Review of Easy Grammar Ultimate Series - Grade 8

Summer has been great but it is now time for us to start adding back in some of the basics. It's not our official start back to school but school nonetheless. I like to begin back reviewing the basics - the 3 R's as they are often called. We were recently sent Easy Grammar Ultimate Grade 8 from Timberdoodle and it fits perfectly for our simple start. We will also be able to continue using it throughout the upcoming school year.

Easy Grammar Ultimate Grade 8 contains 180 lessons that can be completed in 10-15 minutes or less. The pages are reproducible if you would like to use them with more than one student. Lessons are meant to be completed daily. We used the digital format last year for Sarah but I really love that I don't have to print out the pages each week to prepare this time. The whole year is right there waiting for me!

Each lessons follows the same format but also builds upon the previous lesson. The lessons are designed to be simple to use and follow for the student no matter their previous grammar experience. We are required to annually test our students in NC and we usually do that with the CAT test. Sarah's scores have improved in the Language Arts portion of the test and I really think it's because she is constantly reviewing grammar daily. We found that before, she would have learned a concept but during test time if we hadn't reviewed that particular item such as comma usage, her test scores dropped. Using Easy Grammar Ultimate Grade 8 helps her to get the constant repetition she needs for mastery.

Each lesson follows the same format and is divided in to five parts including capitalization, punctuation, grammar concepts including parts of speech, comma usage, phrases/clauses, etc, and finally sentence combining. I'm not sure why but Sarah's biggest struggle area was the sentence combining. It's an area I would not have thought of on my own to teach her so I am so thankful it was included. Students are also given age appropriate sentences containing history, geography. literature, and more.

I love that the books are written for the students to be able to complete independently. Students can also check their own answers which are included in the book. Sarah still prefers for us to go over answers together so that's what we do usually first thing every morning.

Again, the concept is pretty simple but we have found more times than not that simple is successful! The use of daily grammar activities has helped Sarah gain confidence in her annual test scores as well as her writing. This workbook currently sells for $28.75 for a full year. There are different books for different grades. I think it's perfect for middle school and high school because it takes up so little time. Scroll down on this page to see sample pages. This book is also a part of Timberdoodle's Eight Grade 2016 Curriculum Kit.

**I received a free copy of this product through Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

Review of Essential Skills Advantage

My daughter has been using the Complete Home Learning Suite from Essential Skills Advantage (ESA) to review some of her studies for the past school year.

The Complete Home Learning Suite is a supplemental online subscription recommended for grades K-6 with thousands of lessons in Reading, Geography, Language & Grammar, Math, and Science. Science lessons are only available for grades K-3 and Geography is only available for grades 4-6. There are several options for payment including monthly, bi-annually, and annually. Prices also vary depending upon the number of students you plan to use the subscription. See ESA's pricing page for more information.

When I first looked over the Complete Home Learning Suite, I thought it would be a great review for my daughter of the states and capitals she has worked on this year. She is actually in 7th grade but we found this to be a wonderful program that she could do independently for review. 

 
Once you set up your student/students, you can require a password for them to log in with or just skip that and let them log in automatically. Students can easily jump from subjects using the subject tab as well as choose different grade levels if necessary.  I think that's a very appealing feature because not all students are on the same grade level for every subject. 

Above you are seeing what Geography lessons are available for 6th grade.  My daughter focused on American Geography. Once you click on the American Geography lessons, you will find even more lessons broken down by different activities such as...
State Names - 42 activities State Captials - 47 activities Other Major Cities - 14 activities Bodies of Water - 7 activities Physical Regions - 5 activities Biomes - 5 activities Timezones - 7 activities Natural Landmarks - 8 activities Human Landmarks - 8 activities
Activities in each lesson vary but some of the activities you will do include learning the names, spelling the names, and finding the location on a map.  Below are a few of the activities included in the American Geography portion.    

Here you are simply learning where the state is geographically, how to spell it, it's nickname and population.

For this activity, a state is highlighted and you pick the correct one from the states listed.

This activity gives the students clues about where the state is located and they pick the correct state from the right. 

