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.
We have been using Abeka, and its a great program! For our kids English is second language and they are picking up grammar and English skills very fast as well as language skills. I do think their reading books are a bit boring. This year we tried a different program for my first grader (Haughton Mifflin Reading) and she loved the reading part, but I wasn’t too impressed with the workbook, although its not bad. My daughter enjoyed the way reading was presented. She really blossomed in reading this year! But I do think for English and Grammar the Abeka worked much better for my kids.
I have used BJU Press for several years. I think the K and Grade 1 are the best because they give an excellent phonics foundatin. The best way to handle the writing is to take your time. Don’t expect the child to write well quickly. Take time explaining and wriitng together before having him work on his own, especially for the younger grades. The grammar foundation is also good. My oldest daughters did well in university, as in A’s in writing. We didn’t write in the workbooks from Grade 3 on, but did the work on paper. That saved some expense.
I love our Language Arts. When looking for spelling last year for my son, I couldn’t find anything I liked as well as what my daughter had in public school, and eventually I ended up going with the same LA program they use in our school. I pieced together pieces of the program (including teacher manuals) second-hand but know they offer a “homeschool” version as well – just not sure all what is included in that. It’s called Reading Street by Pearson, Scott Foresman. Includes reading, phonics, grammar, spelling (in past years anyway, it seems around here we are getting away from traditional teaching of “spelling”), writing, research and study skills. Might be worth checking out if you’re in the market for a new program! My sister has also had a very good experience with Sonlight’s LA. That would be my second choice.
We used Rod and Staff for many years, but after 4th grade it was unbearable. Too much work and the diagramming was ridiculous! So, we have been using Easy Grammar and after a year it has amazing results! My reluctant learner can actually pick apart a sentence and my eldest (8th grade) is writing better, just by using the combining sentences section. We also use Writing Strands.
Hi: I was an English major in college, and I never really thought about grammar until we started homeschooling almost 7 years ago. We have been through a number of grammar programs, including Easy Grammar, but there was never anything about grammar that seemed to be easy, or even seemed to be retained by older three children, now 12, 15 and 17 (we also have a 7 year-old). Part of the problem seems to be the rush to study grammar at much too early an age. Grammar as a subject is abstract. Abstract thinking in a child develops at around 10-12 years old. There has been this rush to learn grammar rules and principles, while the child has yet to have a complete grasp of spoken language, or an ability to write well on their own. There are of course exceptions to this, but I have seen hundreds of worksheets completed by my children, and still a blank stare when I ask them to identify a prepositional phrase in a sentence.
Our journey towards understanding grammar began with reading excellent writing. To understand an abstract concept, one must be exposed to it. A child can readily tell you when someone uses incorrect grammar, but many times can not tell you why. I have a friend at church who home schooled her 5 children for many years. She suggested I look at Winston Grammar, which she had used years before, and had success with her children. I looked into it, and it looked far too simple to work, but it wasn’t a big investment, and what I had was not working. This is our third year of Winston Grammar. I teach my three older children together three times a week for about a half hour. The results are remarkable. They now understand grammar and remember it. They can parse a sentence, take it apart and identify the parts of speech and functions. Winston Grammar is the single best curriculum I have used in our seven years.
I would caution you moms of very young children (and I still have a 7 year old) not to place so much emphasis on all these Abeka, BJU and similar worksheets. I have found that the quantity of work does not necessarily equate to mastery. Busy work is still busy work. You would be better off reading them good literature at that age, so that they can hear what a well-constructed sentence sounds like.
To summarize, this is what has been effective for our family, and it might not be what works for you, but before you jump on the grammar bandwagon in first grade, it is probably best to allow your children the freedom to fall in love with our language before you drill all the life and interest out of it by making them study grammar before they are mentally able to understand it. a9That was a complex sentence!)
Down off the soap box, and not meaning to offend anyone, but I hope that my perspective could be helpful to someone.
Do you have any favorites, in terms of good literature for elementary children? We read many of the books recommended by Sonlite, Illuminations (from Bright Ideas Press), living history, but I always enjoy hearing other people’s favorites.
I completely agree about drill, worksheets, etc. I was raised In a public school setting where these were the norm because they had to be. It is a daily growth experience for me to allow my children to learn from their environment that has been saturated other opportunities for learning.
I read about Winston Grammer in the resource guide for the book, I Saw the Angel in the Marble. They said it was the best program they had found for teaching grammar. So I ordered a copy, but shelved it for now, as my oldest is only 7 and he is too young for it at this time.
Thanks! Your post helped me! I’ve been very confused about what to get for my daughter (6 years old). We have been just doing All About Reading for phonics and a Sonlight Core which has tons of great literature. So from what you said, it sounds like just keeping on doing this should be good enough for her age.
Just thank you. That is what I wish I had done with my older two. What age is Winston for?
