Hi everyone! Welcome to day 3 of my homeschool curriculum forum/discussion series. Today we’re going to be talking about English & Grammar.
I have to admit this is always one of my hardest subjects to finalize when picking curriculum. For the most part I am happy using Abeka phonics for the earlier years, but when it comes to 3rd grade and up I’ve been wavering. For the last two years we’ve been using BJU Press English & Grammar. I started this in 3rd grade and had planned to stick with it for future grades.
While that is still my plan, I’m not totally in love with this curriculum. I’ve just been sticking with it because it’s “okay”. The pages are colorful which is nice for visual learners, and the daily lessons are nicely outlined at the top of the student worksheets which I also find helpful. You do need the Teacher’s Manual in my opinion for this curriculum as there are more examples and help for the student in the TM. The TM also includes a smaller duplicate of the student workpage but also includes the answers as well which is helpful.
Pros:
- Fairly thorough and straight forward
- Colorful worksheets
- Student workbook answers are in the teacher’s manual.
Cons:
- Can be pricey unless you buy used.
I have looked into Abeka, Rod & Staff English, as well as Shurley English, and Easy Grammar but haven’t been brave enough to try any of them as of yet haha!
So for lack of wanting to change I’m currently planning to stick with BJU English. While BJU English isn’t a bad curriculum at all, it’s just that I don’t feel my kids are really “getting” English. I am also not a huge fan of the writing, so we use something else for that, but we’ll tackle that in the writing curriculum post coming soon.
IEW Fix It Grammar!
As many of you know we switched to a new English/Grammar curriculum. We’ve been using Fix It! Grammar now for about 2 years and so far I really like it. Click below to see the full review on this English/Grammar curriculum.
What I like about Fix It! Grammar:
- It takes less time, about 15 minutes per day.
- It includes vocabulary.
- I like that we’re learning to edit a continuing story line.
- Story is interesting and kids are excited to see what happens next.
- It correlates well with the IEW Writing program.
- Helps reinforce proper paragraph formation, writing structure, etc.
- Teacher’s manual is easy to read and concepts are clear and concise.
- Love the extra teacher notes, so far any questions the kids have asked have been listed in the teacher notes which is great!
- Like the easy reference flash-cards.
- Cost is great!
So, now comes the fun part!
What are your favorite English curriculum, resources, websites, etc? Leave a comment below discussing your choices for this year and why.
Feel free to ask questions or reply to each other too!
It’s my way of doing a forum without actually doing a forum haha!
And hopefully this will help us all as we start the process of researching curriculum, and trying to decide what will be the best fit for our homeschool.
Note: Please keep today’s conversations geared towards ENGLISH & GRAMMAR, I will be posting one for each subject separately so we can keep our comments organized.
Disclosure: This was not a sponsored post, I may however be affiliated with one or more products mentioned. The opinions expressed in this post were not influenced by the company. They are products I have used and felt like sharing, cuz’ it’s my blog and I can if I want to.
My children enjoy Editor in Chief by Critical Thinking Company. We use several of their books and really enjoy them. Rod and Staff is great curriculum but not enjoyable for the children, at least not mine anyways, but it is an excellent curriculum.
Also I forgot to mention in addition to the grammar lessons I have my children write a page a day. They can write about anything they want, in the early years, but they just have to write. Once they complete the page I go through and critique for any errors and then have them go back and fix them. This technique has really excelled their writing and grammar. I also found having them read great literature from earlier time periods also has helped their writing 🙂
We use Heart of Dakota Language. Not very pricey and we love it. It has tests and worksheets included in the teachers manual too.
Thanks!
Hi Jill,
I was just looking at Heart of Dakota and wondered who out there was using it, and what they thought about the program. I have a 9 year old and 5 year old who I was thinking of switching over to it, but would like a “review” of the program, pros and cons. I also have a soon to be 3 year old who could jump in too soon. :o)
For English right now, we are using ACE English and Climbing to Good English.
I have never used R&S English, but know friends who have. For the most part they like it.
Also, are you using the Singapore math that they suggest or do you do something different?
Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks so much!
I too am looking into Heart of Dakota for my 3rd grader and kindergartener. I went ahead and got Rod & Staff 2 for 3rd grade used on ebay and will probably do Teaching Textbooks for Math. I am not sure if I will do Singapore for the Kindergartener or not. But, I am really excited about Heart of Dakota. I especially love the Teacher’s manual and how it puts each subject in a little box and you see exactly what you need to do for the day. I need something laid out like that for me! 🙂
I used Heart of Dakota for the first time this past year with my 1st grader. I was looking into using My Father’s World, but I found Heart of Dakota and preferred it. I LOVE it and am going to continue with it next year. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions you have, I would love to share our experience with the curriculum if it would help! In 1st grade, you do not do a separate grammar program- they just have it included. But next year for 2nd grade they suggest using Rod and Staff. I did use a little of the IEW PAL writing program for 1st grade which has some grammar and very beginning writing.
