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diagramming sentences


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What do you like that teaches diagramming sentences?  I'm looking specifically for the skill of diagramming sentences - I do not need extra teaching in it, but extra teaching in it is fine too.  I just need diagramming tutorials, something from the very beginning and for about the 4th level, with lots of practice.  (Dc learns not through concept teaching but through over and over and over drill.)  But I want it too to have orderly concept teaching.

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If you want diagramming sentences and if you want that over and over again...then I'd suggest Analytical Grammar or Junior Analytical Grammar. 

 

If you want video teaching then I'd suggest Grammar Revolution.  But, I don't think there's as much practice as you'd get in AG or JAG.  GR is more like...watch the video...do a couple sentences...move on.

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My kids love Analytical Grammar (seriously, they do ... weird, I know) and it thoroughly teaches diagramming with lots and lots of practice.  But I don't start til 6th grade when they do season 1, then season 2 in 7th grade, then season 3 in 8th and they're done with grammar.  I don't use Junior AG because it seemed like overkill to me.  I don't think I'd use AG with anyone younger than 6th grade.

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Digging into Diagramming goes from simple subject and verb all the way through compound-complex sentences with gerund phrases etc. It is a teaching workbook and is inexpensive. It is made by the same company that puts out Growing with Grammar, and It is diagramming only. Both of my dc are currently working in it without complaint.

 

 

 

ETA: both dc have done Growing with Grammar. so, most of the diagramming they are working on right now is review. Digging into Diagramming does not have an abundance of work to be completed with each section, but the teaching is incremental and clear. It is a great companion piece to a full grammar curriculum.

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My kids love Analytical Grammar (seriously, they do ... weird, I know) and it thoroughly teaches diagramming with lots and lots of practice.  But I don't start til 6th grade when they do season 1, then season 2 in 7th grade, then season 3 in 8th and they're done with grammar.  I don't use Junior AG because it seemed like overkill to me.  I don't think I'd use AG with anyone younger than 6th grade.

 

If you use their three year timeline for 6th-8th, does it get into diagramming in year one?

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Yes, they learn how to diagram all basic parts of speech and compound sentences/parts of speech in season 1.  Season 2 is for participials, gerunds, infinitives, & clauses.  My 7th grader was inordinately proud of himself for the complicated sentence he could easily diagram at the end of season 2.  :)  "The gleam of the match which he struck shone upon his clotted fingers and upon the ghastly pool which widened from the crushed skull of the victim." - quote from The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

Year 3 is punctuation & usage.

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I think it's possible that a very motivated older student who is very intuitive with grammar *might* be OK reading through it and doing it independently ... but at 6th and 7th and 8th grades, mine definitely needed me to go through it with them and teach it and do the first few examples with them the first day, then grade the exercises with them each day after that.  Maybe that's because my kids were completely unfamiliar with diagramming before this, but it was very intimidating to them at first.  Once they got started they realized that hey, this isn't so bad and it's even kind of fun, but I think if I'd just handed it to them and said "go" they would have shut down.

 

It really only takes about 20 minutes a day (of my time - their time is about an hour/day), and the Seasons are relatively short.  Season 1 lasts 10 weeks, Season 2 lasts 8 weeks, then Season 3 lasts 17 weeks (but it's even quicker than the 1st 2 seasons, so maybe only 10-15 minutes a day).  The other weeks of the school year they focus on writing and composition and just do a few grammar review exercises here and there and don't need me at all for that.

 

Hope that helps!

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Yes it does.  Thank you so much for your input.  It sounds like what I'm looking for.  I would expect to help out at the beginning and then turn it over only to check work and answer questions.  That is how he uses Saxon math, science, and history.  With Shurley, I have to use the script.  I don't mind right now, but next year, I'll need to give more time to his sister and have a toddler, so I need grammar to be independent.  I might begin it before everyone else begins school, so he can adjust to something new.

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JAG was written for grades 4-5. We love it. I have found the above comments relating AG to be true for JAG except that JAG has 11 units and JAG Mechanics has 15. JAG teaches diagramming and parsing. Mechanics teaches punctuation, but the books are sold separately so you could just buy JAG. I have found it to be fairly independent. I do a few examples (or play the DVD) and let her do an exercise each day. If she misses any, we do those together the next day and then she does the next exercise. It really doesn't take much time.

 

ETA: I can't speak to JAG being overkill because we have not reached AG, but to me it's perfect because it is so concise.

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