Homeschooling English Question

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Okay, I'm using a fake email addy because I really don't want to get spammed on this!

My son is 12, and we homeschool. He's doing exceptionally well in all areas, except English. He reads at the college level, and write amazing stories, with very few errors. But ask him to point out the nouns, pronouns, verbs, etc., and he has a terrible time! He just doesn't get it.

Any suggestions about how I can teach this to him?

-- Later Maybe (Noway@nospam.now), March 25, 2002

Answers

There's different opinions out there on how important this stuff is. For right now just let me point out that your son is very good at English. It's grammar that he is weak in. About 95% of college students are pretty weak at identifying the parts of speech. That doesn't mean that everything is okay. I think he should learn the parts of speech. I'm just pointing out that the main big deal -- English -- he is good at.

-- Rick#7 (rick7@postmark.net), March 25, 2002.

Have you tried the book "Simply Grammar" by Karen Andreola. It has a Charlotte Mason approach. This book is appropriate for all grade levels. I see it for sale every once in a while on ebay.

-- vicki in NW OH (thga76@aol.com), March 25, 2002.

I'm from the old school where we learned the different parts by diagraming sentences.:) I'm sure there are more modern ways but Hey it worked 43 years ago & it's the way we taught our son who's now 23 & in college. Good Luck, Kathy

-- Kathy Aldridge (delila48@hotmail.com), March 25, 2002.

Hi. I had to acknowledge your question as my twins knew what an irregular verb was at 3 years old. It's no great feat to learn parts of speech, and your boy is an exception to be reading at a college level so it's not impossible that he learn relatively quickly.

Here's one way to teach him without "classroom droning":

One week, say, teach verbs. Tell him this is verb week. At the table in the morning remind him that the word "eat" is a verb,then maybe add: "oh, drink is a verb." Tell him eat is an irregular verb because we say ate and not eated, drink is too, as we say drank, not drinked. Do this throughout the day at any opportunity. Remind him that sleep is an irregular verb, as we say slept, etc. You'll be surprised how quick he says "Enough already!" Then jump on to helping verbs, and verb phrases. I would start out with verbs as there are several rules to them. Kids learn best by association, and in no time you should have that world class scholar that you knew existed all along! I home-schooled my 12 year old, so I know what you're up against.

Good luck!

Windy

-- wendy godfrey (windyz@aol.com), March 25, 2002.


Since you say that he write amazing stories, I would use those stories by pointing out examples of; verbs, adverbs, adjectives, etc. and then ask him to come up with different/replacement; verbs, adverbs, adjectives. etc for the ones he has already used and then either give him some new ones or encourage him to find new ones, to incorporate into his next stories.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), March 25, 2002.


When I was a kid I just memorized that a noun is a person, place or thing. A ver is an action word.

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), March 25, 2002.

I'm an English Professor, and I'd say that identifying grammatical parts of speech is of varying importance depending on what your son is doing. It probably won't hinder him as a writer, except perhaps in very, very subtle ways, not to know these things. It will, however, be a big problem when (if?) you begin teaching foreign language - he needs to understand the basics of english grammar in order to translate effectively. That might be a good way to teach him - start working on a foreign language, either one you know, or if you don't know one, one that you'd be interested in learning with him. It really doesn't matter which one - if you want to make the focus the connection with English, try latin, german, old english or icelandic, but really, anything is fine. Also there are several great, very funny books called _The transitive Vampire_ and _The Well- Tempered Sentence_ that cover this material with a sophisticated humor that might engage him.

-- Sharon in NY (astyk@brandeis.edu), March 25, 2002.

I, too, learned to diagram a sentence in junior high school. It was the best way to dissect a sentence and decide what each word modified. As for a preposition: its anything a rabbit can do to a hill, i.e. go over it, by it, through it, around it, etc.

-- Dwight (summit1762@aol.com), March 25, 2002.

For my son (age 9, who reads at about 10th grade level and used to HATE writing), a combination of a creative writing class for homeschooled kids (we lucked into that one!), and the use of MADLIBS. They're goofy stories in which all the verbs, nouns, pronouns, adverbs, etc are left blank, to be filled in by the child/children doing the story. They're great fun, and because it turns grammar learning into such a game, they hardly even know they're learning. I don't know if they're still in print, but I konw they have a bunch of them at our library, and I have all the ones I used when I was a kid (in the 70s).

He's a whiz with the grammar now, but a year ago he didn't know a verb from an adjective or vice versa.

Good luck and have fun!

Andrea

-- Andrea Gauland (andreagee@aol.com), March 25, 2002.


My MIL is a high school special ed teacher. She bought us these little word games called Mad Libs.

They are fill in the blank stories without knowing the story. The reader asks the witers to provide words to put in the blanks, as in, give me a noun, adjective or whatever the blanks calls for. Then the reader reads the rediculous story they've put together. Yes, it has reminders as to what is a noun, adjective, adverb and so on, are.

Everyone of all ages love to do this learning game.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@somewhere.com), March 25, 2002.



There are some good books out by Karen Elizabeth Gordon, one of which is The Transitive Vampire. Very entertaining yet quite educational.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), March 25, 2002.

I was in a similar situation when I was 12. I made great grades without ever studying. However all the verb, noun, object of this and that and such was greek to me. It wasn't until my freshman year in high school that it finally clicked. The next year I went into honors english and was at the head of my class. I've noticed this with my kids too. Sometimes when I present something it is like someone tripped the off switch on their brain. Then I can present the same thing next year and they get it right off. Your son may just need some more time. The human brain is an incredible thing that defies explanation on a lot of different levels.

