Grammar for Kids with Fix It! Grammar #hsreviews

Do you have a tried and true program you use for grammar for kids?  We have a program we’ve been using but it ends at 3rd grade so my third graders had no program.  I’m a bit of an English/grammar fanatic and sometimes I really want them to know more than what they are doing.  We recently received a new program for grammar for kids to review through the TOS Crew and Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW).  The program is a 6 book series.  We received book one to review.  The book we received it titled Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree [Book 1] (Teacher Manual) .  We received both the teachers manual and Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree [Book 1] (Student Book).  

The Fix It! Grammar series includes six books or levels that each take a year to complete.  Your child only spends about 15 minutes per day learning grammar by finding errors and editing passages that tell stories that are engaging.  My daughter calls this book “Fun”.  Score a win for IEW and their fun grammar for kids!  

Grammar can be a tricky subject to teach with all the rules and such.  It can also be frustrating for kids to learn because of those rules and the fact that most of it is memorization and recall for them.  Fix It! Grammar makes learning fun.  It gives them something to do that makes the memorizing easier and yet helps it stay in their brains for use another day.  

Let’s talk ages here.  The Fix It! Grammar program is recommended for Grades 3 and up.  There is a placement test that can be taken to determine what book would work best for your child, but I decided I wanted to start with book 1 so that they were getting all the basics from the program as well as learning how it works.  If they already knew some of it, it would just go faster after all!  The student book can be purchased for $15.00, while the teacher’s book is $19.00.  With the purchase of the Teacher’s Manual you also get a digital download copy of the student book that can be used for printing for students.  

Because I wasn’t sure when we started the program whether we were going to like it or not I only used the physical copy of the student’s book that we received with my oldest daughter who is 9.  I being the teacher used the teacher’s manual to help her with the program.  We have used IEW products before and loved them.  This one is no different.  We love this easy and simple grammar program.  I am going to have to get my other 3rd grader started on this as well!  It is simple and easy to use.  My daughter loves it.  It only takes about 15-20 minutes per day to do that daily lesson so you’re not spending hours pouring over rules, trying to memorize and implement them.  

 

The concept for use is simple.  Your student reads the passage, they then use the rules they’ve learned to correct the mistakes they find.  The passages are little bits of a story and entertaining to read so your child likes reading them and doesn’t feel that it is a “school thing” but more just a cute little story to read.  We have been using this as our first thing of the day after Bible.  It’s short for her to do so she’s not throwing off our daily  schedules.  It’s easy for her for the most part and she likes doing it.  I always enjoy when my kids like what they’re doing for school because then it’s not a struggle to get them to do that particular subject.

Some specifics for you.  The student book is 126 pages long with 33 weeks of instruction in it.  Your child will learn 100 new vocabulary words!  There are also 24 grammar cards to break out and keep to introduce when needed.  Don’t worry, you’ll be told when each card should be used.  The Teacher’s Manual is 228 pages long.  Each of the 33 weeks contains four days of lessons.  Skills are introduced weekly but the lessons are broken down for daily so they have the full 4 days lessons to learn and know the new skill.  As mentioned before, the Teacher’s Manual comes with a download for the student book.  You can print off as many copies as you need for your own family use.

My end thoughts:  This is a great program.  I have decided that this is the perfect grammar program for my kids as they get to the older elementary stage.  It starts at the third grade level which is  where our simple reading program that we had been using ends so it’s a perfect fit!  It is simple and easy.  My daughter loves it.  It is short!  Each daily lesson only take 15 minutes!  I don’t have to try to squeeze in hours of instruction!  I highly recommend all the IEW products we’ve used and this is no different.  It’s a great program.  

Interested in connecting with IEW or learning more about Fix It! Grammar in particular?  You can find them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, YouTube, and Vimeo.  Or you can hop on over to the Main Crew Blog Page to read other reviews.  Members of the TOS Crew reviewed books 1-5 so you’re sure to find one that would work for your child.