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.

You can find out more about Fix-It! Grammar and all things IEW on the following Social Media outlets:

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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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Homeschool Review: Fitting Words (Roman Roads Media) #hsreviews #RomanRoadsMedia #FittingWords #Classical #Rhetoric

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.    Proverbs 25:11

I've taught a public speaking class for several homeschool families throughout the past eight years as each of my children reached high school.  It's always been a fun class and I know the kids have learned a good bit about standing in front of their peers and sharing a peek into who they are.  We've covered the basics of speech and learned how NOT to be a distraction when you have a captive audience, but now that I've had the opportunity to begin working through the Fitting Words Classical Rhetoric (complete program) by Roman Roads Media, there's SO MUCH MORE I want to teach.  I'm happy that my "baby" still has this last year of school so that we could add classical rhetoric to her course load.

Rhetoric is defined as the art of effective verbal communication and Fitting Words uses speeches from history and Scripture as the basis of instruction.  Taught by author Jim Nance, students are continually reminded that GOD created us to use words to communicate and HE wants us to use them in such a way that we teach, move, and delight others through truth, goodness, and beauty.  Our words need to be informative and powerful, but they also need to be elegant.  We want to be able to Biblically persuade others as we conversate.

The goal of Fitting Words is to create orators (our students) who are filtered -- not through the society in which they live, but who are filtered through the Bible.  This curriculum offers a Christian perspective of rhetoric and seeks to redeem the pagan teachings of old.  Students are reminded that GOD spoke the world into being and are directed to HIS WORD.  There is weekly Scripture memory (you know I love that!) and GOD's Word is the living, breathing textbook used in every lesson.

I was excited when my package arrived and couldn't wait to get the box opened up and the curriculum out of it.  Fitting Words Classical Rhetoric arrived at my house packed safely in this handy bag and it is perfect for keeping all of the program's components safe and sound between lessons.

There is so much here to unpack.  Fitting Words is a video-based course and the complete curriculum consists of the following components:

• Textbook -- 394-page, hardcover, divided into 30 Lessons
• Workbook -- 171-page, coilbound, softcover includes exercises for each lesson.  This is a consumable resource which means that students should be writing in its pages.  You will need one workbook for each of your students.  It is a necessary component of the class.
• Exam Packet -- shrinkwrapped, 3-hole-punched, loose-leaf pages which contain the Reviews for 9 Exams, the 9 Exams, and Judging Sheets for 6 Speeches (The actual giving of speeches begins in Lesson 13.)
• Video Course (DVD + Streaming) -- case of 4 DVDs.  Each lesson has a main video that students watch before they read the lesson and an application video they watch following the reading of the lesson.  There is also a Pre-Exam video to be watched as part of the Exam Reviews.  Videos are 6 - 28 minutes in length.
• Answer Key -- softcover, bound book that contains all answers for Lesson Exercises and Exams with points suggestions for scoring Exams.  This serves as your Teacher's Guide and gives suggested schedules for using Fitting Words as either a one- or two-year course as pictured below:

We are utilizing the one-year plan (on the right) with my daughter working four days a week and here's the deal -- Fitting Words had me from the moment we pushed play on the DVD.  The very first thing in the very first lesson is an encouragement to read the Preface and the Introduction from the Textbook which explains the overall structure of the curriculum and the goals that Mr. Nance has for the student.  He tells them to STOP THE VIDEO if they haven't read those pages and come back once they've read them.  I just love that he makes sure that students understand that ALL parts of a text are important. I will go one step further and suggest that you make sure to read the Foreword, as well.  Rhetoric in the Hands of an Angry Mob tells us that if we want to be faithful Christians, then studying rhetoric is not an option.  It is a necessity for us all.

Mr. Nance really does want the very best from each student and this is evident in his teaching style.  He reviews, he teaches, and he reviews again continually pointing out ways that the students can find success.  Additionally, he intertwines Scripture through every lesson and explains that we will be studying the very best speeches so that we can deliver the very best speeches.  I appreciate this approach to a class that can sometimes be very scary. 

After explaining that the goals of rhetoric are found in truth, goodness, and beauty, students were directed to take out their very own copy of GOD's Word and read through Psalm 119.  This is a Thinking Deeper discussion question.  Mr. Nance shared that Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible and a great place to find examples of the rhetoric goals.  Do I even need to tell you how much I love this?  I'm a firm believer in making the pages of a Bible your very own and I was thrilled to see my girl following through.

