Grammar - I just don't think we need that much

[warneral]

My kids did FLL3 for 2nd and 3rd (they do it together)

Then they did R&S4 for 3rd and 4th (no problem)

 

At that point I decided I didn't want to spend quite so much time doing grammar again in 5th.  Therefore, I switched to HAKE 6 to do it at half speed.  I picked HAKE because it was Spiral.  The kids hated it and we quit about mid year last year.  They asked for R&S again.

 

So this year, we went to R&S6.  While they understand the topic, I just don't want to spend 30-50min per day on grammar.  I realize we could shorten the lessons, but it just seems too nitty gritty.

 

Now, I've decided upon Analytical Grammar.  JAG probably would be best, but they seem to do well with grammar concepts and I really don't want to spend an extra year and $100+ on JAG.  So my plan is to first cover the mechanics chapter in R&S 6 (since mechanics isn't covered for a long time in AG) and then move onto season 1 of AG.  I love the idea of only doing grammar daily for 13 weeks.  I really hope this is a good fit for them.  The idea of slogging through several more years of daily R&S lessons gives me a rock in my stomach!  I really did love R&S4, but enough is enough!

 

Has anyone BTDT?  I do hope AG will work for them!  I might spread out season one of AG over the remaining of the year instead of daily for 13 weeks.  Has anyone done that?

 

Thanks for listening.  I will update this thread when we get further along this rocky grammar journey!

[Ellie]

I don't think that native speakers of English need to study their own grammar for 12 years.

 

Of course, R&S does far more than just grammar; I'd be inclined to pick and choose through the grammar lessons for the sake of the writing and other things.

[crazyforlatin]

My situation is slightly different, but I went with AG after using MCT to avoid buying a new level of grammar each year. I'm planning to spread out AG so that we can be done with it with just one book. We don't do grammar every day, maybe just once per week (twice this week). Part of the reason is that there isn't enough time to do languages and math and have an active life if every subject has to be done every day. MCT was fun for awhile, but it takes too many books to reach the level we need to cover now. I like everything explained in one book, not throughout 6 consecutive levels. I have to say that AG has been a good buy this year.

[Guest Betty Jones]

I don't think that native speakers of English need to study their own grammar for 12 years.

 

Of course, R&S does far more than just grammar; I'd be inclined to pick and choose through the grammar lessons for the sake of the writing and other things.

Agreed with this answer native don't need to learn grammar.

[LindaOz]

I often scheduled my kids to do grammar twice a week - tues & thurs, while on the other days we did other LA subjects like writing, narrations, dictations etc. It worked well. They progressed without it being all-consuming. My younger kids now do an English workbook which alternates grammar, writing and reading comp activities which means they still only do grammar 2 or so times a week. Works well still.

[warneral]

Thank you for the encouragement! We are specifically focusing on writing skills this year (older is doing WWS and younger is doing treasured conversations and the rest of WWE3), but I also want to make time for literature, vocab and logic. The grammar was just too much!

[SebastianCat]

We are in week 9 of season 1 of AG with my 7th grader. I have to say that AG has been intense, but very thorough, and I'm very glad I chose it.

[....]

I don't know about AG, but this is seriously my 12 yro's last year of grammar (she's using Easy Grammar Plus).  Sometimes, I think we homeschoolers do TOO much grammar.  Like you, I'm looking at focusing on writing skills next year. 

[Murrayshire]

My oldest went through AG the past couple years..... And is now going through the High School Shakespeare grammar book. She loves that she only does an exercise every other week! She has retained AG grammar extremely well and now has a BIG book of grammar to refer back to if she has trouble.

 

My middle dc went through JAG last year for 5th grade and will begin AG Season 1 after Christmas break.

 

With that said, it would be easy enough to spread AG (one season) out for the whole school year, possibly spreading each lesson into a 2 week period. The Reinforcement & Review books are useful b/w Seasons.

For my oldest, Season 2 seemed a bit more challenging than 1 & 3..... Some lessons were accomplished by working on half an exercise a day.....whether it took 2 or 3 weeks to finish. The goal is to master the concept before moving forward to the next lesson. We used the videos.....my dc like it vs me teaching it. After watching the lesson, they would explain what they learned after I read through the lesson. If they couldn't show me or explain clearly, I would therefore go over the lesson with them.

Hope some of what I said is helpful.

[Reefgazer]

My kids have picked up grammar really quickly (even the one who has just recently come from public school); they aren't going to need many years of grammar instruction.  We are using R+S with them, but we are doing what you suggest - picking through the grammar because 1) we prefer MCT grammar and use that instead for our grammar fix, and 2) the rest of the R+S books are too awesome and valuable to ditch entirely. 

I don't think that native speakers of English need to study their own grammar for 12 years.

 

Of course, R&S does far more than just grammar; I'd be inclined to pick and choose through the grammar lessons for the sake of the writing and other things.

 

[clementine]

After our oldest took her ACT test last spring, she actually thanked me for pushing grammar all the way through the school years.  It is very helpful on those types of tests.  We only spent about 15 min per day in the high school years, but I am convinced that it is worth it!

[warneral]

I received Analytical Grammar today (used).  I really think this is going to be great for us.  I agree, clementine, that grammar is useful!  I just don't think the R&S approach is going to work for us.  AG appears to be extremely straight forward.  Our whole family enjoys diagramming sentences, and I'm glad that will be covered & practiced in AG.