This activity highlights the state and gives its name scrambled.  The student has to unscramble the letters to correctly spell the state.  

The parent and student have charts available recording the students progress, as well as certificates that can be printed out upon completion if you would like. The reports include time spent, average grade, and activities completed per section.  There is also a report card feature available.

Sarah also completed a few activities in other subject areas as well.  Activities vary by subject but include word finds, multiple choice answers, fill in the blank, dragging and dropping, sorting, etc. Some basic keyboard skills will be necessary for students to complete the lessons.  However, we found the program extremely easy to navigate. 
Here is a grammar activity where the student had to color all the abstract nouns.  First you needed to click on the color and then click on the noun.  By clicking on the little hammer at the bottom, students could be reminded of the rule for abstract nouns and given a few examples in case they became stuck or could not remember the rule. 

Overall, ESA has been a perfect resource for our summer learning activities.  It's simple, not overwhelming, and doesn't take much time to complete yet keeps students' knowledge fresh.   Sarah said her favorite subject area was reading but she felt she needed the most review in the vocabulary and math sections.  She also enjoyed reviewing the grammar lessons.  

You can find out more about ESA on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Review of Logic of English

Today's review has been such an eye opening experience for both my daughter and myself!  I have gained so much knowledge about the English language and how it works from using Essentials 2nd Edition from Logic of English.  

Essentials 2nd Edition is a complete curriculum teaching phonics, spelling, basic reading skills, grammar, basic composition, punctuation rules, and vocabulary. 

When the box came, it was huge and heavy!  When I opened it, I understood why. 

Essentials 2nd Edition currently sells for $198 and comes with many components including:

• Essentials Teacher's Guide, 2nd ed., Volume 1
• Essentials Student Workbook, 2nd ed., Volume 1
• Spelling Journal
• Basic Phonogram Flash Cards
• Spelling Rule Flash Cards
• Advanced Phonogram Flash Cards
• Grammar Flash Cards
• Morpheme Flash Cards, Set 1
• Phonogram Game Cards - Bookface
• Phonogram Game Cards - Cursive or Manuscript (I chose cursive)
• Phonogram Game Tiles
• Phonogram and Spelling Rule Quick Reference
• Spelling Analysis Card

The complete Essentials curriculum is broken down into two semesters - Volume 1 and Volume 2.  Volume 1 includes Lessons 1-15 and Volume 2 includes Lessons 16-30. Volume 2 is not currently available but scheduled for release in January 2017.

I spent some time familiarizing myself with the components of the curriculum and watching many videos available from Logic of English's YouTube Channel which is a great resource when you are getting started! 
Each volume includes 3 levels of instruction labeled A, B, and C.  The Teacher's Guide is a massive hard bound book full of details for each level. The Student Workbook and Spelling Journal also contain everything you need for all three levels but are consumable and intended for one student.  If you are working with more than one student, you will need an additional Student Workbook and Spelling Journal but only one Teacher's Guide is needed.  Also, a younger student who completes Level A could use the same curriculum to complete the other 2 higher levels. Each student also needs a set of Phonogram Game Tiles and two contrasting Phonogram Game Cards for every four students.
We began with the placement test which sent us to begin with Lesson 1, Level B.  There are some critical PreLessons that you may need to start with but the placement test will help you to know where to begin.
Each lesson is broken down into daily assignments:
Day 1: You will introduce the new phonograms, spelling rules, and explore sounds.
Day 2: You will introduce the new spelling list by level, students place any new words in their spelling journals.  Review games for the phonograms are often added on this day too.  The Spelling Analysis page which contains the new spelling list is phenomenal. It breaks each word up by syllable, gives sample sentences using the word, different parts of speech applicable to the word, how to spell the word breaking each part up using phonograms already learned, and gives the relative spelling rule.  Words are selected based on what is being taught in the lesson rather than just a random list of spelling words.
Day 3: You will use the words in context - review concepts, complete a spelling game, learn new grammar concepts and dictation.  Dictation includes new words as well as words taught from previous lessons.
Day 4: Learn new vocabulary, another dictation, composition, and the optional Essentials Reader.
Day 5: This day includes an assessment where you will check your student's understanding. 

