Shurley grammar for 3rd grade?

[sunshineslp]

Has anyone used this? Thoughts or opinions? I'm looking at this more closely and I do think it's more mom intensive but I really like it. I'm considering CLE or Abeka as well.

 

 

Homeschooling mama of 4... Preschool 3, preschool 4, 1st, and 2nd:)

[mumto2]

Even though it was a long time ago now I will jump in because Shurley doesn't usually get many comments and we really liked it.

 

We used 3years worth at some experienced mom's suggestion. I think 2,4,and 6. Worked great, she was right!

 

The scripting looks intimidating and painful but it was so easy for me and them to understand the expectations and do the work. The added benifit is the different levels seem to concentrate as much as possible on the same thing at the same week. Everyone does nouns at the same time for instance. The writing is similar. All your kids sing the same jingles, who cares if the littles know extras.

 

The paragraphs etc for writing were the most direct I ever used with my ds which was great. They may not be creative but they are clear.

 

Now that the dc'sare all grown up and taking exams like the ACT this weekend I am so grateful to Shurley. Btw, we switched to it from ABeka. Much easier with my son. Dd was fine either way.

[sunshineslp]

I really appreciate your reply! So what did you do on the years you didn't use shurley (for grammar)?

 

 

Homeschooling mama of 4... Preschool 3, preschool 4, 1st, and 2nd:)

[mumto2]

We did them as back to back. But we took some breaks along the way. We have always schooled year around and I used to run Sonlight at the same time but disliked their LA. Occasionally unit studies took over. Shurley was the primary grammar and writing at that age but we were distractable. Dd must have started Shurley around 7 and finished around 11.

 

The levels increase in difficulty but I think every one would be overkill. The advice I think I received was every other plus grade 7 if the kid still doesn't know it. The knowing it really wasn't a problem because for mine at least there was something about those chants. We did them every day they did grammar and would sit and sing them as they did their diagramming. Eventually I discovered that they sell a separate workbook with all the sentences written out for diagramming. I bought it after that simply because it made my life easier. It isn't needed. Rainbow Resources must have had it.

 

One additional thing I remember doing in our breaks was parts of SWB's first language lessons and it was a nice and fairly complementary change. My kids preferred the Shirley definition memorization but enjoyed the poetry memorization in fll. I know there are several more fll books now. Fll had the advantage of being one small book when we were trying to do school away from home which we frequently were then.

[sunshineslp]

I have FLL 1 and 2. We've tried it out and like it ok, but my kids need more visual/workbook to retain. Do you think shurley is doable for a larger family? So you basically took 1.5 yrs or soto get through a level and then moved up to the next level?

 

 

Homeschooling mama of 4... Preschool 3, preschool 4, 1st, and 2nd:)

[mumto2]

There appear to be pdf copies directly out of Shurly if you google so you can look at it before buying to see the script and the writing methods. This will hopefully help prevent the panic attack I had when my first book arrived. Figuring out how it worked was more time than I had so the books were set aside for several months. A friend asked how it worked which prompted my figuring it out.

 

Also there appear to be youtube of the jingles, I enjoyed listening but someone somewhere found them super irritating.

 

 

The week as I remember went something like this:

 

Day one......grammar, new rule if being introduced

 

Day two.......grammar plus punctuation

 

Day three.....grammar plus vocabulary words

 

Day four.......something along the line of synonyms and start of writing project

 

Day five......complete writing using rubic

 

Our biggest problem was the writing days took longer than the other days. We didn't always have the time. Which is another reason why the books took us awhile.

 

 

This program was actually pretty easy on me thanks to the script, after I was familiar with the set up I could quickly jump in as needed really easy. I never had to look things over for a couple of minutes like I did with other curriculums to answer a question when they were working independently, as long as my book was open to the right page I was ready. I would spend 15 minutes or so at the beginning of a week looking over what was being taught that week and plan my time from that. Jingle time was 10 minutes for me to tidy the kitchen go be honest while they could be up jumping around. Normally I only sat with each child and went through the script for a couple of sentences on Day one. Later in the week it was selective script generally using it to correct errors. Things were so incremental it was pretty easy for me to just move back and forth between kids as needed.

