Fix It! Grammar Review  {Homeschool Grammar Curriculum}

Isn’t grammar one of those unexciting but kind of must-do subjects in your homeschool?  It kind of is was in ours.  Super Hero loves a good story, but studying the ins and outs of how to write it … not so much!   Well, not anymore! Our dull grammar times are over thanks to Fix It! Grammar, which we received for free in exchange for my complete and honest review.

homeschool grammar curriculum fix-it-grammar-review

What We Received

We received the complete set of Fix It! Grammar The Nose Tree (Book 1) from the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). The set included the printed spiral version of both:

  • Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree {Book 1} Teacher’s Manual
  • Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree {Book 1} Student Book

fix it grammar homeschool curriculum review

 

The Nose Tree is the first in the Fix It! Grammar series of 6 books, intended for children in grades 3 and up. The Nose Tree retails for $19 and $15 for the spiral versions of the Teacher’s Manual and Student Book respectively.

 

What to Expect

Fix It! Grammar’s approach is different from the traditional grammar workbook. As soon as I visited IEW’s website and watched (listened actually) the webinar introducing this novel approach, I was hooked. It made complete sense. Grammar needs to be studied in context, not with isolated examples that can make it oh-so-dry, boring and disconnected. Fix It! Grammar introduces the elements of speech gradually and gently. It breaks a real and engaging story down to its most basic building block: The sentence. Thus, the child gets to study grammar in action, one sentence at a time. Over the course of the book, the repetition ensures the child not only understands, but masters the material effortlessly.  Furthermore, each open-and-go lesson is easy to follow and takes only 15 minutes at most.

Fix It Grammar Review

 

How We Used Fix It! Grammar

Super Hero and I have been diligently using The Nose Tree for 4 days a week during the last 5 weeks. Since the lesson is brief, only 1 sentence in 15 minutes or less, our grammar study flows smoothly.

A handful of basic grammar concepts were introduced the first week.  Super Hero got to mark nouns, homophones, indents and end marks (punctuation) on the daily sentence.  Beginning on the second week, one new concept has been introduced each week. So far, Super Hero has learned about articles, quotations, pronouns, and who-which clauses, aside from those mentioned earlier.

Fix It Grammar Review

 

Nice, sturdy flash cards with each concept’s definition are included in the Student Book. Super Hero uses these whenever the concept is still a new one. But as he has been progressing, there’s been little need for him to refer to the earlier flash cards. We continue to add flash cards to his collection as new concepts get introduced weekly.

Fix It Grammar Review

 

Once Super Hero completes marking each element on top of the sentence, he rewrites it on his notebook.  So far, he has handwritten about 3 and a half pages of the story. By the time Book 1 finishes, he will have rewritten the complete story, enjoying it and learning from it all along.

Fix It Grammar Review

 

Sentences also feature one salient word in bold typeface. This is the Vocabulary for the day. Super Hero is to look it up in the dictionary, pick the appropriate meaning, and write it down in the Vocab section of his Fix It! Grammar binder.  We did that for the first couple of words, but afterward, he decided this business about writing words to tuck them in a binder wasn’t fun enough. He wanted to continue using our Word Jar instead.

Fix It Grammar Review

 

We’ve had our Word Jar for a while, and Super Hero loves it. He likes to add new words into it, and to play word games. His favorite is the hang man. We even have a little Hang Man game pad he received from our co-op violin teacher as an end-of-the-year gift once.

Fix It Grammar Review

 

Our Opinion About Fix It! Grammar

Both Super Hero and I love Fix It! Grammar. This novel approach to encounter the elements of speech while reading an interesting story has been a breath of fresh air. No more grunting during grammar time! Super Hero reads the story with enthusiasm and analyzes the sentence with zero complaints. As soon as he’s finished rewriting the sentence on his notebook, he can’t help peeking into the pages ahead to learn how the story’s unfolding. “No peeking! —I intervene. “Let’s not spoil the suspense!” He resists closing the book down for a minute or two, but quickly switches gears, eager to play the vocabulary games.

Super Hero’s most favorite part has been the brevity of the lessons. Ever since we started with Fix It! Grammar, he’s been willing and enthusiastic about it. Grammar is now one of the first things we do. The vocabulary games we play after each lesson are a major hit as well. He can’t get enough of them! He loves to introduce one more word into our “word jar” and then either try to guess it or to hang me! In the spirit of full disclosure, Fix It! Grammar does not actually mention the vocabulary games. We happen to be following a writing program at our co-op, also by The Institute of Excellence in Writing. IEW’s “All Things Fun and Fascinating” has given us lots of fun vocabulary game ideas.

I love the ease and effectiveness of the Fix It! Grammar method. It’s made an enormous difference in both of our attitudes toward grammar. Aside from grammar, this program effectively covers reading, vocabulary and penmanship as well.  I very much appreciate the professional quality of the materials, and the thoughtfulness with which this curriculum has been prepared. These really come through!

The spiral books are convenient. To spike the suspense even more, handing out a page (a week) at a time from the ebook would be exciting too. In fact, this option may be more suitable for some families. By purchasing the printed spiral version of The Teacher’s Manual, you are entitled to an ebook version of the Student Book. —A sweet deal, don’t you think?

The Scoop with Fix It! Grammar
  • Open and Go!
  • Easy Prep
  • Kid Approved
  • Fun
  • Quality
  • Pedagogy
4.8

In a Nutshell

Yes, I would highly recommend Fix It! Grammar to all looking for a solid, fun and engaging homeschool grammar curriculum. I haven’t used many grammar curricula, after all Super Hero’s only 9. But, I have used enough stuff out there to recognize a winner. How many grammar curricula will actually cause a child to eagerly anticipate what’s coming next? Or to say “Hm, this is fun!”, “I wish they would introduce adjectives already, there are so many adjectives I could mark up!”

I am very happy we had the opportunity to use and review Fix It! Grammar. Not only will we continue to use Book 1 The Nose Tree until we complete it, we will progress with the entire series in due time.

 

Want to Learn More?

If you’d like, you can read more reviews from my fellow Crew members. Or you can visit IEW’s website or social media accounts:

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