Simply Grammar by Karen Andreola
January 1st, 2008 by Ruby3881It’s our first year of home school, and I’ve got a daughter in fourth grade. By most accounts, that means it’s time to begin formal studies in grammar.
I’ve looked forward to it, because I thoroughly enjoyed what few lessons in grammar I received as a student. So much so, that when I needed a second linguistics credit in university I took a course in syntax (they didn’t offer grammar per se, and although I found morphology interesting, I was much more fascinated by syntax.)
Grammar instruction had been emphasized at my elementary school (Emily Carr School in London ON, for those it may interest.) We learned very early on to recognize Greek, Latin or French roots in common words, and to understand the meanings of common prefixes and suffixes. We were taught to recognize nouns, verbs and adjectives before the end of first grade, and knew all the important rules for things like punctuation, forming plurals, and comparatives & superlatives.
No, we weren’t diagramming sentences. It wasn’t in vogue then, I suppose. No, we didn’t learn all the technical vocabulary around grammar. We did know that we shouldn’t begin a sentence with “and” or “but”, and we were always sure to get the quotation marks pointing in the correct direction when we wrote dialogue (OK, that was probably second grade…) I was much older when I figured out what a dangling participle was, or why “to boldly go where no man has gone before” was grammatically incorrect. What I did know, all through my early years of schooling, was that I took pleasure in being able to find the right words to plug into those blanks. I liked knowing that everything was just right.
Sometimes I feel as though I have just walked out of some fictitious world resembling the set of Good Morning, Miss Dove but I remember being proud of spelling colour, neighbour and favour, or of finishing my alphabet with a “zed.” I look back fondly on the times when we tried to emulate the teachers’ pronunciation of the /wh/ sound in words like “what” and “which.” Of course I was sorely disappointed when Dojogirl started public school, and I discovered that her teachers were saying “zee“, using any old spelling convention they felt like, and in fact often misspelled words (in English & in French) on homework assignments and even spelling lists! I must admit I held my breath and “gave them another chance” - for three more years, before I finally decided to take things into my own hands.
By that time Dojogirl was in serious need of grammar help! One of the biggest problems with public education is not the fact that it is sub-standard in many cases, but rather that it consumes such an immense portion of a child’s time. Our kids were up at 6am daily, out the door to wait for the bus at 7:15, and not back home until 3pm. By the time we had heard their daily woes and worries, made snacks and done homework, it was time for supper, then baths and bed. That would be on the nights they didn’t have extra-curricular activities, and when homework went relatively smoothly (not the nights when we couldn’t even figure out what the teachers wanted the kids to do….)
Some critics of home based education suggest that if parents feel that public school is not providing everything we feel our children need and deserve, we should simply take time to supplement their lessons at home in their “off-school hours.” I submit that these folks do not have children in public school!
Once we made the final decision to homeschool, I was faced with the challenge of finding a grammar program for Dojogirl. My criteria were reasonable, I think: I wanted an affordable program that would teach using a vocabulary Dojogirl could grasp, and I expected it to teach all the important grammatical principles she would need to learn without dumbing anything down. It also had to be interesting enough to keep her attention during the lessons, in light of the fact that she is visuo-spatial and is not particularly fond of anything involving theory. Finally I preferred a course that relied more on a “living book” approach that would provide a complete model of good writing, than a course that used a lot of worksheets to teach single skills or concepts in isolation. OK I’m not easy to please, but my kids deserve the best. So do yours 
Affordability meant courses like Cozy Grammar, with a price tag of over $170, were out. Easy Grammar was quickly crossed off our list of possibilities - learning grammar by crossing out prepositional phrases?? The Winston was interesting, and claimed to offer a multi-sensory approach that I felt would be good for Dojogirl. I was a tad put off, though, by the fact that it relied so much on worksheets. At $70, I also figured the web site could have at least explained how the lessons covered seeing, hearing, moving & speaking. I decided to keep looking.
