Shellydon Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 My 7th grader is taking a placement test for an on-line English class. The first part is very basic parts of speech- identify a noun, pronoun, adverb, conjunction, verb, article and a few more. She couldn't do it. We did FLL 1-4, ending about 16 months ago. Since then, she has done some review with Fix-It Grammar. She bombed the test. For grins, gave the same test to my 5th grader who just completed FLL 4 a week ago. She bombed it too. Ugh. For whatever reason, FLL is NOT sticking. I need to switch it up for my younger kids. What do you all suggest if you don't use FLL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchbark Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The Sentence Family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Easy Grammar, beginning when dc are about 10yo, followed by Daily Grams, followed by Easy Grammar, followed by Daily Grams, with one final year of Easy Grammar. Janet in WA really liked the Stewart English Program, which required the children to write actual sentences using the grammar thingummy that they are studying. She said that although there's more work for the parent because there's no easy grammar key, she thought that retention was better because the children were having to actually use their grammar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The Sentence Family. Absolutely awesome to start with. I also like the grammar component of the writing program called Writing Tales 1. I love the grammar in the first part of Treasured Conversations, which is also a writing program, mostly. I layered our grammar this year, constantly introducing & reinforcing it in other subjects. We did grammar in Grammar, Latin, Writing, and "Enrichment" (which is my catch all class for extras, which included the The Sentence Family during the first semester this year). They were constantly encountering grammar concepts during their day in different ways which really helped it click. I don't recommend this every year, but it was a great year this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Absolutely awesome to start with. I also like the grammar component of the writing program called Writing Tales 1. I love the grammar in the first part of Treasured Conversations, which is also a writing program, mostly. I layered our grammar this year, constantly introducing & reinforcing it in other subjects. We did grammar in Grammar, Latin, Writing, and "Enrichment" (which is my catch all class for extras, which included the The Sentence Family during the first semester this year). They were constantly encountering grammar concepts during their day in different ways which really helped it click. I don't recommend this every year, but it was a great year this year. I think you might be my long-lost sister. :D I have used all of the above programs, including The Sentence Family, which you referenced in your original post. The Sentence Family was a fun summer program for us when my kids were younger. I absolutely puffy heart adore Writing Tales, but I shelved it this year to use Treasured Conversations. I will pull it out next year for little dd. My boys just started Easy Grammar Plus, which is a "get 'er done" workbook-based program. It is too early to tell if there will be retention, but this program is getting done and it truly is "easy" for both parent and student to use. My kids all did FLL 1-4, and we all still remember the chants. When one of mine asks, "Is such and such a helping verb?", they get the chants, complete with claps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Personally, I love KISS Grammar. No chanting of definitions, just short explanations and then right on to analyzing sentences. Virtually every lesson is like a test, since when a new topic is added, it is just one more element that the student must identify in the sentence. We are quite far into the program, but I think any student could easily and quickly master level one, which states that: "By the time they finish this book, students should be able to identify most subjects, verbs, complements, adjectives, adverbs, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositional phrases in almost any text that they read or write." And Level 2 addresses "most of the complexities of S/V/C patterns and of prepositional phrases," plus it covers nouns used as adverts, interjections and direct address. My daughter is well into level 3.2 and knows far more grammar than I ever learned. And it is free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 Thanks all. I'll take a look. Sigh. I hate having to change things that I love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianna Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Also, Shirley English has a nice question answer flow that helps identify the parts of speech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 I just remember that we did Daily Grams last year. Double sigh. I am going to do CLE for my youngers and find a review for the older two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauphin Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Analytical grammar? (But also a vote for looking up and maybe printing a Q/A flow like Shurley Grammar has.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekster519 Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 We are using English Lessons Through Literature from Barefoot Meandering for 3rd grade. There is a read aloud and the grammar and copywork are related to the read aloud. My daughter loves it and she is retaining the information well. It is much less boring than FLL. I wish we had been able to use it for my older son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) . Edited May 18 by SilverMoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I am a big fan of Jr Analytical Grammar. A lot more depth, practice, variety of sentences, etc. Also, it is fast and not designed to take 4 years. I do miss the poetry memorization, though. Much more applied, which for my kids has led to sticking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 Updating--- I am going to switch my 5th, and 2nd graders to CLE Language Arts. I am still looking for my 7th grader. I am not sure that Easy Grammar Plus will be a good fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 I was going to go suggest CLE. Bcause it's a retention thing, I find their spiral works best for our family. Just do the placement test first, before buying :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Another option would be Hake. I won't lie. Hake is not what I'd call "fun", but it has a lot of practice. You practice the concepts over and over and over and over. If that does not work, I don't know what will. They have levels up to 8th grade, but even the 4th grade book is meaty enough IMO. Although I'm pretty surprised FLL did not work because that one is very repetitive too. So you might even consider going a very different route and trying something like MCT. I'd recommend starting with the Town level if you do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 Another option would be Hake. I won't lie. Hake is not what I'd call "fun", but it has a lot of practice. You practice the concepts over and over and over and over. If that does not work, I don't know what will. They have levels up to 8th grade, but even the 4th grade book is meaty enough IMO. Although I'm pretty surprised FLL did not work because that one is very repetitive too. So you might even consider going a very different route and trying something like MCT. I'd recommend starting with the Town level if you do. I have 6th grade Hake somewhere. I could pull that out. I personally LOVE FLL. She just can't remember anything from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Another vote for Hake here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Fix-It Grammar (the newer revised program) has been our winner here. This program, along with Latin, is the only program my DD has retained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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