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9th grade grammar options
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I have most of my decisions finalized for my up and coming 9th grader except grammar. My plan so far is to use Analytical Grammar in the way it is designed on the website. My ds thinks the plan looks good (as long as we don’t do any more detours). He will finish up JAG by the end of our school year and begin AG in Aug. My only concern is the price tag and the idea that I would like to try Our Mother Tongue OR….??
I don’t have any other grammar ideas for his grade/age so far. We took a detour through Easy Grammar Plus, which would’ve been a “plus” but the workbook/format drove me nuts! Otherwise he would’ve been finished w/ JAG by now, but he still has a bit more to do.
Thanks in advance.
I feel your pain. EGP has a great premise and HORRIBLE formatting. I am trying to determine what direction to take with my dd12 for 7th next year for grammar. I like clear layout and formatting, some diagramming without overkill. I own EGP, JAG, OMT, R&S and am considering Growing with Grammar.
I’m no help, but know that you aren’t alone.
Christie
Thanks, Christie. Sounds like we’re in the same boat…
What don’t you like about OMT that makes you still long for something else?? I’ve seen GWG and I’m not dying to use it and doubt my ds would love it. My 11yo would like GWG but I plan to use R&S with him because it will work for his personality (he’s looked it over) with the Bible stories woven in, it’s similar to the Millers’ books, and is full of pictures, etc. Oh, and it was free & and it seems it will work for him!
My oldest could probably stand to use something a little more like R&S but I don’t know if he could handle all the reading as my 11yo can. My 9th grader would probably like something more streamlined and just grammar without the Bible added in (not that he’s not into the Bible) but something like EGP/AG seem to be what he likes. I plan to use something else for composition (along w/ narrations, of course) so he doesn’t really need the extra that R&S has.
Anyway, tell me why your not settled on OMT….please…..
Okay, just thinking outloud here. But, I think I may try to see if I can find a used copy of the R&S for my oldest as well (9th/10th text). I’ve been looking at the samples and I’m wondering if he could use a little more in the text (kind of like a Lang. Arts text in PS), but used in a CM way. Not sure, but maybe some of what we have been using isn’t sticking because the examples are not “meaty” enough. He reads quite a bit, especially for someone who used to hate reading (didn’t feel he was good at it) but is still a bit slow at it. It seems the R&S gives more explanation as to the why’s of it all.
Like I said, I’m just thinking outloud but I’m tired and it may not sound coherent, LOL.
I need to spend some time really reading OMT instead of skimming. I like it, but I think I would prefer an independent workbook set-up. I am determined to decide on this and Latin for dd12 ASAP. I’ve got 2 others to finish planning for.
I’m unfamiliar w JAG & AG. I have a Q though. Do you think he has a fairly solid grasp of grammar with JAG and EG+ mostly behind him? A friend has a son who finished EG+ around 8th/9th and felt it sufficient to just go onto writing and literature. He’s in college now and had no problems with entrance type grammar questions. After my 13yos is finished with his Essentials lessons in August, I don’t see a need for him to continue with grammar. He’ll utilize all he’s learned in writing highschool level papers. If he hadn’t started Essentials with CC (2011-12), I’d have had him do OMT. One of our other sons used EG+ and it worked for him, but I agree with you on the workbook set up. Ugh. Not enough explanation in parts it seems.
Though I do not know your State requirements concerning grammar, it seems that if he comes to a place of understanding it, for the most part anyway, he wouldn’t continue to need a grammar resource. OMT is thorough and inexpensive. However, if he is comfortable with JAG and likes the way the AG plans, if grammar instruction is still needed, I’d think the price is worth it in order for him to be successful with it and enjoy it at the same time.
Wandered through this post. ;0). I hope you settle on something soon. I know I get distracted from everything when something like this is weighing on me in the planning process.
Blessings,
Becca<><
Oh, might AG be purchased used?
TailorMade – Is OMT self-teaching? Can I simply hand it to my dd12 and she do it without much prior experience? Also, is it enough practice?
Thanks, TailorMade, I appreciate your thoughts.
