Grammar is one of those subjects for most people. They consider it a subject to get through, but don’t always enjoy the work. I can’t say that my children jump for joy when we pull out the grammar work, but I’ve found a few products that have at least made the subject bearable for them. (Just so you know, I’ve always enjoyed grammar! Call me strange if you like. It won’t hurt my feelings.
How Easy Grammar Works – The Prepositional Approach
Easy Grammar has completely opened my daughter’s eyes to sentence structure and parts of speech in a way that she’s never seen before. It uses a “prepositional approach” which means children learn prepositions first. Once they are able recognize and eliminate prepositional phrases from a sentence, picking out the other parts of the sentence becomes much easier.
The lessons are fairly quick and build upon one another a small step at a time. My daughter appreciates the chance to continue practicing already learned skills while only adding one new concept at a time.
The text is a pretty bulky softcover, but I love how it’s arranged. Each new lesson is taught clearly in the text with helpful examples. My daughter typically reads the lesson herself without much help from me. The teaching material is directly followed by the worksheets that relate to the lesson. (You can either choose to write in the book or copy the worksheet on your printer.)
The student page and answer page face each other in the book. Some people may find this annoying, but I love the fact that I don’t have to go searching for the answers. And I like that my daughter is able to self-check occasionally. We simply cover over the answer page with a piece of paper until the worksheet is finished.
Using Easy Grammar in Your Homeschool
Easy Grammar texts are available for students in 1st grade through high school.
- Easy Grammar (grades 1-6) The all-inclusive Easy Grammar Teacher’s Guides contain teacher’s notes and reproducible student workbook pages and tests. Many parents prefer the convenience of purchasing the consumable student workbook and test book individually.
- Daily Grams (grades 3-7) Each Daily Grams workbook provides 180 daily grammar review worksheets to be used alongside Easy Grammar or any other grammar curriculum, taking approximately 10 minutes to complete.
- Ultimate Series (grades 8-12+) The Easy Grammar Ultimate series for grades 8 & up is identical in format except that the tests are NOT included in the teacher’s guide and must be purchased as a separate test book. The Easy Grammar Ultimate Test Books include answers and are reproducible. Easy Grammar Plus is usually used for Grade 7 but is also suitable for high schoolers.
We were able to jump into the 6th grade book last year without feeling like we missed material in earlier grades. This means a lot to me since I like exposing my children to various curricula and styles. We have loved this curriculum so much that I have plans to use the Ultimate Series for high school grammar, too!
And speaking of other curricula and styles, you might be wondering what other grammar favorites I’ve found. I’ll just give you a quick look into what we’ve used and loved over the years…
- 1st-2nd grades – First Language Lessons
- 3rd grade – A Beka Language 3
- 4th grade – Living Literature Grammar and Language Arts Packets
- 5th grade – Hands of a Child Operation English Grammar
- 6th-7th grades – Easy Grammar
More Language Arts Resources
The Ultimate Guide to Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum – Looking for a Homeschool Language Arts curriculum that suits your family’s needs? Need just a spelling or writing program? This list is sure to have what you are looking for! This list contains full homeschool language arts curricula, as well as resources for reading/literature, writing, spelling, grammar and handwriting.
~ Originally published August 2009, Written by Cindy, Eclectic Charlotte Mason mom of 3. You can find her at Our Journey Westward.
I think the most powerful part of Easy Grammar is the whole idea of finding the prepositional phrases in a sentence. Still today, as my boys are becoming more proficient at their writing, it helps to completely understand the use and punctuation of prepositional phrases. We used the “big red book” off and on over a few years and it was a great tool to sharpen our skills not only in grammar but also in writing.
Very good review Cindy,
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Winter Promise’s LA includes this book. I was just reading the description in the Rainbow Resource catalog. Thanks for this review. I’m thinking of adding this to my wishlist for 6th grade.
And thanks for the links to the other things you’ve used. Wow. You’re most eclectic.
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