Fix It! Grammar

When my oldest child told me years ago that Fix It! Grammar was his favorite part of his school day, I knew I found a winning grammar curriculum. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review it again with another child.

It might surprise people that we don't focus on a great deal on grammar curriculum. After all, I do have an English major, taught high school English classes before my homeschooling days, and truly love the language. However, my kids spend a large portion of their school day reading literature. Doing so, they naturally learn proper sentence structure, writing styles, and enriched language skills. I like to teach parts of speech in a fun, gentle way by incorporating games like Mad Libs into our days. Still, I do believe it is important to have some formal grammatical instruction to supplement their learning. I have tried a few different curricula, but none seem to fit my style of teaching like this Fix It! Grammar book from Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW).    

IEW is known throughout the homeschooling community for their exceptional writing materials. Their mission is to equip parents with methods and materials to help their students become confident and competent communicators and thinkers. Their teaching style has been proven to be effective for all ages and levels of ability. 

What I personally love about the Fix It! Grammar curriculum is that it is not a traditional program. Instead of learning a rule and then practicing it in a bunch of random sentences, students work through a fairy tale bit by bit. This method of tackling real-life sentences with limited instruction, teaches students to think about their writing and apply the grammar rules to their own work. This method gives the student a better understanding of the material, helps him to retain the knowledge, and gives the assignments a sense of purpose.

Another aspect that makes this curriculum unique is that the student gets to be an editor. As he works through each lesson, he looks for the mistakes and corrects them, along with marking specific notations such as parts of speech, phrases, and clauses. As he progresses through the lessons and learns more grammar rules, the sentences contain more errors. By the end, he will also be able to mark the part of speech for nearly every word in the story.

For the curriculum, you will need a copy of The Nose Tree Student Book, a spiral notebook, an envelope or the like to hold the review cards, and the Teacher's Manual. The purchase of the Teacher's Manual includes a downloadable Student Book, but there is also the option to purchase a printed, spiral-bound book, as well.

The set-up for the teacher is simple. Prepare the spiral notebook with the two sections (one in front for the rewrite of the story and one in back for the writing of vocabulary), cut out the appropriate review cards (in the back of the student book) for the week, and teach new concepts at the beginning of each week.

So, how does it work? The student is given one sentence of the story each day. There are multiple things that he does with that one sentence:

• Look up the bold word in a dictionary and write in the vocabulary section of the notebook which definition best fits the story  
• Mark and fix the sentence, using the review cards as reminders
• Rewrite the sentence in the rewrite section of the notebook

New grammar cards are added each week. For instance, week 1 starts with the indent paragraph symbol (¶), nouns (n), homophones and end marks. Week 2 adds articles (ar), week 4 adds quotations, and so on. 

To put it in perspective, here is the sentence for day 1, week 1:

¶ Did you ever hear the story of the three poor soldiers

1. The first thing the student does is look up the bold word and write it and the best definition in the vocabulary section of his notebook. My daughter wrote down poor: lacking sufficient money.
2. The second thing is to mark the sentence, using the grammar review cards. She put an n (noun) above story and soldiers. She also put a question mark at the end of the sentence.
3. The final thing is to rewrite the sentence in the rewrite section of the notebook, remembering to indent because of the paragraph symbol. 

As a comparison, here is a sentence from the final week of the book:

the doctor put on the cloak, wished the king and his court farewell, and was with his to/two/too companions directly 

Here, the student needs to start a new paragraph in the rewrite based on there being a new topic in the story instead of following the paragraph symbol, knows to capitalize the first word, can choose the correct homophone, will put an ending period, and should be able to mark the part of speech for every word.

The process should take about 15 minutes a day, 4 days a week for a total of 33 weeks. The course is intended to be a teaching tool, and not graded assignments as the parent should be modeling the editorial process and helping the student as needed.

We are currently halfway through week 5. Of course, the sentences have already gotten a little longer and more complex. Along with nouns, my daughter can also recognize articles, pronouns, and who-which clauses. She has also learned rules about quotation marks. 

The spiral-bound Teacher's Manual makes the material simple to teach even if you personally struggle with all the crazy, irregular rules of the English language. The format is easy-to-read, and the directions are clear. There are also many notes throughout the lessons that include teaching tips, advanced words that haven't been taught yet, and various other concepts. The back of the book contains a scope and sequence and a glossary which includes in-depth descriptions of parts of speech, sentences, clauses, phrases, punctuation. additional rules and concepts, and stylistic techniques. 

The Nose Tree is the first book in the Fix It! Grammar curriculum which is intended for 3rd-12th grades. Because the remaining 5 books in this set require this foundational book, it is reccomended that students start with The Nose Tree, though there is an optional placement test your student can take.

My daughter is in 5th grade. Since this is her first experience with Fix It! Grammar, I started her at the beginning. She find the lessons simple and could probably finish the entire book in a few weeks if I let her. She likes writing her own stories and is a voracious reader. Naturally, she is thoroughly enjoying working through this fairy tale and rewriting it. But her favorite part? The vocabulary. She gets excited every day when she sits with her giant dictionary and searches for her word. Queried, divulged, forlorn, pitiable, pilfered, laden, and stoutly are some of the rich vocabulary that is highlighted. I love hearing her incorporate these new words in her everyday speech. 