The Shurley felt dumbed down, even from the point of view of the parent-instructor. I’m not fond of jargon like “Question & Answer Flows,” and I was afraid the Jingles would insult Dojogirl’s intelligence. I was also concerned that this method taught some concepts in such a way that she would have to later unlearn “rules” or “facts” that had been introduced earlier. Why teach that all sentences must have a subject? (What about imperatives?) Why teach that all verbs are “action words” and tell “what the subject does”? (What about verbs like “to be” or those that involve little action - such as sitting, sleeping or thinking?) “Action verbs are fun to do”? (Is it fun to hurt, to fall down, or to worry?) Nope, the Shurley was definitely not my cup of tea.
As you can imagine, by this time I was getting a bit desperate! I ended up ordering a copy of The Grammar Handbook despite the $40+ price tag. When it arrived I discovered that it was The Grammar Handbook 2, which was clear from the photo at Amazon but not the listing. So I ordered the first volume from Scholar’s Choice, as Amazon didn’t seem to carry the first volume. These books would be useful for the Banana, if nothing else, and I liked the approach they took. Dojogirl had done Jolly Phonics in kindergarten. She found learning her phonemes much easier with the hand signals, and had been able to use them to help with reading too. I hoped she would similarly find hand signals and colours would help her to keep straight the parts of speech, and it was a bonus that the books both incorporated spelling lists as well.
Unfortunately, we were just starting too late for Dojogirl. The Jolly Grammar is intended for use directly after Jolly Phonics - grade one or maybe grade two. The spelling words were too simple for Dojogirl, and both the lesson plans and worksheets were obviously intended for younger children. Skills like alphabetizing and making plurals, which she has pretty much mastered, take up a good part of the manuals. Very few lessons are devoted to the aspects of grammar we needed to explore in fourth grade. So, these became back-up materials for us. I’ll write more about them later 
The very last system I looked at was the Singapore English. I had great hopes for this one, even though it was a workbook-oriented system. The Singapore Math has a really good reputation, and we are hoping to switch over to it once we finish with Miquon. Using the Singapore English books as well, would mean we could order the materials from the same merchant and save on shipping. The books were both affordable, and available with the British spellings that are at the heart of Canadian spelling conventions. Dojogirl was really not impressed with the sample pages, though, and because this system begins with first grade there was the possibility that we would have to go back to review earlier workbooks.
Oh my! I was beginning to think I would have to create my own grammar materials, when along came Simply Grammar. Some folks on a Charlotte Mason forum had been recommending books by Karen Andreola, and I just happened to notice her grammar text when I looked them up on her web site. This might just be what I was looking for!
At under $20 from Amazon, it certainly fell into the affordable category. It was also a living book, in fact it was an expanded version of Charlotte Mason’s own First Grammar Lessons. The book is intended for children around age nine (third or fourth grade.) Lessons are to be tackled once a week and in accordance with Ms Mason’s philosophy, they are meant to be short (no more than fifteen minutes.) Best of all, while there isn’t any diagramming in the book, there are illustrations that are used to draw the student’s interest to the lessons. This is great for our Dojogirl!
We are moving fairly slowly through the book. We’ve completed five lessons so far, plus a review of lessons 1-4. In this time we’ve been introduced to sentences (”Words put together so as to make sense”) and learned that they have two parts (”that of which we speak, and what we say about it.”) We’ve learned that we can’t make a sentence without a verb (notice we weren’t told we need a noun) and that verbs can tell either what the subject is or what the subject does. We’ve been introduced very simply to nouns (”name-words”) and adjectives (”adjectives belong to nouns,” “adjectives point out or tell something about the nouns to which they belong.”) Finally, we have learned to locate the subject and predicate of a sentence (”that of which we speak is called the subject”, “what we say about the subject is called the predicate.”)
Each lesson is roughly a page long, and is accompanied by exercises that take up another page. The lessons can be read aloud, and most of the exercises can be done orally too. A few call for writing down sentences. This work can be used to practice penmanship, and can replace copywork on the day the grammar lesson is done. At the left you can see one of the lessons. It’s not terribly fancy, but it’s attractive. You’ll note that Ms Andreola has set off the important things in a way that doesn’t clutter the text, but it’s easy to pinpoint the concepts to be mastered.
