We've been using Growing with Grammar and it's just becoming a battle. As I've said before, my 8 year old son HATES to write. He understands the concepts and feels this is just busywork if he has to write it all out. Is there another grammar curriculum that might work better for him? As I was typing this, it suddenly occurred to me that I don't really have to have him write it out just because that's what the directions say. I could just have him cross out a letter that needs to be capitalized and just write the letter or I could just show what punctuation goes at the end. I think I'll try that, but I'd still like opinions on other grammar programs.
do they have an Easy Grammar for that age? I would also suggest Bob Jones English 2or3 what ever level he is at it has a great deal of grammar and somehow it seems fun because its broken into one page a day.
We do Easy Grammar Plus and Daily Grams. This is our first year to use them. And we both like them, a lot.
I've done the same thing too. It doesn't make sense to have to write everything out when it is already written. I like Michael Clay Thompson's grammar. It is a full language arts program though and does have lots of writing assignments.
We love Easy Grammar in this house. My son, now 9, used Easy Grammar 3/4 Last year - it's the older version before they separate out in grades. He, too, is not fond of writing, and there is a lot of writing in Easy Grammar BUT it's 1 page (2 sides) a day, so it's not awful. Some days it's all reading. The free Scott Foresman stuff is fun, too, but, again...writing. You could make up a bunch of cards with words and have him practice sentence structure and stuff. We do that sometimes here, and it's fun. I there there are games that are specifically designed for that. We play a game called "You've Been Sentenced" where you use word cards and create funny sentences. You could also watch the Grammar stuff from Schoolhouse Rock...we do that sometimes and call it Grammar. For my oldest - doing 6th grade this yea r- I think we'll just do Daily Gram's next year b/c she's really learned a lot of grammar in two years.
I think Winston Grammar can also help get a solid base for understanding basic grammar. We are using it for a little review this year and I hope it helps him understand sentence structure without diagramming. It uses symbols and initials to mark the different parts of the sentences. OH and it comes with wonderful clue cards that would be helpful for any grammar program. And it is not expensive.
I like R&S, and also Easy Grammar. Faythe has used both, and is doing VERY well in the grammar portion of the class she's taking from a retired high school English teacher.
My favorites are CLE and R&S. I have also used Easy Grammar Plus with good results, so I would assume that the elementary levels are good too. I've also used Daily Grams, and found that doing one Gram a day with a group (2 or 3 students) who were all on the same level, doing it at the whiteboard and discussing each "why" was the single best booster for grammar skills in the years that this fit us. (My current students are only in 2nd and 3rd levels right now, so they don't actually have enough previous grammar instruction behind them yet to do the Daily Grams which are review.)
Faythe is taking that class "outside" this year, so I told her she didn't have to do English with me. She is, however, doing Daily Grams. And I'm getting absolutely no fussing over them, either!
My son (11) hates to write also. We are doing Easy Grammar (it's grade 6. I'm not sure what they have for the younger grades), and we are having fun! VERY little writing. This makes so much more sense than the way I was taught this stuff! After 2 years of college English, I am finally learning something. LOL...
Consider First Language Lessons Lvl 3. I use it for my 3rd grader who hates to write and it works well. The lessons are short, there is very little writing and it's very thorough.
Consider Grammtech. A superb product. Computer based. It's more for older children tho. 12+ http://www.academicvisions.com/homeschool.htm
We've been using Rod and Staff for years and are content with it. I do not assign every assignment and I do not assign every sentence. Or sometimes, I will have them photocopy the page and make the necessary corrections OR just write the last word of the subject then vertical line then the first word of the predicate. Not everything needs to be written out especially if they are writing for other subjects. Terri
With Rod & Staff, often the instructions say to write only the word(s) that need correcting, or put only the punctuation mark that's needed, or write only the simple subject and simple predicate, or some other "short version" instead of writing out the whole sentence to do something to it. Also, often we'll do all the exercises orally, then do the related worksheet instead of the "written" part of the lesson that's in the book. I've used the 2nd, am using the 3rd, and have used parts of the 4th and 5th, all this "reduced writing" way.
