My 5th grade son and I have been slowly working through BJU English for 5th grade. He does not love to read(which doesn’t help). He does not even like grammar. I thought he was getting the hang of it but we are back in a grammar lesson and it is terrible. I used it because I already had an extra workbook-my older child used this before with no trouble. We def. aren’t going to finish it. At this point, I feel like it was a waste of time because he is more confused than ever (and neither of us care what a predicate noun or adjective is at this point). YET, I know I can’t just stop without a replacement. Any resource suggestions for finishing off the year (2 months left) on a positive grammar note??
Is your son doing any narrations? I have found incorporating grammar studies with the narrations to be the most effective way to get it done pleasantly and then you could indeed just drop the workbook. I did a lot of textbook type learning with my older boys and most often it was torturous. I am not doing that again with my younger set of kids!
Its a shame he doesn’t enjoy reading. Does he like to listen to audiobooks? Sometimes listening to the audiobook while simultaneously reading helps students read better and enjoy it more.
Actually, I think grammar best taught in context of a foreign language. We do very little before about 7th grade age, just enough for the level of language learning they are at, and then they see in language study how they need to know the details. I’m going to propose for the rest of this year, you go buy a big book of MadLibs and do one a day. 🙂
curlywhirly; We listen to many audio books. I recently found http://www.booksshouldbefree.com One of the science stories is one on there. He did enjoy that. I’ll have to do more.
bookworm; He loves Madlilbs! I do too and have forgotten about those!
I think it’s the “this is for 5th grade” on the English workbook that gets me–like he should be capable of it all. That’s why I have removed so much of that grade level material–yet I kept this one-ugh
make a poster or grammar games. let him match them. there are plenty of them. do reading but make up nouns, adjectives ect as a matching type game. I did this but I am not sure where the site is because I forgot which one I found lots of them on. just search google for grammar file folder games. hope it works out. sometimes they need a sneaky back door.
Yes, we need sneaky. :o) The door that is open now is full of predicate nouns, predicate adjectives, direct object–insert my head hurts, etc. He loves games too.
If you want a workbook, Growing With Grammar has been working well with my dyslexic daughter, almost 11. She does not read much independently yet. The lessons in this are very gentle. My daughter has not complained about this at all, and school with her has been a challenge.
Take is slow. It’s really not essential in 5th grade to master all of grammar. (At least I hope not!!)
I had my daughter do 7th grade BJU grammar with the video in her 8th grade year. I’m glad she did it, but I’m glad it’s over.
Grammarland is really a fun book for a guy your son’s age. I have a 5th grade son too. The reader on Librivox has a great voice for the book, and she does a really nice job.
Oh, I also was going to say that this close to the end of the year, you could stop without a replacement. So if you just needed permission to do that–you have it.
I borrowed some punctuation readers from the library recently such as Punctuation Celebration, that are fun.
I think Heart of Wisdom suggests teaching grammar as it comes up, so I started that a few months ago. In their reports and narrations I point out the rule they broke, help them look it up in a reference, and have them copy the rule in words they understand into their writing rules notebooks. I chose only one error per day.
My plan is to teach Winston Grammar in grades 5 and 7, and a one semester review in highschool using a few resources I have plus Life of Fred Language Arts. The other years I will use only the integrated approach. I used Stevenson Learning’s Grammar for several who struggled. It works well, but I prefer a more CM approach. More than you wanted to know, but it helps me to share:)
We’ve been going through Grammarland with the worksheets. He is actually enjoying it and says he LOVES this much better. It is much easier but he was so confused by what he was doing that we def. needed to focus on the basics. I will do some of the other suggestions after we finish up this. Thanks everyone!!!!