Ideally, children should be familiar with Charlotte Mason’s narration before they begin to use this text. Our girls had begun some oral narration by the time we received this book, but had not much practice with it. Dojogirl, particularly, balked a bit at the memory work. This is not what she was used to from public school! However, with some repetition and a lot of enthusiasm from Mama, she got to where she could remember the important things and understand them well enough to correctly complete the exercises.
The Banana, who is in grade one, was not supposed to be taking any grammar yet. Since she wanted to listen to the lessons, and it made Dojogirl more comfortable, we agreed to include her. She has had no trouble at all with the memory work, and can generally answer questions correctly when she takes in the exercises. This is in no way a recommendation to begin working with this text in first grade! On the other hand, if you are concerned you or your child will find the work difficult keep in mind that the Banana can do it at age six
Those who are used to a lot of worksheets will find this grammar program different. If you are concerned with recording progress, you may have to adopt new methodologies like making an audio or video recording of your lessons. You could also try creating a lapbook, as we have been doing, or simply take note of the lessons covered and keep any written work as part of your progress record.
Do keep your lessons to the fifteen minute maximum, though. Anytime we have had difficulty with the lessons, it was because the girls were fooling around and I decided to insist they complete the exercises no matter how long it took us. Definitely not the Charlotte Mason way of doing things, but we are all learning new things!
One thing I really appreciate about Simply Grammar is that nothing is dumbed down, but everything is expressed very clearly and succinctly. From what I have seen so far, no statement is ever made that will later have to be qualified or unlearned. The program is systematic and cumulative, and covers a good deal of material through its four sections. Eight parts of speech are introduced, some with more detail than others (e.g. nouns, verbs, pronouns.) The book also discusses things like case (nominative, objective, possessive) and mood (infinitive, indicative, imperative.) Person, gender and number are addressed, as are both personal & relative pronouns. Your children will learn some of those picky little details, such as when to use “who” vs “whom.”
While some grammar programs could cost hundreds of dollars per year, this inexpensive and compact book (178 pages including answers to the more challenging exercises) could easily be used over the course of two or more years. It is an excellent preparation, as well, for foreign language study. This is particularly so if you are looking at including a language that requires nouns be declined, for example classical Greek or Latin. If you aren’t looking beyond French or Spanish, you’ll still see the benefits of having used this textbook. One of the most cited difficulties of English-speaking students learning a foreign language is a lack of familiarity with grammatical terms and concepts. A good grounding in English grammar, using a text like Simply Grammar is the surest way to success in learning a second language.
By now you’ll see that I’m quite pleased with my final choice for grammar. Are there any drawbacks? Well, I don’t personally feel there are. However I have spoken to some other parents who tried this program and found it wasn’t active enough for their kids. I expect that means they had difficulty reading through the entire page aloud, while retaining the kids’ attention. To those folks I would say, feel free to adapt! Use manipulatives. Break the readings into shorter blocks, take turns reading, or try singing the text if you’re good at that (music is processed by a different part of the brain than the spoken word, and may “get through” to some kids much more easily.) Supplement with Montessori-style colours or Jolly-style hand signs. Do whatever works for you!
The important thing is to work at a slow, steady pace and to use the book in the order it is presented. Be sure you don’t move on until you see that a concept has been mastered. If you need to add more work, it’s a snap, as most of the exercises call for the student to provide new sentences based on a given pattern. Do the same exercise in two different sittings, and you’re bound to get new answers! Conversely, you can ask for half as many answers in a session, if you can see that your kids have a very good grasp and you want to avoid lapsing into boredom. Remember, you are the teacher. The book is a tool, but it shouldn’t dictate your every move.
Simply Grammar by Karen Andreola
(Charlotte Mason Research and Supply, 1993, ISBN 1889209015)
Ages 9+, 46 lessons with exercises and review
No teacher’s manual required
Under $25
Need a copy of the book?
| Canada | US |
It’s not in the Montreal libraries, but you could always suggest they get a copy!
If you choose this textbook for your school, please tell me about it! I’d love to hear about your experiences too.
This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a
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