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.
I will be a new homeschooler, and this is the last choice I have to make for my 4th grader. I was looking at Alpha & Omega’s Lifepac. Has anyone else used that? I see some very positive reviews for First language Lessons and CLE, so I may check those out. Erica, this is coming at a great time for me as our curriculum fair starts tonight! now I know which booths I need to hit. My dd is in 3rd grade right now at a Christian school and they used BJU for English, but she says she “hates” it, so, to me, it’s not worth spending the money on, although it is good.
Oh no, why does she hate it I wonder. I was hoping to start it next year.
I think like in Kristi’s post below, my dd has no faoundation in the subject. She was in ps for K- 1st 1/2 of 2nd and we “threw” her into teh Christian scool where she iwas a little overwhelmed. Also, she is a more kinesthetic learner,dislikes workbooks in general. I am thinking the First Language Lessons might work well for us since we will be using My Father’s World, but I’m not sure where to start her.
Yvonne, this was my first year homeschooling my 1st grader and I am using the Lifepac series. I like that it is teacher lead, self paced, and inexpensive. If your child struggles with any of it, the teacher’s manual has extra ideas and work until your child can move forward. My daughter was in ps and I think after doing this curriculum, she is ahead of her class. 🙂 Give it a try and if it doesn’t work as a main curriculum, you can use it as a back up or extra work.
A few more things I can point out: In the first grade unit, she has learned about compound words, plurals – including the special ones, contractions, possesives and parts of a sentice. We have been finished for a while now, so I just review everything with her to make sure she knows it before we start 2nd grade. 🙂
I was looking at LifePacs also for my second graders. I wanted something that they could work independently if needed. Are your kids
able to work independent? Also, I noticed all that your kids have learned in first and mine haven’t learned a lot of that in Abeka yet so I am scratching my head at this….
Thanks, Sam. I will definitely be looking at it at our curriculum fair. The main curriculum I’ll be using for my 1st grader (My Father’s World) has language arts already builit into the program. It isn’t until they get to 2nd grade that you have to et a seperate LA program. So, I’m looking for something for my upcoming 4th grader.
I found Lifepac’s very phonics based, not necessarily Language/English based. I didn’t find it as thorough either. They touch on many things, but master few things. That being said, My son has used it for K-2 and done well. We then switch to BJU to cover other important things that we find lifepac lacking in. I love the lifepac language for Kindergarten.
I have used LifePac for 3rd thru 7th grade. It is very, very basic and you will need to supplement a whole lot in middle school and the curriculum does not tell you what to supplement. I got it originally thinking it would be the entire Language Arts curriculum, but the curriculum did not expand as my child’s learning did. I luckily have the time and energy to research and supplement writing and reading lessons for middle and high school, otherwise my children would not recieve a complete Language Arts lesson or I would have had to choose another curriculum. I have only stuck with LifePacs because I keep finding it at garage sales for $3 to $5 bucks because other people have bought it, used just the first book and given up on it. Unfortunate for them, blessing for me.
Came across this yesterday. It’s mostly for writing…http://www.bravewriter.com
Also, this is a curriculum I used with my 2 oldest (who are now graduated). My daughter is really good at writing and grammar however my son is not into that at all. He is more a math and science guy. Anyway, I used this curriculum with both of them and they both succeeded. No melt downs or tears. Easy to use and understand. Here is the website…www.rdlco.com
Jamileh
My to cents lol:) We took our oldest out of PS at the end of 3rd grade. I started R&S Enlish 3 with her or 4th grade and we hated it, we cried about it, we hated it some more. I finally realized she had NO foundation in this subject and others 🙁 So I search out and found Easy Grammer we started with the 4th grade book and she loved it- so I loved it no more tears 🙂 She completed the 5/6 book and the Plus book along with Daily Grams 4,5,6,7. We went back to the 3rd grade R&S English book and she has been happily doing her work. We go throught the books rather quickly because I test her before each chapter and she skips the areas she knows. In Oregon we have to do state testing on benchmark years. So last yr she took the 8th grade Terra Nova test and scored 10th grade 6th month. Hurray may method seemed to work. She is currently a 9th grader and finishing R&S 5 and will start R&S 6, along with Daily Gram Ultimate 8. I feel that since R&S only goes to 10th she will be able to complete all R&S books and have a very strong foundation in this area. Also we are using Writing With Ease Level 4 (just finished) and starting Writing With Skill Level 1 next week.
For my younger kids I plan on staring with Easy Grammer 2 for 1st/2nd, EG 3/4 for 3r gr, EG 4/5 for 4th gr, EG 5/6 for 5th gr and EG Plus for 6th grade then start the R&S English 3 for 7th and work our way up, testing and skipping what we need as we go. Also I will use all levels of Writing With Ease, Skill and Style and all of the Daily Grams for each grade. I should say that for K and 1st we use Horizons Phonics/Reading and R&S Bible Nuture. Hope that helps someone making tough chioces on what works for your kids.
