No retention from Fix It Grammar... what to try now

[macmacmoo]

Eldest is 9 will be 10 in the fall. We did fix it Grammar nose tree as our first exposure to Grammar. No retention at all.

 

Any suggestions for what to do next. Was going to keep going with the series but that’s not going to happen. Open to a short and sweet daily something or a full blown writing/ language arts something.

[OneStepAtATime]

I think it might help for us to get an idea of why you think there was no retention. And how it was implemented. Was it done as scripted, including discussions, copywork, review together, reference cards, etc.? And was it done consistently over months? Is he still not recognizing nouns, verbs, etc? Is he not transferring his knowledge to outside writing or is he not even able to accurately mark sentences within the program? Is there literally no retention of any of the skills taught in that book? Is it the grammar itself or punctuation or all of it? Is he showing any struggles in other areas besides grammar?

 

I'm asking in hopes people can give you more targetted guidance for your child's specific needs. Depending on where the disconnect is, you might not have any better luck hopping programs until the disconnect is better understood.

 

If the program was used as scripted and there was literally no retention in any area, do you think perhaps he needs a program with longer, more detailed lessons that include more structured, clearly laid out review? Maybe something with diagramming?

 

MCT might be a better fit (actually there are many good grammar programs out there) but it is hard to tell from your post where the disconnect might be. Hopefully someone will have some useful suggestions.

 

Best wishes.

[EKS]

I would try MCT (Island and Town levels).  It gives an excellent big picture understanding of grammar that can then be applied in more detail using a different program (we used Hake for this).  

[almondbutterandjelly]

I would make grammar fun.  Grammar Tales, Parts of Speech Tales, Punctuation Tales, book by Brian Cleary, Sentence Family, The Humpties.  Lots of options.

[Ellie]

But I'm not surprised that such a young child seems to have no retention. Some things just take time to become firmly fixed in our brains such that we can purposely and purposefully pull them out and use them. My guess is that no matter what you use next year, grammar will be a success, because it's another year of learning the same things. IOW, if you love Fix It in general, I'll bet you'd see much more "retention" next year, because it isn't really the problem; young brains is the problem. :-)

 

Fix It Grammar doesn't appeal to me at all, but that may be because of my unschoolng leanings, lol. Easy Grammar was a success in our house.

[Garga]

But I'm not surprised that such a young child seems to have no retention. Some things just take time to become firmly fixed in our brains such that we can purposely and purposefully pull them out and use them. My guess is that no matter what you use next year, grammar will be a success, because it's another year of learning the same things. IOW, if you love Fix It in general, I'll bet you'd see much more "retention" next year, because it isn't really the problem; young brains is the problem. :-)

 

Fix It Grammar doesn't appeal to me at all, but that may be because of my unschoolng leanings, lol. Easy Grammar was a success in our house.

 

I was thinking the same things Ellie was. For us, grammar took a long time, and a bit more maturity, to really sink in.  I felt like most of it was skimming right out of their brains, like skipping stones on water.  It took time for those grammar stones to sink down into the brain.

 

However, as opposed to Ellie, Easy Grammar wasn't a success for us, while CLE is. 

 

Another trick: We were doing one level of CLE a year for about 2 years and then I slowed it down and am taking 2 years for one level last year and this year, to let things really sink in.  Next year I'll be back up to one book per year when my son is in 8th.  After that, we stop studying grammar as a separate subject.  (The oldest is already in high school and doesn't formally study grammar any more.)

 

Bottom line:

Grammar can take time to sink in.

 

Some curriculums honestly don't work for one family and do for another, so it's good to try different ones if *nothing* is sinking in with a particular program (ie: my kids lost knowledge the year they did Easy Grammar, but I know for Ellie, that was not the case for her family at all.)

 

Sometimes you need to slow grammar down for a year or so for it to have time to percolate--keep at it slowly and steadily, though, and then speed back up later if the students can handle it.

[OneStepAtATime]

Agreeing with Ellie and Garga, sometimes grammar takes a really long time to sink in.  It is pretty abstract. 

 

That was one reason why I was wondering if you were using the program as structured (including the support cards used daily) and were still seeing a lot of errors/no connection during lessons or if this is something where you are seeing lack of application in outside writing but the Fix-It lessons are o.k.  Or did you take a long break and everything seemed to fall out of his brain?  That would make a difference in what I recommend.

 

I also agree that sometimes a particular program is just a really bad fit for a particular student/teacher.  We tried Easy Grammar and Shirley Grammar (English?) and dabbled in MCT (borrowed briefly) and none worked well for us but all three have worked well for others.  Fix-It worked really well for my kids but it took time for it to sink in to the point of automaticity.  Developmental time.  Their brains needed to percolate a bit.  LOL.  But every kiddo is different and what works for one may be a dismal disaster for another.  :)

[Mrs Twain]

Agreeing with macmacmoo.

I didn’t see benefit after using Fix It for several years, so I dropped it.

My main program for grammar has been Rod and Staff English. I use it for grades 2-8, and it is the best grammar program I have seen.

A couple times per week, I also add in E-M’s Daily Paragraph Editing as a supplement. I think this workbook has accomplished what I was trying to get out of Fix It.

[mamamoose]

We are actually liking CAP’s Well Ordered Language for Grammar. The songs are ridiculous and the singing is awful, but my son is retaining the definitions really well. He’s 10 and dyslexic and most of the time a no-nonsense kid but this is working well for both he and my daughter (7) are having success with it.