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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