3fallingleaves,
I have 5 with baby 6 on the way. My older 2 are in 10th & 7th grade and my younger ones are in 1st, preschooler and a toddler. In August we will have a newborn.
I had bought AG and Jr. AG for my Middleschooler and Highschooler and I ended returning it. It was very, very dry. My Middleschooler is not Grammar inclined at all and I know he would be even more frustrated then any thing else. Then I bought Rod and Staff English books and it was a bit better. He was still struggling but we were working through it. I stubbled on ELTL and I checkout the samples on LULU and let my son take a look at them. He said he really like it. So, I bought level 4 and he is in 7 th grade and he is LOVING it! He is getting it. At first, I was “teaching” it to him but I stopped because it is very student friendly, that if you needed to teach it, it would not take long at all. There is a book list as well and you can get them from Gutenberg or buy in paperback or e-reader. There is also memory work ( parts of speech)that goes along with it as well, poetry, diction, transition to a commonplace ( for the higher levels), picture study, and writing skills. Kathy ( the author) is working on other levels all the way through highschool if I am correct.
I just know that my DS is finally getting it and he feels a bit more confident. We don’t do the writing portion of it.
I would take a look at the samples. Look at Lulu.com and the samples are there for level 1 to 5 if I am correct.
Also, it is not necessary but there is a workbook. There is no busy work, it is just the grammar proption, copywork and diction pages. I bought it in PDF and it is working for us.
HTH
Sarai
