JessReplanted Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I was hoping to make it through the whole year, but I think it's just getting ridiculous. We don't need this kind of frustration in our lives. I had a good education, and I never learned this much grammar. And, we don't have time for things like Literature and Writing because grammar is a time suck. I could go on and on.. Anyway, does anyone have any recommendations? We are almost through 705. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessReplanted Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 I am also interested in suggestions for next year. :bigear: I think we may just finish 705, and then jump to 707 which is a book study. And then I may focus on EIW for the rest of this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 We are doing R&S 6 and while this has been a good year, I don't see any need to go much deeper. I'm going back to Daily Grammar Practice next year. We used level 5 a couple years ago and enjoyed it. It uses sentences pulled from literature and takes less than 5 minutes per day. I didn't think there was enough instruction/practice at the lower level, but now that we have a solid base, I'm hoping this can be a quick way to keep it all fresh. The site is a bit hard to navigate, but there is a S&S on there so you can find an appropriate level. I am going with grade level and using DGP 8 next year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 We stopped after 704. We just do EIW now :). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourisenough Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I give you permission to drop it! Just kidding, but I think you're smart to shift your focus to literature and composition. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 We are in the same place you are. We're just about to finish 705 and I'm thnking, "WHERE in the WORLD is all this grammar coming from!?" It's just sooooo in-depth. I told my son today, "Take your best crack at the diagramming, but don't worry about it. If you get it, great. If not, I honestly don't care anymore." I'm not ready to drop it entirely yet, but I made the internal decision not to worry so much if my son doesn't get it. I always thought I loved grammar and that it was important to learn it, but I'm realizing that almost no one needs this much grammar. Maybe book editors. But the rest of us just don't need all this grammar, as much as I have always thought of myself as a grammar-lover. I'm letting it go. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insertcreativenamehere Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 This is very interesting to read. My son is doing CLE LA 5 right now and I'm planning to jump ship next year. My own grammar education was woefully incomplete but I managed to get a master's degree from a fairly prestigious school. My 5th grader is learning more grammar than I ever did in school. I'm glad he is, but I do plan to shift the focus from grammar to writing next year. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy to monkeys Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Yep, we're there too. My oldest was plugging along, but it just became ridiculous. We're completely dropping formal grammar for the rest of the year to give all our attention to writing (SWI-B from IEW). In retrospect, we spent far too much time on grammar and not enough on writing. I even knew it at the time, but didn't know how to remedy it and stay consistent. Next year we're going to continue with IEW and pick up Easy Grammar Plus for my two older ones. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessReplanted Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Thank you for all of the feedback! I am relieved to hear that it is not just us. I thought I had seen just about everything, and then we learned how to diagram a gerund. :svengo: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 It's not just you!! It's way more grammar than I've ever seen before!! I'd stop after the 500s with my other kids. Really - the 600s were pretty crazy, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 (edited) Bad phone. Double post. Edited January 12, 2016 by Jennifer Bogart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Thank you for all of the feedback! I am relieved to hear that it is not just us. I thought I had seen just about everything, and then we learned how to diagram a gerund. :svengo: Yes! It was the gerunds that did it for me, too! The squiggly line at the top on a long spindly leg with a triangle bottom? OMG! What's up with that!? No one ever needs to know how to diagram a gerund. Honestly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Yep, we're there too. My oldest was plugging along, but it just became ridiculous. We're completely dropping formal grammar for the rest of the year to give all our attention to writing (SWI-B from IEW). In retrospect, we spent far too much time on grammar and not enough on writing. I even knew it at the time, but didn't know how to remedy it and stay consistent. Next year we're going to continue with IEW and pick up Easy Grammar Plus for my two older ones. I had a dd come home as an 8th grader this year and she's using EG Plus. She really had no grammar background so it was a good starting point for her. Since I don't know what we will decide for high school, I am making the most out of EG. She'll follow the instructions on the page, but then I may ask a few more questions about some of the sentences just to make sure she's thinking about the grammar and not mindlessly crossing things out and underlining them. When my older kids did intense grammar programs, they didn't seem to retain a lot of it in the long-term. And I've seen that with coop kids, too. Personally, I think grammar sinks in by talking about it and through foreign language study. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 We are doing R&S 6 and while this has been a good year, I don't see any need to go much deeper. I'm going back to Daily Grammar Practice next year. We used level 5 a couple years ago and enjoyed it. It uses sentences pulled from literature and takes less than 5 minutes per day. I didn't think there was enough instruction/practice at the lower level, but now that we have a solid base, I'm hoping this can be a quick way to keep it all fresh. The site is a bit hard to navigate, but there is a S&S on there so you can find an appropriate level. I am going with grade level and using DGP 8 next year. I want to give Daily Grammar Practice a shot, too. I'm waiting with my younger one until she has more of a foundation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessReplanted Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Yes! It was the gerunds that did it for me, too! The squiggly line at the top on a long spindly leg with a triangle bottom? OMG! What's up with that!? No one ever needs to know how to diagram a gerund. Honestly. Yes!! