Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) is known for their outstanding products. We were given the
opportunity to review Fix it! Grammar: Frog Prince or Just Deserts (book 3) and
it proved to be no exception! The Fix it! Grammar program is recommended for grades 3 and up. We received the physical teacher manual and
student book. Each of the student
guides retails for $15.00 and the teacher manuals are $19.00. IEW does offer the complete set of Teachers Manuals for $89.00.
The six books in the
Fixit! Grammar series are:
Because choosing the
correct book for your child can be a bit challenging when just perusing the website,
IEW offers a 21-page Placement Test that includes instructions and samples from
each of the books for your child to try. Every book in the series builds upon
the last, so it is recommended that every child start with Book 1, which is why
Book 1 is recommended for grades 3-12. If you are still unsure of where to start,
there is a Webinar you can watch that offers some visual help.
It all depends on where
your student is grammatically.
We have been using a
rather extensive and advanced grammar curriculum for a few years now, so my
sixth grader (Julia) was ready to take on Book 3.
Book 3 does a bit of
review from the previous book with things like clauses, phrases and sentence
openers and teaches the following concepts:
- identifying and correctly punctuating the six sentence openers as well as the transitional opener
- identifying and correcting both types of run-on sentences: commas splices and fused sentences
- identifying and correcting sentence fragments
- punctuation with transitional expressions, interjections, multiple openers, transitional #2s and essential/nonessential elements
- imperative mood
- hyphens, semicolons
- usage such as affect/effect, then/than
- personal pronouns and their antecedents; agreement errors
How it works
Book 3 provides 33 weeks
of grammar instruction and practice, each week is made up of 4 (daily) sessions.
Each session only takes about 15 minutes a day to complete, which is perfect
for Julia. In our Charlotte Mason-esque homeschool, we strive for short, effective
lessons. Fix it! Grammar fits the bill perfectly!
The instructions are
precise and concise, two of my favorite things when it comes to curriculum. Before
I get too far into how things worked for us, I am excited to share with you
that in the front of each teacher manual are instructions for redeeming a downloadable
copy of the corresponding student book for FREE. Also, you are allowed to make
as many copies as you need for the students within your homeschool. If you
choose to go with the printable copy and not the physical copy, there are
instructions on how to set up a binder to make things move smoothly.
The program is kind of
teacher intensive, therefore, if you don’t have time or simply don’t want to
have to sit down and do the lessons each week with your child, this isn’t the
curriculum for you. However, like I said, it only takes about 15 minutes a day.
Each week starts out with
Review and Learn It sections. These are read together with your child. Once you’ve
read the lesson together, it’s your job as to show your student how to apply
the lesson to the Day 1 passage, model how to make the editing marks and
grammar notations. NO worries about not knowing how to make the various
notations, they are all demonstrated in the teachers manual.
There are grammar cards
that can (and should!) be cut out for some of the weeks. These are a great
reinforcement and are super handy to have around. Vocabulary plays a small part in the weekly lessons. There are bolded words that student is meant to look up, find the most applicable definition and begin a vocabulary log.Day 2-4 the student uses the grammar cards to remember how to make the appropriate marks on the rest of the passages for the week. After marking, correcting and discussing the passage with you, the student does a hand written copy of the corrected passage. When all the passages in the book are completed, they form a story. Cool, huh?
You can see samples of each of the books. Here is a sample of how Book 3 works.
My Bottom Line
IEW has truly hit it out of the park with Fix it! Grammar. Julia's self-editing skills are being refined daily. I whole heartedly believe this method is superior to any prior grammar activities we've done before. Once Julia has finished Book 3, I'll be purchasing Book 4. I might even switch my high schooler to the Fix it! program! Highly, highly recommended.
Thank You Institute for Excellence in Writing for this opportunity!
Click the banner below to read more Crew Reviews on the different Fix it! Grammar books offered by Institute for Excellence in Writing!
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