 

I do think it could be used with four especially as your dc's appear to be close in age. I think I would do it by 2's. It was easy enough to have two levels at a time. Remember these are levels not grades. If you are careful to call them that you can avoid the grade/age connection that many other curriculums create which can be hard as a home ed parent.

[sunshineslp]

Hmmmm I didn't know they were levels... So would a 3rd grader need to start at 1?

 

 

Homeschooling mama of 4... Preschool 3, preschool 4, 1st, and 2nd:)

[mumto2]

Well we started with 2 because that is what I had ordered months earlier. I suspect 2 actually went at a pretty fast the first time because dd did level 2 all by herself with no younger brother tagging along. He was the main slow down reason but the weeks were so easy to coordinate that I felt it was to everyone's benefit to go slow. I am almost positive that dd had done Abeka grade 2 language before starting any Shurley.

 

I don't think level 3 would be a bad choice. Take a look at the pdf parent guide you get when you google Shurley Grammar level 3. Will your 3rd grader be able to do that within reason. If so I would go ahead and order that one. I never used level one but suspect it starts really basic.

[Homeschoolmom3]

For my two older boys we used Shurley all the way through elementary.  What I like most about it was:   the jingles (that really stuck with my kids they can still quote them in HS :-)  and how it was nicely laid out and explained well for us who's grammar was lacking when starting to homeschool are kids.  :-)  I would compare it to Saxon Math.  It is not too loved, but WORKS!!  We left Shurley and did a variety of grammar programs for Middle School but my favorite older one is Rod and Staff and Abeka in the HS years.  I liked Shurley because it laid a great foundation the only thing that it does not teach is diagramming which Abeka does and Rod and Staff which I think should be done before ending formal grammar.  Hope this helps.  :-)

[tm919]

For my two older boys we used Shurley all the way through elementary.  What I like most about it was:   the jingles (that really stuck with my kids they can still quote them in HS :-)  and how it was nicely laid out and explained well for us who's grammar was lacking when starting to homeschool are kids.  :-)  I would compare it to Saxon Math.  It is not too loved, but WORKS!!  We left Shurley and did a variety of grammar programs for Middle School but my favorite older one is Rod and Staff and Abeka in the HS years.  I liked Shurley because it laid a great foundation the only thing that it does not teach is diagramming which Abeka does and Rod and Staff which I think should be done before ending formal grammar.  Hope this helps.  :-)

Agree, we're on our third year of Shurley and I personally have a secret, undying hatred of teaching it even though I skip a lot of the stuff intended for the classroom. Ironically, my daughter doesn't mind it and it absolutely works. I have a hard time changing something is working just because it makes me want to gouge my eyes out. 

 

Keep in mind that while the grammar is very strong,  it may not fit the bill of a complete English (as they defined it) for you. The writing is a useful supplement imo if you want your child to learn things like 2 and 3-point paragraphs, but you may need something else as your core writing program even though Shurley assigns what seems to me to be an insane amount of output on day 5. The vocabulary is close to useless to us, it always seems behind the level of the grammar, but luckily for me I don't even feel the need for a formal vocab program yet. I skip a lot of stuff like the State capitals too.

[sunshineslp]

I'm wondering, I've read that people do the shurley TM, jingles and then the practice book (but skip the student workbook). Thoughts on this? I'd skip the writing for sure. Is it just silly to buy such an expensive program for only half the instruction? I'm so curious about it. I just worry it's too teacher intense. I just hate that the TM looks so crazy. I wish it were more open and go. I've heard they're going to edit the whole series but it'll be a few years. At this point I'm considering doing it just to try it out. If it doesn't work, maybe R&S or Abeka.

 

 

Homeschooling mama of 4... Preschool 3, preschool 4, 1st, and 2nd:)

[Homeschoolmom3]

Yes, I agree with tm 919. We did not do the writing portion we ended up doing IEW for elementary.

 

I was not a fan of Abeka in the early years to light, not sure about R&S in the early years but really like the MS years. Shurley is not too teacher intensive once you get in the groove and understand the layout. 😊 Good luck in your decision!