Review: Easy Grammar and Daily Grams, Grade 4

If you've hung around here for awhile, you know it's no secret that my family loves Easy Grammar and Daily Grams.  You can read my review of the Ultimate Series, as well as a comparison of Easy Grammar and First Language Lessons.  The folks at Easy Grammar recently sent me the fourth grade level of Easy Grammar and Daily Grams to review and, of course, we love them, too!

Because I'm so vocal about the fact that we're huge fans, I get a lot of questions about Easy Grammar and Daily Grams.  For that reason, I'd like to do this review in a Q&A format.  Please realize that I am answering these questions from my own personal experience, not as an official spokesperson for Easy Grammar and Daily Grams.

Do you have to use Easy Grammar and Daily Grams together?  It's not required that you do.  Both can be used independently of the other, but they combine to make a comprehensive grammar program for kids in grades 3-7, with additional books set up in the Daily Grams style for grades 2 and 8-12.  We have loved all of the books in the series, but I was especially fond of the second grade book.  It was perfect for my kids, both in lesson length and scope and sequence, when they were that age.

Easy Grammar provides the actual teaching text, while Daily Grams provide daily 5-10 minute review sheets that help reinforce and cement concepts learned.  Both texts use a cyclical style of learning that helps students master and retain concepts such as:

• Punctuation
• Capitalization
• Parts of speech
• Subject/verb agreement

Each Easy Grammar level begins by having students memorize a list of prepositions -- in the fourth grade text, the list increases to 40.  Then, students learn to find and cross out the prepositional phrase, making it easier to identify the subject and verb.  Students spend time learning about individual parts of speech, such as pronouns, adverbs, and adjectives.  There are also two complete sections dedicated to punctuation and capitalization.

My child hasn't used Easy Grammar and Daily Grams before; on what level should we start?  Because all of the grade levels have the same basic information, taught in a cyclical style to help students achieve mastery, I suggest starting at whatever your child's grade level happens to be.  Each level simply increases in complexity and builds on basic concepts, which are reviewed at each level.  An exception to this suggestion is if you have a child in 8th grade or above.  In that case, I would use with Easy Grammar Plus, which is the final installment in the Easy Grammar series and was written for middle school through adult users.

Do I need both the teacher and student versions of the books?  Not necessarily.  The teacher's versions of both Easy Grammar and Daily Grams contain both the answer key and reproducible student pages.  In Easy Grammar, the student page and the answer key page are side by side, so you would need to copy the student page for your child.  (To make this easy, I usually have the binding removed from the book and have it three-hole drilled so that I can place it in a binder.)

In the Daily Grams book, the answer key is in the back of the book, so photocopying isn't necessary.  For both books, a non-reproducible student book is available for your convenience.  It's often less expensive to buy the student book, rather than doing all that copying, especially if you have multiple students.  I like having the answer keys for quicker grading or for reference if I'm not sure of an answer...which happens more often, the older my kids get.  The Easy Grammar teacher edition is $27.95; the student text is $13.95.  The Daily Grams teacher edition is $24.95, while the student text is $12.95.

Easy Grammar and Daily Grams are one part of our homeschool day that my kids never complain about.  As a matter of fact, Brianna actually said she was a little disappointed to finish the Easy Grammar series because she enjoyed doing it.  She's still doing the Ultimate Series books, of course.  To me, there's not a better endorsement for a grammar program than kids who love grammar.  It does their grammar geek mama's heart good to hear them say it.  The only complaint I've heard about Easy Grammar 4 was from Josh:  the book is pink.  Hey, if that's the worst thing he's got to say about it, we're good.

I received these products free for the purpose of reviewing them.  I received no other compensation for this review.  The opinions expressed in this review are my personal, honest opinions.  Your experience may vary.

On Humor and Bad Attitudes

We all have them -- those moments when bad attitudes rear their ugly heads during school time.  Last week I shared my top ten ways to handle a bad homeschool day, but after one day last week, I have another one to add to the list:  humor. 

