Homeschool Review: IEW's Fix It! Grammar -- Chanticleer #hsreviews #grammar #writing

We are huge fans of  Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) and we fell in love with their Fix It! Grammar  program years ago.  Fix It! Grammar offers a complete grammar program perfect for use by students in 3rd grade and up.  We were first introduced to it when my youngest children were in 8th and 10th grades and we have continued using it through the years.  My "baby" is finishing her senior year now and we were pleased to be chosen to review Fix It! Grammar:  Chanticleer [Book 5] this semester.  Way back when we first starting using Fix It!, she thought it was a great way to "do" grammar because she could visualize the parts of speech and understand the function of each.  I am pleased to share that she still feels that way.

What we like most about the Fix It! Grammar program is that it really makes it easy to cover the basics of language arts in a laid back way.  The lessons are short and sweet, but packed with a punch.  Students focus on just one or two sentences taken straight from classic literature.  What we are enjoying most about Chanticleer [Book 5] is that it begins right with the skills we left off with in earlier Fix It! books and ups the challenge as it calls on students to delve deeper into sentence structure, punctuation rules, and the finer points of great writing.  We chose this particular book because it is an abridged version of one of the stories from The Canterbury Tales -- one of our favorite pieces of literature.  (Our dog is even named after the author, Geoffrey Chaucer. Neat, right?)  "The Nun's Priest Tale" is a complex and descriptive writing so it is perfect for my daughter to use to practice her editing skills now as she will be in college next year.

There are six grammar books in the entire Fix-It! Series. You can start at the beginning with Book 1 or begin in whichever book best meets your student's specific needs.  If you are unsure, you'll want to have your student(s) take the Placement Test provided.  IEW suggests that if you are still unsure of exactly which level would be best for your student after taking the placement test, start with the lower of the two levels.  Addtional help can be found by attending a free Webinar available.  It is quite helpful in explaining the step-by-step process of Fix-It! Grammar.  This is just further confirmation that all of the IEW  curriculum is structured to be a tool for the teacher.  I appreciate that IEW  realizes there is no cookie cutter method of teaching because there are no cookie cutter students and that they encourage me to decide what is best for my child.

Each book level is a stand-alone resource that takes students through an individual story -- one or two sentences at a time.  Each lesson is designed to take about 15 minutes per day.  We have found this to be the perfect amount of time.  It allows us to start and finish in a timely manner without too much stress.  Senior year brings with it quite a demand on time and talent, so I appreciate the design of the curriculum.  There are four lessons a week over the course of  33 weeks that focus on parts of speech, sentence types, and punctuation through grammar notations, but also teaches vocabulary (the bold words found in the sentences), style, and self-editing skills using the proper editing marks.  This works because students are editing daily so they develop the practice of self-editing everything they write.

We recceived the Fix It! Grammar:  Chanticleer [Book 5] (Teacher's Manual) (216 pages of instruction plus a reference Glossary--pictured below) and Fix It! Grammar:  Chanticleer [Book 5] (Student Book) (70 pages of lessons plus Grammar Cards to be used each week and the reference Glossary).  Both books are coil-bound, softcover and give step-by-step instructions for use.  The Teacher's Manual also includes instructions on receiving a free download of the Student Book, the Mastery Learning e-audio, and the But, but, but . . . What about Grammar? e-audio.  Permission is given for parents to print copies of the student e-book as needed to use within your immediate family.   This is a win-win for us all.

Reference Glossary

When we first began using Fix-It! Grammar we would sit down at the kitchen table together and my children would take turns reading the sentence(s) for the day's lesson aloud.  We would discuss the bolded vocabulary word in each sentence and discuss and define it in the context of the sentence.  They would each write the word and the definition that best fit the situation into a Vocabulary section of their notebooks. I would then read over the instructions from the Teacher's Manual (pictured below) and they would "fix" the sentences accordingly.  This really worked very well for us in a family-learning setting and I would encourage you to consider how you might make it work in your family environment, as well.  I definitely miss those days now that my daughter is the only one left in our homeschool.

Instructions from Teacher's Manual

As a Senior, our approach is different.  We still begin together and I read over the initial instructions for each day's lesson.  We discuss the vocabulary words given and talk about the other words that may not be used as often today (it IS Chaucer after all), and she makes corrections, inserts grammar notations, and edits according to instructions given.  Some days she checks her own work against the Teacher's Manual and some days I check her work.  Either way we are able to discuss her thought process and make sure that it matches up properly with the instructions given and answers provided.  If it does not, we are able to explore a little further together to make sure that she thoroughly understands each concept.  At the end of the week, she does a complete rewrite of the sentences she has edited daily and we discuss those.

Both the Teacher's Manual and the Student Book are laid out in the exact same manner so it is easy to use the two together.  There are teacher's notes that help you help your students as they work through the lessons.  It is easy to explain their mistakes using the teacher's notes and leading questions provided.  We are finding this to be another excellent resource for review.  I am confident that my daughter is going to be ready for college classes in the Fall as a result of the use of this excellent curriculum.

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I was given the opportunity to review the Fix It! Grammar:  Chanticleer [Book 5] from Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) as a member of the the Homeschool Review Crew.   You can check out the Crew Review and see what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew 
thought of this book and other books in the Fix-It! Series as well (or just click on the banner below.)

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