Growing With Grammar?

[TyraTooters]

So I saw on there where someone uses Growing with Grammar and was wondering if she (sorry, I forgot who it was!) liked it and if anyone else has used it. I had originally thought about going with FLL and WWE but then saw these and now I can't decide! Anyone have any pros/cons to either one?

[Tenaj]

I'm using it with two of my sons (third grade book and fourth grade book).  It's o.k.  I know it's not as rigorous as some other programs but that's o.k. for me for this year.  I needed a workbook that they could pretty much work through independently and it's working for that.  

[Piper]

I used it at the tail end of last year, for my dd then 7, and it was great for independent work but the retention rate was *very* low.  Mind you, this was probably influenced by my implementation (or lack thereof) as much as the program. :laugh:   Now we're using R&S, and I find it a lot more rigorous than GWG - I like it, and dd is retaining well.

[nmoira]

Growing with Grammar is great for filling in gaps or as a quick independent refresher for a student who hasn't done grammar for awhile, but I'd never consider using it as my sole program throughout our course of study. The exercises are not challenging and rarely stray in content beyond the day's lesson, a poor recipe for long-term retention.

[mom2scouts]

We used GWG in our first year of homeschooling.  It was OK, but there wasn't much retention. My son seemed able to fill in the blanks without much effort. I agree with those who say it's good for supplement or review.

[PeacefulChaos]

Well, unlike everyone else, I like it.  :D  

The kids learn the stuff and remember it.  I tried R&S and REALLY didn't like it at all (honestly, bordered on hating it).  I don't like FLL 3 or 4, but we liked 1-2.  So I bought GWG for my youngest son (2nd grade, had finished FLL 1-2) and after trying R&S the beginning of the year, moved my older son to it as well (4th grade, after FLL 1-3).  

I'm happy it's independent.  That was one of the biggest sellers on it for me.  After all these years of 'grammar' requiring me being there, I was ready for a break from it.  The R&S made it 10x worse.

It may not be as rigorous, but I don't have a problem with that.  Link is doing the same things in GWG that he started with in R&S, so I don't really see it as being all that different, content wise.  Link is a bright kid, though, and doesn't need the repetition on top of repetition on top of repetition that our last couple of years of grammar have had.  It was getting ridiculous!  :D  

Astro amazed me with what he learned using it.  

So don't discount it.  Some people don't like it, some people do.  Initially I didn't know if I would, either.  :)  And Idk how long we'll use it (I'd LOVE to say we've found the program that we'll finish 8th grade with, but who knows?  We may only use it up til middle school.  We'll see where it goes.)

I figured I'd rather try something that might work than stay with something that we hated, or that didn't work for us for whatever reason.  But I'm adventurous like that.  :p

[momma2three]

We're on the 11th week of it, and I like it so far.  It is pretty slow going, but I'm not sure how fast grammar needs to be in 1st grade.  I'm kind of surprised that it's not considered rigorous: the research I did into grammar programs made it seem pretty solid (though I understand that many people think there are more rigorous programs for older kids).  It's just 2 pages 3x per week, so even if it's not the most fascinating thing in the world it gets done quickly and I think she's retained everything so far.

[coffeegal]

I tried Growing with Grammar with my oldest but found there was no retention.

 

FLL had good retention; I simply found the scripted dialogue drove me batty. The kids did wonderfully with it.

 

We now use R&S. It doesn't drive me batty and the children have good retention. :thumbup:

[Julie Smith]

We are using it and it seems to be going well. 

We are going through it extra quickly since I'm starting with grade 1 even though my boys are grade 3 (Well in most parts of the world he would be considered grade 2) and grade 4. Both kids like it. Eldest likes filling in the blanks. It's his first and likely to be only experience with a workbook.

 

I do plan to do Grammarland as a review between grade levels. 

[ErinE]

We switched to R&S because the examples sentences for GWG were all the same format. It was very easy to find the answer without understanding. R&S switches up the word order and uses more complicated sentences and phrases. I would be thrilled if there was a more secular grammar option, but until then, I plan on having the kids use R&S.

[redsquirrel]

I used WWE 1-4 and FLL 1-4 and then foundered a bit about what grammar to use after FLL. The first thing we tried was GWG, because I was told it was 'the secular answer to R&S"  Well, GWG is the first and only curriculum that I have ever tossed. I have used a couple of things that were 'meh' but GWG actually annoyed us. We just couldn't take it. After 4 years of FLL, GWG was soooo simplistic. My son didn't even need to do read the lesson in order to do the exercises. It felt like a waste of time.  And I do understand that the scripting in FLL can make you batty, but it is such a good program that I can get past that. I know others can't.

