Grammar Curriculum

Homeschool Review Crew

Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) is a favorite in our house for their Fix It! Grammar series.  We’ve used levels 1 and 2 and were excited to receive Level 3 to review through the Homeschool Review Crew.  As part of the review we received the teacher manual plus one student book.  With the teacher manual comes an online download where you can download more copies of the student book as well.  This is hands down our favorite grammar curriculum. 

One of the reasons we love this program so much is the fact that you can download more copies of the workbook.  After the download I print them off and stick them into a three ring binder.  My kids take out the pages they’re going to be working on and the rest stays in the binder.  Once done with those pages they put them back in the binder.  

I do recommend that these be used in order though if you’ve done a similar curriculum before you might be able to hop into a higher level.  We have used them in order and plan on purchasing the next level this weekend while at our homeschool conference.  I had actually planned on buying this level as well which is what made this such a blessing of a review.

There is a placement test available to take online so you can determine the appropriate level for your child.  As I mentioned we have not used that because we did opt to start with Level 1.  There are other items available when you go to download your student book as well such as a few webinars and an intro video by Andrew Pudewa.

About the Program

If you do start with level 1 with an older child you can double the lessons to be able to do two books in a years time.  Each book is supposed to take you through an entire year.  When my oldest started these books she was above the grade level for book 1 so we had her do books one and two in the same year.  Now she will be doing this one(level 3) and level 4 for this school year.  I’m not sure if she will continue to do two per year or if we’ll slow down after that.

I am having my 8 year old daughter who is doing roughly 3rd grade literature, though her reading level is higher, do level 1 currently.  She’s moving through it quickly at two lessons per week but I plan on having her slow down once it becomes a bit difficult for her.  This is another reason I love this program.  We can continue using it with other children simply by printing off another workbook.  It is ideal for large families. 

Each  week contains four lessons to work through.  The recommendation is to do one lesson per day.  You will also need a folder such as a brad folder and a notebook to complete the lessons.

Level one starts with grades 3-5 while the book three that we’re reviewing is recommended for grades 6-8.

Our Thoughts

As you’ve probably noticed from above we really enjoy this curriculum.  It walks you through how to use it so there is no guess work.  I have also found that once I help them learn how to do the lessons I don’t have to be involved as much.  Meaning I can go on and help another child after I get them started on their lessons.  Truly I’ve only had to be involved for any real time on the first day of the week to make sure we all understand the lesson and they don’t need any help.  

After they do each lesson I look it over and we discuss any corrections they missed.  We include the advanced ones though I don’t expect them to always catch those on their own.  I like how we can take the lessons and do them throughout the week or even do more than one a week.  

Each book is actually a story as well so that’s fun.  When they are through with the level they have the whole book written in their notebook perfectly and can read it. 

Learn More

Learn more about the curriculum and the different levels available by reading all the reviews.  You will find them linked up HERE on the Homeschool Review Crew blog.  Reviewers had several different levels of this grammar curriculum to choose from so you’re sure to find an opinion or two of the one that interests you.  You can also find them on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, and instagram.  I can’t wait to hear if you love this grammar curriculum as much as we do!