Analytical Grammar users: Can you share pros and cons please? (ds=8th grade)

[saved1112]

Thanks

[Sunshine State Sue]

Analytical Grammar website is http://www.analyticalgrammar.com. The videos at the website do a great job of explaining the program. We are using Analytical Grammar for 6th-7th-8th grade. AG breaks it up into 3 seasons. 6th grade has 10 weeks of daily grammar work, then review 1x every 2 weeks. 7th grade has 7 weeks of daily grammar work, then review 1x every month. 8th grade has 17 weeks of daily grammar work and then you are done. It can be completed in 1 or 2 years as well. We have completed Season 1 and are reviewing the rest of the year.

 

Season 1 - basic grammar (parts of speech, parts of a sentence, basics of diagramming

Season 2 - advanced grammar (verbal phrases and subordinate clauses) (this completes the study of grammar)

Season 3 - application of grammatical knowledge to the rules of capitalization, punctuation and usage

 

Pros:

• Clear and concise

• Pick up and go (little to no preparation required from mom)

• Teach lesson on first day of week and student can work on their own for rest of week. Only checking/correcting required from mom.

• Each lesson has a theme (American flag, humorous Johnny Carson story, women & math, Mexican-Americans, Martin Luther King Jr., Jewish Americans, fairy tales, etc.) which makes the lessons more interesting.

• Sentences are much more complex than Shurley grammar

• Novelty of getting a letter grade on test

• Comfort of letter grade for perfectionist mom (ds is missing some but still getting an A)

• Student book turns into a reference manual when you remove student exercises.

 

Cons:

• None that I have found

• Some say it’s expensive. I spent $120 but will use it over 3 years.

 

Disclaimer: I have a master’s degree in Operations Research, which is concerned with all things efficiency. Part of the reason I love AG is that it is the most efficient use of my time and my child’s time. This leaves time for other wonderful things like math, history, music, and sports! I suppose if you are a good teacher and you teach grammar year after year after year, you learn to make your lessons more and more efficient. That must be with the author, Robin Finley, did.

:auto:

[karensk]

Analytical Grammar website is http://www.analyticalgrammar.com. The videos at the website do a great job of explaining the program. We are using Analytical Grammar for 6th-7th-8th grade. :auto:

 

What grammar program did your kids use before AG, if any?

 

I'm thinking of doing the following sequence w/ds11:

- R&S 5 (now)

- R&S 6

- Analytical Grammar, spread over 2-1/2 to 3 yrs

 

Also, about how long are your daily lessons and how many days/wk do you do it?

 

Thanks!

[WagsWife]

But so far it has been fantastic. For many reasons, I never did well with grammar when I was in school. Because of this, grammar is very intimidating for me to teach, but it also makes me adamant about my daughters learning and understanding it. We had used Abeka until this year. I can remember trying to explain Adverbs (using Abeka) to my older dd, and praying to God that she understood what I was reading, because I had *no idea what it was talking about. The way AG explains it all, makes it seem so simple. It is hard to believe why I had so much trouble with it. My daughter says all the parsing and diagramming is mind numbing, however, she is breezing through her lessons and her tests! That is worth every cent to me!

[Sunshine State Sue]

What grammar program did your kids use before AG, if any?

 

Also, about how long are your daily lessons and how many days/wk do you do it?

 

Thanks!

 

Dh used LLATL with ds in 2nd-3rd-4th, I think (I'm a little fuzzy on it since I wasn't the teacher). We used Shurley in 5th. I liked it, but the subsequent grades were way too repetitive.

 

We also worked through Matin Latin 1 & 2 which is helpful for English and Latin grammar.

 

I would say that the daily lesson for AG is under an hour. We did it 5x per week, but next season, I will skip the paraphrasing on day 4. Since it's only 10 weeks the first year, it leaves lots of time later in the year for writing and spelling, which we put on hold while we're focusing on grammar.

[Lori D.]

Tried AG this year as a "final wrap up" on grammar for my 9th grader, and found it is just too workbook-y for us, and so set it aside. But that's because we come from a more hands-on/out loud approach to grammar with Winston.

