Analytical Grammar Review

Grammar.  It's what many children hate learning and many parents dread teaching.

Analytical Grammar is a no-nonsense, mastery approach to teaching grammar.  I heard about it many years ago, so I was excited to review it with Funny Bunny, who will soon be starting 6th grade.

We received Analytical Grammar and the Analytical Grammar Companion DVD Set.

This program is very different from what we have been using for the past several years, so here is how it works.

Analytical Grammar is designed for children in grades 6 and up.  If your child starts the program in 6th or 7th grade, it is designed as a three-year program, with a total of 34 units.

Year 1: Units 1-10 {with one reinforcement one day, every other week}
Year 2: Units 11-17 {with one reinforcement once a month}
Year 3: Units 18-34

It's mentioned that an older child may want to complete the program in less than three years. A sample of a shortened schedule is given in the teacher's book.  The 34 units could be done over two years or even one year by completing one unit a week.  That's the benefit of homeschooling, as the parent, you can determine the best fit for your child.

Each unit is broken down in the following format:

* Lesson Notes
* Exercise 1
* Exercise 2
* Exercise 3
* Skills Support {units 1-10}
* Test

I think it's great that they give the option to complete three different exercises for each unit.  Sometimes Funny Bunny needed the extra practice, and other times she knew the material and didn't want to complete another page.  And that was okay with me.  If the child scores at least an 80% on the test, they can skip to the next unit.

It's also recommended to make all exercises and tests "open notes."  This gets the student use to their books and helps them easily find information when they need it.  The student workbook pages are perforated so the lesson pages can be pulled out to create a grammar reference book for future use.

There are also notes on correcting the tests.  This was extremely helpful to me since I would not know where to start to correct her work.  I found that it was also an easy way for her to go back with me and fix the mistakes.

Lastly, the Companion DVD Set is very helpful.  We started the program without using the DVD but then when we hit a lesson that Funny Bunny needed some help on, I had her watch the DVD to review the lesson and it helped tremendously.  I will have her use the DVD to introduce the lesson for now on.

Overall, I think Analytical Grammar is a strong grammar program and I would recommend it.

Funny Bunny, however, found it very repetitive.  I would like to continue the program so hopefully her feelings will change over the next few units.

Find Out More:  You can find out more at Analytical Grammar.  The Analytical Grammar set, which includes one student workbook and one teacher book is $94.95.  An extra Analytical Grammar workbook, which you would need for additional children, is $49.95.  The Companion DVD Set is $39.95.  Analytical Grammar is for grades 6 and up.

You can also find Analytical Grammar on Facebook and Twitter.





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