Another HUGE part of the video lessons is the Application Lesson.  After students watch the initial video and read in their text, they return to the video for a short lesson of one rhetorical figure.  Students learn about Figures of Speech and Figures of Thought.  They will revisit these figures at the end of the text, but are being introduced to them slowly throughout the year.  This is also where students receive suggestions for how to complete the discussion questions found in the text (Thinking Deeper), work through the accompanying exercises in the workbook, and receive their Commonplace topics.

The Commonplace assignment is one of my favorites.  Commonplaces are written in a Commonplace book which is nicely bound and portable.  Mr. Nance gives a specific theme for quotes to be written down and regularly read through.  Students are encouraged to use the quotes in conversaion.  I'm sharing a page from my daughter's Commonplace, but offer a little grace as you view it.  She said that it was not written with intentions of anyone but her seeing it, but she allowed me to take a picture anyway.  :)

I am more than happy with the fact that Fitting Words takes a Christian approach to rhetoric.  I am in love with the entire program and ecstatic that we have found (or it found us) a curriculum that places GOD in the very center.  With a world full of junk that can be committed to memory, it does our hearts good knowing that the speeches from the Bible are the ones being poured over and committed to memory.

The textbook consists of 30 Lessons divided into 7 Units.  These Units begin with the foundations of rhetoric, and teach students HOW to write speeches that people will want to listen to using a Socratic method of instruction.  Students will learn HOW to engage their audience through watching great speeches, listening to great speeches, reading great speeches, and giving great speeches.  The text is phenomenal and the videos are beautifully produced.  The speeches of famous orators are integrated right into the teaching segments. As delightful as it was to see and hear Neil Armstrong's small step, it was gut-wrenching to watch President George W. Bush deliver his speech to the nation after 9/11.

Fitting Words is a fabulous course for high school students, but it's also a fabulous course for adults.  I've enjoyed sitting down with my girl and watching the videos, reading through the pages of the textbook, and pouring over the speeches shared in the appendix just as much as she has  -- and I love the way it makes us both THINK.  I especially love that every speech found in the Bible that is spoken or written with a direct audience in mind is listed in the back of the textbook.  These speeches are laid out by reference, speaker, and intended audience with a title of specific quote attributed to them.  This alone is an incredible resource.  

I think that every student should study Classical Rhetoric through the videos and pages of Fitting Words.  There is even a live class option, if your high schooler migh be interested in taking that route.  You absolutely cannot go wrong using this Roman Roads Media curriculum.  Check it out!     You can watch one full lesson for FREE on the website to get a feel for how it works as well as find lots of great information through the following:

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I was given the opportunity to review the Fitting Words Classical Rhetoric (complete program) by Roman Roads Media as a member of the Homeschool Review Crew.   You can check out the Crew Review and see what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought of this program, the Picta Dicta Vocabulary Builder program, and the Picta Dicta Natural World program by clicking on the graphic below.

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Homeschool Review: GrammarPlanet #hsreviews #GrammarPlanet #grammar #onlinelearning

I am that girl from junior high and high school who fell in love with diagramming sentences.  If I'm super honest here, there's just something downright soothing to me about every word having a special place to call its own.  Maybe that's the OCD in me, but when I look at a sentence, I immedicately break it down in my head.  I underline subjects once, verbs twice, strike through prepositional phrases, and mentally draw arrows from adjectives and adverbs to the words that they describe. (Do any of you do that as well?)  It makes me happier than I can explain -- but as much as I have always enjoyed grammar and punctuation, I've come to realize that I didn't teach my children to love it, too.  Somewhere along the way, I lost my passion for all things "in their place" without even realizing that I had done so.  Luckily for all of us, GrammarPlanet has come along to save the day.  It's become that ONE thing that I didn't even know we needed, and now I can't imagine school without it.

GrammarPlanet is a brand new, online grammar program that walks students through all the basics of grammar -- and then some.  It comes to us from the grammar professionals over at Analytical Grammar and can be used by students of all ages.  My high schooler is enjoying it as much as I am and I have friends with younger kids who are learning tons using it, as well.  What we like most about GrammarPlanet is that it teaches with ease and simplicity what can be a difficult thing to grasp -- and it does so in just 15 minutes a day.  Did you read that?  True grammar is being taught and understood in my house in just 15 minutes a day.  And even better . . . GrammarPlanet doesn't recommend doing more than that at a time.  They WANT you to stop after 15 minutes.  Their philosophy is that 15 minutes is plenty of time to develop skills without frustration and my daughter agrees.  She and I both appreciate knowing that her time is being well spent.

