MarigoldHS Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 I need a straight forward grammar program for my rising 4th grader; something without tons of drill and writing, and something fairly independent. This year we used MCT Island and supplemented with the rainbow resources GUM (for mechanics). While I loved MCT, i think I want to make it more of a fun supplement that we do as a family. So i plan to wait on Town until my daughter is a little older and we can just read through the books together. I have heard that Growing with Grammar and ZB GUM are both pretty straight-forward and comprehensive (with adequate review). Is this correct? If so, which program do you recommend? If you use one of them, what are the pros/cons? Thank you very much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 I've used GWG levels 3 & 5 and ZB's G.U.M. (Level 7?). For us, both can be independent. However, the kids to get more out of them & retain more if you are involved. - GWG is easier than ZB's G.U.M. - Both are very easy to schedule & implement in that there is a clear-cut lesson each day. - ZB's G.U.M. incorporates other topics into their grammar - so you are reading about a science or history topic, for example, when learning to identify subordinate clauses. - GWG takes less time (15-20 minutes for most lessons, some take 30). ZB's routinely took 25-30 because they tended to be more complex (more thinking) and dd had to refer to other parts of the book because the teaching in the lesson wasn't always enough for her. This could have been because of the level she was doing & not indicative of lower levels, or perhaps if she'd done lower levels she wouldn't have had the trouble she did in her level. - It is pretty easy to go through mindlessly following a pattern in GWG and not really learn the topics. That's where parental involvement is really important. I think GWG has more review built-in than G.U.M., but there are plenty of opportunities for review if you use the optional material in the back of each student book. There are two sets of tests for each unit and one set of review questions for each lesson. You could definitely assign the review questions periodically to keep things fresh. We used them for extra practice when the regular lesson went badly (i.e., she didn't understand), when the unit review indicated she needed more practice with a concept, or when she bombed the unit test the first time through. I thought ZB's G.U.M. was more in-depth in grammar concepts than GWG. (Again, this could have been because of the levels I have seen/used.) However, that doesn't keep me from using GWG at those lower levels because, honestly, I had (have) no idea what some of the grammar concepts covered in G.U.M. were. So, it isn't really important to me to have my kids master them. Your mileage may vary. Hope others chime in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasperstone Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 What about Easy Grammar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProudGrandma Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 we have been using GWG for years. We all like it very much. I think there are plenty of pratice sentences and review in each lesson. The progresion of new concepts is gradual but deliberate. It makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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