Homemama2 Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 (edited) What grammar would you recommend for a child who really struggles with understanding parts of speech? We did R&S in 3rd and he missed a LOT of the problems daily. Sometimes all. He seemed to retain little. I did EVERYTHING for that program (oral review, all teaching, all problems, all worksheets. We did a little bit oral, most written.) So I tried Abeka this year b/c he didn't have to do so much writing but it has been more of the same thing. Not much retention. He liked it better because there was less writing and I felt it moved a little slower and provided more practice, which he needed. However, I had a free TM last year. (I need the TM mainly b/c I never learned diagramming.) SO I'm trying to decide if we should keep going in Abeka Go Back to Rod and Staff (I already have all of the 4th grade set brand new...Dh thinks this is a good idea simply b/c I wouldn't have to buy anything new. He'll be in 5th next year, but he hasn't learned much this year anyway.) Try something new. Maybe Hake or Easy Grammar? Or ??? I'm hoping this a maturity issue and one of these days he will wake up and just GET IT. :tongue_smilie: Any curr. suggestions or advice would be appreciated!! Edited May 12, 2012 by Homemama2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Shirley English? It has you parsing sentences all the time so eventually you would have to get the parts of speech. I've never used it, but there's a definite rhythm to it. Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Think about reading through Grammar Land with him. It is a free vintage grammar book that focuses on the parts of speech in a story-like form. Miss P was having awful retention with FLL, but she *loved* Grammar Land, and she learned all the parts of speech in about 3 weeks using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyDay Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 How about something like Winston. Maybe the cards would help with remembering the parts of speech Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 I feel your pain! My rising 7th grader has been through multiple years of various grammar programs and things did not stick well. Her scores in reading and language are light years ahead of her mechanics on testing. I wish I could say there's a wonder program that would take care of this, but I really do think it's a maturity or readiness issue for my daughter. I have a friend (a technical writer) who said that grammar didn't sink in for her until high school, so I hold out hope.:) Since kindergarten, we've been through FLL ( 2 years), Growing with Grammar (3 years), MCT's Town level (1 year), Shurley English (1 year) and now we're using Easy Grammar along with Daily Grams (we school year round and so we are just starting some of our 7th grade program). She would appear to make good progress, but we would still get halfway through the year and suddenly she would look at me blankly whe I asked if something was a verb.:banghead: I think Shurley did the best for us in at least getting her to really understand prepositions. We didn't sing the jingles, I just had her read them daily. For her, the repetition is helpful---she does best with Saxon math, for instance. I didn't really like the writing portion of Shurley, however (I'm putting her in an outside writing class next year), so I'm trying Easy Grammar because it's based on recognizing and eliminating prepositional phrases in order to focus on the rest of the sentence. I've also read that Saxon Grammar (also called Hake Grammar) uses an incremental approach similar to the method Saxon math does, so that might be an option if your child responds well to that sort of approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenJewel Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 My dd#2 was like that. It was when she was in 7th grade and did Analytical Grammar that things finally clicked. I now am in the camp of not pushing grammar in the early years unless the child is getting it. If not, wait and try again in middle school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0mmaBuck Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 Schoolhouse Rocks Grammar Rocks and Madlibs were the things that finally solidified the parts of speech for my son. We took 2 week break from formal grammar instruction and instead watched the DVD and played Madlibs every day. He has actually retained the information. You could try it over summer if you take a break... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 Schoolhouse Rocks Grammar Rocks and Madlibs were the things that finally solidified the parts of speech for my son. We took 2 week break from formal grammar instruction and instead watched the DVD and played Madlibs every day. He has actually retained the information. You could try it over summer if you take a break... :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 (edited) I'd start with Winston, move to MCT, and then alternate MCT with Hake. So, it might look something like this (I'm assuming this is for your 4th grader): Grade 5: Winston then MCT Grammar Island with practice book OR Island (quickly) then Hake 5 with Island PB Grade 6: MCT Grammar Town (quickly) then Hake 6 with Town PB Grade 7: MCT Grammar Voyage (quickly) then Hake 7 with Voyage PB Grade 8: Hake 8 Edited May 13, 2012 by EKS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 Shurley helped my grammar-phobe. Winston is the other one recommended for strugglers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homemama2 Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 Thank you everyone for the suggestions! I'm going to have to check all of these out. (And thanks for the encouragement too.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchbark Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 The Sentence Family! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.