Since posting about my desire to make our entire homeschool environment a lifestyle of learning, I received many great comments and ideas from readers. From these comments, I’ve been able to find some great successes I want to share with all of you.
First off, the article that liberated me in the area of Grammar! Many thanks to Shani for sending me this Ruth Beechick article! It was precisely what I needed to hear. You see, I have a degree in English, yet I’ve spent the last 8 years trying to figure out how to teach grammar. Sounds ridiculous, does it not?
My biggest issue was the fact that at no time outside of the public school walls had I been asked to diagram a sentence or explain a dangling participle, or even defend my use of a comma. I felt like a hypocrite teaching rigorous grammar to my children year after year when all I really wanted was for them to be well-spoken, well-read, and well-written. Reading Ruth Beechick’s article confirmed what my heart and mind were telling me.
From there, I had to figure out what to do with this new information.
Currently, I have two fully literate children. One is a 4th grader who has had about a year of wall-banging, book-throwing grammar lessons from Rod & Staff. Not that Rod & Staff is a horrible curriculum (it is not), but Meg is easily frustrated and easily bored. She is my natural speller, my creative writer, my mystery learner. She taught herself to read when she was 4. Now, at age 9, she reads and spells on a high school level with her writing abilities not far behind that, none of which I had anything to do with. So, for her, anything resembling me teaching her from a textbook is met with opposition. Frankly, I wonder if it is because she sees no point in the whole thing.
In the above article, Beechick says that at some point you can hand your child a grammar manual and they will devour it. I wholeheartedly believe that will be my Meg.
My second literate child is a 7th grader and has had 1 year of Shurley grammar, which teaches parsing rather than diagramming, and about 3 months of Rod & Staff due to the fact I freaked out following a homeschool conference in which I was told my children HAD to know how to diagram sentences. (note to all the homeschooling newbies: we veterans still freak out on occasion!) He didn’t necessarily like the diagramming, but first born that he is, he was chugging right along with it.
I wrote him a sweet little note and left it in his assignment binder that said:
You no longer have to do Grammar. Love, Mom 🙂
Needless to say, he was happy.
OK, enough about what I’m NOT doing. How about what I AM doing?
Both my big kids are doing Core 5 in Sonlight this year. Writing assignments are part of the core program. I will have them do those assignments (at my discretion, of course) and then we will orally review them, with me pointing out things that need to be fixed (capitalization, punctuation, etc).
They are reading good books thanks to Sonlight and my own book fanaticism, so they are reading well written language.
I correct their speech patterns whenever needed here at home, so they are hearing good grammar.
My oldest is using Phonetic Zoo to reinforce his spelling, while my 4th grader continues to show no need for spelling instruction. (Read my post on how Phonetic Zoo reinforces my son’s spelling.)
Now perhaps you are worried you cannot possibly infuse enough grammar knowledge into them without a textbook to lean on. Perhaps you are thinking, “It’s all fine and dandy for Miss English Major to teach her child this way, but there’s no way *I* could do it.” Oh contraire mon frere! Ruth Beechick believes in you and so do I!
If you teach your child a love for learning and if you expose them to good books, I wholeheartedly believe any perceived shortcomings you might have will not hinder their education.
Read aloud to them.
Surround them with good reading material (see the book lists I mention at the bottom of my post on homeschooling in the younger years).
Have them start small when it comes to writing. Don’t demand 10 (or even 5) page research papers from a 5th grader. Help them brainstorm ideas for making writing fun. For instance, write a how-to for building a castle from LEGOs or a list of how to care for the family cat. Make the assignments relevant to their lives, not some random topic they can’t even relate to (what is so often the case in textbooks).
Make grammar fun! We own several of these books:
You can also find just about every Schoolhouse Rock video on YouTube! My kids LOVE these!
In many ways, this is still a great big experiment, but I’m excited about grammar for a change! In fact, just the little bit we’ve done since ditching the text books has appeared to make quite an impact on them. I’d love to hear from anyone who has seen this work in their family as well as those of you who think I’ve lost my mind. 😉
abba12 says
It can be hard to strike a balance in the area of writing skills/grammar, I of course am not teaching anyone yet but I have seen two extremes. However they both had happy endings.
My mother had us doing grammar books, phonics books, creative writing books, books to teach how to write essays and reports and resumes and letters, and it was all too much. I didn’t enjoy writing until I stopped concerntrating on the ‘rules’ and just did it. It turned out I had a particular skill for the written word, and my siblings are also able to communicate well with written word except for one, who is dyslexic.
