I hate Shurley Grammar!

[HayesW]

My oldest is using it at Co-op this year and I cannot STAND IT! There is so much extraneous junk that I can barely figure out what she is supposed to do.

 

I am using Rod and Staff with my other two, and LOVE it. Wish I could get rid of Shurley and just do R&S with everyone.

[Moni]

I hear ya.

 

http://www.AnalyticalGrammar.com ;)

 

:seeya:

[Sunshine State Sue]

I hear ya.

 

http://www.AnalyticalGrammar.com ;)

 

:seeya:

 

I hear ya too and :iagree:

[Jeanne in MN]

I had studied up on both Shirley and R&S when deciding what to use for grammar. After buying them both used so I could see them, I immediately was drawn to R&S-Shirley just looked complicated. I love R&S.

 

Good luck!

[rlowetx]

Here's the funny thing with this post - I was just wondering if I was the only person who liked Shurley Grammar, b/c I have not seen anything good about it here in the forum. To be fair, we haven't used anything else and we are only a few weeks in - but my son loves it and he gets it. Its very tiring to go through and our longest subject, but it seems to be working and G- actually enjoys it.

 

I'm not familiar with Rod and Staff, but we are secular, so I don't think it fits our style from what I understand. I didn't like FLL as much as I wanted to - it just seemed so dry..

 

Go figure..

[LilMama]

I had to stop Shurley English last year. My DS said he wanted to tear it up and throw it in the trash. We are doing R&S this year, and he asked the other day to do jingles.:001_huh:

 

LilMama

[teamturner]

I used R&S English 3 last year w/my boys and this year I decided to use Shurley Grammar 4 so they could get the benefit of the jingles. It is tough to get used to and is very confusing. R&S was truly open and go and Shurley is not. I'm not ready to give up on it as I've heard so many great things about it, but right now I am.not.loving.it!!

 

I'm also not doing the writing lessons.

[lovetobehome]

Ditch it! Life is too short to use curriculum you hate!!! (how is that for enabling?)

[plain jane]

I used R&S English 3 last year w/my boys and this year I decided to use Shurley Grammar 4 so they could get the benefit of the jingles. It is tough to get used to and is very confusing. R&S was truly open and go and Shurley is not. I'm not ready to give up on it as I've heard so many great things about it, but right now I am.not.loving.it!!

 

I'm also not doing the writing lessons.

 

We skip the vocabulary sections but do some of the writing lessons just to add a bit of variety of genres to dd's writing since she's working through WT.

 

This is our second year with Shurley, and by the middle of last year dd was able to complete the grammar lessons by herself with very little help from me. I'd have to double check her answers but that was it. I like that each week follows the same format so we both knew exactly what to expect. It may not be the greatest, most mom-friendly program out there but I think it's thorough, and really, it is just grammar afterall. ;):tongue_smilie:

[PeterPan]

Well I'll be the lone voice and say I like Shurley just fine, and I use it in an open & go method too. But I had posts just like this when I started using it years ago and had to throw it at the wall for a while. Finally I spent some time with it and realized the ONLY component I cared about was the parsing (I skip all the rest or do those things orally). The parsing is in boxes and highlighted with a lightbulb. You could say it was my lightbulb moment, lol. I look for the next lightbulb and section of parsing, do that together, then insert a bookmark so we're ready for the next day. I skip all the other stuff. Ok, that's not totally true. I like the exercises where you write sentences to go with the given patterns, so we always do those. I often do the conventions (s/v agreement, etc.) orally. The vocab we discuss as spelling words. But I feel free to skip stuff and use other materials that are more interesting to cover those extra bases. We have done Punctuation Puzzlers, Take 5 Minutes editing, grammar integrated into our writing (Writing Tales), etc, so I really don't need such a heavy grammar, just a dab. Shurley has the practice workbooks with the sentences typed out for parsing, so it's so easy to implement, so open and go. We don't recite the jingles because they looked hokey to me. We learned the defs with FLL, so you don't really the jingles.

 

This method, pared down and straightforward, has been perfectly adequate for us. Right now she's flying through Shurley 6, and when she's done with that I have Shurley 7. 7 is set up a bit differently, and I like it so well, my plan is to implement it fully. It was originally written for schools I think, the level 7, and it's a bit clearer than the other levels.

