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Good Grammar program for 4-6 gr?


NatYoung17
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Hi,

 

I'm looking for a good basic grammar program, but haven't been able to find one I like...preferably secular... Any suggestions?

It's not our favorite topic and I'm not looking for anything for a future writer or English teacher... just something that will teach them what they need to know. Also I don't have a big budget, I was using something from McMillan I downloaded for free at some point, but it doesn't come with an answer key, so it's hard to correct it.

I have one in 6/7th grade and one in 4th, so if there's something I could use for both, that would be great, otherwise it would have to be pretty inexpensive...

 

Thanks!

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Hi,

 

I'm looking for a good basic grammar program, but haven't been able to find one I like...preferably secular... Any suggestions?

 

It's not our favorite topic and I'm not looking for anything for a future writer or English teacher... just something that will teach them what they need to know. Also I don't have a big budget, I was using something from McMillan I downloaded for free at some point, but it doesn't come with an answer key, so it's hard to correct it.

 

I have one in 6/7th grade and one in 4th, so if there's something I could use for both, that would be great, otherwise it would have to be pretty inexpensive...

 

Thanks!

 

Easy Grammar. You could get the fifth grade teacher book and a workbook for each child. Or you could have your older dc do Easy Grammar Plus now, and your younger dc do it in a couple of years. It won'/t hurt for your younger one to wait. ;-)

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What is your budget? If it's up to $35, check out these options:

 

1. We are doing the Middle School Grammar workbook from Brookdale House and it is going well. It covers the parts of speech, parts of sentences, phrases, clauses, and punctuation in a series of brief lessons with short exercises. This book is good if you want a short, quick grammar workbook for a child who gets grammar easily.

 

2. If you want more detailed lessons that go slower, check out Steps To Good Grammar from Walch.

 

Both these resources are secular.

 

If your budget is lower, check out the eWorkBook from Daily Grammar, which is also secular. It has 100+ short lessons with exercises.

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Fix-It Grammar (only get the newer version, old one is not a complete program). You could start both students in the same book. Buy the printed version of the TM and you automatically get access to the student book in PDF at no extra cost. Just print off the pages. Set up once the pages are printed is maybe 30 minutes to get the student notebooks ready. After the notebooks are set up there really is no lesson prep needed ahead of time. The lesson takes :15 minutes a day, 4 days a week, is deceptively gentle but has an impact long term. No diagramming, though, and some people absolutely want diagramming. There are 6 books in the series. Each book ramps up and book 6 covers advanced grammar so you may not even have an interest in going that far. Even in the more advanced books lessons are still short. If you want, you could easily accelerate and do two lessons a day, 5 days a week, :30 minutes a day and complete everything much faster.

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I don't remember where we got it online (Librivox?), but we have enjoyed the free audiobook of Grammarland.  It does a good job of getting the different types of works to make sense in a fun way.

 

As far as an actual curriculum, we really enjoy Royal Fireworks Press and their series - probably recommend Town level for your ages, although it'd be a shame to miss out on the fun of Island.  It isn't a straightforward get-er-done type of curriculum, but it is very interesting and I think it does a great job of making the structure of grammar appear very basic and simple.

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I'd also recommend fix it grammar as a pp did. The lessons are short and do a good job of covering the topics. Mine have been enjoying it a lot

Yeah, DD never argues over doing grammar. In fact, she volunteers and frequently wants to grab that first. She is not a language arts kinda gal but she likes Fix-It. DS is warming to it and never argues over doing it either.

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Fix-It Grammar (only get the newer version, old one is not a complete program). You could start both students in the same book. Buy the printed version of the TM and you automatically get access to the student book in PDF at no extra cost. Just print off the pages. Set up once the pages are printed is maybe 30 minutes to get the student notebooks ready. After the notebooks are set up there really is no lesson prep needed ahead of time. The lesson takes :15 minutes a day, 4 days a week, is deceptively gentle but has an impact long term. No diagramming, though, and some people absolutely want diagramming. There are 6 books in the series. Each book ramps up and book 6 covers advanced grammar so you may not even have an interest in going that far. Even in the more advanced books lessons are still short. If you want, you could easily accelerate and do two lessons a day, 5 days a week, :30 minutes a day and complete everything much faster.

 

Thank you so much for posting this in regards to the new version. A couple of months ago I posted asking about something for when we are done with Winston Grammar. A couple of people suggested Fix-It and honestly I never really paid attention to that recommendation because I tried it a few years ago and it was a mess and I just couldn't teach it effectively.

 

I didn't realize there was a new version now. I just checked it out and it looks great. So much more straightforward and easy to use. 

Edited by Heather in VA
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We're doing very well with Saxon Grammar & Composition. My daughter is able to work through it independently. It also includes sentence diagramming. And with the continual review of Saxon my ds seems to retain it well.

Ds is enjoying Saxon Grammar too. I find it secular with the exception of some of the word choices/slight moralizing done with vocab words in the beginning of each lesson.

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Yeah, DD never argues over doing grammar. In fact, she volunteers and frequently wants to grab that first. She is not a language arts kinda gal but she likes Fix-It. DS is warming to it and never argues over doing it either.

mine used to complain all the time the past few years about grammar and it always got pushed aside and often not done because of that. This year they get it done without me asking and want to do more. And they are retaining what they've learned so even better!

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