If he had finished JAG already, without the detour, I’d be okay with it. OR, if EGP was set up in a way that was going to work all the way through, I’d feel set, but neither happened. I think I like the way AG is set up in that it’s meant to be spread out over a period of years with review built in, and if we do it right then he seemed to be okay with that. With JAG being his first grammar text and it taking quite awhile to get through (my fault, not necessarily his) I feel he has forgotten many concepts that he seemed to have down and then switching to EGP really messed him up. I feel he does need the review that AG provides as his memory for the written word does not seem to be as strong as other skills. Looking through the R&S text’s sample, I know there are many concepts that he does not know or has not been exposed to yet through EGP or JAG and I’d like that for him. (AG probably covers them, too, but I hadn’t looked at their samples.)
I’ve never looked at OMT in person, only samples, so I have no idea if he would like that, but he is enjoying Latin (independent right now with Getting Started..) and may enjoy the extra info OMT gives.
So, I guess I’m between: OMT, R&S, AG….yeah!!! It’s narrowed down. That’s a start. Now, if only the next curriculum swap I go to had all 3 for me to look at and buy at a great price, I’d be set!!
Thanks for letting me work all of this out. This is very helpful in making these decisions.
mom3boys, I agree. Talking it out helps me to see things I hadn’t seen. Like a pros/cons party with friends. ;0)
Christy, I think OMT is certainly a self-teaching resource when/if the TE is available and a habit of how to use it correctly is established. In other words, study, answer, then check against guide. Follow with a review of material that wasn’t understood correctly. Our oldest enjoyed using it that way. As long as I see that our 13yos is understanding his Essentials studies, I won’t have him go through OMT. If, for any reason that isn’t the case, I’ll have him refer to OMT this next school year, then call it good.
Plan for youngest (7yod) at this point: finish PLL orally. Transition from oral to written study later on with ILL (unless she transitions during PLL). Then, I’ll have her look at EEL and OMT to choose. Frankly, she she’ll have enough after ILL. She loves grammar.
I don’t want to bog my kids down with a separate grammar time once they’ve got a decent background in it. The goal I have set for them is to be able to speak and write correctly. After a time, grammar tends to seem like busywork to me. Maybe I’m heavily influenced by CM, authors who write about her, and even Beechick’s suggestions.
I just checked Levison’s CM’s grammar schedule (based on CM’s weekly schedule.) Grammar is listed once a week for 30 minutes during 4th-6th grades. A weekly total of 95 minutes during grades 7-8. That’s it. We may complicate this study for ourselves and our children.
State regulations may be an issue, but, if not, maybe they are free to move on when it’s been covered sufficiently? I think that would be especially true if good reference books (any of those we’ve discussed and/or others) are kept available when usage questions arise.
I really should organize my closet while the older children and their father are at work and away visiting with others today. Youngest is in the mood to help me make it pretty. That’s my cue to scoot. 🙂
PS. If we established better habits of attention, etc. in ourselves and our children, we might not have these subjects dragging on for years. Ugh! I need to work more on habits and less on curriculum. 🙂 I feel so silly when I realize this and then continue to get mired down in all the opportunities to change my mind in favor of another rabbit trail. Side table reading will be on habits this next week.
I agree. I used 1/2 of JAG with dd in 4th and we bogged in adverbs and set it aside. We very lightly touched on R&S5 this year, but that’s all we’ve done. It’s time to cover it and be done. I think that’s what is so appealing about AG. I looked at OMT again, but I worry that there isn’t enough practice for this dd. hmmm. I want to make these decisions this weekend and move on.
It seems like AG would be a better fit, even if only based on familiarity with the program. If OMT hasn’t enough practice for her, it will have been $ wasted that could go toward AG.
Thank you, both of you, for helping me through this. I agree so much with what both of you have shared, especially about getting bogged down and doing more than we really need to with such a solid literature-based method, as CM is. I appreciate seeing that it only really needs to be done 1x/week.
Thanks again to both of you.
@Christie, I hope you find what works best for your dc.
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