Easy Grammar Systems {Review}

We have all heard the complaints from our children over the dislike of grammar. “Mommmmm, this is not fun!”  “You are trying to torture me…one word at a time!” “Why do I need to do this? It is the same thing I learned last year!”  It appears to our teens that we are on a mission to make sure their life is misery! 

I have heard so many complaints about grammar and how boring and lame it is, but we all know that good grammar is the root of refined conversation and writing. If you have a child who would rather be at the ball park or fighting evil on the Playstation, Easy Grammar Systems is for you! I was so excited to be given the opportunity to review Easy Grammar Ultimate Series:  Grade 11 this year. 

I have picked up the Easy Grammar texts at many homeschool conventions, flipping through the pages and having executive meetings with the the teacher, curriculum purchase department, and the parental advisory board (yes, me, myself and I, we have many of these meetings!) and trying to decide if it would work for my reluctant and bored teen.  After trying it, all I can say is wow!  I should have done this a long time ago! (I really must have a staff meeting, it is obvious some one has dropped the ball!)

This is a remarkable grammar program.  The lessons are short (like super short!), your child can complete a lesson in approximately 10 minutes, excluding whining, loss of writing apparatus, and /or lost book.   Each lesson covers several aspects of grammar, including sentence structure, punctuation, parts of speech, and sentence combining. The lessons move smoothly, flowing from each segment easily. (They also travel well if you are one of those people who has to school from the car or waiting rooms.)

The workbook includes 180 daily lessons, which can be worked in the book or copied (since this is a reproducible book).  After every ten lessons, there is an assessment; again these can be used once or copied.  The assessments are found in the test booklet, and have five questions each, so your student is not stressing over a long test. There is also an answer key to make your life easier, mom!  During the summer, before our school started, we were completing ten lessons and one assessment weekly.  After school began, we completed an assessment every other week.

One of the things that I found could be troublesome is that the answers are in the back of the textbook. I know that we all hope our children won’t peek, but this could be an issue.  There are also areas that I feel need a more explanations and/or examples.  Another area that I felt could use more explanation and / or examples was the "difficult words."  Your, you're, there, their, they're....let's be honest.  How many times have we seen these words used incorrectly on social media and even in official documents?  A little more practice in this realm would be useful.

One of the positives for our family was the fact there was no sentence diagramming. Here again, we are saved from the cries of the woebegone child.  However, I appreciated the sentence combining section, which helps the student to take sentences and combine them into a short appropriate paragraphs.  This exercise leads toward more effective writing, and I discovered that you can use the sentence combining as starter for a creative writing assignment!

Pros

• Short lessons
• Smooth transitions from one area to another
• Uses cyclical learning
• May be copied for multiple students
• Assessments after every 10 lessons

Cons

• Answers in the back of text
• Could use more explanations/examples on more difficult words

See what others are saying about Easy Grammar Systems at the Schoolhouse Review Crew!