My husbands family, on the other hand, had NO writing curriculum for the oldest 4 as far as I can tell. Once the older ones could read they just read, and read, and read. They had never so much as written an essay. Now, he is a very well spoken man with a wide vocabulary, they all are, verbal communication is not a problem. However soon after we married he had to write an important essay, and had no idea how to do it. He couldn’t work out how to structure it (begining/content/conclusion) or even the layout of a written sentence, as he would constantly use commas and connecting words. I think he ended up with some 800 words divided into 7 actual sentences, all of which had their grammatical errors. And then there was tense… switching tenses makes for an interesting read.
The good news is, after just a few evenings of ‘lessons’ from me explaining how to do it and what was wrong, he has picked it up almost instantly. This week he has to write a report for a training course he is taking, and he still isn’t certain on the actual structure of a report, particularly how it differs from an essay, however when it comes to writing it, I have no doubt he will be almost entirely gramatically correct, and use real sentences.
I think that there is certain deskwork/bookwork that is nececary because, like it or not, it is needed in adult life. That’s why I don’t follow complete unschooling, he really would have benifited from doing just a couple of exam-like assignments to prepare him for when he had to do a real one in the adult world, but never had the chance or reason, so went into the experience blind. But you don’t need to do it every day, or every week either. Just setting one writing assignment, or one exam, and using it as a learning tool once or twice a year is enough.
The good thing is, provided you have the basics down, it’s pretty easy to pick up on what was missed, and since our parents approches were opposite, we are able to fill in the gaps for each other. It only took one evening of work for him to pick up on how to do research, as opposed to just reading (he didn’t seem to grasp the idea of skimming so well…) and other skills that he has needed. It’s not that he couldn’t do these things, it’s that he had never thought about it before. For example, tense comes much more naturally in speech, he had never stopped to consider what tense a word was when written. Sure he had read good examples but he had never thought about it. Once he thought about it, it made sence, it clicked, and that showed he had the knowlege there, he had just never brought it to the surface before.
How do my comments always end up so much longer than I intend them to? My point was, don’t worry, even if you do miss something, as long as the basics are there anything can be learned.
Roan says
We are doing core 5 too! This is my first year to use full Sonlight with my older children. I am also using their language arts. I have been pretty relaxed about grammar through the years, however we have always used Easy Grammar and Daily Grams. It does NOT include any diagramming in any of the books. Ever. My 10th grade daughter has already worked through all of the EG books, one page at a time. She finished by Christmas of 9th grade. if you ever want to supplement with a textbook (like when they are old enough to quickly devour it in one year), I recommend Easy Grammar.
I am currently brainstorming on how to incorporate vocabulary words into our lifestyle of learning. My 3 older children do Wordly Wise, and I would like for us to be using (or trying to use) these words in our daily conversations—or at least around the table at mealtimes. Should be interesting! I don’t even know the meaning of most of m 10th grader’s words! Ha!
Have a good day! We will finish Torches of Joy this week. We have all really enjoyed that book.
Anna B says
Heh! I’m 29 years old and was public-schooled all the way, and let me assure you, no one is taught grammar anymore. I never diagramed a single sentence, I don’t know what the dangling-thingy is you referred to, and I didn’t learn what a pronoun was until I took Spanish class. If your kid knows ANY grammar at all, they are light-years ahead of any public school kid.
Don’t be so hard on yourself! 🙂
Amy says
We diagrammed one year…7th grade I believe. Other than that, I remember year after year after year of learning nouns, verbs, pronouns and the like, and one teacher who drilled 12 common comma rules into my head…none of which I remember!
Aron says
I am adding School House Rock to our weekly SL schedule. Don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. I loved watching it as a child on Saturday mornings 😉
Luke Holzmann says
I didn’t do any formal grammar until we briefly glossed over it in high school… where I was writing at least as well as my classmates.
At this point in my life, and with the release of Sonlight’s latest grammar products, I’ve thought about brushing up on the subject just to know a little more of the mechanics behind my writing… but that would be mostly for curiosity and the hope that I’d make fewer mistakes in my writing [smile].
~Luke
Laura says
Thank you for this post and the link to Mrs. Bradrick. I now feel free, free from the chains of grammar. Wish I had read this a few years back my now 11th grader would have been so happy! we are very much a family of life is learning, and we all love to read. We school year round because we keep the mindset that there are teachable moments daily. Yet, we are getting into full swing with math and now I’m going to restructure a few things due to this new found information. Again, thank you!
Laura
Jenn says
I truly think a laid back approach provides more than enough grammar to be prepared for daily life. My thoughts though, went immediately to college level English classes where professors just assume that students know a pretty high level of grammar when they walk in the door. (as do all college classes -many professors are known to not even read a paper written poorly) Having to do remedial work at that point, while possible if a child was taught how to learn, would put a lot of extra strain on an already tough load.
