Growing with Grammar is a new curriculum that is now available for purchase! The author, Tamela Davis, has this to say about her product, "I am a homeschooling mother of two.  For several years I have been aware that homeschoolers around the world are in need of a thorough grammar program that can be used by all regardless of their background or beliefs.  My husband and I began Growing With Grammar to fill that need in the homeschool community." Currently, only material for 3rd grade is available, but Grade 4 is looking at a mid-2006 publication date with Grade 5 nearing completion by late 2006.

There are 3 parts to the set which retails for $29.99 - a 237-page Student Manual, a Student Workbook and an Answer Key. There are 105 total lessons - there is a corresponding Workbook lesson for every lesson in the Manual. The workbook's spiral binding is on the TOP so that it is user-friendly for right OR left-handed children! I have a left-handed child so I was very pleased to see the thoughftulness of this design! The Manual is also spiral bound so that it will lay flat. It is also smaller for small hands!

There are 5 chapters in the Manual covering the following topics - Sentences, Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives & Adverbs and Words & Punctuations. At the end of each of the 5 Chapters, there is a Review section which gives vocabulary and reviews the concepts that the child has been studying. Each of the Reviews covers FOUR pages in the workbook. If it was me, I'd probably cover the Review over one week by having the child complete one page per day.

Other topics covered in Growing with Grammar in the 5 chapters include writing paragraphs, using the dictionary, diagramming, writing letters and addressing envelopes and the use of contractions and commas. Numerous examples are given of each new concept being taught to the child.  This is a VERY thorough program! There are a limited amount of black and white pictures scattered throughout the lessons in the Manual. As the parent of a child with ADHD, this is a good thing! My son is easily distracted if there is too much on the page and we have had to avoid colorful, "exciting" books so that he can focus on the lesson at hand.

Several things stand out for me when looking through the Workbook. In each exercise, there are notations pointing back to the Lesson in the Manual so that the parent and/or child can review the material in the Manual if they are having problems with the Lesson. In addition, there is plenty of space for the child to write his answer. The exercises are not crammed together so that the child has to write the answers on another piece of paper (unless the parent wants to re-use the curriculum with another child, of course!). Finally, each Workbook exercise contains review of previous concepts that have been covered! Check out the following page - Sample Lessons.

If my kids were young enough to be using this program, I WOULD be using it! It is very similar to Rod & Staff's curriculum, but is free of the religious overview. Although I am a Christian, I do not like every single bit of my curriculum to have a religious tone to it. In addition, I think the price is more than reasonable and the product is composed of good quality materials.  This is definitely a new product worth checking out!

... Kris ...