Frustrated with Fix-it Grammar

[Red Dove]

I have done the Fix-It Grammar Book 1, Nose Tree, with my two children and am now in the middle of Book 2, Robin Hood.  I checked their site to look at the scope and noticed that they revised the books.  The “Level 2” (not “Book 2”) is The Country Mouse and Level 3 is Robin Hood.  I was planning on continuing with the series, but now I don’t know how much of the Book 2 Robin Hood is similar to Level 3 Robin Hood.  Would I continue on with this one and have to go back to cover what’s in the new Country Mouse?  Or go on to Level 4?  Or see if I can find all the old versions and continue with that course?  

I have another concern, too. My children know what seems to me to be pretty advanced concepts like spotting Prepositional Phrases and can pick out nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, coordinating conjunctions… but are lacking in practical application.  A couple examples of that are that they don’t know when to use “a” and “an”, and they don’t know how and when to use colons and semicolons.  

Should I just switch to something else, or is continuing worth it?  For reference, I think the program is tedious and don’t enjoy it, one child loves it, and one child tolerates it.  

Thank you so much for any help you can give.  

[Slache]

We did the old version of book 1 and 2 and were told to go to the new book 4 because the old 1 and 2 are spread out across the 3 new books. We are taking a break from IEW this year for Cover Story and Our Mother Tongue.

[Ting Tang]

I do not use it, but that would be very frustrating.  I do think there are so many great-looking curriculums out there, yet I often wonder where practical applications are.  Oddly enough, I feel like the Abeka curriculum we started with dealt with very practical grammar aspects.  I decided to go with Michael Clay Thompson language arts with a drop of Memoria Press for my middle two.  But if I am not happy, I will shop around.  I wish I had suggestions on that front, but it never hurts to window shop.

[Garga]

I loved Christian Light Education’s grammar for my kids. 

It’s a rock solid curriculum that will certainly teach your kids practical applications. I myself learned a lot from it.

Edited May 30, 2022 by Garga

[Ellie]

My favorite grammar ever was Easy Grammar. Not Daily Grams, or the Ultimate series, but Easy Grammar.

[PeterPan]

On 5/29/2022 at 8:54 PM, Red Dove said:

lacking in practical application.  A couple examples of that are that they don’t know when to use “a” and “an”, and they don’t know how and when to use colons and semicolons.  

Should I just switch to something else, or is continuing worth it?  For reference, I think the program is tedious and don’t enjoy it, one child loves it, and one child tolerates it.  

Sounds like you already know the answer. 😉 It's not doing everything your kids need, so you either supplement or change. I just shared a link to a free McGraw Hill series for gr 6-12. https://s3.amazonaws.com/ecommerce-prod.mheducation.com/unitas/school/explore/free-resources/ela/grade-6-grammar-writing-guide.pdf That might be too high for your kids, but there are similar workbooks around for lower levels. If you don't want to shift completely, you could supplement with select chapters on conventions and punctuation from another series. 

You might alternate years, doing something more traditional one year, Fix It the next. There's enough overlap in levels that it's ok to skip like that. Nuts, Shurley even encourages it! 

[Green Bean]

Make a poster and have them recite it everyday until they know it for any rules/definition they need.

Use -a- for words beginning with consonants. (Example here)

Use -an- for words beginning with vowels. (Example here)

IME, if you are not drilling those rules/definitions everyday, kids are not just going to internalize them. Boring? Maybe. Effective? You bet!

🙂

[PeterPan]

9 hours ago, Green Bean said:

if you are not drilling those rules/definitions everyday, kids are not just going to internalize them.

Oh dear, I must be missing something. I don't DRILL basics of conversational english even with my ds with ASD2 and language disabilities. He uses the skill constantly, so once taught it's reinforced. 

School curriculum has a lot of repetition over the years because students come in and go out of a traditional school setting. In homeschooling, we're going to be more selective and just do the amount we need.

[Green Bean]

I meant until they master them.

[Slache]

1 minute ago, Green Bean said:

I meant until they master them.

I never did. Fix it is kind of a drill in itself.

[Ellie]

10 hours ago, Green Bean said:

Make a poster and have them recite it everyday until they know it for any rules/definition they need.

Use -a- for words beginning with consonants. (Example here)

Use -an- for words beginning with vowels. (Example here)

IME, if you are not drilling those rules/definitions everyday, kids are not just going to internalize them. Boring? Maybe. Effective? You bet!

🙂

But we use a/an all the time, in speech, and in written work; if used incorrectly, then I correct. No need to make a school poster and have dc recite the rule.

[Green Bean]

Just now, Slache said:

I never did. Fix it is kind of a drill in itself.

Interesting. Since I have a very tiny experience with Fix It!, I shall bow out.

[Slache]

5 hours ago, Green Bean said:

Interesting. Since I have a very tiny experience with Fix It!, I shall bow out.

I really, really love Fix It. It teaches very slowly and includes a ton of repetition in very little time. They get about a sentence a day to correct, so they are practicing editing skills. I know some people disagree with that method, arguing that students should not be looking at poorly written work or they will learn to write poorly, but that has not been my experience. I absolutely love that it only takes 5 minutes. It is lacking in depth so we are using Our Mother Tongue next year (6th), but I think after that we will only use Fix It. We'll see.