Four Violet Reviews: Grammar Workbook from Brookdale House~ REVIEW

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My Kiddos have followed my lead as far as Reading everything that's within hands reach. But, that's about it when it comes to Language Arts. They don't like writing or creating poetry and they most definitely don't long to thumb through stacks and stacks of Grammar flash cards or diagram sentences. Maybe I could live without the last one myself, but I never skipped an English class in my life....if Mahala was in public school she might not be able to say the same to her Kiddos. :) With that said you can imagine the difficulty I've had to keep her focused and enthusiastic to learn Grammar in the past. She has only a few more years left before her learning time here at home is up and she will be learning at the college of her choice. So, I have been looking for different programs to make sure she has the basics and a pinch more to get her through her last few years. Recently I had the opportunity to REVIEW The Grammar Workbook Set($29.90–$38.90) from Brookdale House and I can't wait to tell you how it all went.

So, at first sight Mahala wasn't too thrilled, but when I explained to her that this was a Middle school program and most likely be a lot of review for her she was on board.....as if she had an option! :) The Grammar Workbook Set is available as a download or a physical book. We received ours in the form of a downloadable PDF file along with it's answer key. The Workbook is over 230 pages, which is a lot to print out at once.....but you can and it would look lovely in a 3-ring binder. But, we decided to just print out a few pages here and there for out of the house use and the majority was written out in a notebook.

Since this was a review for Mahala we kind of went through the whole workbook day one to see what all was included. It comes with a schedule for a 4 or 5 day week. We decided for her she would work an hour a day 3 days a week and cover as much as she can each week. We did this only because she is already taking 2 English classes along with a Writing class. I told you...we are gearing her up for College! :) Anyway with working this way she is already 2/3 finished with the Workbook, but we did find that she was better off then we thought and that this indeed was a great review for her. Normally for a Middle School aged Kiddo it would take about 30 weeks give or take. I had her work completely independently...I even had her check her own answers. It was very simple to use and gave her many opportunities to customize it to work for her. ****I just want to say also that even though I didn't use it with my Special Needs Child. I totally give it the thumbs up as a program that would work nicely for him. Mainly because it's simple, straightforward and not too wordy.****

The Grammar Workbook Set covers so many important topics like....Sentence Writing, Parts of Speech, Punctuation, Phrases and Clauses, Verb Tense, Verbals, Paragraph Writing and Style Imitation. There is also a quick mention about optional diagramming lessons. In-order to do the diagramming lessons with your Kiddos you will need to purchase the Diagraming Sentences book. We did not do this because Mahala has already enough going on in the English/Literature department.
Quickly let me tell you how the program is presented. You will see that it's conveniently and clearly divided for you into four Sections.....Sentences, The 8 Parts of Speech, Clauses & Phrases and lastly Punctuation. The Grammar Workbook provides two types of writing exercises. One is considered a more traditional writing style and had Mahala write different types of sentences and paragraphs. The other type of writing exercise is more about imitating the author's style. This is achieved through copy-work, dictation and recreation of the provided piece with slight modifications along with and outline or by memory. This by far was the hardest for Mahala, which I found surprising. By the 2nd week or so she improved and I know this is going to help her with the many College papers that are in her near future.

I would recommend this program to any Homeschooling Family or non-Homeschooling Family that would like a little extra help or something to supplement during the Summer. It's very affordable for the quality and coverage of the material. And don't forget to go to the Brookdale House website to see all the other cool, High Quality products they offer to enhance any child's education!