There are currently 13 units of study in GrammarPlanet (with more being uploaded each week) and punctuation is coming.  Each unit begins with a short video lesson (5 - 14 minutes long) explaining a new part of speech or concept and there are accompanying PDF files that will be utilized in labeling the words in practice sentences.  It is recommended that students print these files and place them in a binder.  My daughter's notebook is pictured below.  She designed her cover page and keeps the printouts handy to refer back to them as she parses and diagrams sentences.  You'll notice in pictures that her pink GrammarPlanet reference notebook is right beside her as she works.

This notebook has proven to be an invaluable resource as multiple parts of speech are added throughout the unit lessons.  Each unit builds on what has been taught in previous units and the notebook created offers a big-picture view of grammar.  For example, Unit 1 offered lessons on Nouns.  It explained common and proper nouns and the practice sentences simply had students labeling nouns.  Nothing else.  All of the focus was on simply picking out a noun and knowing how to label it.  I absolutely LOVE that students are taught to parse a sentence (label the correct part of speech) before they are required to diagram a sentence.  As a matter of fact, sentences are not diagrammed until Unit 6.  

After students watch the video for a unit and print the PDF files, they are directed to practice sentences onscreen.  Once they've read a sentence, they click each word.  A box opens up with the different parts of speech and students click the correct label for each word.  They mark the words in the order that they have learned their part of speech:  nouns, adjectives, articles, pronouns, prepositional phrases, etc.  It's a good way to keep everything in its place.

GrammarPlanet is designed to help each individual student achieve success independently.  The program builds on what you know and self-regulates as you work.  If you are breezing through a particular lesson, they recognize that there is no need for you to spend time repeatedly studying the concepts you've mastered, so GrammarPlanet shortens the number of practice sentences you must do and moves you on into the Unit Test.  Similarly, if you are mislabeling words repeatedly in a lesson, GrammarPlanet will adjust and offer you more opportunities to practice those concepts.   Immediate feedback lets you know right where you stand as pictured below:

Parsing a sentence

All correct

Issues to be discussed

After a student completes the prescribed practice sentences, they answer five graded test questions.  Another thing to love -- I don't have to grade the work and the cumulative score is kept for me.  I also have the option to have my child re-do work that is not up to par to ensure that she grasps each grammar concept completely before moving on.  This is of the utmost importance to me as we finish high school and move into college work.   I need to make sure that she knows what she knows.

Once a student reaches Unit 6, they not only parse each sentence, but they also diagram it in a separate notebook.  AFTER they diagram in their notebook, they can click onscreen and see the sentence correctly diagrammed.  Students are able to check their own work.  You already know how much I love diagramming, and I am happy to report that my daughter is beginning to understand the benefits of it as well.

Diagramming a sentence that you have parsed allows you to physically SEE the composition of a sentence and understand the intricacies of our language.  I know that this skill will also prove beneficial to my girl when she takes the ACT later this year.  I did not teach my son the art of diagramming sentences and he ended up taking an online grammar class last semester in college to help him in English Comp.  We have found GrammarPlanet to be not only comparable to his online class, but to actually be much more thorough -- and did I mention that it is FREE?

This FREE program is easy to set up and begin.  Our family account has both a teacher and student dashboard and getting started is just a matter of clicking through the log in.  It's a simple process.  MY dashboard shows me the progress being made by my daughter and the grade she has made thus far.  HER dashboard logs her into the educational content where the video, printouts, practice, and test questions await.  She logs in each morning, works for 15 minutes, and then logs out.  I am able to track her progress through each lesson, look at each sentence that she parses, and see first-hand what she understands and what she might need to practice more.  IF for some reason she mislabels too many words in the practice sentences, the program notifies her that she should walk away for a bit and discuss the lesson with her teacher.   I am also notified via email that she might need a bit of help which gives us an opportunity to discuss before she moves on to the testing portion of the lesson.  Here's why I like this:  There is accounability built right in to GrammarPlanet.  Instead of shakily pushing through to unknown territory, students are asked to stop and re-group and their work will be waiting right where they left off when they return.  In my opinion, that just goes to show how much the real people behind the program want to make sure that my child succeeds.  I can think of nothing better from a company -- to care about MY kids as though they are their own.  I cannot recommend this program highly enough.

