When did you use Analytical Grammar?

[cintinative]

I was reading through the WTM4 and I noticed they don't recommend Analytical Grammar until grades 9 and 10.  I had planned to use it for the next three years for grades 6-8 with the reinforcement and review. I am questioning this now.  

 

When did you use it and do you think the years you used it were a good fit?

Edited January 17, 2017 by cintinative

[luuknam]

Beats me - my oldest is in 4th. But, for your answer options, you should probably put an 'other'. For example, someone might have used it for 5th-7th, or for 7th-9th, or 8th-9th, etc, etc, etc.

[Miss Tick]

I needed an "other" because we started in 6th, but we haven't finished the program yet, which made the second question tricky. Perhaps you were just looking for answers from people who can actually give you complete feedback though, which is clearly not me! Haha.

 

I'll share my thoughts anyway. You can always pick and choose from them. We had a solid grammar background from FLL 1-4 and the beta chapters of ALL.

 

1. I cut way back in the weekly work in the first 10 weeks. If you can diagram that week's topic and you still remember the previous weeks', no need to repeat it 8 more times. It was easy to pick and choose with the answer key for reference.

 

2. I feel like there is not always enough in the teaching part of the lesson to fully learn the concepts presented. Once or twice I've had to go to other sources to answer questions that came up during the lesson. Perhaps this is because there is an "answer key", but not a "solutions manual". Or perhaps the hope is that I would have learned this from my own 6th grade teacher way back when, poor woman.

 

3. I like the review and reinforcement book a lot, but we similarly do just a portion of it, all the parsing, skip paraphrasing, 2 diagrams.

 

4. I have heard concerns about mechanics all being left until the third year, but so far I haven't found that to be a problem. I do like how by spring there is a small gap in our daily schedule where grammar used to be.

 

 

5. I called and was able to get a few books half-off from their scratch-and-debt inventory. I also lucked into an unused set at a library sale.

 

6. SWB's ALL will be published in 2017, so perhaps that will be a better choice.

 

ETA looking at the voting, looks like you've already completed the program. Ah well, perhaps someone else will find my thoughts helpful. I can't imagine waiting with grammar until high school, I feel like I will need all the time available for other things.

Edited January 15, 2017 by SusanC

[fourisenough]

Like a previous poster, I wouldn't want to wait until high school to teach grammar. By that age, a student should be applying grammar knowledge in her writing. If she doesn't know what a compound sentence is, she can't possibly know that she needs a comma before the conjunction, etc. By 9th grade, I want my student writing fluently and correctly so we can discuss ideas and how to develop them to prove a point, not just then beginning to learn the grammar. AG was a big pill to swallow for my now 12-year old during 6-7th grades, but we're on unit 27 and she knows her stuff. I couldn't imagine having the time to do this in high school.

Edited January 15, 2017 by fourisenough

[TeaCookiesBears]

Other, I used AG starting in grade 7 and used it over a number of years. I intended to use it between grades 7-9 but it didn't work out that way because we ran into a few snags that I believe was due to not having grammar previously(in ps) and trying to use it as suggested. In the end it all worked out when I used it to fit dd needs but I do wish she had finished grammar at least by grade 9 or 10 so that we could have concentrated more on writing.

Edited January 18, 2017 by TeaCookiesBears

[cintinative]

bump

 

[SebastianCat]

My kids used BJU English through 6th grade, which covered grammar and writing, but in (my opinion) a pretty gentle way.   We then started AG in 7th grade, and I had them do Season 1 with the Reinforcement book that year.

 

For my DS, I had him do seasons 2 & 3 during his 8th grade year, without using the Reinforcement book.   My DD is in 7th grade now, and I will likely follow the same progression with her for 8th grade, but haven't decided for sure.

 

I really LIKE AG because it is thorough and intense, but not overwhelming.   Season 2 is the most difficult, but we pushed through and finished all 3 seasons in 8th grade so DS would have completed the entire program prior to high school.   I felt that it was a good bridge between the workload of elementary level and high school level work.   I think it certainly could be done in 9th or 10th grade, but it's a better fit for middle school.