Thank you soooooo much!!!!! I agree with you on that. My daughter has used Abeka since kindergarten and she hates it! She will be in grade 6 this coming year and she still knows nothing about grammar. We’ve had a lot of tears with it. I think it is just better to introduce grammar when they are older. I am thinking of trying Jr. Analytical Grammar this year with her. Anyone used this???
I completely agree with your post. We have homeshooled for two years. My children had done Abeka/BJU in school. My 5th grade daughter could not tell me what a noun or the subject of a sentence was. We started Winston Grammar this year and she is doing wonderful. I couldn’t teach grammar until I used this program. It is easy to teach, quick and works wonders. Also, a good site for quality well written childrens books from the 1800-1900’s is Lamplighter Publishing. Very well written English.
Is there a “like” button? This right here is great advice! Thank you!
We have used 100 Easy Lessons this year with my 5 year old. This is our first year of homeschooling and I have heard such great things so we gave it a go. But!!!!! My daughter is a math head! She really likes rules and wants to understand why about everything! So I started looking for a better suited material and found Foundations by Logic of English. It just came out last week and we are on lesson 5. For the first time EVER she Wants to do English. Hooray!!! I am so impressed with this curriculum. It is the most thorough I have seen(i.e. I have already learned things:)), but it does NOT give them busy work…LOVE it!
Thank you for your site and all the wonderful info by all the other moms. I am enjoying looking into what we might like later on!
We are using Michael Clay Thompson’s Language Island series after using BJU and SOS. My 4th grader was having trouble understanding language and grammar. I was afraid she was missing some things so we just started at the beginning with the Island series. We may be a bit behind in this curriculum, but I feel like she is gettting a better understanding than many kids using other programs.
Language is not really my thing, so we needed something really good. I think I am learning in a way I have never learned before.
We are new to homeschooling. Next year will be our first year. My daughter will be in fourth grade and I already ordered Grammar Town for her. My husband and I have loved reading the books ourselves and I’m excited to start teaching my daughter! Any tips? I’m not so secretly terrified about homeschooling. The more information I get, the better I feel.
We will be new also…my son will be in third grade…I’m also terrified….lol But I’m like you. The more research I do, the better I feel.
We have decided on BJU English. Hopefully it will work for us. If not, we aren’t married to it forever. 🙂
These subject forums are great! Thanks for setting it up, Erica!
Has anyone used The Latin Road to English Grammar? I’m considering starting with The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading, then rolling into the Grammar levels. I would love to hear if anyone has made it through the levels of either. It’s supposed to be all-inclusive: phonics, grammar, spelling, writing.
We have used:
First Language Lessons 1 – okay (wasn’t to my son’s style of learning)
Easy Grammar 2 – loved it (quick, easy, independent, not enough teacher help)
Rod & Staff English 3 – liked it (seemed too boring, but no complaints from son while doing it)
R&S Reading & Comprehension – we LOVE (time consuming for student, but it reinforces so many things)
With the other grammar programs I’ve supplemented with AAS for spelling & IEW for writing. I was hoping that I could do 1 language arts curriculum that ties everything together.
Hi, I will be a new homeschooler next year, teaching my 2nd grade son. For the Language Arts program I am thinking about:
Spelling: All about spelling
Grammar: Growing with Grammar (I like McRuffy, but it seems too expensive)
Writing: Handwriting w/o tears or Excellence in writing (my sons does not like to write)
Phonics: using http://www.progressivephonics.com
With My fathers world reading, I’m hoping that I am covering all the basics for what he needs to know next year. It is really overwhelming and it seems like I change my mind weekly.
Kathy- McRuffy has a special for their new color edition right now… It may help with the price.
It may be listed on their website. The new color editions are not available elsewhere yet….
McRuffy includes all the subjects you have listed. If you dropped everything else for McRuffy LA, you would save money and get a great product.
Wow, it has been amazing to read everyone’s posts. I have been given some new ideas to consider. I have a 14 year old and a 6 year old. I did a hodge-podge of things for language arts with my 14 year old. I have had trouble finding a balanced blend of grammar, composition and literature. I really like novel studies, but wanted something more than just read the book and answer questions. I wanted something that taught about literary elements as well. So, one more year of mixing and matching for him, we are doing Easy Grammar, which he has done for about two years now. It works very well for him. We add Critical Thinking Co. Editor in Chief once a week for application purposes. This year and next year we are doing Lightning Literature by Hewitt publishing Co. It is pretty comprehensive and we really like the literature choices. We are also including for next year a book called Essays and Research Reports by Kim Nash from The Father’s Books.com. However, for the remainder of his highschool years and for my daughters Language curriculum I am looking to do Total Language Plus. I love that it seems to be all inclusive. You can pick and choose books of your choice. It has a critical thinking component and a Christian worldview. I am really excited to launch into this.