-- Amanda (mrsgunsmyth@hotmail.com), March 25, 2002.

My thoughts where the along the same lines as Amanda's, It is obvious that he has the ablity to know these things, and nothing sugest he doesn't "want to", so have him read and or copy the definition of each of the words that lable the parts of speach, and reveiw it every so often 'till it clicks for him, maybe make a poster of it.

I didn't get it myself until I did a word study on the lables, and I still need to double check at times.

-- Thumper/inOKC (slrldr@yahoo.com), March 25, 2002.


I recommend EASY GRAMMAR. It goes step-by-step through everything you can think of, has reproducable work pages, and answer pages, so there's no guessing. And it really is easy.

-- mary (mlg@mlg.com), March 25, 2002.

I am a teacher and this works wonders in the classroom and its a fun and easy solution....try going to the local book store and buying a few madlib books. they are the type of books which have blanks to fill in. try these links out for a demo. GL :)

http://srd.yahoo.com/srst/149262/madlib/1/39/T=1017122697/F= 351ebef91da35dad7c0f1c1fe31bf0e6/*http://www.mit.edu/storyfu n

http://familyinternet.about.com/library/game/blthanksmadlib.htm

-- Najia (najia274@yahoo.com), March 26, 2002.



I am a teacher and this works wonders in the classroom and its a fun and easy solution....try going to the local book store and buying a few madlib books. they are the type of books which have blanks to fill in. try these links out for a demo. GL :)

http://srd.yahoo.com/srst/149262/madlib/1/39/T=1017122697/F= 351ebef91da35dad7c0f1c1fe31bf0e6/

*http://www.mit.edu/storyfun

http://familyinternet.about.com/library/game/blthanksmadlib.htm

-- Najia (najia274@yahoo.com), March 26, 2002.


Great idea, Najia! My kids LOVE Mad-Libs.

-- Gayle in KY (gayleannesmith@yahoo.com), March 26, 2002.

Dear Later, Try the MADLIBS. Do an internet search and see what comes up. There are some free ones available and some places to order them. A school supply might have them.

I found one a couple years ago about Christmas on the internet and used it at a Christmas program for a ladies group at church. It was a big hit.

I don't see anything to get spammed about. My kids have had somewhat the same problem. One thing I did was to go to Staples and get a 4th grade McGraw-Hill Spectrum Grammar workbook for my 15 and 13 year olds. Yes they are way old for it but it was really good remedial/review stuff.

-- Lav, Maryland (lavenderbluedilly@hotmail.com), March 26, 2002.


Greetings, I had noticed that my kids test scores were dropping. Slightly- but dropping.....I decided to chuck the program I was using and switch to ABeka. I have been nothing but happy with that decision. I have kids in grades 3, 6, 8, 10 all using ABeka now for grammar. They do diagramming sentences and I like it(so far not the grade 3). I tell my kids that it is a puzzle-just trying to get the ole brain to create new circuts. They ask me when they will EVER need to know about diagramming sentences. I tell them that it is a good converstation piece. They can crab that their Mom is worse than their friends teacher-MOM MAKES us diagram sentences. Language is fun, math is fun, learning is fun! (and I am horrible at spelling and my spell check isn't working-forgive my errors, please?) Kathy G.

-- Craig Giddings (ckgidd@netins.net), March 27, 2002.

Mad libs are fun. We also use the School House Rock videos. Remember the ones we used to see on Saturday morning cartoons? Conjunction junction, what's your function.....

-- Mona in OK (modoc@ipa.net), March 27, 2002.

A good book to try with your son is "English 2200"

Good Luck!

-- Mt Storm (mtstorm@usa.net), March 27, 2002.


I read a magazine article written by a woman who loved to write as a kid but struggled with grammer so much that she almost gave up writing. When she became an adult she found out that that was what an editor is for! She has since had several articles published in various national magazines.

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), March 27, 2002.

Hi, in first grade I read at 5th grade level, by age 10 I was speed reading my aunts' college texts and reading the encyclopedia for fun. I didn't know an adverb from a hole in the wall. My grandmother said that I talked like my books. All my siblings learned to speak proper english because I wouldn't let them use poor grammer! I did finally teach myself the forms (names) of speech, but I used them instinctively through reading so much. I think that if you don't make a big deal of it, your son will learn them on his own, when he is ready to use them. What ever you do, try not to make it burdensome or boring to him. He sounds like a great kid! I wish you luck.

-- kim in CO (kimk61252@hotmail.com), March 27, 2002.

I agree with Mary on the Easy Grammar. I have used it with both my daughters and they loved it. My oldest went to public school until 7th grade and Easy Grammar helped her with some things that she didn't understand. I highly recommend it. It is so easy. Good Luck!!!

-- Lou Ann in KY (homes_cool@msn.com), March 27, 2002.

I learned to diagram sentences in one quarter of high school English. Simple. Easy. I don't have to think about it. Can still do it, 20 years later, bet I'd have no problem passing the test today.

Not because I'm smart, but because, for whatever reason, my brain 'gets' it. Sentences just break themselves apart for me...

On the other hand, I cannot spell any words bigger that 5 letters. Man oh man, teachers & parents have tried with me, & I try so hard! I love to read, I write letters, I write on the internet all the time - plenty of practice & desire. I just CANNOT figure out how to spell the different vowel sounds. Does that make me stupid? No more so than diagraming sentences makes me smart.

Keep trying, but don't get hung up on it. We all have strong & weak points.

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), March 28, 2002.


Try this site for grammar yeas and nays:

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

-- sheepish (WA) (the_original_sheepish@hotmail.com), March 30, 2002.


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