TheAttachedMama Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Hi There, Can anyone compare IEW Fix It VS. Editor in Chief? I am trying to decide which one to use with my 3rd grader. Thanks! Cathy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I don't know anything about Editor in Chief but I could answer specific questions or give you a review of our experience so far regarding Fix-It if that might help you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusyMom5 Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I've got both here, trying to decide what to use. Editor in Chief is probably going to go over better w/ the kiddos, Grammar Fix IT! Probably has more 'teaching' in it. Use both? Caught Ya Grammar? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 So far, Fix-It Grammar has been very successful here. I have heard good things about Editor in Chief but as I mentioned I have never used it. DD likes Fix-It because the lesson is very short but we discuss, she comprehends, and she gets it done successfully. I also include cursive practice and the lesson is still over in less than 15 minutes. Despite it being short, though, she is retaining the material and it is showing up in her writing. Also, she is becoming much more aware of grammar in her day to day life. She notices things now that she was not noticing before. We have both been very pleased with Fix-It. I did get a large print standard dictionary. She finds that much easier for looking up words. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I haven't used Editor in Chief, but we have used Fix It. My language-loving DD got fed up with it because it was so fiddly, with so many separate parts. To do it you need a dictionary, the student worksheets, sheets for copywork and sheets for vocabulary. Even combined into one big binder it drove her nuts to flip back and forth. We didn't use the grammar cards. That would have made things worse for her. Also, it's moves very slowly. This can be a pro or con depending on your DC. It's a good program, but wasn't right for us. I think she would have been MUCH happier with Editor in Chief, since it looks like it's just one book and less fiddly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamakelly Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 We used the Editor in Chief cd on the computer. It was awful. It was so complicated to find the exact rule that went with the mistake etc..It was just a PITB. I'll never have another kid use it. I think I gave it away. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 One advantage I have found with Fix-It Grammar is that because the lesson is short you can double up and move at a faster pace if desired but it still doesn't add a ton of time to your day. There are 6 books. Doubling up with two lessons a day but still leaving Fridays free of Grammar (it is designed for a 4 day week) you could still finish two books a year, only doing half an hour a day, and be into pretty advanced grammar by the end of book 6 and you'd be done in three years. Add in summers and it might just take two years. Or you can slow it down, stretch it out if you need to. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 These reviews might help a bit but since the revision just came out last year I haven't been able to find anyone who has used the new version all the way through yet: http://pebblekeeper.com/2014/09/30/grammar-for-high-school-fix-it-grammar-a-review/ http://burroughstribe.com/2014/09/28/fix-it-grammar-a-review/ http://cathyduffyreviews.com/grammar-composition/fix-it.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Here is one for Editor in Chief but I have yet to find anyone that compares the two that has actually used both. http://www.thecurriculumchoice.com/2010/02/editor-in-chief/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 We used Editor-in-Chief. My kids got good at clicking every link until they found the right rule. I really don't think the software is good on it's own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrousel Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I chose Editor in Chief after comparing both books at curriculum fair. My DS prefers to mark up than to copy over with corrections. He will be learning cursive and also using a writing program next year, so I didn't want to push the issue over grammar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I have used both, and Fix It is a hundred times better than Editor in Chief. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swainsonshawk Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I have used Editor in Chief before. It was ho-hum. We read through the rules together and then tried to apply them by finding mistakes in the passages. We never actually used the part where you were supposed to reference which rule applied to which correction in the passage. My kids were only mildly successful at finding the errors themselves. We are actually going to try IEW Fix it Nose Tree for this school year, but I had not planned on using it with my 3rd grader. It has too much writing for him, I think. I was only planning on my 5th and 7th graders using this program (not a huge amount of grammar under their belts!) Once I get my own copy in my hot little hands, I will decide if there is a way I can modify it for my third grader's use. I have only looked through it at an IEW presentation with my local Homeschool group. We will see! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I have used Editor in Chief before. It was ho-hum. We read through the rules together and then tried to apply them by finding mistakes in the passages. We never actually used the part where you were supposed to reference which rule applied to which correction in the passage. My kids were only mildly successful at finding the errors themselves. We are actually going to try IEW Fix it Nose Tree for this school year, but I had not planned on using it with my 3rd grader. It has too much writing for him, I think. I was only planning on my 5th and 7th graders using this program (not a huge amount of grammar under their belts!) Once I get my own copy in my hot little hands, I will decide if there is a way I can modify it for my third grader's use. I have only looked through it at an IEW presentation with my local Homeschool group. We will see! You could modify the program pretty easily, IMHO. The student copies the one sentence into their "book" once they have made the corrections on the pre-printed page. Then they also look up and copy the vocabulary word. There are other parts to the lesson but hat's really all the writing there is. Just the one sentence and the definition. If you just had them copy over the sentence, would that be too much? The definition could be scribed, meaning he could look it up, read it to you, you could write it down for him and you could discuss the word usage together. Discussion has really helped DD. Sometimes a word will have multiple similar definitions/meanings. Being able to read through all the options and discuss which one most closely matches the word used in context has been great for her. She does write out the definition herself but DS has dysgraphia so when I start the program with him I will probably scribe the definitions for a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heart_Mom Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 I am using Fix It! Book 1 (Nose Tree) with my daughter who is finishing 5th grade. We both LOVE IT! She actually begs to do more than one lesson. It is effective and only takes us 10 minutes, tops. And we've kept this very simple to implement. I bought her a composition book for this subject. She does the story re-write in the front, and the vocabulary definitions in the back. I printed out all the student sheets and put them in a file folder near my desk. When she needs a new one, I just pull it out and she tucks it into her comp. book until we're done with that week, then I toss it. I also simplify things by letting her look up the vocabulary words on the dictionary that's on my iPod. I wouldn't necessarily use Fix It! with a 3rd grader. I've chosen to wait until they are a little older to begin formal grammar. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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