 

In 6th grade we switched to R&S and it was a very smooth transition. And no, GWG is NOT the secular alternative to R&S. When that gets made I will be among the first in line to buy it, but GWG was not it.

[Satori]

We've happily used five years of Growing with Grammar. Retention was great and my daughter loved using it. I do see what people are saying about it being easy, but as long as my daughter understood and retained the concepts in the lessons, I was fine with that. FLL unfortunately did not work for us (we made it a year and a half), MCT wasn't a total hit either, although I'd love to try it a third time, heh. So I am grateful for having used GWG as an independent, secular grammar option in an accelerated manner for our first few homeschooling years (used it up through grade 5).

 

She has been asking to go back to GWG, however this year I wanted to try a few other grammar programs, as I'm a curriculum junkie and I'd love to explore something more rigorous and challenging. Hake Grammar was definitely not a good fit for us, my daughter nicknamed it "Hate Grammar". It was solid text with no room to write in your answers, very uninspiring. We settled on using the new Sadlier Grammar Workshop which she started just a few weeks ago and is very excited about it. 

http://schoolstore.sadlier.com/productslist.aspx?categoryID=75

 

Because grammar is so important to my language arts loving daughter, we're doing Junior Analytical Grammar together as a review for .. um.. fun. :) Also just started this a few weeks ago.

 

I'm giving it a few more weeks before I blog about our new grammar program endeavors. 

[jewellsmommy]

We use GWG and have had great results. We are also using digging into diagramming in conjunction. I do go over the lessons with them, and they are required to correct any problems that are done incorrectly. I also administer the tests that go with each lesson.

 

Dd's retention has been wonderful. Ds struggles a little more, but that has been true of everything that we have tried. He is slowly improving, and he will actually get through these lessons without fussing and fighting. Both dc prefer the format of GWG to other curricula we have tried.

[Julie Smith]

We use GWG and have had great results. We are also using digging into diagramming in conjunction. I do go over the lessons with them, and they are required to correct any problems that are done incorrectly. I also administer the tests that go with each lesson.

 

Dd's retention has been wonderful. Ds struggles a little more, but that has been true of everything that we have tried. He is slowly improving, and he will actually get through these lessons without fussing and fighting. Both dc prefer the format of GWG to other curricula we have tried.

 

Thank you for mentioning Digging into Diagramming.

 

We use Growing with Grammar, but I was thinking, "I wish they had including diagramming". So now that I know that book is already written I just have to buy it.

 

http://www.growingwithgrammar.com/1DID.html

[LAR]

We used GWG for three years with great success. However, after hearing the "negatives' associated with GWG, I started this school year with Voyages in English and it was not well received.   Both girls asked to return to GWG (and our other workbooks) instead of VIE, as a stand-alone language arts program. They preferred GWG, along with Easy Grammar, Daily Grams, Wordly Wise, Grammar Minutes, and Editing workbooks.   Toss in Bravewriter and we're good to go.  Back to what worked for our family.

[TyraTooters]

I've not yet fully figured out how my six year old best retains the info. We're new to home educating amd he's still used to public school. He loves not having worksheets and playing games for math and a little phonics game we made but sometimes I think the worksheets help solidify what he's learning. I know it makes more work for me but I've been thinking about trying GWG and coming up with hands-on activities like a game, small posters and such.

[PeacefulChaos]

We used GWG for three years with great success. However, after hearing the "negatives' associated with GWG, I started this school year with Voyages in English and it was not well received.   Both girls asked to return to GWG (and our other workbooks) instead of VIE, as a stand-alone language arts program. They preferred GWG, along with Easy Grammar, Daily Grams, Wordly Wise, Grammar Minutes, and Editing workbooks.   Toss in Bravewriter and we're good to go.  Back to what worked for our family.

This is what it comes down to.  While I'm all about making sure my kids are learning and all - not wanting to hold them back, wanting to reach their full potential educationally - when a book like R&S makes us all want to pull our hair out, it's not worth it.  I don't give a carp how 'rigorous' it is or how 'highly recommended' it comes.  It's all about what works best for each individual family, and it makes me VERY glad there are so many options out there!!!

 

We've happily used five years of Growing with Grammar. Retention was great and my daughter loved using it. I do see what people are saying about it being easy, but as long as my daughter understood and retained the concepts in the lessons, I was fine with that. FLL unfortunately did not work for us (we made it a year and a half), MCT wasn't a total hit either, although I'd love to try it a third time, heh. So I am grateful for having used GWG as an independent, secular grammar option in an accelerated manner for our first few homeschooling years (used it up through grade 5).