I’ve been using HOD for 2 years now. I don’t have anything to compare it to since it’s all I’ve ever used (1st and 2nd grade). I really love how it’s all laid out. People really seem to love it. The only con I have is that it’s a newer program and doesn’t have any stats on how students score on SATs after using the program. I’m not sure I love Singapore Math though. My daughter is having a tough time with some of it. I may sub a different math next year. Overall, I highly recommend it!
Institute for Excellence in Writing is my ultimate favorite curriculum! Not only does it teach effective writing skills, but it teaches grammar in the most natural way … in the context of writing! 🙂 I am an accredited instructor and teach this class to students as young as age 9 in our home school group and through CurrClick. Kids (especially boys) who hated writing suddenly don’t anymore because of IEW! HIGHLY recommended course and worth every penny! Thanks for your great blog, Erica! Been following you for many years. 🙂
Do you use anything other than IEW for grammar? I am currently using FLL 3. We used FLL 1 & 2 prior to this year. FLL3 is heavily into diagramming sentences, but as I have not used anything else I don’t know if this is usual for 3rd grade. It is painless as far as short lessons, but I keep wanting something different. There is so much to choose from, but I have heard a lot of good things about IEW. I only thought of it as a writing curriculum though.
I do use “Daily Grams” for my own children at home for extra grammar practice, but it isn’t really necessary because they receive all their grammar through writing. Punctuation and capitalization, parts of speech, and word usage/agreement are all learned through trial and error in the students’ writing assignments. It is a natural way to learn grammar. (I do think diagramming in 3rd grade is a bit early.)
I am offering a sample class next Friday, 4/19, if you would like to learn more about the process. http://www.currclick.com/product/78369/Institute-for-Excellence-in-Writing-%28IEW%29-BEGINNING-WRITING-Sample-Class
God bless!
IEW’s “Fix-It” is like Daily Grams on a paragraph level, and it reinforces IEW stylistic techniques as well. I also use this with my children, but I cannot fit it into my online classes.
I have a 13yr and 10tr old. I’ve really failed with their English. What level would you suggest starting? Also, is this a compete English curriculum?
I have looked into this and heard great things about it. I have been interested to try but my oldest will be in third grade next year. Is this too young to start? Would love recommendations for writing for grade 3 (also have a first grader but not worried about that yet for him). We are using BJU Press for English. Thank you! Sara
I’m using Voyages in English this year for my 3rd grader. It is a combined program of grammar and writing in the same book,but the lessons are separate. It looks like a typical public school type of textbook. I used FLL for grades 1 and 2.
We use Voyages in English as well. This is our 3rd year using it and I just really love it.
When I was a school teacher we used Voyages in English. Like all programs it has pros and cons, but overall we really enjoyed using the program. The lesson plans and units were planned well (and there are lots of extra ideas included), and the students enjoyed the program (they also enjoyed that the program is colorful… more appealing to them). You do need the teacher manual and student work book. I’m not sure how much the program costs (I was a school teacher at the time), but when I teach my own children I will most likely pay whatever I have to pay (within reason) to use this program – I’m familiar with it and it works well.
Do any of you know where I can purchase this series used? I am specifically looking for the newest versions of 2nd and 5th grades. Thanks!
For us nothing has been better for grammar than KISS grammar- and it is free! http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/KISS.htm. We also use IEW’s Fix-it for editing practice. For writing we use a combo of WWE and IEW.
Thanks for sharing the link. Very interesting approach.
IEW’s “Fix-It” is like Daily Grams on a paragraph level, and it reinforces IEW stylistic techniques as well. I also use this with my children.
We have always used ABeka and this year I wanted to do something different and I started using BJU, but half way through this year I went back to ABeka, I just like the program, and the kids do also. With BJU all the little people they use to explain things confused me and my kids so I just went back to what they were used to 🙂
I use JacKris Publishing. It is very affordable and in 3rd grade start diagramming. They have books for grammar, spelling and writing through 8th grade.
We use BJU for K and 1st this year. We really like it, my kids love the colorful pages and characters they use. They also do a good job at building off the previous year.
I was homeschooled and am now homeschooling my 4 kids – when my mother began HS there were very few choices so she used primarily Abeka – since then she has changed for other subjects but stuck with abeka for language arts. I am an English degree , my sister is in political science, 2 brothers in med school and we have all sailed easily through every English and writing class given. This is why I am sticking to abeka for language arts, I know it works. (I would never recommend them for history or science however) Thanks for you blog!!! I love it!
My siblings and I also used Abeka! It did work, but I am finding it a little expensive and teacher-directed for my kiddos. I agree with you on history and science, too :)!
What are the cons of Abeka science/history that you didn’t like?
I’ve used BJU and free worksheets off the internet. I’ve not found something I’ve been pleased with yet. I’m interested to see all the recommendations.