Anything like this? Grammar for morning time - 3rd & 5th

[Dulce Domem]

Hello all!  I am looking for a resource that I am hoping exists somewhere or something close enough that I can tweak it.  We are *almost* Charlotte Mason purists, and so we have withheld most formal grammar instruction.  My oldest really needs to learn grammar, though, so that he can progress in language studies (he's doing Greek with his dad - I've suggested that his dad just teach him English grammar through the Greek, but he didn't like my suggestion.   :lol: )

 

So - I am looking for something that will guide me through grammar lessons that I can do with my boys orally during morning time next year.  Basic parts of speech, simple diagramming, basic rules one should follow to stay within the conventions of the English language, etc.  I know I could find something just for the 5th grader, but it would just be nice to do it in tiny snippets together.  Something along the lines of what Cindy Rollins used to do - just diagram a sentence each day and discuss it.  But I need the very, very starting point.

 

So - anything to recommend?  Is there something that would lend itself well to this setup?  Besides me just getting a basic grammar book and muddling through myself?  The boys will be in 3rd & 5th grade NEXT year when we begin.  Thank you!!

 

 

 

[HomeAgain]

You might like this: The First Whole Book Of Diagrams.  Click on the 'larger pictures' tab to see inside pages.  It starts very, very simply and gives the information plus examples for students.  You can also pair it with Grammarland to give the 3rd grader a bit of a boost in the parts of speech area.

[Holly]

We'll be adding Memoria Press's Grammar Recitation book to our morning memory work.  I don't think the book itself has diagramming, but the corresponding workbooks have some.  We're just using the main book though since our LA program (ELTL) has diagramming. 

[OneStepAtATime]

Well, if you want something with a very gentle introduction that you could use with both grade levels you might want to look at Fix-It Grammar.  Just breaking down one sentence a day from a story (real literary work, not something made up for the grammar exercise), a little bit of vocabulary work that you could actually just do orally, and copying that one sentence afterwards.  It is set up to take :15 min or less a day, 4 days a week, but you can always double the lesson by doing 2 sentences a day or just add in a lesson for the 5th day if you wanted more.  The TM is very easy to follow, the lessons are actually written to the student in the student workbook and if you get the printed/bound version of the Student workbook you have access to the downloadable version so you would only have to print one extra copy.  If someone messes up their page you can reprint.  Or you could just get the downloadable version and print both.  Prep, once pages are printed, reference cards are printed and notebooks are set up (each student will have a notebook to put their work in) is really maybe 5 minutes tops, just read through the lesson ahead of time to make sure you know what will be covered. 

[FairProspects]

We've done something very similar with Winston Grammar. I'd write a sentence or two on the whiteboard and both boys would use the cards to map it and then we'd discuss or diagram.

[Dulce Domem]

Thanks for the suggestions!  Off to google around.  =)

[TX Pilgrim]

I know people have also done something similar with KISS grammar. The website is a bit tough to navigate but it uses real sentences and starts slowly.  It is worth looking at because it is free and easy to just pick and choose what might work for you. 

 

If you want to start memorizing lists - some people do and some don't - there are lots of you tube videos with songs that go with prepositions, linking verbs, pronouns, etc.  You could listen to those as part of morning time as well.  Not totally CM but sometimes memorizing is the quickest way from point A to point B. 

 

I imagine that if your child is making progress with Greek he will probably start to see some of the connections for himself.  We do Latin and my son feels like he is being told things twice (great reinforcement) because we cover it briefly in ELTL and then it comes up again in Latin (not because I am correlating it but because it is fundamental in both subjects).  

 

You can also just pick simple sentences out of your read alouds and diagram them.  The author at Writing Through History takes a part of speech a month and just focuses on finding that part (and all previous parts studied) in their normal copywork sentences.  Maybe not ALL of it because I imagine his copywork is pretty long now - but one example sentence.  So that's another simple way to go through the parts of speech. 

[Tranquility7]

Have you looked at MCT? Read Grammar Island together over the course of a couple of weeks. Then read Sentence Island together. Then work through Practice Island doing the 4-level sentence analysis (there are 100 sentences, so you could do one a day). Then later move on to Grammar Town, Paragraph Town, and Practice Town, doing the same thing.

 

The sentence analysis approach is fabulous because it reviews everything - parts of speech, parts of the sentence, phrases, clauses, types of sentences, etc. within one little exercise. I do them with my kids periodically and it is SUCH a great tool for reinforcing grammar concepts.

 

And if you want to add to it, after doing the 4-level analysis of the sentence, you could diagram it (MCT doesn't show you how but there are oodles of books that do - I like Rex Barks, but it is kind of pricey). And THEN you could even write an imitation of it, in the spirit of Killgallon! I have often done the MCT 4-level analysis plus these two extra steps with my kiddos and really find it to be quite an efficient, effective, and fun review of grammar concepts. Now that we are getting really good at it, I usually just pick a well-written sentence out of one of our read alouds.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2016 by tranquility7