I want to tell you all about a wonderful product I finally decided to try this year for school. My younger children need grammar instruction, but I have been hard pressed over the past 14 years to find something that actually works for elementary aged children. They just don't get the abstractness of grammar. Now, in my 15th year of homeschooling I have found something quite enjoyable.

What is this product? The Sentence Family which you can see and read about if you follow the link in my homeschool links. Mr. James Hughes works for St. Michael's Orthodox School in Santa Rosa, California. Mr. Hughes has very creatively turned the four types of sentences and the nine parts of speech into a family. Children understand a family and how it works. As they meet the members of the Sentence Family and learn how they work together and help each other the mystery of grammar just melts away. They even learn diagramming with this wonderful, short introduction to grammar program.

Ben and Matthew who are respectfully 2nd and 4th grade each get up EVERY morning and beg to do grammar. I, of course, keep them begging for more by informing them that we can only do it two days a week. Never in the past 14 years have I had children beg for grammar on a daily basis. We have been in school for four weeks now. My dear friend is using this same program with her four children with the same results. They just love it.

These are the four children participating in the program at my home. The preschooler knows the names and relationships of some of the parts of speech. The oldest child is 9th grade, but he loves the stories, the art work, and helping the younger ones to appreciate the nuances of the stories. I originally found the program for him, but I was too afraid to use something an expert hadn't recommended. Oh, well. Live and learn.

The friend I mention shall not be left nameless. It is Heidy. She deserves a lot of credit, for without her encouragement (buying the program first and letting me peruse it), I probably wouldn't have tried it yet. I have been considering the program for the past 2 or 3 years. I get much too preoccupied with wondering what the "experts" say I should be using. My time has been spent wondering what is the best available to use with my kids? I am learning to tell myself, "What would work okay and be enjoyable for my children and I to learn about this or that topic?" I feel so liberated, when in reality I'm just a bit S L O W.

So, to end today's post, I want to leave you with the famous words of Ms. Frizzle of the Magic School Bus. I've been trying to follow this advice for the past 2 1/2 years. It is proving to make for a very happy way of life.

Take Chances.

Make Mistakes.

Get Messy.

Stacie