Please take time to connect with GrammarPlanet today and find out how to get your students started on the journey to great grammar and punctuation skills.  You'll be able to find out even more about how this program works and how it will help your students be their very best through the following Social Media links:

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I was given the opportunity to review GrammarPlanet as a member of the Homeschool Review Crew.   You can check out the Crew Review and see what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought of this marvelous grammar program by clicking on the graphic below.

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Homeschool Review: The Magic Stories of Allsaid & Dunn, LLC #hsreviews #goodmorals #character #childrenstories

Teaching your child to read may be the very first big hurdle in the homeschool world and so many times it causes moms to stress far beyond what they should.  Believe me, I get it.  All four of my children learned to read in such totally different ways and my youngest struggled to catch on for the longest.  I knew that in time she would get it and would learn to love to read, but there were days when I wanted to cry right along with her.  We found ways to make reading fun and stress-free, knowing that the more enjoyable it was, the more interested she would be.  We learned to add just a touch of "magic" to the learning process, and were simply ecstatic when letters started to form words and words started to form sentences in her mind's eye.

One of our all time favorite reading resources came to us in form of The Reading Game so you can imagine my delight in being able to share with you the newest resource from the same people who brought it into our world.  The Magic Stories by Allsaid & Dunn, LLC, publishers of The Reading Game and authors of the Wordly Wise series adds just the perfect touch of "magic" that my daughter needed in the process of learning how to read.  And while The Magic Stories is the absolute PERFECT follow-up resource for The Reading Game, you absolutely do not have to have played it first to find success with The Magic Stories.  These delightful stories are written with words appropriate for 2nd and 3rd grade learners, but they can be used in multiple ways with both older and younger readers, too.

The Magic Stories consists of six beautifully illustrated stories that share good morals and great character lessons with children as they read through the adventurous tales and improve reading and comprehension skills along the way.    Each of the stories ranges from 15 - 24 pages long and is easy to read in one sitting.  They can be read straight from your computer or iPad screen or you can print them out and make a book of them.


As you know, I'm a pen and paper girl myself, so I couldn't wait to print the pages.  These can be printed on regular paper or cardstock and can be printed one-sided or two.  Either way, they are lovely.  Combined together, The Magic Stories make for a very nice sized book that will become a family favorite.  The fables are fun and well worth reading and re-reading.  The simple black and white illustrations are beautiful and your child will enjoy coloring them to personalize the book.  Once that is "all said and done," you'll have a treasure to enjoy for years to come.

Not only are The Magic Stories great little readers, they offer corresponding worksheets that make them a comprehensive reading curriculum, as well.  Each story has a list of "Naughty Words" at the back of the reader.  (Now, don't worry -- the words themselves aren't ugly words that you don't want your children saying -- they are simply those words that are sometimes harder to say and use correctly when you are first learning the rules of our crazy English language.  The only thing that makes them "naughty" is that they can be difficult to learn.)  These Naughty Words are offered as a "deck" so that you can print them on cardstock, cut them apart, and use like flash cards.  Each Naughty Word has it's own card in the deck and a sentence using the word correctly is included.  Perfect for playing games and increasing your vocabulary.

In addition to the Naughty Words deck, each story has a set of seven worksheet pages to be printed to help students learn.  There is a pre- and post-reading assessment of the words that will be in each book, a maze to test reading comprehension after the story has been completed, a finish-the-sentence worksheet that helps your child learn the basic elements of language arts, a Real & Imaginary worksheet that ensures that children know the difference between what can really happen and what we can pretend happens in life, and a creative writing exercise that complements the story read.  This is a wealth of reading readiness at your fingertips.  Reluctant readers are going to thoroughly enjoy reading and studying through these magic stories and worksheets just as much as children who simple enjoy reading for reading's sake.


You can find out even more about The Magic Stories by Allsaid & Dunn, LLC, publishers of The Reading Game and authors of the Wordly Wise series by visiting the following Social Media sites:

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And the best thing about what your students will learn?  They'll learn that reading does not take magic after all -- just a willingness to try and not give up.  In my opinion, that's a lesson we can all use in life.

I was given the opportunity to review The Magic Stories by Allsaid & Dunn, LLC, publishers of The Reading Game and authors of the Wordly Wise series as a member of the Homeschool Review Crew.   You can check out the Crew Review and see what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought of these magical stories.

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