Good Grammar
Grammar. It's a word that strikes fear and confusion into the hearts of many home educators. Most folks are either convinced they do not know enough about it to teach it to their kids, or they know enough but don't know how to teach it to their kids.
If you fall into either category, let me help you. Do you speak English? Yes? Then you are more than halfway there to being qualified to teach your child grammar.
OK but what about the rest? I can help with that, too. There are only 8 parts of speech, so once you know those, you are in luck, and 3/4 of the way to being qualified to teach your child grammar!
And you thought this would be painful, impossible, even.
So now we get down to the nitty gritty.
Conjunctions: There are three kinds: coordinating, subordinating and correlative. Coordinating ones, such as 'but' and 'and' and 'yet', join phrases and clauses. Subordinating conjunctions, and there are many, join a subordinate clause to the main clause in a sentence. They include such words as 'after', 'as long as', 'because', 'even', 'now that', 'until', 'when' and so on. Look them up. Correlative conjunctions come in pairs and work together connect words and phrases. They include words like 'neither/nor', 'such/that', 'both/and' and 'either/or'.
Interjections: 'Oh no!' and 'Hello!' and 'Congratulations!' are not really related to the sentence, but show emotions.
Pronouns: Words like 'she', 'his', 'we', and 'their' take the place of nouns. They simply make writing more interesting and less tedious, since we don't have to repeat the noun over and over again.
Nouns: There are common and proper nouns. Common nouns are people, places and things, and proper nouns are particular people, places and things.
Verbs: There are action verbs and state of being verbs. Action verbs take a direct object and state of being verbs take predicate nominatives (also called predicate adjectives). There are a slew of verb tenses, but don't worry, I will solve that one for you in a moment.
Adjectives: These describe nouns. (A subset of this group is Articles: 'the' and 'a'. 'The' is a definite article and 'a' is, you guessed it, an indefinite article. When you say "the chair" your listener knows which one, and when you say "a chair" your listener knows you could mean any chair, and not any one in particular.)
Adverbs: These describe verbs and adjectives and other adverbs.
Prepositions: There are a lot of these, and they show the relationship between words: 'of'', 'by', 'under', 'into', 'to' and 'from', to name a few.
Was that so hard? Of course not. The basics are so simple and can be taught to a child quite quickly. It's better to wait until they are older elementary or early middle school age to present this. But please don't spend a lot of money on this, and please do not bore your child with endless lessons and worksheets that are tedious and mind-numbing. Rather, mentioning these things in the course of things is better, and occasionally addressing it head-on is good.
Of course, I have only outlined the basics; there is more, and if you have a child so inclined, then let them learn as much as they want! So here are some inexpensive (mostly) and easy ways to fit in the rest.
Latin: This will be the more costly one, but it is essential. Not only does your child learn a boatload of Latin words, thus expanding greatly his own vocabulary, he learns grammar! And all those verb tenses I mentioned? They are covered. Buy a curriculum that uses video lessons and drills the student in grammar.
Grammar books: You really only need a good grammar book that explains all the rules; I have one I used in college and it has served me well. A book that addresses common grammar mistakes is good to have, and a copy of Eats,Shoots and Leaves covers all you ever need to know about the comma.
Language: The cheapest thing you can do to help your child is to use our language properly. At all times. Correct bad grammar in your children as soon as they start speaking. If you do nothing else than this, your child will know how to use our language correctly in speech and in writing. He may not know why (which is a shame) but at least he will be able to communicate well. We all should use proper grammar, but we all don't have to be grammar Nazis or know every.single.grammar.rule.
Curricula: Sure go ahead and buy some, but don't spend a lot of money. Pick something that can be used for multiple ages and is not a consumable workbook. Make sure it deals with a wide range of topics, because, for all its simplicity, English grammar has many beautiful (and sometimes confusing) details and complexities. Also, throw in some diagramming, too. Don't whine about it, just do some. It teaches in a concrete way the purpose and function of every word in a sentence. No need to go overboard, here, just work it in once in a while. And there is no need to repeat any of this year after year, either. I have spent one, maybe two years tops, on this with my kids, in a formal manner, and their English is very solid. Their vocabulary is solid too, thanks to Latin and reading good books.
Friends: If you have a friend or two that can steer you in the right direction, please ask them for help. They would love to explain proper usage because they care about you as much as they care about the world speaking correctly. On second thought, they may care more about the world speaking correctly.
