Please Name Your Favorite Grammar Program & Why

I just saw The Logic of English yesterday for the first time.  I haven’t had a chance to go through the whole website, and it’s a bit pricey, but you can use it for all ages.  It might be worth looking at.

We have Winston Grammar as well, but have not really used it much. I purchased it last year and it was too confusing for my then 7 year old and too basic for my then 10 year old. It does help reinforce things though and I plan on using it this summer to keep things “fresh in mind”.

I have also tried Rod & Staff this year with my 6th grader, and we both hated it. It was too much work for him as well as too confusing. He has ADHD so a “busy page” with words can cause him to become confused and overwhelmed. I found myself getting confused and frustrated too  We switched to Easy Grammar 6 and so far so good. He likes the short lessons and the lack of having to rewrite every little thing. In conjunction with that, we are using WordSmith Apprentice to work in our writing skill as well as journaling/copywork.

For my 3rd grader, we are using Rod and Staff but I am not really pushing through it like it should be. She is still grasping these concepts and the book does not give much practice. I am not that worried about it either since I plan on schooling year round. In Texas, we have to teach grammar so there you go.

Next year, I am considering using Easy Grammar again for my soon to be 7th grader or maybe Analytical Grammar. A friend of mine tried using AG and her daughter HATED it so I may be able to purchase it at a low price…that is should I opt for it.

I also have Serl’s Intermediate Language Lessons for my upcoming 4th grader. I found ILL at a bookstore for about $6 and the teacher guide free online. Of note, you can also find ILL free for an e-reader. I just like the feel of a book sometimes when teaching my children.

The Logic of English turned me off just by price alone. I did not research it though…so it may work for somoene. I am just truly trying to budget like crazy this year given gas prices, etc.

You MAY need to consider doing more than one thing.  Harvey’s–you should know that some of the terms they use are the older ones and do not always correspond to newer grammar terms.  This confused my oldest when we did it long, long ago.  I just couldn’t get used to the names in Harveys and kept asking him questions using what I knew.

I don’t know if it will help, what we are doing, but we plan on using Our Mother Tongue next year.  It does cover some diagramming, but not quite as much as I like, so right now while my 6th grader has some time, I am taking him through my beloved and  much-thumbed Complete Book of Diagrams by Mary Daly.  She might have changed the name of it now, but that’s what her diagram book used to be called, and I LOVE it.  Really, really love it.  We’ll have the more thorough diagramming now, and then move on to the nice examples and exercises in Our Mother Tongue next year.  I really like this, too. 

Before doing things like that, since this is about when I begin Latin teaching anyway, I just concentrate on using their copywork and dictation to teach some grammar to them.  I try first to reinforce basic mechanics then move on to things they’ll need to have a good firm grasp of for Latin and then they are usually ready to really diagram and move on to OMT.  After that we just use a good style guide and work on their own writing.

Bookworm…I am curious what English grammar things (beyond mechanics) that you’ve found “they need to have a good firm grasp of for Latin” that you make a point to teach through copywork and dictation. The more I think about it, the more I am leaning towards that kind of an organic grammar approach to the earlier elementary years…just wondering exactly what concepts you’ve taught informally to ensure they are ready for Latin and/or formal English grammar in the middle years.

Thanks…

Jen

Jen, I really emphasize the basics—subject nouns.  Verbs.  Some beginning verb tenses.  (My Latin program does not do any other tenses the first year but I like them to have the basic present-past-future down at least.)  Direct objects.  Indirect objects.  You can’t translate a Latin sentence by the middle of first-year Latin if you don’t understand those.   What an adjective is.  I introduce the idea that there are other KINDS of nouns than subject nouns although I wait to fill in the nitty-gritty until we hit it in Latin (spending too much time on objective case is kind of silly until you run into a language that inflects.)  I also talk about the basic types of pronouns.  I just take their copywork and dictation and if one of those concepts shows up, we discuss it.  Maybe mark the sentence.  After we diagram a little, maybe we diagram the sentence.  Color all the nouns.  Underline all the verbs.  Etc.  That kind of thing.  It only takes a few minutes.