 

The Q&A format is so logical as a way of approaching grammar, I really like it. My dd has had no problems tackling CW Homer sentences that other people come on here and cringe about. I know the Shurley tm's are annoying to sort through, but if you can throw it at the wall for a while then come back to it, it might be worth the effort. Once you get used to it, it's no big deal, honest. But you have to be confident enough to SKIP what you don't need and pull out just what you do. Go through with a highlighter and mark the things you're looking for. (Visual learners need color!) Put some post-it notes or divider tabs in your things so you can find the sections. Don't let the tm get the best of you. :)

Edited August 27, 2009 by OhElizabeth

[teamturner]

Well I'll be the lone voice and say I like Shurley just fine, and I use it in an open & go method too. But I had posts just like this when I started using it years ago and had to throw it at the wall for a while. Finally I spent some time with it and realized the ONLY component I cared about was the parsing (I skip all the rest or do those things orally). The parsing is in boxes and highlighted with a lightbulb. You could say it was my lightbulb moment, lol. I look for the next lightbulb and section of parsing, do that together, then insert a bookmark so we're ready for the next day. I skip all the other stuff. Ok, that's not totally true. I like the exercises where you write sentences to go with the given patterns, so we always do those. I often do the conventions (s/v agreement, etc.) orally. The vocab we discuss as spelling words. But I feel free to skip stuff and use other materials that are more interesting to cover those extra bases. We have done Punctuation Puzzlers, Take 5 Minutes editing, grammar integrated into our writing (Writing Tales), etc, so I really don't need such a heavy grammar, just a dab. Shurley has the practice workbooks with the sentences typed out for parsing, so it's so easy to implement, so open and go. We don't recite the jingles because they looked hokey to me. We learned the defs with FLL, so you don't really the jingles.

 

 

The Q&A format is so logical as a way of approaching grammar, I really like it. My dd has had no problems tackling CW Homer sentences that other people come on here and cringe about. I know the Shurley tm's are annoying to sort through, but if you can throw it at the wall for a while then come back to it, it might be worth the effort. Once you get used to it, it's no big deal, honest. But you have to be confident enough to SKIP what you don't need and pull out just what you do. Go through with a highlighter and mark the things you're looking for. (Visual learners need color!) Put some post-it notes or divider tabs in your things so you can find the sections. Don't let the tm get the best of you. :)

 

Thanks for the break-down. I was hoping someone w/Shurley experience would have some wise words for us newbies. My boys find the vocabulary very tedious and I'm not sure if I want to keep it yet or not.

 

Did you do any of the writing parts since you were using WT? I haven't started WT yet and even when I do, I think the classical method of writing will take a while before the student is actually able to write anything of their own. If we did some of the writing now, they'd at least be able to write an essay or something.

 

Thanks for the advice!

[dymphna57]

I know the first year seems rough but after that there is nothing easier to use.

My biggest reason for liking it though is that by Christmas, the first year, the kids could understand grammar terms by what they do in the sentence. We had used lots of other programs, and they would manage to learn the terms and get the questions right but they never understood it before.

On Mondays and Tuesdays, we do the do jingles, the sentences on the board and look up four vocabulary words. I skim the script for the younger ones but the older kids got tired waiting for me and read the teachers instructions themselves.

Wednesday is what we didn't do or review and journal. Thursday we do the test and discuss the writing for Friday. Friday we work on the writing and it is due Monday.

Shurley Grammar and Math get done with only fifteen minutes of my time. The kids are great at editing now ,too.:001_smile:

[Pongo]

Here's the funny thing with this post - I was just wondering if I was the only person who liked Shurley Grammar, b/c I have not seen anything good about it here in the forum. To be fair, we haven't used anything else and we are only a few weeks in - but my son loves it and he gets it. Its very tiring to go through and our longest subject, but it seems to be working and G- actually enjoys it.

 

I'm not familiar with Rod and Staff, but we are secular, so I don't think it fits our style from what I understand. I didn't like FLL as much as I wanted to - it just seemed so dry..

 

Go figure..