You can certainly slow the program down if needed to fit your child's needs but we found the suggested schedule to be just right for us.  

The Teacher's Guide is very colorful and gives lots of tips and instructions for the teacher.  Each lesson contains an overview of what will be taught during the lesson and which Phonogram Flash Cards, Spelling Rule Flash Cards, Grammar Flash Cards, and vocabulary will be taught.  

Each day in the teacher manual is clearly marked to keep you on track and gives you directions on what to say to your child to teach the new concepts including what to write on the white board, sample words, etc. You are also given the supplies you will need to collect for the day and many teacher tips are found all throughout the lessons. Lessons labeled "All" are taught to all levels.  Fun games are completed throughout the lessons as well as the workbook style pages included. 

Finding a way to store everything so I could have it at arm's length was difficult but I finally came up with a solution that is working for now.  I placed all the components in a plastic box including the student spelling journal and workbook.  The Teachers guide is placed just to the right.  I placed the phonogram cards, spelling rules, and grammar rules cards learned so far in the front with the ones still to be learned in the back to pull from.  Each card is has it's own color ring that also matches the teacher's guide so I simply stacked them rotating each stack - one vertical, one horizontal per category.  It's hard to tell here but that's how they are!  I've also thought of adding labels to stick out for each category.

Here we are playing one of the games.  The loser ends up with the dragon card - guess who lost?

Here Sarah is practicing writing her spelling words with her eyes closed.  She loved this simple technique and we were both impressed with how well we did!

Here is Sarah completing one of the Student Workbook pages.  She is marking the parts of speech for each word.

We also received the optional Optional Essentials Reader Set that can be purchased separately to accompany this curriculum. We received the PDF download of this set which includes The Student Reader, The Teacher Guide, and The Student Activity Book. The wonderful part about the reader is it reviews words and concepts taught in the Essentials lessons. The Optional Essentials Reader can be purchased alone or you can add on the teacher's guide and student activity book designed to enhance the student further by adding in more comprehension, copywork, dictation, note taking skills, key word outlines, tips and strategies for vocabulary, and even extra curricular activities such as research papers on the subjects read about. The goal is to expose the student with the concepts and words learned as much as possible for better comprehension and fluency.
Sarah, age 12 has asked to continue with this program and I can see light bulbs going off for her as a this new approach to letters having sounds and meanings helps her understand the why behind some of the words we use in the English language.  It's not only her though, I have found myself having my own aha moments too!
This is a massive program with loads of detailed information at your fingertips for yourself and your student.  There is so much to learn and to teach with this program that it's hard to put it all in writing for this review! You will definitely want to visit their website, Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest to find out more about this wonderful program!  You can also find more sample pages here.  If you have any questions, just let me know and I'll try to answer them or find the answers for you.

Review of IEW's Fix It Grammar

Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) has redesigned Fix It! Grammar and published a new set of Fix It! Grammar Books.
We reviewed the first set of books in this series called Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree [Book 1] (Teacher Manual) and Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree [Book 1] (Student Book).  Both books come in the spiral bound format that you see above. The teacher manual sells for $19 and inside you are given a link to download a free student book.  If you would rather have a physical student book that option is also available for $15.00 and can be purchased here.  So, you really only need to purchase the Teacher Manual if the e-book style student book will work for your family.  I liked having the e-book format because it made it very simple to print out the the amount of copies I needed for my family.  I also liked having the physical book because of the grammar cards included. Of course, you could print out your own as well with the e-book format.  Those included with the spiral bound book are on a yellow card stock material located at the back.  If you are familiar with any of IEW's themed writing books, the grammar cards are in the same format as the vocabulary cards.  There is also a Glossary included in the back of both the teacher manual and student book.
There are 6 books available in the series:

• Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree [Teacher’s Manual Book 1]
• Fix It! Grammar: Robin Hood [Teacher’s Manual Book 2]
• Fix It! Grammar: Frog Prince, or Just Deserts [Teacher’s Manual Book 3]
• Fix It! Grammar: Little Mermaid [Teacher’s Manual Book 4]
• Fix It! Grammar: Chanticleer [Teacher’s Manual Book 5]
• Fix It! Grammar: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [Teacher’s Manual Book 6]

These books are recommended for grades 3 and up.  

