The Institute for Excellence in Writing has a new program out call Fix It! Grammar. Our family received Fix it! Grammar: Robin Hood, Teacher Manual Book 2. and Fix it! Grammar: Robin Hood Student Book, Book 2. My son and I were so excited that book 2 was "on his level" because he just loves the story of Robin Hood!
How it works:
This program is like no grammar curriculum I have ever seen. It is unique in that all the sentences in the daily lessons build and build until you have the story of Robin Hood at the end of the year.
There are 33 weeks worth of material, with 4 days in each week. Day 1 is the most teacher/mom intensive, since you are introducing new concepts. Each concept has a corresponding card which the student cuts out. (They are found at the back of the student book.) Each card is labeled in the upper right hand corner on the back as to which week it is introduced in. We found this very helpful as we were gathering our new cards on all the "day 1's." A further explanation and tips are found on the back of the card also. I had a wooden file card holder that works perfectly for what my son needed. He keeps only the cards that have been introduced in this file box. We add to the box each week. Several cards are added weekly.
There are 33 weeks worth of material, with 4 days in each week. Day 1 is the most teacher/mom intensive, since you are introducing new concepts. Each concept has a corresponding card which the student cuts out. (They are found at the back of the student book.) Each card is labeled in the upper right hand corner on the back as to which week it is introduced in. We found this very helpful as we were gathering our new cards on all the "day 1's." A further explanation and tips are found on the back of the card also. I had a wooden file card holder that works perfectly for what my son needed. He keeps only the cards that have been introduced in this file box. We add to the box each week. Several cards are added weekly.
After the new concepts are taught, one sentence from the story of Robin Hood is corrected and marked each day in the student book. (Yes--just one sentence per day.) Skills learned in week 2 are transferred on to week 3 and so on. The student will take the incorrect and unmarked sentence and fix things like: indenting, capitalization, commas, correct usage, etc. They will also mark parts of speech. A vocabulary word is marked each day in bold print. The student is to look that up each day and write down a definition for how it is used in the book. We have been keeping a vocabulary notebook for years, so this worked easily for us. We just added to our notebook.
When the student has marked the sentence, the parent would then use the Teacher's Manual to check the work and use the information given for each day's assignment to answer any questions or give clarification.
Once the sentence has been checked, it's time for your child to add the sentence to the ever-growing story of Robin Hood. You may choose wait and have your child write all 4 sentences as the assignment for day 5. We always did it on the day in which the sentence was corrected. Some days we did two sentences if we were making up from the day before. (This curriculum could also be used a quicker pace for students who are ready to move on to the next level.)
- I found the Teacher's Manual to be most helpful. It explains every mark that there might be a question about. There is a page for each day's assignment. I love how everything is explained simply and clearly. I have never been confused. It even gives "extra" information for all those grammar lovers out there!
- This curriculum is easy to add in to other things you are doing as part of your English curriculum. It's just the right amount of grammar so that your child still has time for writing and other great literature.
- My son loves it! He is thrilled to only have one sentence per day and to be reading the story of Robin Hood again.
- I think this is the best way to learn grammar. Sentences in a context (and even better--great literature!) instead of isolated sentences. This style of teaching grammar reinforces great writing.