 

She has been asking to go back to GWG, however this year I wanted to try a few other grammar programs, as I'm a curriculum junkie and I'd love to explore something more rigorous and challenging. Hake Grammar was definitely not a good fit for us, my daughter nicknamed it "Hate Grammar". It was solid text with no room to write in your answers, very uninspiring. We settled on using the new Sadlier Grammar Workshop which she started just a few weeks ago and is very excited about it. 

http://schoolstore.sadlier.com/productslist.aspx?categoryID=75

 

Because grammar is so important to my language arts loving daughter, we're doing Junior Analytical Grammar together as a review for .. um.. fun. :) Also just started this a few weeks ago.

 

I'm giving it a few more weeks before I blog about our new grammar program endeavors. 

 

 Can you explain MCT to me?  I had some people recommend it last year but even with trying to figure it all out on the website and everything I didn't know whether I had to get everything in the level (for level 1, MCT Island + Building Language + Music Hemispheres + Sentence Island + .... etc) or if MCT Island was standalone.  And I was/am totally confused as to how it's to be implemented, etc.  

 

 

(On a side note, I definitely wouldn't call GWG a secular R&S.  I would NEVER insult ANY program by comparing it to R&S that way.  :D  Seriously though, I don't think the two are similar at all, nor do I have any idea where such an assertion came from.  Very weird.  :blink: )

[LAinVA]

We used GWG our first year and it was not rigorous enough.  It was too obvious how to fill in the blank. I liked theset up of R&S, but wanted something more secular.  This year we are using Hake Grammar and I feel it is a great curriculum.  It is very thorough and reviews previously learned things in each lesson.  It has dictations and journal topics.  We are only on lesson 7 in the writing portion so I am not sure how I feel about it.  I do know that I am looking for a supplement to the writing or a replacement now though.

[MyLittleBears]

Yep. In the same boat, almost no retention. Now we are in Analytical Grammar and it's obvious it is more challenging for him. He tells he wishes to go back to GWG. I say tough lamb chops. :glare:

[nmoira]

And it's more than just retention: I don't think a student can attain or demonstrate true mastery of grammar when never presented with ambiguous usage or structures, and when written exercises are predictable in form and narrow in scope.

[Tenaj]

And it's more than just retention: I don't think a student can attain or demonstrate true mastery of grammar when never presented with ambiguous usage or structures, and when written exercises are predictable in form and narrow in scope.

 

There's also my theory  that my grammar-phobic boys are gaining confidence in grammar with the predictability of GWG exercises which will serve them well as they advance to more complicated grammar.  Of course, I'm only using it in third and fourth grades  now so they don't really need too much challenge in the grammar department right now.  My goal for this year was that they didn't panic when they see the word "grammar" on their assignment sheets any more which is what was happening with the R&S Grammar we've been using in previous years.

 

They are happy with their workbooks and are enjoying grammar this year so that makes me happy.  At the very least, they are gaining familiarity with grammar terms so that when I point out errors in their writing, we have a common vocabulary to discuss needed corrections.  

[nova mama]

In previous years we've used FLL.  The pace was just right, the kids thought it was fun, and it was great for memory work (poems, helping verbs, prepositions).  But, I have three schoolers and a three-year-old, and I work from home.  I needed something more independent.

 

This is our first year using GWG, and I'm relatively satisfied with it.  I will still discuss the lessons with them, but sometimes DCs can get through with little or no help from me.  I guess the word is still out on retention.  Ask me again in a couple of months! :laugh:

 

 

[nova mama]

double post

[Murrayshire]

My middle dd used GWG in 4th grade last year and did not retain much at all!  I regretted not staying with FLL 4......but this year dd is using Jr. Analytical Grammar and it is a perfect match.  She is retaining nicely and not giving me a hard time about doing it!!  She will finish the grammar portion of JAG before December and then after Christmas break we will move into JAG Mechanics.  JAG is for grades 4-5......I think she could have handled JAG last year but this year it is a perfect fit.  Can't get any better than that!  Good luck!

[Haiku]

We used it for a while, but we quit using it because it was soooooo formulaic that my son wasn't actually learning anything. The example sentences and the practice sentences were all the exact same format, so all my son learned was to recognize the pattern. He paid no attention to the grammar. Additionally, the language used in the program is very simplistic and dull. Some of the sentences utilize poor grammar. I would not want my child imitating the type of writing used in the program. It read like it was written (poorly) as a grammar program. I prefer something with more sophisticated, realistic language. FLL 3/4 are miles better in terms of content and language. If you don't like them, I recommend Ridgewood Grammar from EPS. Follow it up with Rules of the Game.