Recommend a first formal grammar for 5th grader?

[SamanthaCarter]

Can you all recommend an open-and-go grammar for a 10 year old who has had no real formal grammar before. Knowing him, he would eat up sentence diagramming, so something heavy on diagramming would be a plus. I need to make sure it gets done, so if it is heavily dependent on me teaching through it, it won't work well. Thanks!

[blue plaid]

I would look at Jr. Analytical Grammar. My 5th grader did it this year.

[mtomom]

CLE LA 4 maybe? I used CLE LA 5 with my son last year. He did have some basic knowledge (noun/verbs/adjective/adverbs/prep phrases), but no diagramming experience. I wouldn't call it diagram heavy, but he diagrams every lesson I think. It's written to the student/self teaching.

[SamanthaCarter]

Thanks. He does have some basic knowledge picked up from Galore Park English and from montessori school (surprisingly well-retained from 2nd grade). I'll look at both of these suggestions. He's got parts of speech, needs some exposure to more complex ideas like comma placement and other punctuation, phrases, tense, agreement. 

 

My mom likes Shirley Grammar. What do you think of that?

 

ETA: I'm woefully ignorant about how to go about language arts. And I can't buy several expensive programs to figure it out. :(

Edited May 27, 2016 by SamanthaCarter

[Guest]

R&S 5 could be done by the student alone. Still buy the TM for an answer key.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ellie]

If you want *only* grammar, then Easy Grammar. Although it is not teacher-intensive, you really should do the corrections on each page before he does the next.

 

Shurley English also includes writing, as does Rod and Staff's English and CLE.

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

If you want something more independent, I feel I should warn you that Shurley has more teacher time involved in teaching. However, it is open and go.

 

I don't know what would be best, but I wanted to give that feedback on Shurley.

[SebastianCat]

Analytical Grammar is intended for 6th-8th grades for students who have had no prior grammar instruction, and is written for the student to do independently. It sounds like what you are looking for. For 5th grade, I'd consider Junior AG.

[SamanthaCarter]

I saw that Analytical Grammar was for 6th-8th grade as I was looking at the website yesterday. So now I'm wondering if I should just hold off a year. 

 

Thanks for the feedback on Shurley. I was pretty sure I remembered my mom saying it was teacher intensive. She didn't use that when she had 4 kiddos to homeschool (those were the ABeka days). She used it for the youngest who came along a LOT later and is in effect an only child. 

 

I plan on enrolling him in an IEW class locally this fall. I still need to get all of the details on that to say for sure. So that's writing, but I feel like I need to round out LA in some way. 

[Ellie]

 

I plan on enrolling him in an IEW class locally this fall. I still need to get all of the details on that to say for sure. So that's writing, but I feel like I need to round out LA in some way. 

 

Yup. Easy Grammar. :-)

[SamanthaCarter]

A lot of these things are pretty pricey (and paying for a writing class is going to dig into the already slim homeschool budget). What about Step-by-Step Grammar? It looks straightforward, includes diagramming throughout and is inexpensive. Any experience there?

Edited May 27, 2016 by SamanthaCarter

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited September 5 by SilverMoon

[SamanthaCarter]

Forgive me, I can't figure out what CLE LA 5 is. Help? Link?

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited October 30, 2022 by SilverMoon

[SporkUK]

As you said diagramming, I thought of Grammar Made Easy which I'm planning to use soon with my soon-to-be Year 5 and Year 7 kids. 

[Holly]

We've enjoyed the grammar in English Lessons Through Literature.  Level 4 or 5 would be a good starting place.  It's an all-in-one program, but you can pick & choose what parts to use.  My 13 and 10yo DC are usually able to do the lesson on their own.  They had no formal grammar ahead of time, aside from reading Grammarland and did just fine with it.

Edited May 27, 2016 by Holly

[Caviar]

If you're looking for something which teaches grammar through diagramming, then I would highly recommend English Grammar Revolution http://www.english-grammar-revolution.com/ You can print everything from her website, or buy the books.  She also has online videos to go with her books, so that you do not have to do the instructing (of course, that costs more, but sometimes things go better if the parent is not the one teaching!).

[Targhee]

MCT Grammar Town!!