Concepts taught in Fix It! Grammar (Book 1) - The Nose Tree:

• Identify these parts of speech: nouns, articles, pronouns, verbs, helping verbs, adjectives, -ly adverbs, prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, clause starters (www.asia.b words).
• Use these punctuation marks correctly: end marks (periods, question marks, and exclamation points), quotation marks, apostrophes to show ownership and in contractions.
• Choose the correct homophone or usage when given a choice: their/their/they’re, to/two/too, its/it’s, your/you’re.
• Understand basic rules for capitalization and indentation.

There is a placement test available to help you decide what book to begin with your student.  IEW recommends that you begin with the fist book in the series since the other books build upon the foundations you learn in the first books.  If you feel your student has already mastered those concepts though, the placement test will help guide you in which book to choose.  You can also watch a webinar explaining how to use Fix It! Grammar.
How We Used This In Our Homeschool
Fix It! Grammar books are designed to be used for a full year (33 weeks of lessons) in your homeschool and teach grammar skills through editing skills.  You are given a sentence a day for the student to find the mistakes in and discuss with the teacher.  It's a very simple process but it reinforces grammar concepts on a daily basis through sentences of stories.  The concept will also aid students in editing their own writing using what they are learning.  This is a comprehensive grammar curriculum meaning that it is a complete grammar program and needs no supplement.
I chose Book 1 to begin with because I wanted to use it as a daily review for my 6th and 8th grader.  They know most of the concepts taught in Book 1 already but it has been a great refresher for them.  I have found that Stephen, my 8th grader, can quickly proceed through the sentences while Sarah, my 6th grader, needs to be reminded of the concepts we are covering so it seems to be a perfect fit for our family.  
The lessons are completed in as little as 15 minutes a day and broken down into 4 days a week.  For older students, the lessons can be easily doubled up and completed in one semester.
Both of my children agree that this is their favorite grammar book of all times.  During their end of grade testing last year, I noticed that both of them made very simple mistakes concerning punctuation and grammar. I knew I wanted to add in a daily grammar sheet to keep those simple concepts fresh in their minds, and this is exactly what I was looking for. 
The Teacher Manual is very easy to understand and clear in what you are to do each day. There are many side notes included giving lots of tips to the teacher.  It also gives the teacher the correct answers.  I have the older version of Fix It! Grammar as well.  It was always hard for me to understand how to teach because I found that it was not clear.  So, the redesign has majorly overhauled the program and I think for the better!  

Below you will find how we broke down our days.  We followed exactly what was recommended.
Day 1

• You begin the week by introducing and teaching the concept for the week and helping your student apply it to the Day 1 passage.  
• You would also print (e-book) or cut out (physical book) the grammar card/s that go with the concept you are learning for the week.  
• Do the daily concepts listed below together if necessary.  I normally let Stephen and Sarah do them on their own unless it was a totally new concept for them.

Days 2-4

• Read the day's passage.
• Look up the bolded vocabulary word in a dictionary and choose which definition fits the meaning of the word in the sentence.
• Fix the passage using the abbreviations at the top of the page along with the grammar card/s. These abbreviations are only available in the first three books of the series.

• Rewrite the sentence correctly in your own notebook. This helps to reinforce the concept as well as gives handwriting practice. When they finish the course, they will have the whole story written out.

That's it!  It is amazing how easy the design and process is but more importantly how great it works!  I am looking forward to seeing how well they do in the grammar end of year testing this year.

