KarenC Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 I didn't have grammar in my school days. My oldest is 11 now and I need help. I know the basics, adjectives, pronouns, and such. But things like transitive and instransitive verbs, predicate adjectives, and indirect objects really throw me. Today we were trying to identify sentences as a compound, declarative, imperative, compound subject and compound verb. AARGH! I need something that is pretty basic. Would Jensen's Grammar help me? I was thinking about working through Mary Daly's Diagramming Book too. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks, Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
partyof5 Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 I'm sure any grammar handbook would be a helpful reference for immediate help. If you're looking to add a grammar program, we use Rod & Staff grammar and I find it to be extremely thorough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raders Fan Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 I would strongly recommend Rod & Staff as well. You should probably begin with the level 5 book. If you do it with your son, you will learn everything you need to know. I speak as one who learned some grammar in middle school, no grammar in high school or college, and went on to work as a copy editor. After using Easy Grammar and Mary Daly's Diagramming Book (neither worked well for us), I started using the level 5 book with my 7th grade ds. Even I learned a bit from the level 5 book, and I continue to learn with the level 7 book. You can do most of the work orally, if you wish, except for the composition exercises. HTH, Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIY-DY Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 It's wonderful for grammar (and includes exercises so that I know I've "got it" before I present the information to the boys). It's also small, portable, and easy on the eyes. But it's thorough, which I appreciate. Maybe that would work for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in MO Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 Raders Fan suggested, or possibly Abeka God's Gift of Grammar, Book B (which is the 5th grade book). I personally like Mary Daly's The Complete Book of Diagrams; my youngest and I do a few sentences each day from the book and it does help her identify the parts of speech. But, I don't think there's any substitute for a good, thorough, systematic grammar program like Rod & Staff or Abeka. I've heard of Jensen's and Warriner's, Voyages in English, and a few others. Whichever you choose, keep working on it. When we first started homeschooling, we used straight Abeka for everything, because I honestly hadn't heard of any other materials! (How dumb I was!) One month after starting homeschooling I heard about The Well-Trained Mind and decided that was definitely the approach I wanted to take. SWB recommended Abeka in that edition, which is what we were already using. Since my girls liked it, we stuck with it. Were I to do it over, though, I'd use R&S. They spoke correctly, but their grammar tests were not really that great at first. Abeka keeps teaching the same stuff over and over, only in greater detail and depth each year. They've been doing Abeka grammar for 7 years now, and I can honestly say that both of my older girls probably have more knowledge and understanding of grammar than any kid at the public school system. Their tests are almost flawless now, and grammar is a piece of cake to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in Central TX Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 I was in the same boat last summer. We had just finished R&S grammar 5 and CW Aesop when I realized that I lacked the grammar skills to adequately teach my boys. R&S is a great grammar program, but I wanted something more workbookish for me to do at night. I choose to do Jensen's Grammar and Jensen's Punctuation. In grammar I could read the page of instruction on the left, do the workbook questions on the right, and then correct my mistakes. Jensen's also moved at a faster pace with less drill and less review. There's also a little difference in terminology--R&S uses predicate nominative while Jensen's uses subject complement, but I think that a good thing because I need to know both terms. It was difficult at first, but I pressed on, and now I feel confident as I work through R&S grammar 6 and CW Homer this year. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy in MD Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 I didn't have grammar in my school days. My oldest is 11 now and I need help. I know the basics, adjectives, pronouns, and such. But things like transitive and instransitive verbs, predicate adjectives, and indirect objects really throw me. Today we were trying to identify sentences as a compound, declarative, imperative, compound subject and compound verb. AARGH! I need something that is pretty basic. Would Jensen's Grammar help me? I was thinking about working through Mary Daly's Diagramming Book too. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks, Karen It's to the point, but each lesson reviews the previous lessons. The teacher's book is also designed so the parent doesn't need to know any grammar. JAG and AG also include diagramming as a way to learn and understand grammar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenC Posted March 11, 2008 Author Share Posted March 11, 2008 I looked on Amazon for The Little Brown Handbook. It was a little pricey, but I'm going to a used bookstore today and I'll see what's there. A workbook would be the best thing for me, I think. Is there somewhere online that I could look at sample of R&S? Thanks, Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynnatbeach Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 We love Winston Grammar. I wonder why nobody has suggested this yet? It actually made learning grammar kind of fun! My dd did very well with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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