Our Grammar Success!

So this week, Holden finally finished up the Junior Analytical Grammar program.  I originally reviewed it with Haylee when she was just starting 5th grade.  We were already using something else for grammar at the time, so we never completed it beyond the review period, but I held onto it for future use.  I got to thinking that it might be a really good fit for Holden for his 5th grade year, and I was right! 

Holden loved it!  And most importantly, he caught on to the concepts really fast.  I’m so pleased with how well he’s learned the material.  I think he really understands the parts of speech and their roles within a sentence so much more thoroughly than my other kids did. 

Back when Hayden was young, we used Saxon Grammar and Writing 5-8 when it first came out.  He learned the material pretty well, but it was WAY too much practice, and he didn’t like doing it. 

Haylee just used some old public school textbooks called Silver Burdett English.  They were pretty good for practice exercises, but I think they key to our success with Jr. Analytical Grammar is that it has great, engaging instructional videos, and it has just a small amount of practice so students can really focus on parsing a few sentences really well.  The focus is on quality, not quantity. 

I’m really pleased!  We’ll be moving onto Junior Analytical Grammar: Mechanics next, and we’ll start right after our fall break.  And to continue practicing parsing sentences, we’ll do some occasional refresher practice with Grammar Planet for reinforcement of what he learned in JAG (it was created by the same people). 

It’s amazing how far Holden has come with his understanding of grammar in just these first 14 weeks of school.  I wish I’d had it to use right from the beginning with all of the kids!  I think all of them would have enjoyed it more and would have gotten more out of it than what they each used at the time.

When we finish with JAG: Mechanics, I want us to move on to writing using WriteShop Junior F.  I think that will be a great starting place for Holden, and with a good, solid grammar and mechanics foundation under his belt, I think he’ll be in a good position to start writing creatively and do it well.  We got to review that recently for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, and it appears to be a great fit for him.  So that’s my plan!  It’s so nice when you stumble upon programs that just really work for your kids.