When I first told my girl that Fix It! Grammar was coming, she was somewhat disappointed, because she didn't want "extra" work. She was hooked from that very first lesson though. Just like her older brother, she says that the book is fun and is the first subject she completes each day. 

Here's what she told me about the curriculum:

"I like that it has a story that I work through instead of just random words. Oh, and I love the vocab!"

The Fix It! Grammar series from Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) is a fantastic grammar curriculum. I have used this first book with 2 of my children successfully and was reminded how much I am impressed with it. In fact, I am planning to continue through the series with my oldest kids and soon start my 9-year-old in The Nose Tree using the downloadable Student Book that came with my Teacher's Manual.   

If you're looking for a curriculum that truly works and is applicable to both grammar skills and writing skills, Fix It! Grammar is highly recommended. 

You can connect with IEW on the following social media sites:

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

YouTube

Instagram

Make sure to head to the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read more reviews of the different books in this curriculum. 

Fix It!

I know, I say it every time I talk about any English-type of curriculum, but it's true: I love grammar. I love parts of speech and punctuation, diagramming sentences and listing homonyms. I admit to correcting others in my head when they make mistakes (and, yes, I even mentally correct my own writing for the blog, ha). I always laugh at grammar jokes and am so proud when my children speak properly. So, naturally, you'd assume that I started formally teaching my little ones grammar at very young ages, right? Wrong. I've said before that our main curriculum focuses mainly on reading for learning. We don't have separate classes for English, science, and history, but instead, learn about these subjects through the books we read. Of course, the kids hear me speak proper grammar (mostly) and mimic what they hear. We also practice language arts with fun games, like mad libs.

When I heard that Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) was offering us one of their grammar products to review, I was tempted get an advanced level for myself--for fun! But, alas, I knew that it would be better for my 8-year-old to start systematically learning grammar. We received Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree (book 1) both the student book and the teacher's manual.      

To a grammar nerd, like myself, this book is a lot of fun. The purpose is for the student to look for the mistakes in the lessons and fix them. It's like being an editor of a book! What I really appreciate about this book is that it teaches the concepts through a real story and not random sentences. Seeing how it all works together gives the student a better understanding of the material, helps him to retain the knowledge, and gives the assignments a sense of purpose. 

The student will need the Nose Tree book, a notebook with two sections (rewrite and vocabulary), and an envelope to hold the review cards. The set-up for the teacher is simple. Prepare the notebook with the two sections, cut out the appropriate review cards (in the back of the student book) for the week, and teach new concepts at the beginning of each week.

So, how does it work? The student is given one sentence of the story each day. There are multiple things that he does with that one sentence:

• Look up the bold word in a dictionary and write in the vocabulary section of the notebook which definition best fits the story  
• Mark and fix the sentence, using the review cards as reminders
• Rewrite the sentence in the rewrite section of the notebook

New grammar cards are added each week. For instance, week 1 starts with the indent paragraph symbol (¶), nouns (n), homophones and end marks. Week 2 adds articles (ar), week 4 adds quotations, and so on. 

To put it in perspective, here is the sentence for day 1, week 1:

¶ Did you ever hear the story of the three poor soldiers

1. The first thing the student does is look up the bold word and write it and the best definition in the vocabulary section of his notebook. Jake wrote down poor: lacking sufficient money.
2. The second thing is to mark the sentence, using the grammar review cards. He put an n (noun) above story and soldiers. He also put a question mark at the end of the sentence.
3. The final thing is to rewrite the sentence in the rewrite section of the notebook, remembering to indent because of the paragraph symbol. 

 

We are currently 5 weeks into the book. The sentences are longer and more complicated and there are more things to mark and fix. Of course, the rest of the book continues in this fashion. By the end of the 33 weeks, the student will be finding pronouns, clauses, coordinating conjunctions, and more. He will also be familiar with words such as elegant, divulged, immense, laden, forlorn, as well as many others.

The teacher's manual is full of information and contains everything you need to teach this to your child, even if you don't hold a grammar degree. I, personally, did not reference it often. There were times when it came in handy though, like when I wanted Jake to mark certain words as nouns. The book refers to them as advanced words, meaning words can look like one part of speech but be acting as another. Obviously, my 8-year-old hasn't learned these concepts yet. It was helpful to be reminded of that.

 

The Nose Tree book has been working very well in our house. As of now, the lessons are taking Jake only about 10 minutes to complete (that is, as long as he doesn't get distracted looking up other definitions, too, haha). When I first mentioned to him that the curriculum was coming, he said, "What? I don't need help with English. I snuck a peek! {hysterical laughter} I did that on purpose!" Yes, even my child thinks grammar jokes are humorous. (In case you missed it, snuck is not a word. Sneaked is the correct form.) Since working through the book though, he has told me that this is fun and his favorite part of school. That's my boy!

Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree student book (3rd grade+)  costs $15 and the teacher's manual is $19. Even though I have not used the teacher's manual daily, it is very important to have and I would recommend purchasing them together. Both books are spiral-bound. 