 

If you've done R&S, Growing with Grammar, Easy Grammar, or other workbook grammar, you'll fit in just fine with AG, which is very thorough, and all the other things that Sue listed.

 

Warm regards, Lori D.

[karensk]

Since it's only 10 weeks the first year, it leaves lots of time later in the year for writing and spelling, which we put on hold while we're focusing on grammar.

 

I think this arrangement would work well for me, because I have a hard time switching gears using a 3 days/wk. schedule. I'm now planning on using it starting in 8th grade.

 

Thanks for your help, Sue!

[Michelle My Bell]

I just bought AG, and I am planning on using it this summer along with math and that is it. I want to keep up with a bit of school, so this would be a good time for me to do it without it interrupting our writing work in TOG. Hope it works for us and maybe it could work for you.

 

Michelle

[Cheryl B in VA]

Because you are planning on doing AG in one year some of what I say will not apply. BUT for others reading this post and considering AG I hope this is beneficial. Our expericience:

 

• AG is intensive grammar work. If you do it in one year schedule at least an hour a day.
  
• We skipped the paraphrasing in Season 1 with no impact on his understanding.
  
• Because each exercise takes so much time I opted to schedule grammar twice a week and do AG thoughout the school year. This worked well for ds.
  
• Ds enjoys it! One day I opened his vocab. wb (Word Roots) and he had parsed the sentences in the assignment. At the bottom of the page he wrote, "I parsed them!" He was so proud.
  
• His writing has improved because in Season 2 he learned about all the different clauses in sentences. This combined with doing IEW for the first time greatly improved his writing. AND he knew how to use the clauses (which clause) that IEW was teaching because he was learning them in grammar.
  
• Grammar experience before AG: FLL grades 1 & 2 (completed in grade 3); some of R&S grade 4; maybe a generic workbook in grade 5 - honestly I do not recall. So, a strong background in grammar is not needed.
  

 

[saved1112]

Thank you for the responses!

[nowimscrappin]

Bringing this back to ask a question:

 

I'm going to have my daughter home for two more years (6th and 7th). Can we get through all of this material in 2 years (I see some not recommending it in one).

 

If you are going to do it in two years, has anyone come up with a lesson plan or approach to plan it into the two years?

[GailV]

Bringing this back to ask a question:

 

I'm going to have my daughter home for two more years (6th and 7th). Can we get through all of this material in 2 years (I see some not recommending it in one).

 

If you are going to do it in two years, has anyone come up with a lesson plan or approach to plan it into the two years?

 

We aren't trying to do it in 2 years BUT we are using a slightly different schedule. Dd has been working on it over the summer when pretty much nothing else is going on. I could see how this approach might work for you -- do season 1, take a break of several weeks, then do season 2, etc. Dd does it first thing in the morning, then has the rest of her day free. It's sort of like the summer school classes the PS kids are taking, come to think of it. It helps that everyone around here takes summer school -- it's quite trendy!

 

Think outside the box in scheduling AG -- maybe think of it in terms of block scheduling, in which your dd will have 8 weeks of intensive grammar followed by 8 weeks (or more) of light grammar plus intensive lit. or composition or whatever.

[Sandra in FL]

for my dd. For ds, it would be a terrible fit as he needs a lot of review. It could be done in 2 years - even 1 year (intensively). It has 34 units so at one unit a week, you could fit it into a year.

 

Dd did year 1 in 6th grade and we're almost finished with year 2 (only 8 units) over this summer. The only thing she's had a problem with is infinitive phrases. Twice she's had a problem disagreeing with the answer key and we've emailed the author. Once my dd was correct and the other time, Robin Finley sent back a detailed email explaining the answer. Excellent customer service - so approachable.

 

HTH,

Sandra

[Sunshine State Sue]

If you are going to do it in two years, has anyone come up with a lesson plan or approach to plan it into the two years?

 

The TM suggests the following for a 2 year schedule:

Units 1-10, then use reinforcement exercises 1x per week until Christmas.

Units 11-17, then use reinforcement exercises 1x per week until the end of the year.

Units 18-34 in 2nd year.