Now this one may be more for the bad homeschool "moment" rather than one of those really lousy days, but on this particular afternoon, Megan was pitching a royal fit about about doing her reading instruction.  I'm sure you know nothing about the royal fits that kids can pitch, so let me just tell you, it was ugly.  In the midst of all this, as I was beginning to lose my cool, Megan screamed, "I hate this book!  This book stinks!"

It just struck me as funny.  So, on impulse, I leaned down, pressed my nose to the book and sniffed really loudly before declaring, "It smells fine to me."

There was a brief moment where Megan couldn't decide if that was funny or if it just made her more angry than she was already.  Then, she gave it up and slipped off on the funny side.  We both got a good laugh out of it before she continued her reading lesson with a much improved attitude.


Have you ever had one of those moments where you just went completely the opposite direction from what your kid expected and wound up defusing a situation that could have been blown all out of proportion?  It's kind of humbling when it happens and you realize that there were probably dozens of times when it unnecessarily went the other way.

Top Ten Benefits of Homeschooling

There are so many benefits to homeschooling.  I mean, obviously we're fans.  I've shared before the things we don't miss about public school.  As far as homeschooling's benefits, I'm sure they vary widely among homeschooling families, but these are my top ten:

1. Personalized education.  Always topping my list will be the personalized education.  That means we can slow down for the hard things (which vary from child to child) and breeze through the easy ones.  We can take rabbit trails when a certain topic peaks a child's interest.  We can tailor the education uniquely to the student, whether he is a struggling learner or a gifted one.  As an interesting side note, I asked my kids what they thought the benefits of homeschooling were, to see if they mentioned anything I might want to include in this post.  My oldest daughter quickly mentioned being able to work at her own pace.

2. Sleeping late.  And, this one will always be a close second on our list (or, maybe it should be the first -- it was Brianna's first before the work at her own pace thing).  We are all such night owls.  It's so nice to be able to work with our body's natural rhythms.  My oldest recently asked if she could start doing her work after midnight and sleep until 1:00 or so in the afternoons.  I'm not ready to go quite that far yet, but we do enjoy the fact that we can all get the rest we need and work during the times that we're most productive.

My mom recently asked what the kids would do when they had to get a job someday.  I told her that, if they do have to get an early morning job, as opposed to an alternate shift, they'll adjust.  I held down a first shift job until just before Josh (age 10) was born.  I hated getting up early and I was tired all the time, but I managed.  The kids will do what they have to do when the time comes.  For now, we'll enjoy this huge benefit of homeschooling.

3. Scheduling freedom.  Not only can we work at the time of day when we're most productive, but homeschooling allows us to work around family vacations, birthdays (we take family birthdays off), and my husband's work schedule.  I love that we can plan things when they're right for our family, not when the county decides that it's  time for a break that we get to share with all the rest of the county -- or even the state.

4. Learning together.  I love learning alongside my kids.  I learn as much as they do most days.  It's so much fun to delve into a topic together and see everyone get excited about it.  I am loving science this year.  All the kids are studying biology and we get to play with the microscope that we got to use with Brianna's science text from Apologia.  When I asked the kids what they liked best about homeschooling, Megan said her favorite thing this year is biology.

5. Living together.  I love that we get to spend the majority of our days together.  I recently commented to the kids that, if they were in public school, all five of us would be in a different place for the majority of the day -- Brianna would be in high school, Josh in middle school, Megan in elementary, Brian at work, and me, hopefully at home, but likely at work.  That would stink!  The years we have at home with our kids are so short; I want to enjoy as much time together as we possibly can.

6. Relationships.  Yes, my kids bicker.  Sometimes from the time they get up until the time they go to bed, but, when push comes to shove, they love each other.  I think they are much closer than they would be if they were only together in the evenings after school.  And, I can only imagine what my relationship with Brianna would be like.  She's a teenager who enjoys spending time with her mama.  Do we get on each other's nerves?  Sure, but we're still much closer than I imagined we'd be when she hit fifteen.  I think that's a direct result of our decision to homeschool.