The Fix It! Grammar series has a total of 6 books. If you're not sure which to order, there is a placement test on the IEW site. 

Are you interested in how other families used this book or another one of the books in the series? You can head to the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog to read more reviews.

Institue for Excellence in Writing Giveaway

Do you remember when I talked about one of our favorite products that we've been blessed with? We have loved using the Institute for Excellence in Writing PAL (Primary Arts of Launguage) curriculum. My review was recently featured at IEW! And if my glowing opinion of the program wasn't enough, here's another reason to like this company . . .

IEW is giving my readers 4 free downloads and a chance to win a $50 IEW gift certificate!

All you need to do is click on this link and login or register. It's that easy!

So what will you get???

• Articles and Stories for Units 1 & 2 e-book
• Reaching the Reluctant Reader audio
• Nurturing Competent Communicators audio
  
• Four Deadly Errors of Teaching Writing audio
  

And a chance to win $50!

You need only to fill in your basic information. Everyone will get the 4 free downloads. One winner will be chosen on May 1 for the $50 gift certificate.

To enter, click on this link. And please leave a comment here, too, so I know who's entering. 

Enjoy your freebies!

The giveaway is open to US residents. IEW will be handling the drawing. I was given the oportunity to bless my readers and was in no way compensated for this post.

Institute for Excellence in Writing

I have been blessed greatly by being a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew. I have been introduced to so many wonderful companies and have received some fantastic products. This product is easily one of the very best.

We received the entire PAL, Primary Arts of Language program by Institute for Excellence in Writing. The program is based on the award-winning work by Anna Ingham. The PAL system has two main parts: reading and writing. The two components work together to provide the student a solid reading and writing foundation in K-2 grades.

Reading
The reading portion teaches phonics and whole words through poetry. The student is introduced to letters through fun little stories that are easy to remember. The complete package costs $69 and includes everything you need to teach your student to read:

• Teacher's Manual
• DVD-ROM (instructional video, multiple mp3 audios, student e-book)
• Phonetic Games
• Phonetic Farm Folder with Stickers 

Writing

The writing portion is divided into three parts: printing, copy work, and composition. Spelling is also included throughout. This package costs $89 and contains the following:

• Teacher's Manual
• DVD-ROM (instructional video, multiple mp3 audios, student e-book)
• All About Spelling Basic Interactive Kit
• All About Spelling Level 1 (teacher manual & student material packet)
• Bonus e-audio downloads

It's a lot of information. It's a lot of curriculum. It's a lot of overwhelming-ness. That's why you have to start with the instructional video. Jill Pike, creator of the program, beautifully explains how to use it. When I opened my box containing all the goodies, I was immediately giddy. There are so many wonderful resources as part of the PAL system. What initially excited me, soon overwhelmed me. How was I going to figure this thing out? Would I be able to implement all of this into our day? Could I do this? Then I sat down and watched the video. Within minutes I thought Wow, I can do this. This makes sense. Jill has a way of simplifying the program and giving you the confidence you need to teach your children.

The curriculum is spelled out for you. There's no guessing. There's no struggling to find supporting materials. Everything you need is clearly included.

While there's no independent research you must do, there is plenty of set-up in the beginning. For instance, there are many file folder games that need to be cut, possibly colored, glued, and laminated if desired. You can make the games as you need them, but I found that it disrupted the flow if I stopped to add to a game. It works better for us to have the games all set to go before we need them.

A typical lesson looks like this and can take 1-2 hours:

Poetry - a brief rhyme to be enjoyed and discussed

Class Journal - models how to properly write words and the date, includes a few sentences as a diary

Printing / Copy Work - letters introduced and practiced on a white board

Story Time - short story that engages and teaches sequence and summary 

Foundation & Reader Words - simple games that reinforce what was taught

Agenda or Work Period - independent work time, might include a worksheet, coloring page, completing a chore, playing a game, etc.

Phonetic Farm - farm setting picture that makes phonics fun

Read Words / Sentences - practice for what was learned

Informal Spelling Test- review the letters learned that day

So, what do we think? 

Honestly, I love it! I've been focusing on using the program with Alyssa (4), but Jake (6) and Zac (3) have been included in portions of the it as well. Things like the journal, poetry, and the story we always do as a family, and all of them love playing the file folder games. While Alyssa and I practice the copy work and such, the boys are sitting right there, working on other things, listening by default. I know that Zac is already picking up some of the info because he'll point out letters and say, "Look, it's the kicking letter!" Alyssa asks every day, "Can we do my letters now?" There's no better sound to a homeschooling mother's ear than to hear her child ask to learn. That right there is reason enough to purchase this system. 

I will definitely continue to use this program with my children. I am thrilled that everything is reusable and the student book printable so I will be able to use this for Zac and baby Tyler as they get older as well.  Better than just a thorough program, it's a program that works.

If you really want a good feel for the program and how it all work, I suggest you watch the introductory webinar. It will answer any questions you have and truly make you feel that you too can use this program.


If you want to see how PAL worked for other homeschooling families, you can read more reviews on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.


* Disclaimer: I was given this product in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.