Grammar

[jabuford]

My children are 5th and 7th grade this year. I feel like I have run the gamat of grammar programs. They still don't know parts of speech. I started them for the summer on Junior Analytical Grammar. I am frustrated already on exercise 3 because my 11ds still says is this a noun. I always answer a noun is a person, place, thing or idea. That doesn't seem to sink in. Exercise 1 he missed something on everyone of the questions except one. I made them redo exercies 3 and they just tried to remember what they had done yesterday. This fall they are in a co-op class that is making them use Easy Grammar. I wanted them to have a better understanding of grammar and parts of speech before this class starts. What would you do?

[Mrs Mungo]

THe best way to teach them the basic parts of speech? Mad Libs.

[amtmcm]

http://www.stmichaelschool.us/sentencefamily.html

 

Someone on the forum recently recommended this program. Your 7th grader will definitely think it's too young, but if s/he is a good sport it might be fun. It was written by a class of 4th graders, so it might be close to grade level for your 5th grader. I'm going to buy it for my 4th grader next year - I think it looks fun and my DD loves to draw.

 

Sentence Family

 

Table of Contents

 

Introduction -How to Use the Book

 

General Instructions for Drawings

 

Mr. Declarative Sentence

 

Mrs. Interrogative Sentence

 

Mr. Imperative Sentence

 

Mrs. Exclamatory Sentence

 

Verb

 

Noun

 

Adjective

 

Adverb

 

Article

 

Preposition

 

Instructions for Diagraming

 

Diagraming Prepositional Phrases

 

Pronoun

 

A Winter Trick

 

Conjunction

 

Interjection

[Staci in MO]

Here is a link to a free pdf of a book by M.L. Nesbitt called Grammar Land:

 

Grammar Land

 

I have both the Sentence Family and Grammar Land, and they're both good in their own way. Grammar Land is free, which is always a plus. I read it aloud to my kids just a few weeks ago.

 

I second the suggestion of Mad Libs. Cheap and fun. A good exercise for summer.

[Suzannah]

Mad Libs and Schoolhouse Rock! <singing> "Conjunction Junction, what's your function?" and "Lolly lolly lolly get your adverbs here..."

 

You can do Mad Libs in the car or over lunch. And you'll all laugh so hard you won't be able to breath so that's always a plus. :)

[Catwoman]

I like all of the suggestions so far, but I would also suggest that you may want to get started on Easy Grammar now, instead of waiting to use it with the co-op in the fall. This way, your dc will already have some experience with it.

 

If you teach EG, you can work slowly through it -- something that probably won't happen in the co-op.

 

Cat

[siloam]

My children are 5th and 7th grade this year. I feel like I have run the gamat of grammar programs. They still don't know parts of speech. I started them for the summer on Junior Analytical Grammar. I am frustrated already on exercise 3 because my 11ds still says is this a noun. I always answer a noun is a person, place, thing or idea. That doesn't seem to sink in. Exercise 1 he missed something on everyone of the questions except one. I made them redo exercies 3 and they just tried to remember what they had done yesterday. This fall they are in a co-op class that is making them use Easy Grammar. I wanted them to have a better understanding of grammar and parts of speech before this class starts. What would you do?

 

With JAG if they get less than 80% correct then I required them to re-do the page and do the next assignment. Generally that will help my kiddo's start paying more attention.

 

It really is OK for the to get things wrong. That is part of the learning process and sometimes it IS confusing. My oldest did JAG and is doing AG now, and still makes silly mistakes, or confuses things, but most of the time despite that she gets more than 90% on her papers. I think to a certain point they just need to work with it long term. It sinks in over time.

 

Oh and while my dd gets 90% now. There was a point about half way through JAG when it was like she overloaded and suddenly couldn't remember anything. We restarted the whole thing. She really needed the reinforcement of going back to simple. I think it was just too many new ideas for her and she got lost. The second time she was able to go through the whole text without any more melt downs. :D

 

Heather

 

[SBP]

I'm not sure what you've already tried, but perhaps the question and answer flow in Shurley English might help? We used Shurley for three years, and the question and answer flow has been a wonderful "tool" in the grammar toolbox around here.