Publishers love to prey on your insecurities as a home educator, and would love to convince you that not only are you not up to the task, you must present grammar to your kids all through school, with new materials for each grade. What a great marketing ploy. Don't fall for it!
If you fall into either category, let me help you. Do you speak English? Yes? Then you are more than halfway there to being qualified to teach your child grammar.
OK but what about the rest? I can help with that, too. There are only 8 parts of speech, so once you know those, you are in luck, and 3/4 of the way to being qualified to teach your child grammar!
And you thought this would be painful, impossible, even.
So now we get down to the nitty gritty.
Conjunctions: There are three kinds: coordinating, subordinating and correlative. Coordinating ones, such as 'but' and 'and' and 'yet', join phrases and clauses. Subordinating conjunctions, and there are many, join a subordinate clause to the main clause in a sentence. They include such words as 'after', 'as long as', 'because', 'even', 'now that', 'until', 'when' and so on. Look them up. Correlative conjunctions come in pairs and work together connect words and phrases. They include words like 'neither/nor', 'such/that', 'both/and' and 'either/or'.
Interjections: 'Oh no!' and 'Hello!' and 'Congratulations!' are not really related to the sentence, but show emotions.
Pronouns: Words like 'she', 'his', 'we', and 'their' take the place of nouns. They simply make writing more interesting and less tedious, since we don't have to repeat the noun over and over again.
Nouns: There are common and proper nouns. Common nouns are people, places and things, and proper nouns are particular people, places and things.
Verbs: There are action verbs and state of being verbs. Action verbs take a direct object and state of being verbs take predicate nominatives (also called predicate adjectives). There are a slew of verb tenses, but don't worry, I will solve that one for you in a moment.
Adjectives: These describe nouns. (A subset of this group is Articles: 'the' and 'a'. 'The' is a definite article and 'a' is, you guessed it, an indefinite article. When you say "the chair" your listener knows which one, and when you say "a chair" your listener knows you could mean any chair, and not any one in particular.)
Adverbs: These describe verbs and adjectives and other adverbs.
Prepositions: There are a lot of these, and they show the relationship between words: 'of'', 'by', 'under', 'into', 'to' and 'from', to name a few.
Was that so hard? Of course not. The basics are so simple and can be taught to a child quite quickly. It's better to wait until they are older elementary or early middle school age to present this. But please don't spend a lot of money on this, and please do not bore your child with endless lessons and worksheets that are tedious and mind-numbing. Rather, mentioning these things in the course of things is better, and occasionally addressing it head-on is good.
Of course, I have only outlined the basics; there is more, and if you have a child so inclined, then let them learn as much as they want! So here are some inexpensive (mostly) and easy ways to fit in the rest.
Latin: This will be the more costly one, but it is essential. Not only does your child learn a boatload of Latin words, thus expanding greatly his own vocabulary, he learns grammar! And all those verb tenses I mentioned? They are covered. Buy a curriculum that uses video lessons and drills the student in grammar.
Grammar books: You really only need a good grammar book that explains all the rules; I have one I used in college and it has served me well. A book that addresses common grammar mistakes is good to have, and a copy of Eats,Shoots and Leaves covers all you ever need to know about the comma.
Language: The cheapest thing you can do to help your child is to use our language properly. At all times. Correct bad grammar in your children as soon as they start speaking. If you do nothing else than this, your child will know how to use our language correctly in speech and in writing. He may not know why (which is a shame) but at least he will be able to communicate well. We all should use proper grammar, but we all don't have to be grammar Nazis or know every.single.grammar.rule.
Curricula: Sure go ahead and buy some, but don't spend a lot of money. Pick something that can be used for multiple ages and is not a consumable workbook. Make sure it deals with a wide range of topics, because, for all its simplicity, English grammar has many beautiful (and sometimes confusing) details and complexities. Also, throw in some diagramming, too. Don't whine about it, just do some. It teaches in a concrete way the purpose and function of every word in a sentence. No need to go overboard, here, just work it in once in a while. And there is no need to repeat any of this year after year, either. I have spent one, maybe two years tops, on this with my kids, in a formal manner, and their English is very solid. Their vocabulary is solid too, thanks to Latin and reading good books.
Friends: If you have a friend or two that can steer you in the right direction, please ask them for help. They would love to explain proper usage because they care about you as much as they care about the world speaking correctly. On second thought, they may care more about the world speaking correctly.
Publishers love to prey on your insecurities as a home educator, and would love to convince you that not only are you not up to the task, you must present grammar to your kids all through school, with new materials for each grade. What a great marketing ploy. Don't fall for it!
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