Other Places To Find The Institute For Excellence In Writing 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/excellenceinwriting
Twitter: https://twitter.com/iew
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/iewriting
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Iewriting/posts
You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/user/iewtv
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/iewtv

Review of Analytical Grammar's Beyond The Book Report

We recently were given the opportunity to review Beyond the Book Report by Analytical Grammar.  
We added in Analytical Grammar to our course load this year for all 3 of my children.  It was just what I was looking for to continue teaching my children grammar and classical sentence diagramming.  I did find that my children needed more training in basic grammar, punctuation, and usage. They did not take Jr. Analytical Grammar but I think it would have helped fill in the gaps if they had in hind sight. 

Since we were already big fans of Analytical Grammar, I was really excited to receive Seasons 1 and 2 of Beyond the Book Report.  Even better, when I received my package Season 3 was also included! Again, it is the perfect fit and exactly what I was looking for!  Stephen, who just finished 7th grade and is headed into 8th, used Beyond the Book Report along with myself.  Often, I like to go through courses with my students.  I really like to do this when I don't feel confident teaching the course myself.  Teaching literature and writing is an area where I can use much growth!

Beyond The Book Report is available in 3 different seasons for middle school aged children.  There are suggested schedules to follow depending upon your child's level.  Even though Stephen is headed to 8th grade, we chose to follow the 3 year schedule.  This schedule allows us to finish our Literature and Grammar studies in just an hour or close to it. For my oldest, who is in high school, we will be following the 1 year schedule. 

You can see the schedules clearer here and also see exactly what is covered in each season of Beyond the Book Report here.

Season 1 covers:

The Basic Book Report

The Pamphlet Book Report

The News Article Book Report

Some of the activities you will complete are paraphrasing a favorite scene, completing a reading log, making your own answer/question crossword puzzle, literary terms worksheet, making your own pamphlet book, news article on favorite scene. 

Here is a sample of how the reading log works:

Season 2 covers:

The Poetry Book Report

The Drama Book Report

Some of the activities you will complete are a reading log, writing 4 different types of poetry, plot summary, dramatization of your favorite scene, and crossword puzzle.

Season 3 covers:

The Oral Book Report

The Essay

The Research Paper

Some of the activities you will complete include a reading log, plot summary, power point presentation, essay, and research paper defending your thesis statement.

The activities in all 3 seasons come with a sample in your teacher packet visually showing you what to expect from your student.  You can find some samples of each season's different activities here.

Each season includes a DVD that contains video instructions, video lectures, power point presentation slides for note taking, PDF rubrics, activities, and assignments allowing you to print out the necessary items for each child in your family.  Also included is a teacher packet with a step-by-step teaching schedule and guide, examples of all the student work, and a glossary of terms. 

The combination of video lectures, printables, and samples were valuable resources to me as the teacher.  They helped me to know exactly what to look for in my student's work and truly gave me step by step directions.  I cannot express to you how much I loved the rubrics included!  Maybe it is my checklist personality but those were exactly what I have been looking for and didn't even know it!  I have always struggled in knowing how to give a grade for writing assignments but with this rubric, I know exactly how to grade.

The book Stephen chose to use for his reports was The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.  We watched the video instructions together and he used the step by step rubric instructions to complete Season 1. We are still working on Season 2 currently. We should be able to start season 3 for the upcoming fall school year and I plan to let Sarah, my 6th grader, and Jonathan, my high schooler, begin with Season 1 in the fall as well.  I looked through all 3 seasons and watched some of the video lessons.  The lessons are clear and concise on what is expected from the student.  

I loved the introduction to independence that is given in these lessons.  Your student could take the lessons and rubrics and complete each activity completely by themselves.  You would need to print out the worksheets, but your teacher packet tells you exactly what is needed for each lesson.  Not only are there video instructions for the student but there are also a few video instructions directed to the teacher that you would also benefit from watching.

Combining Analytical Grammar, Beyond the Book Report, and a vocabulary of your choice will complete your middle school Language Arts.  I also think this is a great program for high school if your student was never taught these skills. They do have a High School Reinforcement set for high schoolers as well.

You can purchase each season of Beyond the Book Report for $24.95 each or purchase them in a bundle pack for $69.95.  I think these are well worth the price considering the tutoring you receive for both your student and yourself!

You can find out more about Analytical Grammar on Facebook and Twitter.