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Grammar Help!
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My daughter is working through Simply Grammar. Right now she needs lots of practice with nouns, verbs, and adjectives that is above and beyond what SG provides. She is struggling with verbs and adjectives especially. She is in 5th grade and almost 11, so she really needs to learn it. Can you give me some resources that will provide extra practice above and beyond what SG provides?
Growing With Grammar may be something to look at. http://www.growingwithgrammar.com/index.html
We used it for a while. I like it, for a traditional workbook, but I went with a CM approach, because my 12yo daughter has a learning disability, so learning various parts of speech is difficult for her. I need to take it slow. We are using Queens language lessons, which has more copywork in it. There are mechanics woven throughout.
I highly recommend Get Smart Grammar. I’ve reviewed it here before and on my blog. It’s the most fraught forward presentation I’ve seen. I’ve taught with Analytical Grammar and Get Smart – each to groups of kids. Hands down GSG was preferred by students and parents alike. It’s a one time through and done approach. Dd14 did it last year in 8th and is just reviewing with one sentence a week from Stay Smart and Jensen’s Punctuation book for the mechanics portion. Ds11 is using Get Smart with 3 other kids 5th-7th right now. Not the cheapest, but it is terrific.
Christie, you have really piqued my interest. It is very pricey, though. What all do you need to complete it? It looks like there are different price points for various “bundles”.
Several of my local friends rave about Easy Grammar (and one mentioned Shurley). How do they compare? Are they good?
I just don’t want to spend a lot of money on so many curricula trying them out only to not be happy with them. I wish I could sample them for a couple of weeks and then decide.
There is a sample of one full week, I think week 6, on the Get Smart site. If it’s still on Homeschool Buyer’s Coop I got mine this summer for around $75. We’re only a bit into it, but my 4th graders “gets it”, and she never “got” grammar before, even nouns and verbs really.
I guess everybody has their own pet grammar curriculum 😉 I was going to suggest KISS grammar which is free online (google it). He doesn’t start with parts of speech and concentrates on how words are used. There is for instance a category “nouns used at adverbs.” I am wondering if she is confused because parts of speech as we usually teach them can be so confusing in English and if something that takes a more functional approach would make more sense to her.
Nebby
I meant straight forward above.
I’ve purchased Easy Grammar before and returned it. I have many friends who like it, but I didn’t care for it. I don’t like the layout of the book, lack of diagramming, or the approach in general. The one thing I did like about it was learning prepositions first, though not enough to use it. I’ve never seriously looked at Shurley, so no comment on that.
To effectively use Get Smart, you need either pdf or softcover version of teacher book and student book. I taught without the online videos though they are included in the bundle. Currently ds11 is using Get Smart and another mom is facilitating. She is using the videos to teach the group. They are very well done. The Key Chart is integral to the program. It has you not only identify part of speech (parsing), but also what job the word is performing within the sentence. The straight forward approach works. I don’t want to spend copious amounts of time on grammar, but want a thorough presentation of the subject. Do note that Get Smart focuses only on grammar and not mechanics or usage. I am liking Jensen’s Punctuation and I have a little book on mechanics/ usage to reference as needed.
This term we are using Grammarland by M.L. Nesbitt. It’s in the public domain, but is less than $5 on Amazon. It’s a living book that explains the meaning of the parts of speech. Each part of speech is brought before Doctor Syntax and Sergeant Parsing to take the stand in a courtroom setting. It is clever and amusing and stands alone as an enjoyable book even without the goal of learning grammar. Maybe it would be good for your daughter. You could take a break from your program and have her read this. Perhaps it would give her a different perspective and time for the pieces to fall into place.
Satusmom, I’m definitely going to have her read this! Thanks!
Christie, are there plenty of exercises for practice? DH is ok with me purchasing since we have multiple kids who can go through the program. I figure since it is geared for grades 5+ we can take our take our time with it. Thanks for the recommendation and answering my questions.
We did read Nesbit’s book in about 4th or 5th grade for dd14. I can’t say that we found it helpful. It seems forced and contrived to me. Just my 2 cents on that.
For Get Smart, yes, there is enough practice, imo. You could easily make up similar sentences should the need arise, but in teaching 8 kids thus far, it’s been enough.
Thank you for the info on Get Smart, missceegee! Do you think that Get Smart is thorough enough to give students a comprehensive grammar education through high school, with the exception of mechanics/usage?
Yes, I do. Grammar is a finite body of info. Covering it well once is enough, imo. Afterwards, I hold my kids accountable for what they’ve learned in their writing. DD14 is in 9th grade and writes narrations and compositions, I expect her to use proper grammar, punctuation, etc. in those. If she is stumped, she can refer to her Get Smart notes, or a guidebook like The Elements of Style. She will work her way through Jensen’s Punctuation this year and do 1 exercise from Stay Smart w/ diagramming per week. That is it.
We did 2 years of Easy Grammar and I really liked it. A lot of practice, nothing confusing. I do not see the point of diagramming although I know some people do. For us it was easy to use and covered all we needed.
Also Mad lib is great to practice nouns,verbs, adjective…and it’s fun!
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