My ds2 was the one this was started for the other two I do not recall doing it with, so it was a new thing for us; he is about to graduate and I found that he is the best writer grammatically speaking. His sentence structure is awesome and he gets top grades in English. I think it is fun, in a way, but it was stressful and annoyed my son at first, now he knows where things go and why while other kids are learning about it. We did BJU English lesson with ds 2 and the others did only LifePaks so ds had better lesson work.
I am so glad someone brought this post back. I logged on here to specifically ask this question. Both my sisters and my mom are English teachers. I was in Honors English in both HS and college, but, I too am wondering if it's necessary to know what an adverb is in each sentence. As long as I can write and speak correctly, does it matter? I am struggling with this question at the moment. My son and I are learning helping verbs now. Does he need to know what a verb is? To a certain extent, yes. However, my main concern is his speaking and writing skills. As long as he uses a helping verb correctly, does it matter if he knows the name of it?
We just started CLE's Language Arts, which includes sentence diagramming. I'd heard the term but didn't really know what it was all about until I saw it in the workbooks. I could see how it could feel tedious to some, but as a writer in my former life, I think it will be useful for DD. Visualizing the parts of a sentence on paper can help ensure everything is in agreement, with hope that it becomes a natural process over time. I'm actually excited about starting (perhaps I need to find a hobby, eh? ) If we're screaming with boredom in a few weeks due to the diagramming, I'll revise my post. Until then, bring on the old school grammar, baby!
Can you get through life without knowing this? YES! But you can also get through life without knowing how to reduce fractions, or knowing the capitals of the states (or even the names of the states), or the reason for celebrating the Fourth of July.
I LOVE DIAGRAMMING!! I learned it in 7th grade, and it stuck. I never forgot it. Sometimes, even now, I'll diagram tough sentences just for fun. I think all kids learn in different ways. For me, diagramming just plain old made sense! Some people find it boring, but I found it fascinating. It sounds like it's not working for the OP, so do something else. It's not the end of the world. As long as your kids know the parts of a sentence and what each part does (and why), it doesn't matter if it's diagrammed into a pretty little picture. My kids don't really like diagramming very much, but they're definitely learning from it. For a few weeks, I did nothing but diagramming with my older one, and I saw a huge change in his grammar ability after that.
I LOVED diagramming sentences. I am a visual/hands on learner and never really understood grammar until I learned diagramming. It helped me to see it as a picture of sorts. I thought is was way more fun than just answering questions about the sentence. I will teach it to my boys but if they are bored to death and understand the concept without it, I'll probably stop. Id say if they have mastery of the concept, move on.
Yes, but I can think of valid reasons for knowing all of those things... except maybe the state capitals, I personally never saw much use in that... I am looking for a Good Reason to learn sentence diagramming. Somebody mentioned being able to look at a sentence and make sure all parts are in agreement. Is that basically the whole point?
Here's an article I found via google that gives some background on diagramming -- why it gained prominence, and why it faded. Those that commented at the end of the article offer multiple viewpoints for and against diagramming. Perhaps this will offer you the additional insight you're seeking. http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/08...guage-the-fading-art-of-diagramming-sentences
I spoke to one of my good friends who teaches high school English. She said that if the student can write well then unless the student is planning on taking a college level grammar course (which mainly only English comp majors do) there is really no reason to learn diagramming. Most students in her college courses had not done any diagramming before and they just learned it in the course. I did it in high school, it really meant nothing too me, just another way to look at a sentence.