I’m not sure what the answer is since hours of boring and frustrating grammar lessons don’t thrill me, but I also want all of my children to be college ready if they are able since I don’t know where the Lord will lead them. There has to be a good balance somewhere, right?
Amy says
I don’t recommend no writing at all, but I do think we drill the actual grammar terms WAY too much. Interestingly enough, I had a college prof ask me where in the world I learned to write such crummy thesis statements…my high school teacher had insisted ALL thesis statements be written a certain way, which turned out to be hopelessly un-creative. One quick reproof and lesson from my college prof brought me around. 😉
Grace says
I am LOVING these posts, Amy! I *never* knew Grammer could even BE a lifestyle!!!
I just got my very first book about the Charlotte Mason style (from ebay) this past week. So I’m really enjoying learning about “living books”, “orally reports”, etc. I think I’m starting to figure out what all this is supposed to look like for our family! That’s a great feeling!!! 😀
Amy says
It is not the grammar itself that is boring, but the way in which we teach it. Year after year of drilling “arbitrary lists” does nothing for instilling a true understanding (and appreciation) of the written word. Thank you for the book suggestion!
Blessings,
Amy
Clara says
I never learned the terms for all the grammar rules at school – I was public-schooled and in the process of changing the state curriculum, I entirely missed out on learning grammar. I know how to write correctly, but the names for the rules confuse me horribly (eg. adverbs… they make no sense!). I found some colourful downloadable posters (from abcteach.com) that list some of the rules (verbs, nouns, adjectives) and examples with pictures, and I printed them and posted them on the wall in our schoolroom – which doubles as our family living room! (to help myself learn more than anything)… I have never sat down and done a lesson on it, but my children can tell me what those 3 grammer terms mean, just from reading the posters. Those 3 grammar terms are probably the only ones I know… and my brain spins in circles when I try to learn other rules/terms! Grammar is a nightmare for me – there is a lot to be said for learning grammar when you are a child!!!!!
I like the schoolhouse rock video you posted – maybe it will be the key to me learning grammar for the first time in my nearly-30-years!!! 🙁
Taryn says
We don’t like paying for unaccredited college classes when our children start college. We did 50%-80% of Abeka writing and grammar. Our favorite homeschool word to say and write is “omit”. We don’t like rock music and my children would see the irony if I said they should see schoolhouse rock videos.
Taryn says
Christianlibertypress.com sells Abeka grammar/writing 2nd-6th.
Angela says
I totally remember that Conjunction Jct. video, too! LOL
I went to public school and was fortunate to have an amazing English teacher in high school. I was totally confused by grammar in junior high. I didn’t understand the difference between adjectives and adverbs, I was clueless when it came to diagramming sentences, and I almost clammed up when it was time to “learn” grammar. But, having a different teacher during my high school years made all the difference. We READ a lot of good literature, and we PRACTICED good writing. To this day, I am so thankful to that teacher who taught me how to write well and developed in me a love for the written language.
Keep up the good work, Amy! It sounds like you are doing just what your family needs!
Love,
Angela
Rebecca L. says
We live in a state that requires standardized testing yearly for grades 2-12. If you live in a state with no requirements this style may work well. However, I assure you, there are grammar, diagramming and all the above on these tests. It is on the SAT and the ACT for college admittance as well as being graded in the writing portions of these tests. Knowing enough to get by is great and truly, you won’t need to diagram once you get into the “real world” (unless you teach grammar or some such) but to get past all the tests that are required by the “real world” to get into your chosen profession, you have to jump through these hoops and know what you are doing. Otherwise, you will be taking alot of remedial classes in college to “catch up” and paying for them to boot!
Miriam says
Just wanted to let you know that I was THAT child who avidly read my grammar textbooks for a few years 🙂 I think it was around 6th-8th grades.
Amy says
Yay! Glad to hear this! lol
Stephanie Williams says
almost a decade later i would love to hear how this all turned out!! I have a struggling 9th grader and a kindergartner…..
Amy says
I should definitely update this post! So, I have now graduated 2 kids and both are avid readers and writers. I have found a grammar program I actually like (just recently in fact!) called Grammar for Writers from Compass Classroom, but I still don’t think we need years and years of grammar. We need years and years of read-alouds and then a year of crash course grammar so the kids learn the names of the parts of speech and where to put commas.
Louisa Settlemire says
What do you suggest, in the way of grammar mechanics, for families who live in States that require standardized testing. I want to focus on desired learning while teaching the basics of grammar mechanics and how to put together an essay or research project. I have a basic idea how I want to try grammar, but want to give my kids the tools they need to pass the required testing. And help greatly appreciated.
Amy says
I wish I had a better option for you, but the only one I can think of right now is Rod & Staff. They are very thorough, but a little too repetitive for my taste.
Louisa Settlemire says
Thank you. Will be checking it out.