kuhlmoon
- Reviewed on Monday, April 12, 2010
- Grades Used: 3rd-4th
- Dates used: 2009-2010
My daughter is naturally strong in the language arts subjects, and this program has been great for her. She often balks at language arts programs because they are "boring" or do not give her the freedom to express herself. Since we began this program at the 3rd grade level and she did not start out diagramming senctences, we skip all of the sentence diagramming. This has not affected her success in the program at all.
I really like how the lessons are short. The child can do one lesson a day, or knock out 2 or more. It is set up so that the child can read the lesson in the lesson book, and then complete the worksheet, so at the upper levels they can do it all on their own, unless a question arises. Each lesson also reviews previous lessons to reinforce a concept, but not make the kid crazy with review. It it amazing how it can break down grammar concepts to be so simple.
This program has very little writing instruction. So, if you want to focus more on writing skills, I suggest another curriculum for that. For the student who does not like to write, then this gives a short, easy introduction to basic writing skills.
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caprig
- Reviewed on Tuesday, November 17, 2009
- Grades Used: 4th
- Dates used: 2009
I was very frustrated with grammar lessons. My son and I had more wars over Abeka Grammar that I decided not to use it with my daughter.
After trying a few other simple programs, I was very excited to have found GROWING WITH GRAMMAR. My daughter LOVES being self reliant. Lessons are simple and small so it builds her confidence.
I found that during my school years, the Regents review books from Barrons helped me learn more than anything else because of the instant feedback in correcting the lessons myself. I am finding that this is working for my daughter as well. She does better when she corrects it herself as she knows that it is helping her do better and she gets instant feedback. She is honest about it and loves to do the lessons.
So far it is working out very well for us. I love the spiral binding and the ease of use. I highly recommend this so far. The price is great as well. I only wish they had this available when I taught my son.
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bethm
- Reviewed on Monday, October 26, 2009
- Grades Used: 4th
- Dates used: 2009
This is our first year officially homeschooling. Last year we cyberschooled through a state charter academy using the Calvert curriculum, and hated the restrictiveness of it. After we made the decision to homeschool on our own, I began to search for a Language Arts curriculum. I kept hearing that Abeka was the way to go, but it was too expensive, plus the way the curriculum is laid out is very confusing. There are teacher guides, teacher keys, teacher curriculums, it's enough to make your head spin.I wanted something SIMPLE, something straightforward, and inexpensive. I stumbled upon an ad for Growing with Grammar in a back issue of "The Old Schoolhouse" magazine and went to the website immediately, even though it was about 11 pm and I was exhausted.I fell in love with what I saw right away!! You can't beat the price, and the way the lessons are laid out are so straightforward and simple, my son can do his grammar almost completely independently. I like that he can read the lesson, do the worksheet on the new concept, and then review what he learned in previous lessons on the other side of the worksheet.Each lesson is very quick as well. The lessons are explained in a very simple, straightforward manner, and only occasionally, does he run into something that I have to spend extra time explaining. We started using this program back in the summer, and it's only fall now, and he's almost halfway through the book!! I was using a free grammar curriculum that I had printed up off the internet for my youngest son, but I don't like the lack of explanations, and it doesn't have enough review. So, I just ordered the 2nd grade Growing with Grammar for him!! I can't wait until it gets here. This is an awesome program!!! One of the things I like best about it, is that it was created by a homeschooling mom. Who knows better what a homeschooler needs, than someone who is in the homeschooling trenches?
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fdr
- Reviewed on Friday, October 23, 2009
- Grades Used: 1st and 2nd grade
- Dates used: 2009
I've had a difficult time finding a grammar program for my kids. This is one of the ones that I tried out. I ordered it because it because the website said it was a secular program and because so many people recommended it so highly.
The lessons are 1/2 page to a page about a certain part of speech, the definition is given, and then some examples, followed by exercises using that part of speech.
Here's what I don't like about the lessons:
1. The lessons focus on the definitions, with little attention given to the concepts. One can recite jibberish without any understanding of what it means. (See "Jabberwocky" I'm sure you can read all of it, memorize it and recite it, but what does it mean?)
2. The worksheets are busy work. I felt like my kids might as well be in public school because this is the kinds of things that they were doing, and one of the major reasons I took them out.
3. There are no activities suggested by the authors to reinforce the concepts. I've found that it is important to reinforce ideas with activities that use tactile things, especially for elementary age students.
I could go on about the lack of good pedagogical practices that this program has, but these three are the big ones.
I ended up going with a Montessori program because it helps the child create knowledge instead of parroting definitions and wasting time doing busy work. I was hoping to find something cheaper, but in the end I actually ended up spending more money.
If you want something that your kids can do on their own with no preparation on your part, I would suggest this product. Its pretty cheap and easy to use. But I seriously question its value as a "good" grammar program.
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