Customer Reviews

Simply Grammar: An Illustrated Primer

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was initially sceptical about how useful this book would be to teach Language Arts. I checked it out from the library first and tried it out with my 8 and 9 y.o. daughters. We liked it so well we twice kept it beyond the due date. I purchased my own copy and didn't want to return the library's until mine came in the mail! My 8 y.o. is somewhat gifted in L.A., my 9 y.o. slightly below average. They both benefit from Simply Grammar and they both love it. The lay-out is simple and straightforward. We do the lessons together orally, although I believe an older child could work through the book more independently. We spend about twenty minutes a day, and the children always sigh wistfully when we are done. Simply Grammar has been especially affective with my 9 y.o. I have seen her apply what she has learned from S.G. to her other studies. Her reading comprehension has improved greatly. There is some repetition of difficult concepts, so we have been able to just move on when a particular topic is too difficult, confidant that we will come to it again. I think this approach would be especially refreshing for the child who is feelig a bit burned out with Language Arts, and for the family weary with workbooks.

Well, I never thought I would be saying my nine-year-old son likes grammar... but here I am. He is about as fidgety as the next boy, but he loves working through this book. We do a lesson a week, which translate to about 10-15 minutes a day. We do them orally, and he just loves it. The information sticks with him from week to week, and the lessons are fun and inviting. This is a treasure.

Great homeschool resource for families following Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy...as well as others who'd like additional resources for grammar. My 11-year-old enjoys grammar, now--he's not a big fan of diagramming...Although the book is marketed for Grades 4-HS, I'd use it as a textbook with the lower grades (it's probably written more to a 4th grade level) and as a resource for the upper grades.

I homeschool five different grades at once, this is a great method to use if you are teaching multiple grade levels. It is a great tool for teaching grammar that children really will understand. My kindergartner is learning grammar right along with my sixth grader. No matter what grade level, each one of my children is learning and it's making sense to them. This book uses latin terms that explain what a particular part of speech is and how it is used.
It really takes a lot of the difficulty out of grammar. My children who dreaded grammar before enjoy it now thanks to Simply Grammar.

I bought this book and found it was not in the format I could use to educate my children. They didn't have the patience to sit and listen to me read instruction to them, then afterward get out a piece of paper to answer the questions, flipping between paper and book. The wording appears simple, but the choice of words were not helpful for us. I gave the book a fair try, but got nowhere and had to start over using another format for teaching my boys grammar at the elementary level. They preferred worksheets and I preferred a series that would progress them through middle school without boring them.

Someone else may find it useful as an introductory book to grammar. It is laid out simply and clearly, and admittedly, I was impressed with it; just not fitting for fidgety little boys. Know your children's style and preferences for learning, this may be for you. Then again, if they are like mine....don't bother!

If you are familiar with the works of Charlotte Mason, take a look at the grammar section in volume
1 of the six volume CM series (this is online for free). Miss Mason gives several sample lessons and the
material in that section is duplicated almost word for word in Simply Grammar (there is also other material in Simply Grammar in addition to the material copied from Volume One of Miss Mason's six volume series). So if you have access to volume one, you could get a very good idea of the flavor and feel of Simply Grammar.

Simply Grammar is supposed to be a grammar text Miss Mason wrote and
Karen Andreola only updated it a bit and republished it. I don't
know how many changes, KA made to it. I suspect it's pretty much
what Charlotte Mason had in mind for grammar- but while I very much like Charlotte Mason's approach, there are other grammar programs I have used and liked better with my seven children.

There are four parts, and between 10 and 15 lessons for each of those four sections. Each lesson is illustrated with a sentimental black and white Victorian illustration I believe would be more appealing to romantic and dramatic little girls than to boys. The artwork is more representative of sentimental Victoriana than of sound artistic principles. Usually, but not always, there will be material in the lesson related to the picture (tell a story about this picture using a different preposition in each sentence; or there will be sentences about the picture and the assignment will be to circle all the verbs or change the tense).

I used Simply Grammar with two of my girls when they were about 9 and 10. We
liked the first section of Simply Grammar very much. We used it
comfortably, did all the lessons orally, and my children enjoyed it.
But there seemed to be a marked and sudden increase in difficulty.
One page was easy, then all of a sudden the next page was extremely
confusing and difficult to understand- and all the pages after that
were much harder. We put it aside to use later, but we never did find that it was helpful after that section. The same thing happened with the other children- very pleasant and fun for a while, and then all of a sudden it just leaped in complexity- jumping from talking about basic parts of speech into using terms such as nominative and objective case, indicative mood, and antecedents.

Last Spring my son, then finishing up second grade, and myself had had our fill of workbooks and decided to try a new adventure in our home schooling. We found this method and have NEVER looked back. I found that my then 8 year old could "fill in the blanks" but had a very difficult time composing his own sentences and short paragraphs. This book really helped him learn how to think out of the box...or beyond the blank space if you will...and form his OWN thoughts around a topic, using the parts of speech he needs. This is how we utilize this book:
1. We do (about) 1 lesson a week also, which is about 20-30 minutes in our house.
2. He reads the lesson orally, then I read it with him orally adding examples here and there as I see the question mark in his eyes!
3. He retains information much better if he writes...so we do...everyday. This is usually in the form of one or more of the exercises, but sometimes we make up our own.
As a side note: Something else I wanted to add...he relates well when things are color coded..so we began underlineing the different parts of speech in the book in a certain color of pen. Then when he goes to do his own examples he does the same on his paper. We also use this as part of penmanship so he really works on making his sentences neat.

Hope this has helped! Oh, in response to some of the comments about the era...My son is boy..all boy..yet he was somewhat perplexed and curious by the language as well as the pictures of the time, which have led to lots of extended discussion. It is not even an issue a year later. We will take two years to complete this book as he is also taking Excellence in Writing with a co-op...so we are going through it a bit slower, repeating some lessons as I believe we need to KNOW it before we move on...This has really helped him in that class!

I really wanted to love this book. I really did! The cover and pictures are beautiful. I'm a big fan of Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy. I liked what appeared to be a simple approach. But upon using it with a real child, I discovered that it's wording was way too archaic and wordy. Example: "The subject is that of which we speak." Rather than the much simpler wording of "the subject is 'who' or 'what' the sentence is about."
I am using "First Language Lessons" currently and find this text more user and child friendly. I have looked through "English for the Thoughtful Child" and although I have not used it yet, it too looks better than "Simply Grammar."
I will say that "Simply Grammar" has the most appealing cover of the three!

This product is simply simple! The how to teach grammar that spells everything out in a beautifully organized manner. Can't wait to start this!

Simple to use, just like the title! My daughter loves it and asks to do more!