[Denise in IN]

I've used AG with all of my kids starting in 6th or 7th grade (currently using with my 6th & 7th graders together).  We do half page a day, so a slower pace, but it's been very age appropriate and doable. We have not used the review books.

 

I would not wait until high school to do grammar - it's hard fit in all the English in high school, with all of the other academic demands, activities, etc.  I try to keep English to 1 hours a day - with Writing, Literature, and sometimes Vocabulary that can be a challenge, so I do not want to add Grammar to that as well.  I've found it easier to spend more time on Language Arts in jr high, so we focus more heavily on that in 6th-8th grade:  Writing, Grammar, Spelling, Vocabulary, and Literature.  

 

Also, it is my personal opinion that Grammar is best learned in the logic stage - connections!  how the words function together in the sentence!  Grammar is a foundation; writing and speaking well builds on that foundation.

[GailV]

Probably 7th and 8th (neither really remembers), followed by  an AG practice book in 9th grade.  From there Dual Enrollment English grammar and composition for a couple of semesters, then a 36 on the ACT English section (brag moment because I suck at grammar, so it's amazing they both scored 36), and the decision that probably we'd done enough for kids who are actually more interested in science and theater.

[MorningGlory]

I did (am doing) grammar with both of my boys in high school. Older son worked through a good portion of Warriner's in 9th and 10th, and younger son did Seasons 1 and 2 of AG in 9th and is doing Season 3 of AG in 10th. 

 

Yes, their English credit is time-heavy, but I alternate literature, writing, and grammar so that they do just two of those at a time. By the time they reach 10th, grammar begins to take more of a backstage role, and by 11th grade, any grammar review comes from editing papers. 

 

Both boys had grammar in elementary and middle (Rod & Staff, BJU, etc.), so high school grammar was certainly not their first exposure to grammar. Warriner's and AG were used to solidify what they already knew. I felt it was worth the time it took to go through grammar again at the high school level. 

[The Girls' Mom]

We used it in 9th to cement grammar rules before moving on.  It was the last grammar program I used with them.  (We also used R&S, and BJU grammar in earlier grades).  It worked well for us.  

[cintinative]

Bump. I am sure more of you have used Analytical Grammar!

 

It seems that most have used in between 6th-8th somewhere.

Edited January 17, 2017 by cintinative

[FindingMyWay]

It's not letting me vote, but we used it for 7th-9th. With my next in line, we'll try to start it in 6th because it would be nice to have it finished before the heavier load of high school starts, but we'll see if that works for him or not. :) I'm happy with it, though.

[Lori D.]

We only tried AG briefly with DS#1.

 

Not so much the age/grade, but learning style made AG not a good fit here when we tried it in 9th as the final Grammar "wrap up and review" program. WAAYYY TOOOO MUCCHHH busywork/repetitive sentences, and DS was beyond it. We dropped it after about 6 weeks and shifted to actually using Grammar in context of the Writing, and used The Chortling Bard for a very lite Grammar review about 2x/week.

 

From grades 3-8, we had used various Grammar resources for formal instruction and practice, so no need for more Grammar by high school.

 

ETA: So much depends on where your student is in the grand scheme of past Grammar instruction, but esp. if the style of instruction of AG is a good fit for your student or not. If you've had a lot of solid Grammar instruction and diagramming up through 5th/6th grade, and your student does well with traditional/workpage style of learning, then the regular AG program could be a fine fit for you, starting in 6th grade, but esp. for 7th-8th grades. If I had a student who fit with AG, I would probably only use it in 9th grade if the student had been a late-bloomer with Grammar and we needed to solidify Grammar instruction in 9th to be able to move forward confidently to just using Grammar in Writing and Foreign Language studies in high school.

Edited January 18, 2017 by Lori D.

[Liza Q]

My oldest did the whole book in the 8th grade and it was perfect for her.

[JusDelenH]

We are using Analytical Grammar Junior for 5th and I love it. It's the one thing we have almost completed.

