Reviews
Mar. 15, 2007
Growing With Grammar, Grades 1-2 (A Review)
Yesterday I talked to my friend Tamery about homeschooling. As you may recall, yesterday I was not
feeling so great about homeschooling-- so it must be God's sense of humor that had her call me for some
encouragement. Tamery and I have known each other since before she had kids, and her oldest is now
nine, so that is a long time. One of the things I encouraged Tamery to do in our conversation yesterday is
to find curriculum that her oldest can do independently. I have made that my goal for all my olders-- as
soon as they are able to read well, they do lots of schoolwork on their own. I have to do that as a means of
survival as I have lots of other needs and duties to attend to. Tamery has four little boys, so she knows
what I mean!
One of the curriculum "finds" I could wholeheartedly endorse for her was Growing With Grammar. I have
been using this this year with my older two, and I love it because it is something they can do on their own. I
don't know of a single time that one of them has come to me with questions, as the author explains things so
well in their lessons. This program is simple, folks, and that is what I am looking for! One lesson book and
one book to write their assignments in is all you need. No tapes, no cd roms, no dvds, no linking up to
special websites. Just a pencil and two books and they're off! And so, this program has made life simpler
for me this year. And simple, as you know, is good.
When I saw that the creator of this curriculum was coming out with a 1st-2nd grade curriculum, I jumped at
the chance to review it for her by using it with my first grader. She and I have been using it for a few weeks,
and I have to say that I like it. It is just the right balance for a child this age. Right now we are learning
about complete sentences versus sentence fragments. While she is not a stable enough reader to do it on
her own at this point, she happily sits down with me to do it-- and it doesn't take a huge block of my time. I
like that she is gaining a foundation for her age, so that when the time comes to do grammar on her own,
she will feel comfortable with the terminology and purpose of grammar, writing, mechanics, etc. I only wish
this program would have existed with my older kids!
I only have one negative comment-- I wish the 1st and 2nd grade would have been broken up into two
grades, simply because this age child can be quite rough with their things and I can imagine this book
getting torn up before we get all the way through it. Other than that, I give this wonderful curriculum my
highest endorsement. Based on what I have seen so far, I would recommend it for any age/grade! As you
are making decisions about next year, you should take a look at it and consider using it with your kids.
Edited To Add:
Tamy Davis, the creator of this program, sent me this email about the product, which addresses her
reasoning behind combining the two grades. I thought she made some good points so I am including what
she wrote:
I wanted to address your thoughts about dividing the book into two levels. I really thought long and hard
about this, but decided that combining it into one book was a better choice. I spoke with a lot of
homeschoolers with young children and most weren't sure if they would purchase something for a first
grader. They agreed that if it was part of a program including second grade that they would buy it and use
it. Also, putting both levels together was a cheaper alternative for parents since it's basically two student
manuals and two workbooks for the price of one.
I know the book is hefty and can get easily mangled, but since most children aren't working independently at
this age I assumed that Mom or Dad would be handling the book most of the time.
Here is a link to Marybeth's Website!
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/marybeth