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The word “grammar” does not conjure positive associations for most parents. They recall their own struggles in school with boring and tedious worksheets, full of meaningless sentences and paragraphs. They cringe at the thought of doing the same to their children. Some decide to give up on grammar altogether. “When was the last time I needed to diagram a sentence as an adult?” they ask. “Who needs grammar anyway?”
As a child, I was fascinated by languages and words. I actually enjoyed learning the rules of grammar because they gave structure to my intuitive understanding of language. However, I learned to read early and had read and enjoyed quite a number of books before I got to grammar in school. By then, I had a large vocabulary, was comfortable with spelling, and had a pretty good grasp on how language worked. Grammar rules were the cherry on top that put language into a logical framework and helped me enjoy it even more.
That is precisely the approach I wanted to take with my children. I wanted them to see grammar not as a bunch of external, arbitrary, and unnecessary rules, but as an aid in understanding and appreciating language, with all its beauty and complexity. I wanted them to perceive grammar as fun!
In our early years of homeschooling, I had been drawn to the Charlotte Mason homeschooling style. I loved the concept of living books and enjoyed reading to my children. When pondering how to teach grammar, I turned to books and websites that described how Charlotte Mason approached it.
(As an aside, back then, busy with babies and toddlers, I didn’t have the time or patience to read Charlotte Mason’s original books, with their flowery language and an abundance of theoretical concepts. Now that my children are older, I enjoy reading her works and discussing them with a group of like-minded homeschool mothers. Fortunately, there were parents before me who mined through Ms. Mason’s work and explained her approach in easier-to-read and young-mother-friendly books. One of my favorites was Karen Andreola’s The Charlotte Mason Companion.)
I learned about the progression of narration, copy work, and dictation and began using it with my children. It was amazing to watch their Language Arts skills blossom – and all without tedious and boring workbooks. However, Karen Andreola, among other Charlotte Mason experts, mentioned the need for explicit grammar instruction alongside this progression.
One important point I learned from the experts is not to start grammar too early. Children need to develop an intuitive understanding and appreciation for language before they are able to take a step back, analyze it, and notice patterns. This resonated with me because of my own experience. Charlotte Mason recommended introducing formal grammar at age 10 or 11.
We’ve used different resources for grammar instruction over the years. Our all-time favorite is Grammar-Land: Grammar in Fun for the Children of Schoolroom-Shire by M. L. Nesbitt. This book is absolutely brilliant! The story is centered around a court case, with Judge Grammar presiding over a dispute among different parts of speech and determining which words belong to which one. My kids had a lot of fun discussing these arguments and laughing at the silliness of some of the characters.
My only complaint about Grammar Land is that the practice exercises are not suited to today’s generation of children, in my opinion. Between a curious monkey who ended up dead and an unsuccessful attempt to take care of a young squirrel, who also ended up dead, they are just too dark! I ended up finding passages from other books that contained the parts of speech we were learning about and using them instead. (If your family happens to be Jewish, you might want to check out the Tanach Curriculum Guide I put together, which incorporates Grammar Land but provides different passages for practice.)
Another fun way to practice parts of speech are Mad Libs – the kids see them as a game rather than grammar exercise.
Some other grammar books we’ve enjoyed are the Eats, Shoots & Leaves picture book series by Lynne Truss and Woe is I Jr.: The Younger Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English by Patricia T. O’Connor.
Simply Grammar by Karen Andreola is also a great resource, though very different. It is structured more like a workbook but comes with beautiful artwork and somehow doesn’t feel so workbooky. Unfortunately, it seems to be out of print.
Recently, we began Michael Clay Thompson’s grammar series with my son. I can’t give you a thorough review yet, but we’ve been enjoying them so far.
This list of fun grammar resources is by no means exhaustive. There are others out there that we simply haven’t had a chance to use. But the common thread to grammar instruction in my home is: don’t start too early, do use lots of living books, and have fun!
For more on Charlotte Mason homeschooling, register for the Charlotte Mason Inspired Summit at Digital Homeschool Convention!