 

No, your not the only one. I have only ever used Shurley, it gets a bad wrap, it's teacher intensive, scripted and time consuming, I also use IEW and SWR..see the trend:) All I know is all three of my dc score extremely high on the English/Language portion of the IOWA. My dd, who just turned 11 scored a 13+ (that's how a Freshman in College would preform on the same test). I respect and trust Veritas Press and I plan on using the Omnibus eventually, but they also recommend and sell Shurley. If you look online you will find a ton of Preparatory and Classical schools using the program. It has a learning curve, it's tedious, but it works.:001_smile:

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

This is all useful information for me. I've got FLL to start my little one out slowly on and figure I've got a couple of years to decide where to go from there and right now I'm feeling like it will take me about that long. I guess you never really know what works for you until you give it a go though :-/

[mrsrevmeg]

Here's the funny thing with this post - I was just wondering if I was the only person who liked Shurley Grammar, b/c I have not seen anything good about it here in the forum.

\

We're right here with you. My oldest is not crazy about it, but that's because it is not Science or Math. The two youngers love it. As a matter of fact, the youngest even answers the questions of the Q&A flow for the older ones if they do not answer fast enough. :lol:

[Georgia On My Mind]

Hi,

I just found this forum. I am a homeschooler from the 80's and currently homeschool my high school granddaughter. In between homeschooling her mom and the present, I taught and was principal in a PCA Christian School and finally an educational therapist working with students with learning problems for many years. I used Shurley in the classroom and loved it . The program was remedial for any students who entered without having had a formal grammar program. Our local PS system has not taught grammar formally for the last 15-20 years so we enrolled many students with no formal grammar background (whole language). The students would catch up within the first 6 weeks in the Shurley program every time. I used Shurley with my granddaughter and we are finishing the grade 8 book this year in her ninth grade. Students who learn the Shurley writing method have told me they use it in college regularly and it works for them. It is completely scripted. If you purchase the teacher's edition and student worktext you can zoom through it with little or no prep time. What's not to like? As an educator, it is a comprehensive program that will not fail your child. He may not like the jingles but he will never forget anything learned by jingle method. It reaches all types of learners. Starting with it early makes is very easy in the upper levels and no program produces students that are consistently such fantastic writers. Remember, I have taught and administrated and worked with difficult learners in my career and it works with all students. I still use it in my therapy practice as well as with my granddaughter I homeschool. (I have no affiliation with Shurley.) I will say some of my middle schoolers whited out the "S" in Shurley on the front of the worktext to make it say the "Hurley Method". :D

 

I hope this is helpful.

[Sunshine State Sue]

TMy boys find the vocabulary very tedious and I'm not sure if I want to keep it yet or not.

 

Did you do any of the writing parts since you were using WT?

We dropped the vocabulary and writing after 1/2 a year. I just didn't think either were helpful.

[PeterPan]

My dd usually already knows the vocab words, so I just ask her to spell them. We have skipped the writing thus far in favor of other programs, but I think I'm going to have her do the writing in Shurley 7. Like I said, it's structured a little differently. I wanted to take a different approach at the lower levels, more focusing on imitative writing, narratives, and outlining, but I think 7 will be a good time to jump in and do that format type writing. We'll have completed Paragraph Writing Made Easy by then, and it should be fine. I'm guessing we get to 7 in January, but we'll see. Right now I'm just trying to get things back up and running after two weeks off!

[HayesW]

I already have R&S here for her. she needs to stay in the co-op class due to scheduling stuff. Otherwsie, I would drop it completely. I do plan on supplementing with R&S though.

[mnllj7]

I really like shurley, it helps to really learn the parts of a sentence. However, I dont let it stress me, We use IEW for writing. I leave out the writing from Shurley. I also leave out the vocab looking up and writing, since we do that with our veritas history. and Apologia science. I dont let it take long or stress me. I just use it for what we need for grammar. There are so many different theories on grammer out there, it is 8 parts of speech, we learn it over and over and over and over every year. Yes, at a more indepth level but, still the same thing, Being on an Iew forum, They dont think that much grammar is important. Use what parts you want, and leave the rest.

HTH< nancyt.

[HappyGrace]

I sat on my father's front porch with Shurley 3 for about a wk trying to wrap my head around it. That stupid TM is set up horribly! They should rework the program so it's more user friendly.

 

Anyway, we did some of it and dd hated it!!!! Seriously hated it. The thing is, it does work. The Q and A flow is great and taught me a lot too!

 

We did end up dropping it, even after I pared it back as much as I could. I still toy with the idea of using it again-I probably would if dd didn't hate it so much.