Nouns, Verbs and Conjunctions...

What amazes me is that Grammar is easier to teach when correct English is spoken in the home. My husband is a stickler for speaking correctly (and writing correctly as well), which helps when it comes time for formal grammar lessons. My kids are constantly saying, "We already know this." We have also found that working with them on their writing usually brings up a grammar question and then we have a mini lesson on that topic.

For formal grammar lessons we first tried Easy Grammar and are now trying out Shurley English. My kids have clicked with Shurley English so we will stay there. (Click here to find out more about Shurley English.)

I love how it only takes us just a few minutes every day to have a complete grammar lesson. Each lesson builds on the previous lesson. The homeschool editions are scripted which helps when I'm not sure what is being taught (I am not a grammar expert) but can be skipped when not needed. The program has jingles (my kids prefer the Grammar Rock jingles), vocabulary (we usually don't dwell on this as we do vocabulary with out units) and writing. I really like their writing and will stick with this program until it no longer meets our needs.

Foreign Language

Now a foreign language is something we desire our children to learn. Steve, my husband, was on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil and knows Portuguese, but that is not a very common language in the western US, and my husband's time is limited and there are other subjects I wish for him to teach.

We had enrolled our children in an "early morning before public school" Spanish class with a very good friend. Now as a foreign language class goes, they will not be reading and writing Spanish come the end of the school year, but by the time they are ready for a more "formal" foreign language class they will have enough under the belt that the shock will not be great. This class is a great introduction into the language. They sing songs, dance, act out plays and learn enough Spanish to fool me.

For the 2002-03 school year we tried our hand at Power Glide. It is fun and the kids want to do it. I wish we could have finished it, but just before Thanksgiving 2002 I was in a horrific auto accident and foreign language fell by the way side as I tried to repair my body and mind and just get the basics taught to my children.

For the 2003-04 school year we thought we would try our "hands" at American Sign Language. We absolutely love it and use it often. We are learning so much and hope to continue with it until we are fluent with ASL. We have found much success in the short year we have had class as we can use this language every day, to some degree.

We also are trying our hand at Latin. We are just barely dabbling in it and are using a few tried and true homeschooling books From the Roots Up and Words from the Vine.

Stores that sell Language Art programs.

Stores that sell Foreign Language programs.

Last updated: November, 2006

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