I was/am planning on doing the same approach with EG and R&S. We used EG on DS from 4th – 6th. At 7th I wanted to switch to R&S English, (we use their math and LOVE it!). Anyway is there a reason you drop back to 3rd grade? I was going to pick up in the 5th grade book, so that he/they would have English throughout their High school years.
My sister-in-law has used R&S from the begining, she has always homeschooled. She told me that out of all the R&S English grade levels she personally learned the most with the 3rd grade book. She said thats the one book she would not skip, it has lots of foundational stuff in it. We quickly go through the book about 1 and a half a year, because I give her the chapter test and we only do the lessons in the areas she has problems. For my younger ones we may use EG first part of year then use R&S the last part. With the same format of testing prior to start of chapter and only do lessons that are needed to cement the concepts 🙂 ie (start school middle of Aug) EG 3/4 (2-4pgs a day) should get done between Feb and Mar then finish the year and maybe into summer with R&S 3. Hope that makes since. We school somewhat year round, with a very light summer (only the basics and finish up whatever we need to)
My kids have done very little English. One is 13 the other 10. I’ve really really struggled in this area. What level would you stiffest starting them on? Also, would you suggest starting them with EG and not R&S?
My kids are still young and homeschooling is new to me, but here is the list of things I currently use:
1st Grade Language Arts: Lifepac (So far I like it, but haven’t really compared it to anything.)
1st Grade Spelling: I get the list of words from the ps. This gurantees that she is at least learning to spell words at her level.
3&5 year old: We use the Jolly Phonics and Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. They are doing well with them but I try not to push them too hard.
My youngest are a year apart in school age, while my older one is two years ahead. My goal is to get them all at just a year apart and maybe even on the same level in some areas. To do this, I need to teach the younger ones to read while they are not of school age.
FYI – This is a great post. I like seeing all the different options that are out there.
Our first purchase for Grammar in our HSing journey, 4 years ago was Easy Grammar. And we have LOVED it every step of the way 2nd- 6th grade, until I finally realized we were not getting some needed things out of EG. EG offers a GREAT foundation but I decided that in 7th grade we needed something more. So the search began, I found Abeka and ordered their 5th grade book for DS in 7th, because he had NEVER done some of the things in their Scope and Sequence using EG. I am/was happy with their English part of the book, but half of the book had gone untouched, the writing half. It was a little confusing to me, it is not really lessons/practice as much as just rules/directions, if that makes any sense! Anyway I have decided that we will sell Abeka and pick up Rod & Staff English at 6th grade, because it is so straight forward with NO fluff as others have stated. With DDs coming up we will continue EG until 7th grade for the strong foundation, then we will use R&S from 7th-12th grade, using their 5th-10th grade books. As for writing, I have not found a curriculum that we absolutely love, so we just use our Sonlight LA as our writing. In the past we have used, Just Write, and Writing Strands and neither have been a good fit. So still on the lookout for that one true fit 😉
see my comment above 🙂 about starting in 3rd grade book
Actually, for older kids, the 5th grade R&S book is the place to start because it gives the most review of the lower levels.
so glad i found this post. you guessed it, we are all thinking about next year! how funny we are, always looking ahead. must be the choleric personalities among us… well, i have a reluctant writer 5th grader and a preschooler. after reading a few pages of this blog i am almost 100% positive that we will be switching to writeshop junior book e. fyi: the company said that book should be out in the fall. we have been using LLATL-purple book. rather dry and my daughter needs something more “fun”. just don’t have the time to come up with something myself (bs.art education) with 5 kiddos! we will also be trying out the easy grammar next year. as well as sequential spelling- possibly w/dvd so she can teach herself and i can check. she needs remedial help in that area too. still deciding though…. 🙂
Yes it is sort of nice to hear I am not the only one that struggles with this. We have tried various curricula also and have not fallen in love with any. For my 5th graders I stick with Saxon Grammar because it is Saxon but so unsure for the younger ones.
We are using Easy Grammar for both my 2nd and 7th grader. They were both using different curriculm and not doing well. After the switch they both now like grammar. So I will continue with Easy Grammar next year.
Hi Erica!
We are loving Easy Grammar. I like how repetitive it is for the kids so that they can master their skills. I am actually terrible at grammar and it is pretty easy for me to teach to my 5th and 7th grader.
We also use Writing Strands. I do like how simple yet effective it is for all my children, even my 2nd grader.
I am wondering if any of you have ever heard of Landmarks Freedom Baptist Curriculum? It was one of the curriculums that came out in the late 90’s when I was about done with teaching my children. It is a full line Curriculum and it is really inexpensive but Oh it is so wonderful. The cost is $40 for a complete subject set which includes everything you need to teach each subject. Textbooks, workbooks, Teacher manuals, weekly tests quarterly tests from grade 4 up. It is the best curriculum I ever saw when I was teaching my children. The link is http://www.landmarklfbc.com/
I used there Bible curriculum for k5 and loved it. I am considering using it again.