7. Encouraging strengths.  I love that homeschooling affords us the opportunity to encourage our kids' strengths.  Whether it's an artistic bent, an athletic talent, or an unusual academic interest, we can allow our kids to explore their areas of gifting in ways that they might not get to experience if they were in school for 6-8 hours a day.

8. Shoring up weaknesses.  The flip side of encouraging their strengths is shoring up their weaknesses.  Because we can tailor our kids' education to their own unique needs, their areas of struggle can be addressed without defining who they are.  A diagnosis of a learning disability can become a tool for shaping their educational needs, rather than a label slapped on the side of a box into which they are shoved.


9. Quiet and peaceful places of business.  Okay, I'm sorry, but I know I'm not the only one who loves enjoying a practically empty playground, children's museum or kid-friendly restaurant once schools resume each fall.

10. School and life seamlessly meshing.  This one is probably going to be the hardest to explain and actually have it come across the way it felt to me, but I had a moment, a few weeks ago, where I realized that schooling at home isn't something that is just some separate, compartmentalized piece of our lives.  As my friend, Rebecca Ingram Powell says,  it's just that thing that we do.  It wasn't any huge moment; it was just the realization that we'd fallen seamlessly back into our homeschooling routine after our summer vacation because it's just part of our lives.  As important a part of our lives that homeschooling is, it isn't some big thing; it's just part of us living, learning, and enjoying life together.

So, what are your family's favorite benefits of homeschooling?


This post is linked to Top Ten Tuesday.

Reader Questions: How Do I Teach Multiple Grades at Once?

It's another reader question day.  Recently, I've shared my thoughts on making friends and why our family homeschools.  Today, I thought I'd tackle another question I hear frequently.  

Living Creatively asks, "How will I have time to do it all? How can I teach three grades at once, and still do pre-K stuff, as well?"

I think just about every homeschool mom with more than one kid wonders, at one time or another, how to get it all done.  I also think that the answer probably varies greatly among homeschooling families.  I've posted before on homeschooling with babies, toddlers, and preschoolers and on schooling children close in age.  Today, I'll share some tips that have worked for my family and some that have worked for other families that I know.

1.  Consolidate.  We do as much as we can together.  Until this year, all of my kids did Bible study, history, and science together.  There are a couple of different schools of thought on how to make group subjects work most effectively.  One is to teach to the oldest and let the younger kids pick up what they can.  You might be surprised at how much the little guys to pick up.  The other thought is to begin teaching to the youngest, then, increase the complexity for the older kids.  So, for example, you might read a picture book about a historical figure, then, move to a biography geared toward an older audience.  Though I tended to use the first method, one big benefit to the second is that picture books tend to boil everything down to the essential facts, so hearing them first may help reinforce them for your older students as you move into more complex reading.


2.  Divide and conquer.  While it makes sense to do many subjects together, for others it is much easier to split everyone up.  When Josh and Megan first got old enough to do formal schooling, I had this idea that we'd all have things like math time and writing time.  I quickly discovered that trying to teach more than one kid on more than level can be an exercise in frustration.  There are three of them and only one of me, after all.

I've discovered that it's much easier to stagger the subjects that are probably going to require me to work one-on-one with each child.  So, I'll have two go work on something they can do independently (which is most everything now, as far as my oldest is concerned), while I work with one, then, we'll switch.

3.  Nap time!  For families with younger children, nap time can be the most productive time of the day.  When Josh and Megan were younger, I would always save Brianna's most "mom-intensive" work for the afternoons when they napped.  Even if your little ones don't nap for a long time, twenty to thirty minutes of concentrated time with Mom can be very productive for an older child.

4.  Workbooks.  Now, if you've been around here for awhile, you know that I'm not a huge fan of workbooks as a whole, though we do have a few that we use and love.  For most subjects, workbooks just sound incredibly boring to me.  However, what sounds boring to one mom may sound like a sanity saver to another.  I have a friend who homeschools her five children.  Very early on, she discovered that it made her life much simpler to have everyone in workbooks.  One-on-one time, planning, and keeping everyone on their appropriate grade level were accomplished for her family this way.


