Alternative to Analytical Grammar

Nanci, I’m with you; I, too, really wanted AG to work. With your request above, Our Mother Tongue comes to my mind as well. I’m sure others will have more suggestions. ~ Heather

Alright – I am going to chime in here and say that the Jr. AG is not going over too great at our house either.  I don’t want to abandon it because I think it covers good material and I want her to  be exposed to diagramming, but I am doing a combo of Simply Grammar and JrAG now – doing most of it orally, skipping around in SG a little to match the sections in JrAG, using the teachers manual to read through most of the labeling and diagramming questions, talking them through, but doing the playing with words pages written – the “application” part of JrAG.  I think it is working very well for now (this student is DD10).  When we get to the end of JrAG I intend to keep on with SG – I think I thought it “wouldn’t be enough”  but in using the two I see that it is effective.

For a high schooler, I wonder if some of the very entertaining grammar books that have come out lately would be fun and enriching – like Eats, Shoots & Leaves or Woe is I.  There are many more available.  There are also websites like Grammar Girl .  I see that there is a Woe is I Jr – I will have to check this out.  My kids loved the picture book version of Eats, Shoots & Leaves – they ask for it from the library LOL.  

My son is 11 1/2 and we use JAG and he really likes it.  He asks to use it all the time, even when it’s Spelling Wisdom day (which he likes, as well), so we are spending more time on it and taking a short break from SW.  He says that’s one of his favorite subjects now and thinks he’s really good at it, he has caught on pretty well but does have some mistakes. But for him to say that about himself (even with the mistakes) that makes it worth it to me and I’m happy for him:)

There is nothing wrong with AG!  Didn’t mean to make it sound like there was 😉  It is a very well put together program.  It says “analytical” right in the title, so that is what you should expect LOL but it is just a little much for us right now.  My dd10 is learning from it, but not joyfully.  She scores very well on the “tests” even though she feels like it is hopeless and that she doesn’t know what she is doing.  The style  of the program is causing her to doubt herself needlessly.  Simply Grammar is much more creative and confidence building for her.  That is the best way I know to put it.

For a child with a different personality, JrAG might be just the thing.

Hey everyone!

 This is our first year using AG (my son is in 8th). He is learning so much with it. It is repetitive, which is good for retaining the information. He is staying committed, and when he shows he has it down pat we shorten some of the lessons and go ahead with the test. We will do the first section this year and do Reinforcement and Review to keep it fresh. When we complete the ten weeks we will do a study on Poetry. He is maturing and knows it will benefit his future to have this knowledge. So we are satisfied with the curriculum. Hope this view helps. Melanie

Nedra – thanks for mentioning Queen’s – we love them too for my 10 and 6 year old – can you elaborate on the high school content?  I never think of these as a “grammar” program but there is grammar content throughout.  I like the Queen’s books more and more the farther along we get in them.