 

I also purchased AGJr Mechanics.  I think we will use that this year for 5th(dd)and 6th(ds).  This will give us some dedicated work on punctuation and usage since that isn't covered until the last unit (year) of AG.  Hopefully we can use it without having gone through AG.  I have AG as a reference in case we need to learn a new term or method.

 

Then next year we can start AG season one and use the review and reinforcement books, followed by season two the next year.  I also would want to use the review HS books too.

[clementine]

I should have added that we used Easy Grammar/Daily Grams throughout all of our years, along with WordlyWise for vocabulary.  I hope AG is the right fit for you!

[kiwik]

I think native speakers definitely need to study grammar. Not 30 mins plus every school day for twelve years though;

[Sunshine State Sue]

We used AG years ago.  It was one of the best homeschool purchases I made, and it's probably been improved upon since I used it.  Here is my review. 

 

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

 

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 in Season 1 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.
• Built-in review – new concepts are learned, but old concepts (ex. adverbs, conjunctions, gerund phrases) are never dropped.
• Sentences are much more complex than Shurley grammar.
• The review paragraphs are from real books (in other words, the sentences are not made up especially for grammar parsing).
• Novelty of getting a letter grade on test
• Comfort of letter grade for perfectionist mom (ds is missing some but still getting As/Bs)
• Student book turns into a reference manual when you remove student exercises.
• Erin Karl (author’s daughter) is very responsive to questions on AG yahoo group.

 

Cons:

• While I thought Season 1 was perfect, we could have used 2x as much practice/review for Season 2 (because it’s difficult) and 3 (because it’s detailed).
• Some say it’s expensive.  I spent $120 but will use it over 3 years.  It has been worth every penny in the TIME that it has saved me.

 

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 imagine that 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.

[warneral]

Sue, thanks for your thorough review. I was on the cusp of wondering how they would do with the advanced techniques. Otherwise, it really seems to fit the bill in efficiently teaching grammar. I too have a background in efficiencies as a former packaging engineer for a major food company. Grammar is important to me, so if they struggle with season 2, I can always add in more resources for additional teaching and practice. Not sure what, but perhaps R&S English handbook with my own sample exercises.

[Pen]

We used AG years ago.  It was one of the best homeschool purchases I made, and it's probably been improved upon since I used it.  Here is my review. 

 

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

 

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 in Season 1 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.
• Built-in review – new concepts are learned, but old concepts (ex. adverbs, conjunctions, gerund phrases) are never dropped.
• Sentences are much more complex than Shurley grammar.
• The review paragraphs are from real books (in other words, the sentences are not made up especially for grammar parsing).
• Novelty of getting a letter grade on test
• Comfort of letter grade for perfectionist mom (ds is missing some but still getting As/Bs)
• Student book turns into a reference manual when you remove student exercises.
• Erin Karl (author’s daughter) is very responsive to questions on AG yahoo group.

 

Cons:

• While I thought Season 1 was perfect, we could have used 2x as much practice/review for Season 2 (because it’s difficult) and 3 (because it’s detailed).
• Some say it’s expensive.  I spent $120 but will use it over 3 years.  It has been worth every penny in the TIME that it has saved me.

 

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 imagine that 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.

 

 

subbing so as to be able to find this post again!

[skimomma]

We are using AG, season 2 this year with my 6th grader.  I really like it.  Dd really does not love grammar in general but has tolerated AG well and seems to retain the information well.  It is no-nonsense, dd knows what to expect, and we typically only have to do it twice a week for about 30 minutes.

 

I used to think grammar was a waste of time.  I went to school when diagramming was out of fashion and only learned bits and pieces.  I never understood the whole picture.  I trusted TWTM on this one and just did grammar with dd even though I thought it was a bit dated and useless.

 

Until this year.  Dd is in Lukeion Latin 1 and she would have had no chance if her grammar skills were not strong.  Remembering back to my own failed attempts at learning a foreign language in high school and college, it became very obvious that my lack of grammar knowledge was a huge contribution to those failures.

[Murrayshire]

We used AG years ago. It was one of the best homeschool purchases I made, and it's probably been improved upon since I used it. Here is my review.

 

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

 

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 in Season 1 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.
• Built-in review – new concepts are learned, but old concepts (ex. adverbs, conjunctions, gerund phrases) are never dropped.
• Sentences are much more complex than Shurley grammar.
• The review paragraphs are from real books (in other words, the sentences are not made up especially for grammar parsing).
• Novelty of getting a letter grade on test
• Comfort of letter grade for perfectionist mom (ds is missing some but still getting As/Bs)
• Student book turns into a reference manual when you remove student exercises.
• Erin Karl (author’s daughter) is very responsive to questions on AG yahoo group.

Cons:

• While I thought Season 1 was perfect, we could have used 2x as much practice/review for Season 2 (because it’s difficult) and 3 (because it’s detailed).
• Some say it’s expensive. I spent $120 but will use it over 3 years. It has been worth every penny in the TIME that it has saved me.

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 imagine that 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.

Sue, this is a perfect review of AG! I'm keeping tabs on this to spread to others! 😉

Thank you!