5.  Timing.  Pre-K is not, in my experience, a time intensive part of a homeschool mom's day.  It can usually be accomplished in little bursts of 15-20 minute time slots.  These can be fit in while older children are working independently or at other times, creatively, throughout the day.  For example, bedtime stories can be themed with preschool lessons.  T is for turtle might mean reading stories about Franklin while snuggled in bed with your little one at night.  You could even toss in an age-appropriate non-fiction book about turtles as a follow-up.


You can also enlist the help of older students.  I know several moms whose older kids have an "assigned" time during the day to spend some meaningful play/teaching time with a younger sibling.  This serves several purposes such as freeing up time for Mom to work with other kids, allowing older and younger siblings to bond, and helping an older student gain confidence by teaching a younger sibling.

These are just some of my ideas for multilevel teaching.  Now, if, by "doing it all," you mean the laundry, the dishes and the housework, um, don't drop by my house unannounced, please.

What suggestions do you have for Living Creatively on how to homeschool a varying age-span of children at once?

Weekly Wrap-Up: The One Where I Quickly Saw the Need to Adjust Our Scedule

Happy Friday!  I, for one, am very happy that it's Friday.  It's been a crazy busy week and I'm ready for some time to relax and catch up on things at home.  Next week promises to be more of the same, so I'll be spending some time this weekend adjusting our schedule.  It's either that or we'll all be suffering from burn out by Labor Day, which, as you know, is just a little more than a week away.

Although it's been busy, it's been a fun week.  Monday started with Brianna's first Spanish class.  There were more kids than I expected in the class -- I'd say about 20 -- and it was nice to see some familiar faces.  Brianna isn't totally thrilled about taking the class, but two years of a foreign language is a requirement for just about any college she'd want to attend, therefore it's a requirement for graduation from our homeschool.  I think it helps, though, that she already knows some of the kids in her class.  We can mark that socialization thing off the checklist once a week.

While Brianna had her class, Josh, Megan, and I went to a nearby McDonald's and had something to drink while we did history and science.  That's going to be my plan each week since Brianna's class is an hour and a half and we're not allowed to use another classroom at the church.  I think it's going to work well for us, though, because the kids get to have a Coke and Mom gets a sweet tea -- treats for all of us -- and the kids get to play in the play area once their work is done.

Brianna also had a volleyball game Monday night.  They lost again, but they played really well.  They played this same team a couple of times last year and I'm sure that the other team could even tell how much our team has improved.  A couple of the games were really close.

Tuesday we were actually able to stay at home for the day and get some stuff done.  We hit the books pretty hard since it was one of the few days this week that we were able to be home all day.  Wednesday we had an orthodontist appointment, but I was impressed with how well everyone was able to get back on track and finish up once we got home.  It's usually pretty difficult for us to do that.

If you saw my review of Science Odyssey yesterday, you know some of the fun things we've been doing in science.  We also had a chance, this past week, to use the microscope.  That was fun!  One of the books recommended with one of our recent Science Odyssey units was Greg's Microscope.  I highly recommend the book if you've got younger kids who'll be using a microscope.  It was a great introduction and Greg looked at many of the same things in his microscope that we were able to look at in ours.

We've also been working on sun king plaques in history.  We were supposed to just do a simple paper plate version, but I thought a salt dough version would be more fun.  They're not quite finished yet.  After the paint dries, I've got some clear shellac to spray on them.

I've learned, this week, of a new website, called Snag Learning, which offers high-quality documentary films for students.  I've been asked to share the press release, but, well, I just thought I'd share about it in my Wrap-Up instead.  At first, I really wasn't interested in the site since watching movies during school rarely gets past "good intentions" for me, but I clicked over, out of curiosity, and was impressed with what I saw just looking around.  As far as I can tell, it's free, and the films really do appear to be high-quality.  I haven't watched any of the films yet; I'm just going by what I saw in the screen shots, so this information is passed along without endorsement.

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