Reviews
<<We have started adding newer reviews to the back of this list.>>
Mar. 15, 2007
Growing With Grammar, Grades 1-2 (A Review)
Yesterday I talked to my friend Tamery about homeschooling. As you may recall, yesterday I was not
feeling so great about homeschooling-- so it must be God's sense of humor that had her call me for some
encouragement. Tamery and I have known each other since before she had kids, and her oldest is now
nine, so that is a long time. One of the things I encouraged Tamery to do in our conversation yesterday is
to find curriculum that her oldest can do independently. I have made that my goal for all my olders-- as
soon as they are able to read well, they do lots of schoolwork on their own. I have to do that as a means of
survival as I have lots of other needs and duties to attend to. Tamery has four little boys, so she knows
what I mean!
One of the homeschooling curriculum "finds" I could wholeheartedly endorse for teaching grammar was
Growing With Grammar. I have been using this this year with my older two, and I love it because it is
something they can do on their own. I don't know of a single time that one of them has come to me with
questions, as the author explains things so well in their grammar lessons. This program is simple, folks, and
that is what I am looking for! One lesson grammar book and one book for grammar exercises to write their
assignments in is all you need. No tapes, no cd roms, no dvds, no linking up to special websites. Just a
pencil and two grammar books and they're off! And so, this program has made life simpler for me this year.
And simple, as you know, is good.
When I saw that the creator of this grammar curriculum was coming out with a 1st-2nd grade homeschool
curriculum, I jumped at the chance to review it for her by using it with my first grader. She and I have been
using it for a few weeks, and I have to say that I like it. It is just the right balance for a child this age. Right
now we are learning about complete sentences versus sentence fragments. While she is not a stable
enough reader to do it on her own at this point, she happily sits down with me to do it-- and it doesn't take a
huge block of my time. I like that she is gaining a foundation for her age, so that when the time comes to do
grammar on her own, she will feel comfortable with the terminology and purpose of grammar, writing,
mechanics, etc. I only wish this program would have existed with my older kids!
Here is a link to Marybeth's Website!
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/marybeth