Count Down to New School Year: Grammar

I have been very drawn to Winston Grammar over the past year and some of you have even answered my many questions. I also went back to Cathy Duffy's review of Winston Grammar in her book which is one of her top 100 curriculum picks and it fits perfectly with my sons' learning styles. I just didn't know enough info about it so I asked questions and then called Liz (check her contact info out here) and she was extremely helpful answering all of my remaining questions. Winston Grammar was created in the late 60's/early 70's by an 8th grade teacher, by the way. It's actually been around a long time but I'm not sure when it was made available to the public or homeschool families since it was used within a certain area or for private schools.

Basic Winston Grammar was created to be used when a child has reached the age of abstract thinking which is usually around age 10-11 so I guess about 5th grade. Winston is strictly grammar instruction. No composition or punctuation instructions are included but certain rules can be explained as you tackle certain sentences or content using an English Handbook such as Rod and Staff English Handbook or Writers Inc. or just using your writing program.

The Basic Winston Grammar set is a year long grammar course. Quizzes, pre and post tests, a student workbook, color coded cards and a teacher's manual along with an answer key are in the basic set. If you have more than one student, just order an extra student workbook set which will include a workbook and personal color coded cards. Some of the basic set content includes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositional phrases, coordinating conjunctions, interjections, nouns of direct address, subjects, direct and indirect objects and appositives. If extra practice is needed, a supplemental workbook and key is provided for purchase also. There isn't formal diagramming of sentences although the identification of the parts of speech is learned through the parsing of sentences. If you prefer diagramming over parsing, you could always add The First Whole Book of Diagrams for practice if needed. There are 30 worksheets in the Basic program and 3-4 sentences are completed each day from a worksheet so the lessons take no more that 10-15 minutes and one worksheet is completed each week.

After the basic set, we will use Winston Word Works, a year long grammar course also. It's set up similar to the basic set. Word Works reinforced some content from the basic set and it tackles some common language usage problem areas such as subject-verb agreement, compound subjects, personal pronoun functions ex. I and me, she and her, they and them; interrogative pronouns like who and whom; comparatives and superlatives, and others words like sit/set, good/well, less/fewer, lie/lay, can/may, etc.

Advanced Winston Grammar set can be started after Word Works around 8th grade or beyond. The Advanced set reviews some content from the basic set and it is packed full of material so it can be taught over 2 years. Because of its content, this course can count as one year of high school English credit if taken during high school. Some of the Advanced set content consists of possessive adjectives, possessive pronouns and nouns, reflexives, interrogative pronouns, present and past participles, gerunds, correlative conjunctions, infinitives, relative pronouns, compound and complex sentences, and embedded noun clauses.

I also love the fact that Winston grammar is an incremental program which means that each concept is built upon another and the lessons are short...less than 10 minutes! That's always helpful when teaching multiple children as I am plus we have decided to add Rod and Staff English back into our homeschool and use Winston as a supplement since the lessons are so quick and easy plus the use of the manipulative have been helpful with reinforcing concepts. My children aren't excited about my going back to Rod and Staff but mom knows best. ;-)

I highly recommend this program especially if your child has difficulty learning grammar using the traditional textbook approach.