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmc1970 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 You have no idea how relieved I feel reading these posts! We are on 507 and want to be done after this 5 series, but was feeling way guilty about halting grammar. I wanted to incorporate more literature, reading comprehension, and critical thinking but CLE was sucking up all the language arts time. I may starting Analytical Grammar in another couple years, but in the meantime, I'm feeling about better about the decision to move onto another area of language arts. I have to keep reminding myself that when homeschooling, I can be flexible :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathy_overman Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 We too have slogged through CLE 6 and 7. Do not let my sons know this, but I don't really care what they get from the lessons - something is better than nothing. My oldest is on 709, and I can hardly wait for him to be done. My hesitation is that I want them to do something and I cannot find a good replacement to keep grammar fresh - without being a waste of time. We have tried Daily Grammar, Spectrum, Exercises in English and a few others. Exercises in English has been the best, but they often call things by different names and I end doing all the research to figure out the answer - way too much work for me. I would love to hear other ideas of good replacements for CLE in the middle school years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storygirl Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 After finishing 700, we skipped 800 and started CLE English 1, which is the 9th grade program. DD is only doing one or two lessons a week, just to keep from forgetting the things she has spent so much time learning. We're not trying aiming to finish it in any specific time frame but are just using it for review. I figured, why switch to another program, when we can just do a bit of CLE every now and then. It's not exactly like the lower levels but it includes the same kind of material. And it doesn't continue on from where 700 left off and get harder, but is a kind of systematic review. I'm not bothering to grade it; I just have DD look in the answer key and correct it herself. It seemed a shame to me to let her forget it all (and she would have). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 After finishing 700, we skipped 800 and started CLE English 1, which is the 9th grade program. DD is only doing one or two lessons a week, just to keep from forgetting the things she has spent so much time learning. We're not trying aiming to finish it in any specific time frame but are just using it for review. I figured, why switch to another program, when we can just do a bit of CLE every now and then. It's not exactly like the lower levels but it includes the same kind of material. And it doesn't continue on from where 700 left off and get harder, but is a kind of systematic review. I'm not bothering to grade it; I just have DD look in the answer key and correct it herself. It seemed a shame to me to let her forget it all (and she would have). This sounds really interesting and possibly workable for a friend I know who is also frustrated with 700 but doesn't know where to go. Do you think someone could jump into CLE English 1 from mid700? I wonder what 800 covers since 600 and 700 are so in depth... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamakelly Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 I really like Easy Grammar. It's taken my grammar hating child to a grammar loving child. It's not overkill and it gets done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storygirl Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 (edited) This sounds really interesting and possibly workable for a friend I know who is also frustrated with 700 but doesn't know where to go. Do you think someone could jump into CLE English 1 from mid700? I wonder what 800 covers since 600 and 700 are so in depth... I think you could make the switch to English 1 in mid-700s. I'm looking at English 1 light unit 1 right now. The first lesson is on nouns. The first page reviews the definition of a noun, common noun, proper noun, singular and plural nouns, collective nouns, and a few other things, then reviews how they function in a sentence (as subject, predicate nominative, direct object, etc.). The second page has them circle all the nouns in the sentences, fill in the blank to say which kind of noun a word is, etc. The third page (and a half page after) reviews rules for and practices colons and parentheses, capital letters, and circling the correct pronoun. Lesson 2 is something new (for us, but may have been in 800) -- count and non-count nouns. Sounds technical, but it's just about plurals. Easy. Then a mini lesson on writing for different audiences. Then some matching exercises about nouns. Lesson 3 reviews adjectives in the same way and reviews how to diagram them, with a couple of practice questions. Then reviews rules for participles and how to diagram them; practice questions. Then some mixed practice on things from the first three lessons. So it reteaches everything, but just in a overview or review format, without a full lesson on the old stuff. I don't know what is in 800, but I figured English 1 would reteach anything that was in 800 but not 700. DD says it is working fine for her for providing review and practice. She has only done the first two workbooks this fall, so we aren't in a hurry to get through it. I'm not aiming to go beyond this level but just stretch it out over the next year or two. Edited January 13, 2016 by Storygirl 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauphin Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 I would love to hear other ideas of good replacements for CLE in the middle school years. I've eyed these. Purpose truly is to keep it fresh, not re teach. https://www.analyticalgrammar.com/high-school-grammar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnMyOwn Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 I've got one of mine doing Saxon grammar just to keep those skills fresh. I only have him do one lesson a week and I don't care when he finishes the book because it's all review. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 I feel like I should apologize to my teen for making him go through CLE 600 and part of 700. He hated it, I hated making him doing, and he got so so so frustrated and I got so upset and frustrated too. I may actually go tell him that others hated it too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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