What is a good 5th grade grammar curriculum that does diagraming?

[2GAboys]

I loved doing First Language Lessons but it stops after 4th grade. Anyone have any suggestions? I would love to continue the 4 strand approach and the sentence diagraming.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

Rod and Staff or Christian Light are 2 programs that focus on diagramming.

[misscometa]

Rod & Staff is pretty good.

[5LittleMonkeys]

I love R&S! It is very thorough and extremely explanatory. My two girls have started doing it on their own without me "teaching" the lesson. I do about 5 minutes of the oral review that is instructed in the tm and then they go on to read the chapter, oral review and then move onto the written exercises. Sometimes I will only assign odds or evens and occasionally I have allowed them to do the written as oral also. However, my dds spelling and their own composition has really improved since using this and I believe it is in part due to writing out all of those well written sentences in the practice. Its like copywork on steroids.:tongue_smilie:

 

If you choose to teach one on one the teacher's manual is very well laid out. At the beginning of each lesson you are given an objective for the lesson, oral review questions form past lessons, and then the teaching is scripted for you. The student pages are inset into the tm with answers next to them. Although the tm is scripted you could easily use this with any teaching method you prefer. You could do it completely orally, on a whiteboard, independently, etc. It is very adaptable imo.

 

Did I mention I love R&S? They have lots of samples on this site.http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/list/Building_Christian_English_Series/#1-125--

[JudoMom]

Rod and Staff is my favorite, followed by Saxon Grammar & Writing.

[HootOwl]

until this year when I tried CLE Language Arts with my 5th grader. Although he does not LOVE it, he does like it better than Rod & Staff, and it does a wonderful job of sentence diagramming. I actually prefer CLE, because it includes spelling, handwriting, and grammar all in one program. The 3-week lesson books are also very handy for taking along in the bookbag when we are running errands.

 

If you haven't looked at it yet, please do!

 

http://www.clp.org/store/by_subject/3

 

Good luck!

[HSMom2One]

until this year when I tried CLE Language Arts with my 5th grader. Although he does not LOVE it, he does like it better than Rod & Staff, and it does a wonderful job of sentence diagramming. I actually prefer CLE, because it includes spelling, handwriting, and grammar all in one program. The 3-week lesson books are also very handy for taking along in the bookbag when we are running errands.

 

If you haven't looked at it yet, please do!

 

http://www.clp.org/store/by_subject/3

 

Good luck!

 

CLE does look tempting, HootOwl, and I'd consider going that route myself if we had not already changed grammar programs a few too many times. This is our first year with R&S, but I've made a commitment to stay where we are because it is working REALLY well. We are extremely satisfied with every bit of R&S. My dd is learning and retaining everything, and I can already see a change in her attitude about grammar as well as what she is writing. R&S is so thorough, well laid out and teacher-friendly that I plan staying with it through the long run.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[plimsoll]

Junior Analytical Grammar - focuses on grammar and diagramming.

 

Saxon Grammar and Writing - includes vocabulary, usage, punctuation, and other topics, i.e., not just grammar. Moves very slowly.

[sagira]

I think Voyages in English 5 does.

[kewb]

Growing with Grammar has diagramming.

[*~Tina~*]

We like Saxon Grammar and Writing here :)

[2GAboys]

Thanks for all these responses. Rod and Staff I know is solid, however I've done some research and this sounds like it may be a better way to go with boys. I've done First Language lessons through the years and I question the necessity of all the repetition of the same thing. Also, the research shows boys do not do well with verbal instruction alone-they need strong visuals which is why I want a grammar program that diagrams sentences. I'd love to hear from people who have used Junior AG.

[coffeefreak]

Another vote for Rod and Staff! I think it's easy and to the point.

[Angel]

Thanks for all these responses. Rod and Staff I know is solid, however I've done some research and this sounds like it may be a better way to go with boys. I've done First Language lessons through the years and I question the necessity of all the repetition of the same thing. Also, the research shows boys do not do well with verbal instruction alone-they need strong visuals which is why I want a grammar program that diagrams sentences. I'd love to hear from people who have used Junior AG.

 

I love Rod and Staff, but I am using Junior Analytical Grammar with my 10yo dd. She LOVES it. First thing she asks to do each day. It teaches the student to look for and label the parts of speech in a sentence, starting with nouns. As they learn each new part of speech, they add that to the labeling in the sentence. Pretty soon they are labeling each word in a sentence. With the parts of speech labeled in the sentence, it is an easy step to the diagramming.

 

I guess the pro's for me are that it is simple and straightforward, the review is built right in since they continue to label the previous parts of speech in each lesson, it has a "Playing with Words" section in each lesson where the student practices writing with the parts of speech he has learned.

