Angela Answers Your Shurley English
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs-
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Does the Quigley software take the place of the regular kit?
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Can I just purchase the Level 7 Quigley for all grades and adjust the difficulty level?
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My high school student needs a refresher course on basic English. Can we use Level 7?
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How does the Homeschool edition differ from the First edition?
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Does the Homeschool edition have fewer practice sentences than the
first edition?
Is Shurley English the same thing as Shurley
Grammar?
Yes.
What items do I really need to get started
with Shurley?
Each
Shurley
Homeschool Kit includes everything needed to teach one student: a Teacher's Manual,
a Student Workbook, and a Jingles CD. The other stuff is nice to have, but definitely
not necessary.
Do I need a workbook for each child?
Yes, the Shurley workbooks are consumable and each child will need his own copy. The workbooks
are copyrighted, so photocopying the pages to save money is both illegal and unethical.
Some of our thrifty (and ingenious) customers have reported great success with having
their children utilize overhead transparency sheets and a Vis-a-vis markers on top
of the pages in order to use the workbooks without consuming them.
Can children of different ages be combined
into one level?
Yes, this is a very common practice among
Shurley
English users, and I encourage it whenever
it's practical. It makes sense for at least three reasons. First, it saves money
because you only have to purchase one kit and one additional workbook for each extra
student. Next, it saves time. You only have to present one lesson, and older kids
can even swap papers and grade each other's work while you read the answers aloud.
Finally, Shurley's amazing results are often further improved by working as a small
group. Much of the work is done orally, and a chorus of voices serves to keep up
the pace and energy level.
What do you think about skipping levels?
It depends on the circumstances. If the family needs to try to make up for lost
time while combining ages, I think level skipping is a great idea. Let's say, for
instance, a family has a 5th grader and a 3rd grader who are sharp but don't have
much of a background in grammar, and mom wants them to get their feet wet before
they tackle challenging material. In this situation, I would recommend starting
with Level 3, then skipping to Level 5, because you're trying to get everyone to
end up in the right place at the right time. What I don't recommend is skipping
levels just to be finished with the entire program early. I speak from experience
when I say that there's a definite "NOW what am I gonna do?" feeling when you complete
the last level. If I had it to do over again, I would probably even prolong the
process.
Does the Quigley software take the place
of the regular Shurley Homeschool Kit?
The Classifying with Quigley software is for extra practice only, and cant take
the place of the regular kit materials. It does not actually teach the Shurley method,
nor does it drill the student on anything other than sentence classification and
skill builders.
Can I just purchase the Level 7 Quigley for
all grades and adjust the difficulty level?
You can adjust the difficulty level in the Quigley software. There wouldn't be a
problem with buying a level or perhaps even two above the one your child is currently
working on. However, Level 7 would be too overwhelming for a young child, even on
the easiest setting. Level 7 Quigley sentences are on a 7th grade reading level.
Also, the sentences tend to have more of each concept (say, several prepositional
phrases), which would probably be too much for students in the early grades.
Why isn't there a Level 7 Homeschool edition?
The
Level 7 first edition Kit was published much later than the first edition of
Levels 1-6. It already contains many of the improvements found in the Homeschool
editions, especially where format is concerned. For this reason, Shurley has no
immediate plans to publish a Level 7 Homeschool edition, although they do expect
to do so at some point in time.
Is there a Level 8 Shurley Kit?
Shurley does publish a Level 8 Kit, but it is only available in the public school
(2nd) edition. It covers the same content as Level 7 with the exception of the last
3 weeks, which are spent on resume preparation in Level 8. Homeschool retailers
are not permitted to carry the public school materials, but you can purchase the
Level 8 Kit directly from Shurley. The price is quite high, and most people are
not willing to pay that much money for a program that offers almost no new content.
My high school student needs a refresher
course on basic English. Can we use Shurley Level 7?
Absolutely. We regularly sell Level 7 for use with high school students. In fact,
it's ideal for this purpose because it goes back over the basics from the very beginning.
I suggest comparing the Scope and Sequence for Shurley Level 7 with that of other
traditional high school English programs. You may be surprised to find that much
of the content is the same.
What is Shurley's writing like?
Shurley's approach to writing is formulaic. Many young students are so overwhelmed
by the prospect of writing a WHOLE PARAGRAPH (or essay, or book report...you get
the idea), that they feel defeated before they ever get a good start. Shurley breaks
each writing assignment down into its component parts and deals with them one at
a time. For instance, for a three-point paragraph the student first writes a topic
sentence. At this point, he doesn't have to worry about anything else--just this
one sentence. (He has already learned that a topic sentence introduces his topic.)
Next, he is instructed to write a three-point sentence, which will tell the reader
what his three points are going to be. The third sentence states his first point.
The fourth sentence supports his first point...and so on. The entire process is
divided up into bite size pieces, every time. Once the student has the basic paragraph
written, he is then able to go back and improve his writing with the use of adjectives,
adverbs, and various stylistic techniques. We are pleased to offer free
printable
Shurley English Writing Templates as a special service
to our customers.
What are all the different editions on the
market?
The first edition was originally used by schools, years ago. It is what was sold
to homeschoolers until the summer of 2001. The cover features silhouettes of children.
The 1st edition materials have been replaced by the Homeschool edition, and are
no longer being printed. Level 7 is an exception. (See previous FAQ) The second
edition is for public schools. The cover of this edition features a giant pencil
on a checkerboard background. You will occasionally find a homeschooler who somehow
ended up with a copy, but it's very rare. They are very expensive, as the pricing
structure is set up for schools, and they are only available through Shurley's corporate
office or regional school sales reps. The Homeschool edition is formatted specifically
for homeschoolers, and the cover features photographic images of children. If you
look inside at the copyright information, it will say "Homeschool edition".
How does the Shurley Homeschool edition differ from
the First edition?
In a nutshell...The layout in the Homeschool edition is simpler and more user friendly.
The unusual page numbering system has been replaced with a standard version. The
lessons are scripted more for parent/student interaction, rather than teacher/class,
and there is a planning box at the beginning of each lesson. The student workbook
pages are reproduced in the Teacher's Manual as they occur in the lesson, so the
teacher can see what the students are looking at. There are some new content areas,
such as library and dictionary skills. The writing assignments are integrated with
the weekly lessons, rather than being grouped together at the end of the book. A
more modern font is used, and the general appearance of the text is more attractive.
And finally, a CD has replaced the jingle tape in the kit.
Does the Shurley Homeschool edition have fewer practice
sentences than the
first edition?
In the first edition, the student was given a set of 5 practice sentences when a
lesson was introduced. These were written out by the teacher, and were classified
orally. Later in the week, these same, exact sentences were classified again in
the workbook. So 5 sentences were classified twice. In the Homeschool edition, one
set of 3 sentences is used for practice, and a completely different set appears
in the workbooks, so the students classify a wider variety of sentences, but fewer
at one sitting. Of course, if parents want their students to classify the same sentences
twice (as they did in the first edition), they could simply write them out on the
board and do them again. If your student needs a bit of extra
practice, you might want to take advantage of our free printable
Shurley Bonus sentences.