7th grade Dyslexic Student with no Formal Grammar

[Guest moderndaymom]

My daughter will be going into 7th grade in the fall. She has dyslexia and reading has just started to click with her. We have followed the Well Trained Mind recommendations for several years but have avoided formal grammar up until this point because of her dyslexia and I wanted her to get a good hold on reading before we started with grammar. She is an excellent writer, she took a Creative Writing Class last year and will be taking a Technical Writing class this year at our co-op. The technical writing class will cover paragraph writing, essays, reports, etc. I am wondering what would be a good grammar program for her to start with. She covers a lot of vocabulary with other subjects, and will be starting Latin this year as well. I am wondering if we should just use a diagramming workbook or should go with a formal program. If we go with a diagramming workbook what would you recommend? Thank you in advance for your help!

[foxbridgeacademy]

^:bigear:

[Mom0012]

I'd use Hake, but might start with level 6 if she's never had any formal grammar. If she picks it up quickly, and you only felt she needed a couple of years of it, you could then jump tp level 8. Hake does include diagramming, but many other things as well. I let my kids write in the student text.

[Mandy in TN]

Winston Grammar!!! That is what worked with my dyslexic. It is tactile and visual- very helpful.

Mandy

[Guest moderndaymom]

Thank you for the recommendations. I will check both of them out. I am just sort of lost as to what program will be the best to pick up in 7th grade without her missing something.

[fluffybunny]

We tried a few programs, and RFWP's MCT Grammar came out a winner. It must be the most 'undry' grammar program that exists. Start with Island level: you only need Sentence Island, Island practice and Grammar Island. Work thru it in a few months, then move on to Town level and see how you go from there. If you only do the first two levels she will have gained a lot more than I ever did at school! The practice books are visual, clear and fun. You only parse one sentence per day.

[Heathermomster]

Winston Grammar Basic with a Daily Grams booklet.

[Ravin]

I suggest Simply Grammar. It's CM style, but focuses just on grammar. It's written for use for any age from about 4th to 8th grade. You can work orally or write (or type, as it's a non-consumable rather than a workbook). It's also quite thorough.

[Pen]

Is her grammar when she writes correct?  If so, maybe she does not need a formal grammar program for English.  

 

Usually one gets much understanding of nouns, verbs, tenses, etc.  via Latin.

 

Or maybe a different question, for what purposes do you want her to have a formal grammar program?

[Mandy in TN]

I have thought about this a little more. Dyslexics do best with explicit instruction that isn't exclusively visual. You may want to ask this question on the LD forum. Anything Orton-Gillingham that incorporates as many senses as possible and uses large muscle groups will be your best bet. My son did several years of Orton-Gillingham based instruction developing confident reading and good spelling skills prior to using Winston Basic. Winston was a good fit because it is explicit, tactile, and the visual component is based on more than just written words. The parts of speech are on cards used by the child to label the words in the sentences. The cards are color coded so the child has more than just black words on a white page to help him identify the part of speech. However, I don't know how well Winston Grammar would have worked if he had not previously had several years of O-G instruction.

 

HTH-

Mandy