Ever since I went up to Great Homeschool Conventions I’ve been referring to our new grammar program, Applied Grammar, and saying “I’ll get you an Applied Grammar review,” well I’ve finally sat down and figured out why I like it.
I looked at a lot of grammar programs while I was there. It was on my MUST buy list. So far our grammar has been: Capitalize sentences, and make sure you have a period at the end.
Applied Grammar is great for visual learners
See that paragraph up there. That was our first paragraph after starting the program. It’s super simple and to the point, and they were able to find the nouns and verbs. Every part of speech is assigned a color.
As we get further and further into the program we can look at their work and say “You are missing adverbs, there’s no yellow.” I like the simplicity of the lessons.
Applied Grammar is great for wiggly learners
As you can no doubt tell I have a lot of wiggly learners. They need movement, and the ability to interact.
At the beginning of the book are several activity suggestions, the last page has some of my kids’ favorites activities. They especially like “Whip Around” because they get to talk AND throw a ball.
Applied Grammar has a wide variety of activities
My kids loved our noun gathering the other day. It was going to be a noun walk, but we couldn’t really head outside because of the rain (it’s been the weirdest weather this year).
They happily ran around the upstairs finding examples of nouns and writing them down. At the end they’d collected over 30 nouns, not too surprisingly there were a lot of duplicates.
Our first Applied Grammar lesson: start simple
I thought this was a great idea for a starting lesson on grammar. What are the tools of writing? We came up with a long list of things we need, and eventually they gave me “words,” and they’re right. We need words to write, and inspired by this first lesson, I give you my favorite things about Applied Grammar.
My top 8 reasons to get Applied Grammar
- Applied Grammar engages the senses. There are activities in there for every type of learner, and so far my kids have enjoyed them all, as long as I don’t concentrate too much on one type.
- I only need to buy this program once. Most of the other grammar programs were buy a new level every year, and buy each kid a workbook. As I added up all that money in my head, I was groaning.
- There is little teacher prep. Unlike many programs I don’t need to cut out a lot of things, or organize anything. I pretty much hang up a poster, and read a lesson plan, and that’s it. Little work for me to do.
- It’s ordered logically. First nouns, then verbs, and so on and so forth. Then it gets into sentences and more. Each step builds on the other.
- Applied Grammar works with any writing assignment. Most of the other grammar curriculum I found were extra assignments on top of the writing you’re doing for history, science, WRITING, and more. That’s a lot for elementary, and I know I’d hear complaints.
- You don’t HAVE to buy a workbook. I did get a copy just to see if we wanted to use it, and I don’t. If you want one, it’s there, but you don’t HAVE to use it.
- It’s pick up and go. As you can tell, I’m kinda big on less work on my part. I have more than enough things I add extra work into, so this reason ended up on here twice.
- It can be used with many levels. I can use it with all 3 of my kids and they all can learn with it. That is BRILLIANT.
Buying Applied Grammar
It’s only for sale on the Applied Grammar website. You can go all out and get the Super fancy One Applied Grammar book set for $44. I must have gotten a Convention special set because I didn’t end up getting the DVDs included in that one, but I got most everything else. You can also just buy the Applied Grammar level 1 lessons for $25. If you want to go further or provide more ideas there are a whole plethora of products to dig further in, but this will help us for most of what I wanted them to get in elementary, and I can pick up their other levels as I need them, if I do.
It’s always nice to find a curriculum that can be used with multiple ages and levels.
Yes it is, I’m really looking forward to our grammar and writing this coming year.
I can’t wait to see your grammar and writing posts. This is the subject I would be most hesitant to teach because of my ESL and also because I find grammar incredibly boring.
I have yet to find someone, wait no, I think I do know one person who enjoys grammar. But, most people just do not like it, and most people think teaching writing is incredibly hard.
This sounds like a great grammar program!
It’s been great so far! I can’t wait to get into it more.
I think grammar study is much, much bigger in America then UK. My guys learn a bit, attached with their English, but most comes from reading great books.
Did you use the laminated mats, word cards, etc?
We use the posters and they are hanging in our school room, but we have not really used the laminated word cards yet. I could see it being useful for my kids, but we haven’t used them yet.
Thanks for this post. I just ordered this for my wife to use with our kids in the upcoming school year. Your review was very helpful. I informed Applied Grammar that I found out about their products from this blog.
I’m glad to hear it was helpful. I love their stuff.
There’s also a digital format for the books and materials.
I didn’t know that, and I was just checking that out and saw there’s a cool writing drill I might have to pick up.
OK I’m only just seeing this post now. It looks great. I have a few questions if that’s ok.
Does it take the kids through high school level grammar?
Would it work in a small group setting with kids of different ages and abilities?
Hmmmm…… I’m not sure if it would take them to high school if you’re wanting to get into diagramming and things like that, but for just learning parts of speech, yes.
For multi-ages, yes it can. Like I said, they’ve got workbooks for the varying age groups, so you could give them practice for their age group.