 

SBP

[Ellie]

They don't need to know very much before starting Easy Grammar. That's the point of it: to teach grammar. And each level of EG starts at the same place.

[TCoppock]

I'm not sure what you've already tried, but perhaps the question and answer flow in Shurley English might help? We used Shurley for three years, and the question and answer flow has been a wonderful "tool" in the grammar toolbox around here.

 

SBP

 

The q&a flow made a huge diference in DS comprehension; The jingles also helped. For example, if he is making a mistake now I ask him what are the adverb questions. He knows that an adverb answers the questions how, when, and where. Shurley has made him confident in knowing parts of speech. Although we are on break and using Rod and Staff, we still refer back to Shurley when he gets stuck.

[Chris in VA]

Just a question--Does your child have trouble categorizing or sorting information?

[jabuford]

I don't know, how would I find out?

[Orthodox6]

If you are not familiar with "Easy Grammar", perhaps you could look at one or more of the worktexts. EG did not "click" for any of my kids. The premise differs from other programs. I don't say "yea" or "nay"; just want to suggest examining the bppks to see what you think.

[Kate in Arabia]

I just wanted to mention that in addition to Schoolhouse Rock (which has been great), I made a matching game out of the grammar flashcards in the back of Classical Writing-Aesop. Once a week ds had to go through the cards.

 

For some, it may take more than a specific program, it may just take consistent review and reinforcement. My oldest still has trouble remembering to start his sentences with a capital letter and end with a period, and he's in 5th grade and every grammar text he's had has gone over this at some point. I don't think having a handful of lessons each year on a given part of speech would have done it for him either, he needed the regular, weekly review. You could do it with flashcards, or a matching game, or even a sentence diagramming book (or mad libs) that he has to do one day a week.

[angela&4boys]

Have you considered Winston Grammar? Reviews and samples here

 

My 12yo ds has thrived with it and deemed it his favorite subject! You can even use it with both dc.

 

:)

[Rita]

I have 2 boys and they absolutely HATED Shurley English, but that was the program that they learned the most from of all the many programs we have tried.

Seconding Mad Libs and Schoolhouse Rock.

[lapsetmom]

You might check out the KISS grammar website. It takes a lot of reading and weeding through to catch the concepts (I am currently working through the site now), but it looks like it will be worth it. His main point is that grammar is not being taught for the most part according to the way syntax is assimilated by the brain. He says we are going backwards when we try to define the parts of speech first and look for words that match the part of speech rather than looking at how the constructions in a sentence work together to create meaning. He also suggests a slow process for assimilating grammar over a period of years focusing on a few contstructions at a time. If you have time, I really suggest reading through his site. Best of all, all the materials on his site are free!

[mazakaal]

Here is a link to a free pdf of a book by M.L. Nesbitt called Grammar Land:

 

Grammar Land

 

 

This looks great! Thanks for sharing it. :001_smile:

[Carol in Cal.]

 

Oh and while my dd gets 90% now. There was a point about half way through JAG when it was like she overloaded and suddenly couldn't remember anything. We restarted the whole thing. She really needed the reinforcement of going back to simple. I think it was just too many new ideas for her and she got lost.

 

 

When DD ran across adverbs for the first time in RS5, she forget everything else she had ever learned, including how to identify helping verbs. It was really funny, like her brain had just filled up and exploded. This was really my own fault as we had skimmed through adverbs in prior books instead of finishing the books thoroughly if we got behind. So I sat with her while she did the adverb lessons, and dragged her through them, and then kept them in mind in future work on proofreading her writing to keep them in her mind. I am sure that when she runs across them again in RS6 she will not have nearly as much trouble with them.

[Caroline4kids]

I have 2 boys and they absolutely HATED Shurley English, but that was the program that they learned the most from of all the many programs we have tried.

Seconding Mad Libs and Schoolhouse Rock.

 

 

My kids hated it too, but those jingles really have cemented how to find things in a sentence. We review the jingles a few times during the year and are using R&S as the main grammar/writing program.