 

 

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[Momto4inSoCal]

We did Jr Analytical Grammar at the end of 3rd and 4th grade since they had finished their Rod and Staff books early. I liked it a lot so I then moved them into Analytical Grammar for 4th and 5th. Those aren't the recommended ages but my girls did fine with it. Maybe it just depends on the child? They are now 5th and 6th and finishing up the mechanics portion of it. I've really enjoyed it and I've recommended it to a lot of people. 

[Momto6inIN]

I voted "6th-8th" because that's when 2 of my oldest 3 used it and how I plan to use it with my youngest 2 as well. But my oldest completed the whole thing in 8th grade and it worked well. He was/is a very motivated student however, so I don't know that that pace would work well for most kids.

 

It's my perception (although I could certainly be wrong!) that SWB recommended AG for high school with the understanding that the students would have been following TWTM and doing grammar for several years by that point and would be using AG for a review. But I don't think that's how the majority of AG users actually use the program. Again, I could be wrong, but that's my understanding.

[blondeviolin]

6. SWB's ALL will be published in 2017, so perhaps that will be a better choice.

 

 

Gasp! For sure?! I had planned to slowly do AG with my then-6th grader next year... but if ALL is coming out...

[raganfamily]

I just wanted to add regarding AG.  You can go complete this at a slower pace.  I found 7-8th grade to be a good starting place and gives time to finish it.  I really like the Review and Reinforcements to give in high school.  (I recommend no matter what grammar you may have used. It is a great review.)

 

AG also recommends to be flexible.  You do not have to do all the problems or all the worksheets.   If they understand the concept, you can go on, or only assign odds or evens, etc.

 

I'm excited about SWB's grammar as well, and may switch to it when it's available.

 

My older 3 really know their grammar.  (They used all 4 levels of FLL, Rod & Staff (1 yr), IEW Fix-It (1 yr), and completed AG)

 

 

[KAM]

My first used AG starting in 8th grade and she finished up around the end of 9th grade. She had a pretty easy time of things and was able to do it mostly independently. It has been really nice to have grammar out of the way to have extra time to focus on other subjects in her high school years. She is using the review book every other week, but that doesn't take much time.

 

With DS14, we did season 1 of AG in 6th, season 2 in 7th, and we're finishing up season 3 now in 8th. He had a bit of a harder time with season 2 than his sister did, but nothing we couldn't manage. Now he is down to just one more lesson before he can do just a review sheet every other week for the rest of his school years. He's pretty excited about that! DS 11 is following a similar path - he did season 1 of AG this year, his 6th grade year (he did JAG in 5th). We did not complete the season in 10 weeks as suggested in the book, we spread it over more like 15 weeks. With my other two, we took it slower when we needed to as well. They often would split an assignment over a couple of days if it felt like too much. 

[Sarahtar]

We started in 5th, actually. The 6th grade year (year 2) was pretty brutal, though. He/we got through it, but there was some level of "ok, good enough." I don't think that was his age so much as I just honestly started feeling like we were both sick to death of diagramming sentences.  If I did it again with my daughter, I actually might think about doing season 1, then season 3, then season 2... I don't know.

[Pink and Green Mom]

We do AG through our homeschool co-op with an amazing teacher.  My son did Part 1 and half of Part 2 in 5th grade, and finished Part 2 and has moved in to Part 3 this year in 6th.  He went in to it straight from SWB's First Language Lessons 1-4 with no problems whatsoever.  We move at half speed at co-op, doing half an assignment per day and will get through the book in 2 years.

[cintinative]

Thanks everyone. Next year I will have a 5th grader and 6th grader and was not sure if the 5th grader could handle it--it is encouraging to hear some of you say that he could if we slow it down. We have completed FLL 1-4 but this year we took a break and did Fix-It and I hope to do Jr. Analytical Grammar before we break for summer.  Or maybe next year before we start Analytical Grammar? Of course if SWB comes out with Advanced Language Lessons that will likely change my plans. I still haven't seen a definite release date for it.