 

The con's would be that I would like a little more information to help me teach and a few more examples with the parts of speech. For example, the book doesn't give a list of all the prepositions or commonly used adverbs. Dd is still having trouble recognizing them. Also, this is just grammar, no other instruction, though I think they are coming out with a separate book in the spring.

 

Like I said, dd loves it, but she has had some struggles. The author suggest pressing on even if they are not getting everything correct as they will usually catch up. I was unsure about doing this but dd is starting to "get it" a little better.

[plimsoll]

Here is a list of prepositions I compiled:

 

abaft

aboard

about

above

absent

according to

across

afore

after

against

agin

ahead of

along

along with

alongside

amid

amidst

among

amongst

anent

apart from

around

as

as far as

as for

as well as

aslant

astride

at

athwart

atop

bar

barring

because of

before

behind

below

beneath

beside

besides

between

betwixt

beyond

but (except)

by

by means of

by means of

circa

concerning

considering

despite

down

due to

during

ere

except

except for

excepting

failing

far from

following

for

from

in

in addition to

in back of

in case of

in front of

in place of

in spite of

in to (into)

inside

inside of

instead of

into

less

like

mid

midst

minus

near

near to

'neath

next

next to

nigh

nigher

nighest

notwithstanding

o'er

of

off

on

on account of

on behalf of

on to (onto)

on top of

onto

opposite

out

out of

outside

outside

outside of

over

owing to

past

pending

per

plus

prior to

qua

re

regarding

regarding

respecting

round

sans

save

saving

since

than

thro'

through

throughout

thru

till

times

to

touching

toward

towards

'tween

'twixt

under

underneath

unlike

until

unto

up

up to

upon

versus

via

vice

vis-à-vis

wanting

with

with regards to

within

without

[Unicorn.]

We switched from R&S, to Growing w/ Grammar. They are comparable, but GWG is less time consuming, and my dds seem to be retaining more.

[HootOwl]

I think you'll be very pleased with Rod & Staff. I know I was. It was my one "sure thing" as far as curriculum was concerned, and I told other homeschooling moms that I would never change. Well, I had to eat my words on that one, but I STILL love the program. It is probably the most thorough and rigorous grammar program out there, as far as I'm concerned, and I really enjoyed the plainness and simpleness of it compared with all the "flashy" modern curricula.

 

Hope you have a great year and keep loving Rod & Staff!

[AliciainNC]

another vote for Rod & Staff

[Tiffany in Texas]

I really like Rex Barks by Phyllis Davenport.

 

Tiffany

5th grade, 7th grade & Sophomore in college

[robsiew]

Thanks for all these responses. Rod and Staff I know is solid, however I've done some research and this sounds like it may be a better way to go with boys. I've done First Language lessons through the years and I question the necessity of all the repetition of the same thing. Also, the research shows boys do not do well with verbal instruction alone-they need strong visuals which is why I want a grammar program that diagrams sentences. I'd love to hear from people who have used Junior AG.

 

We used Jr. AG, however I think my ds was too young. He was end of 3rd grade. I have since switched to R&S and we are both much happier. A couple of reasons we switched...

 

Jr. AG was VERY detailed. Much parsing... way too much for my big picture guy. Also, it moves fast (IMO) and ultimately I know I want to do grammar study through 10th grade... AG is a faster paced curriculum which I think would be great for older kids who haven't had much grammar, but for us, who are doing grammar bit by bit over MANY years it just didn't fit.

 

Lots of people like AG though.... maybe you'll hear from someone else! It's not a bad program at all... very solid, just doesn't fit our needs here.

 

We've used several grammars and R&S by far is our favorite. We're sticking with it through the long haul.

[ktwensel]

Love Rod and Staff here! My dd has difficulty with other grammar programs, but this one is working wonders. It is easily explained and easy to teach.

[kalanamak]

Here is a list of prepositions I compiled:

t

 

The author of Rex Barks notes that a preposition is "anything a squirrel can do to a tree".

[EKS]

Growing with Grammar and Saxon Grammar do diagramming.

[unity]

My daughter loves Rod and Staff. She usually does it the night before to get a jump on the next day's schooling, and frequently tells me how much she loves it. She likes it because she can work independently, she understands it with very little input from me, the lessons are very manageable for her, and she consistently feels like she's learning something new.

 

Although I love MCT, I'm going to keep this child in Rod and Staff for a while because it clearly works so well for her.

[Jen in PA]

I think Voyages in English 5 does.

 

Yes, it does.

[ELaurie]

no publication date has been announced yet, but SWB is writing the next book in the FLL series now . . .

 

I took a year off from grammar with ds 11 so we wouldn't have to switch programs.

[Mom0012]

Well, R&S seems to be the board favorite, but we are using Saxon this year for 5th grade and I've been really pleased with it.

 

Lisa