Has anyone used these grammar books … ?

We have used:

– Sentence Composing for Elementary (around grade 6.  Despite the fact that it’s says for “Elementary” I would NOT use it earlier than 6th grade)

– Sentence Composing for Middle School (in grade 8)

My boys LOVED this program.  My 8th grader says he learned more about how to write well from his year using SC Elementary than anything else we’ve done.  The sentence selections are all from fantastic works of literature and chosen well.   Many times, my boys were so intrigued by the literature selections that they began to bug me to get the books to read on their own!  (granted I have book lover kids)

It DOES take a wee bit of effort  for Mom/teacher to figure out the methods being used, but once you get it, the whole format is quite straightforward.    Even if you don’t really care to understand every little piece of information being taught (i.e. definition of an appositive phrase versus participial phrase), the book/program is fantastic to be used as copywork and to get the children to really THINK about why/how sentences (longer, more complex and interesting sentences) come together in the way they do.  Even if you just considered it as your copywork gold mine, you’d be set.

Note my review and thumbs up is only for the Sentence Composing books.  I did not love the Paragraph Composing book as much.  (I think we tried the Middle School level ….around 7th grade)   Though it wasn’t terrible, it did little to get my boys improving their paragraphs!

I found the Grammar book (I think we had elementary level grammar) to be a total waste of time.  Having said this, it took a long while in my house for us to find our grammar groove.  Might have less the Kilgallon book, and more me and my confusion about my priorities on grammar at the time.

Note  – These books are sold as consumable but can easily be used as non-consumable by just copying answers/sentences onto paper.

HTH.  I’m sure it’s not for everyone, but it was a good fit for my children.  Even now, years later, when we are editing narrations and I give feedback to vary their sentences, they seem to be able to reach back to some of what they learned in SC and come up with pretty decent writing.  In summary, my children are now able to write long, complex and interesting sentences that rarely leave me confused (and most times leave me fairly impressed).  Now, this could certainly be due to the fact that my kids are all avid readers, and due also in part to the fact that we have always avoided twaddle, but I really think SC helped as well.

Blessings,

Angie