Hit me with your bests and worsts for 10th/11th grade level. 16 year old boy, doesn't like grammar. He was so-so about grammar going in to this school year; any tolerance he had for it, though, was killed by the horrible book (Christian Liberty Press) we used. Suggestions? I'm intrigued by the concept of Fix-It! Grammar and Editing Made Easy, but I'm not sure. I kind of like how it's a different approach than this year's book. Or Great Editing Adventures, though that one is really too low of a grade level for him.
My children are way younger than your son, so I dont have any answer for your question about grammar curriculum, but I did want to share a helpful exercise: Our Lit professor was a stickler for grammar, and he had a weekly test where he would copy some column from the local newspaper, and challenge us to find the mistakes in there. It was very hard, but it taught us to edit and scan for grammar mistakes very carefully. We all hated that test
Easy Grammar - it's short and to the point. The rest of our instruction comes from editing their writing.
Yes. Easy Grammar IS short and to the point! Rod and Staff is also excellent, but if they've never done it before, you'll not want to use the 9/10 book. I'm not sure it would be a good choice for a kid who didn't like grammar. Does he have a good grammar base? If so, you might want to try something like Queen's Language Lessons for the High School Student. It's very Charlotte Mason, with more of an emphasis on creativity. I'd not call it strong in grammar, but since we've hit grammar hard for the past two years, I'm willing to let it take a back-road this year. Faythe is really enjoying it!
If he has a good base, or at least adequate, I'd recommend Daily Grams. My Ds15 is using them this year. It is a very short review of concepts each day. My Ds hates grammar, too, so this was just what we needed.
This is a great idea! Just recently, I've been noticing some very poor writing on news websites. I keep thinking, "I could write better than this...". I think it would be a great way to get some "current events" into the curriculum in as well. Which I'm all about!
Thanks, ladies! Going to check these out... He actually does have a pretty decent grammar base, especially for a kid who (by his own admission) didn't listen well in PS from junior high through 9th grade. And his vocabulary is impressive. Well, its not genius level or anything, but for a 16 year old who failed freshman year in high school, he uses words that sometimes take me by surprise -- and he uses them correctly!
Does he need to do Grammar? I mean, is it a state requirement, or you feel he is missing a large chunk of something? If not, you could consider just using SAT prep materials so that he'll test okay, then continue to correct his spoken and written grammar as needed. But if you feel you really need a curriculum, then I agree, Easy Grammar is the best.
welllllll... I am so darned torn. No, it's not a state requirement, but we did CLASS this year because I was a homeschooling newbie, though I had a huge respect for it and have been a huge proponent of it for many years. I liked the structure CLASS provided. But, now, after only 5 months, I feel how much they keep you strapped in and I want to make some curriculum changes that CLASS won't support. My initial thought was to go on my own and possibly re-enroll senior year so that we got the diploma provided by them. I felt like it was more "official" (I know, I can hear the snickers of you veterans. ). So, CLASS requires 3 years of Grammar that we would have to show for; if I drop CLASS, I really think he is okay... maybe a little reinforcement here and there on a few items... Anyway, I'm not opposed to forgetting CLASS altogether. What do you guys do as far as transcripts and diplomas and whatnot upon graduation?
I've never used CLASS as a distance-school, but I have used their 7th and 8th grade English courses -- and won't again. In your place, I think I might drop CLASS as a distance school, and go my own way. Easy Grammar/Daily Grams/Ultimate would probably be my choice in your situation. You can keep track of his transcript yourself, and graduate him yourself, with a diploma you can order online that comes with a nice cover. OR you could enroll in something else, like http://www.narhs.org/ .
I also like Easy Grammar, daily grams was our fav but the older levels are 180 lessons in Grammar forget the exact name, but something like that.
Thank you, Lindina. I'm pretty sold on going our own way over the last few days. My waffling days of trying to come to a decision are less waffle-y and more solid in the idea of leaving CLASS completely. You are not the first that's agreed with me on the CLASS English courses. ick. Still secretly glad to hear I am not the only one that thinks it's not so great.
This is the first I've heard of Ultimate. I might try that with Faythe next year, especially if I continue with Queen.
http://www.easygrammar.com/index2.html The Ultimate Series is what the EZ company calls their 8th-12th grades, which TeacherMom calls 180 Daily Teaching Lessons (which is the name on the fronts of the books but for me it's easier to say Ultimate). Here's what EZ website says about it: The texts are like Easy Grammar in that they are teaching texts. Concepts relating to phrases, clauses, compound-complex sentences, and other higher-level concepts (as well as basics) are presented in a 180 daily lesson format found in Daily GRAMS texts.
I make up my own transcript. If some college really wants a diploma, I'll print that up too, but mostly they want a transcript after all the high school classes are finished (and they've been accepted already).
Hands down.....Grammtech. This software is a computer based sentence diagramming tool. I used it when I taught junior high. It's not a game. It's not fun. But it's grammar. you can right click on any term and get an explanation. It's very effective. http://www.academicvisions.com/homeschool.htm
