Strong English skills are very important to me. My background is Middle School English. I taught full time before our girls came along and I'm starting my 7th year teaching English to homeschooled middle schoolers at a homeschool learning center. So when I look to teach grammar to my kids, I want to make certain that the materials I use are high quality and will lead my daughters to have a solid foundation which will help lead them to become excellent writers.
For elementary we have been using Rod and Staff Grammar, which is very solid, but I was ready to move forward to something different for middle school and high school. My oldest daughter is a 6th grader this year so I've been looking at my options and I've found where we will settle!
Jensen's Grammar is an excellent program whether your child already has a solid grammar base or your are building the foundation from the beginning. Each lesson is short, simple, and easy to follow. Best of all if you feel nervous about teaching grammar there is a DVD available to do the teaching for you! Because of my background I do not feel the need for the DVD and I am not reviewing that portion of the program.
My favorite curricula have the teaching included in the student books. This allows for the student to look back at the teaching instruction whenever they have need. I also like programs that are easily broken down into more than one day. For middle school I intend to do one lesson each week and break down the exercises to a few each day. This will give adequate time for the lessons to sink in and the practice will be short. Since my husband teaches the girls on Mondays while I'm teaching my class I plan to do the initial lesson instruction on Tuesday and then have Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Monday for practice.
We follow the Charlotte Mason theory that short practice every day is better for retention that longer lessons.The broken up lessons will be great for middle school, but as we progress I may modify this schedule. For high schoolers it possibly should be completed at a faster pace. Really this is just a preference and the important thing, as with any curriculum, is to figure out how best it will work for your personally.
Tests are also provided. I love the test booklet. Each test is only one page long. There are two tests for every 5 lessons. The second test is only if a student struggles to master the first test. Also all answers are provided in the test booklet for both the textbook and the test booklet.
Finally one of my favorite features is that both the text and test booklet are reproducible for your family! This is such a huge thing for homeschooling families with multiple students using the same curriculum whether at the same time or in the future like ours.
My assessment is that this is a solid, academically sound curriculum which will prepare your students to become excellent writers, which is the purpose of learning grammar. As far as value this is one of the best buys for English I have ever seen.
Disclaimer: I received this product in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
For elementary we have been using Rod and Staff Grammar, which is very solid, but I was ready to move forward to something different for middle school and high school. My oldest daughter is a 6th grader this year so I've been looking at my options and I've found where we will settle!
Jensen's Grammar is an excellent program whether your child already has a solid grammar base or your are building the foundation from the beginning. Each lesson is short, simple, and easy to follow. Best of all if you feel nervous about teaching grammar there is a DVD available to do the teaching for you! Because of my background I do not feel the need for the DVD and I am not reviewing that portion of the program.
My favorite curricula have the teaching included in the student books. This allows for the student to look back at the teaching instruction whenever they have need. I also like programs that are easily broken down into more than one day. For middle school I intend to do one lesson each week and break down the exercises to a few each day. This will give adequate time for the lessons to sink in and the practice will be short. Since my husband teaches the girls on Mondays while I'm teaching my class I plan to do the initial lesson instruction on Tuesday and then have Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Monday for practice.
We follow the Charlotte Mason theory that short practice every day is better for retention that longer lessons.The broken up lessons will be great for middle school, but as we progress I may modify this schedule. For high schoolers it possibly should be completed at a faster pace. Really this is just a preference and the important thing, as with any curriculum, is to figure out how best it will work for your personally.
Tests are also provided. I love the test booklet. Each test is only one page long. There are two tests for every 5 lessons. The second test is only if a student struggles to master the first test. Also all answers are provided in the test booklet for both the textbook and the test booklet.
Finally one of my favorite features is that both the text and test booklet are reproducible for your family! This is such a huge thing for homeschooling families with multiple students using the same curriculum whether at the same time or in the future like ours.
My assessment is that this is a solid, academically sound curriculum which will prepare your students to become excellent writers, which is the purpose of learning grammar. As far as value this is one of the best buys for English I have ever seen.
Disclaimer: I received this product in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
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