It seemed to me that my daughter was being coached to produce a specific product instead of being taught the basics of grammar and having her use those tools to be creative. I used this instructor's guide and the associated workbook to begin supplementing my daughter's grammar education. I am not a teacher and was intimidated by the thought of taking on that responsibility, but this manual made it easy. The lessons are broken down into easily digestible chunks with most lessons taking between 15 to 20 minutes each to complete. There are scripts to follow and queues for the parents after the child responds to your questions. I really liked that there were review lessons that had my child recall rules and steps as it ensured she wasn't just cramming and dumping the information. The teaching method worked very well for my daughter. She was feeling discouraged after receiving her teacher's initial writing critiques. After a few weeks, when she understood how to properly construct sentences, what adjectives and adverbs were, how to identify run-ons and comma splices, and how to use conjunctions, her ability to write creatively improved. The deeper we went into this book, the more confidence she gained and the better she performed on her writing and reading comprehension assignments. Her improved grades and her beaming smile they created made this text and the associated student manual well worth the money. Highly recommended. Five stars out of five.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Extremely Thorough (and a bit repetitive)Apr 23, 2011
By TXNYTX
I am a believer in a strong grammar eduction, and this course definitely provides it! I have been homeschooling for one year, and my children have learned more from "First Language Lessons" than they had learned in all their previous schooling.
Some highlights:
- This course covers all the parts of speech, has copious diagramming, and provides both narration and memorization practice. (The poem selections are excellent: they are poems that any classically educated child should know, like "Ozymandias".)
- The course has an "open and go" design: the teacher does not need to do any prep work! Simply read what is written on the page.
- It uses English the way that I learned it in a mostly-classical grammar school. Two quick examples: (1) the plural of "fish" is "fish" (not fishes), and (2) the proper way to use commas in a series (I detest the new AP style that omits the final comma before the conjunction).
There is only one (relatively minor) thing that I dislike: the extremely repetitive nature of the exercises. If your child is a fairly fast learner, then this book can be a bit "drill and kill".
That being said, I still love the course. I just make some small adjustments (skipping over some sections that they know solidly) so that my kids don't get too bored.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 First Language Lessons for the Well Trained MindSep 26, 2011
By NWjames
The book is well organized, good amount of review so the child does not forget what she learned last week. The only set back is that it's too parent-dependent, there no independent work at all. And it's also about a year behind for its grade level. I bought the 4th grade book. At this age, I expect my child to be somewhat independent, but this book does not teach that at all, it's still 100% parent dependent, conversational teaching, even worksheets are parent-dependent (meaning not practice worksheets at all. Great for 1-on-1 teaching, but if you are homeschooling more than one child, it's hard to manage.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Great Book for HomeschoolersAug 24, 2010
By J. Kruidenier
I love these books. We've been using them for 3 years and have been very satisfied. I homeschool my kids and these books are designed nicely for parents who don't know much about teaching grammar. I really like the choices for poem memorization and the structure to teaching parts of speech and diagraming.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Dry. Dry. Dry. Jan 21, 2012
By IzyMoe
"Izymoe"
My son WANTED to learn how to diagram sentences and since homeschooling allows us to choose our own curriculum, I thought I would give this book a try.
We are, however, giving up only half-way through the book.
Pros:
Teacher Guide is VERY easy to follow. Just read what is there.
Student book is consumable.
Asks children to memorize poetry (we were selective on this one)
Teaches diagramming (lightly)
Cons:
There are no instructions on the student pages. None. I can't even teach the lesson and ask him to finish while I check on lunch. I have to sit with him. the. whole. time. Don't get me wrong, I love to work with my children, but c'mon...it would be nice to be able to let him work independently!
There is nothing to prep the teacher/parent for the next lesson. I just open the book and start reading. No thinking involved on my part (which may be a plus for some). I would like to be able to actually write some sentences on the board and diagram them together before he works on them.
The teacher is asked to read the (lengthy) definition of a part of speech and the child is supposed to repeat the definition back three times. The definition isn't written in the student's book anywhere. Heck, *I* couldn't even repeat what I had just read without looking at it in the book. How was my son supposed to do it?
After learning a new part of speech, the child is asked to diagram it in a few example sentences. Lesson over. There is not a lot of review. What review there IS happens several lessons later in the book.
I found that my son wasn't actually "learning" these things. He was simply copying what he had been told to do. Not many students will enjoy listening to an English lesson without SEEING something ... An example or two in each lesson that both parent and teacher could work on would really help this program to flow.
We found it dry....and very boring.
I tried to make it work...but I'm done.
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