Easy Grammar review

Welcome to our Easy Grammar Review.  I think grammar is very important.  I speak well, I write well – but to be honest, I know absolutely nothing about the rules regarding grammar.  The public school system really failed me (what’s a preposition?).  So, I’m a fan of Easy Grammar and all they have to offer.  In case you’re not familiar with the company, Easy Grammar offers a number of products that teach grammar to elementary – high school+ students. These include – Easy Grammar, Daily Grams, the Easy Grammar Ultimate Series, and Easy Writing.  There’s even an Easy Grammar Guide for Parents: Improve Your Grammar in Minutes.  This helps parents evaluate their own grammar usage and change any mistakes – which of course benefits their children as well. We will go through the entire Easy Grammar Review below.

You can see quite a few videos about Easy Grammar here – https://www.easygrammar.com/introduction-to-easy-grammar.html

For the purpose of this Easy Grammar Review, I’m reviewing their Easy Grammar Ultimate Series – Grades 8 – 12+ (Grade 8 is for students who haven’t used Easy Grammar Plus or who don’t have a strong foundation in grammar.  Grade 12+ can also be used for Grade 12 and at the college level.)  Wondering if your kids (or you) have the basics down pat? You can visit the Easy Grammar website – they have an Elementary Placement Test for Grades 2-6 and a Secondary Placement Test for Grades 7-12.  I have to admit, I missed a few on the Secondary Placement test (Do you know that the past participle of to lie is had lain?  I did not!)

Anyway, back to the books.  The books contain 180 daily lessons, and each lesson takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. This includes the time it takes for the student to complete the lesson AND for parent/student discussion.  I really like the short lessons.  It leaves plenty of time for literature, writing, and other activities.  And if your child complains that grammar is boring (which mine does), you can answer with, “Tough, it only takes 10 minutes of your time – you’ll survive!”, or a variation thereof.  🙂  I admit that’s how I want to answer, I do give a nicer response.

Again, back to the books.  The books were developed by Dr. Wanda Phillips.  They use an escalator, building-block paradigm and a cyclical teaching-learning approach.  The former allows student to learn gradually while cyclical learning allows for introducing, reviewing, expanding, and/or applying concepts every 20 days or so.  This process enhances mastery. Concepts relating to phrases, clauses, compound and complex sentences, and other high level concepts (as well as review of the basics) are covered.  These concepts are introduced, reviewed, expanded, and applied throughout.  I appreciate this entire process.

I also appreciate, that in addition to grammar, the books contain info on history, science, art, government, nutrition, and more.  This means students acquire a well-rounded education WHILE they’re learning grammar – which is kind of educational multi-tasking.

See sample pages for Grade 8 here.

See sample pages for Grade 9 here.

 See sample pages for Grade 10 here.

See sample pages for Grade 11 here.

See sample pages for Grade 12 here.

Here are some pics I took of the books, including some page pics:

The Easy Grammar website suggests the following, in terms of teaching:

• If possible, use overheads, and whiteboards – although in a home setting, these are not necessary.  We don’t have an overhead, but we do use whiteboards.  Whiteboards are just more fun than paper and pencil – I’m not sure why, but they are more fun.
• Beginning lessons may seem easy. Monitor and adjust according to your student’s needs – but let your student know that lessons become more difficult as they progress.  My daughter did mention that the first few lessons were a bit easy.  But they did increase in difficulty, and she appreciated that.  Grammar comes easily to her – but she still needs to learn definitions (again, what is a preposition?) and the whys behind certain grammar rules.  I’m learning right along with her.
• You can modify lessons if they are too easy or too difficult. So far we haven’t modified anything.  We’ve followed along and progressed daily with the lessons as provided.
  

Do I like these books in the Easy Grammar Review?  Yes, I do!  Specifically:

• I like that there’s a year’s worth of short lessons – short, sweet, and to the point.
• Maybe in part, because the lessons are short, the content is easy to teach….easy to learn…and easy to remember. That’s a plus!
• The lessons use a building-block approach – first the basics, and then the basics are expanded upon.
• Concepts are reviewed throughout for mastery learning.  I’m a fan of review.
• Interesting info regarding history, art, science, geography, and more is included in the grammar lessons.
• I’m a fan of the actual books.
  • The books are reproducible for student use.
  • Important Suggestions and Other Information is at the beginning of each book.
  • I like the Scope & Sequence info where concepts and page numbers are listed.
  • Answers are contained in the back of each book.
  • Books are nice with heavy, wipe-able covers – each grade is a different color. So  if you’re teaching several kids at once, they know which book is theirs.  Even though book pages are reproducible, I like when each child has his/her own workbook.  I think it gives a sense of ownership – to the book and to the work.
• As a teacher, you brush up on grammar and learn new info. For instance, did you know that you have two options regarding the rule for singular possessive nouns?
  •  Option 1:  A singular noun ending in any letter except s adds apostrophe + s.  Any singular noun ending in s will add an apostrophe after the s.  Example – Chris’ dog
  • Option 2: A singular noun ending in any letter adds apostrophe + s. Example – Chris’s dog
• Grade Test Books are available – with a schedule, test, and answer key.
• You can purchase some of the materials as physical books or downloads – options are always a plus.  Since there isn’t much of a difference in cost, I’ll always choose  the physical book.
• The company offers LOTS of products – so if you like one, you’ll feel comfortable trying another.  I like the consistency this offers.
• This also makes your job of choosing curriculum a breeze.
• There’s a money back guarantee. I pretty much only buy curriculum that has a money-back guarantee. To me, this means the company believes in their product(s) and the company has integrity.

You can purchase from the website, and here is a list of stores that carry the Easy Grammar books found in this Easy Grammar Review.

Thank you for spending your time with us on this Easy Grammar Review brought to you by How to Homeschool!

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