In our latest learning endeavor, we discovered and wanted to introduce you to the homeschool grammar program from Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3, from Hake Publishing. This is a three book program separated by concise lessons introducing children to what I found is the just the right amount of material per lesson. The set includes a consumable textbook for the student, a teacher's guide and a writing workbook. It is a comprehensive English language arts curriculum that emphasizes writing, vocabulary development, spelling and grammar all in one. Instead of separating each one into long boring lessons, it is built into the one program making learning it more fun especially for the student that likes to write like mine do. Within the examples and exercises are what they call Core Knowledge® content from other subject areas so the student is also learning other facts.
As I learned, some of the grade levels have a special emphasis such as the fourth grade curriculum covers insects and animals while the fifth grade curriculum covers the fifty states which I think is pretty cool!
The helpful optional guidelines in teaching the Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 include:
- Beginning class: each class begins with a dictation or a journal entry which the journal entry is my student's favorite. The nice part of this curriculum is the parent/teacher does not have to sit over their student to start each lesson. If you keep a routine, the student will know, based on the optional guideline, every Monday is dictation to prepare for the test on Friday and so forth.
- The dictation is read the first day of each week noting the grammar and punctuation marks. On Friday, the parent/teacher reads the passage to the student and they write it using the grammar and punctuation they remembered.
- Journal topics only require about five minutes of time which my student liked even though she enjoys writing, she doesn't want to spend a large chunk of her day writing. These are done on days Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
- Grammar lessons should be taught in sequential order as this is how it is presented. The student needs to understand and build on their knowledge for the next lessons. There are some optional "More Practice" sections for some lessons furthering their understanding of the material presented.
- The Grammar tests are given after the completion of every five lessons. They are short and only consist of twenty-five questions so the time is just right. There is a suggested schedule for teaching the lessons in the beginning of the Teacher's Edition.
"I really like this!" <- Those are words any parent/teacher wants to hear!
Every now and again, I will come across a curriculum that my children like and this was a win for her. I am going to purchase another set for my other child given how easy it was to teach my youngest. My middle one watched me teach the younger one and said she would like to try it too.
The lessons are not long either. They are just enough to reinforce what they learn and to ensure they comprehend and understand. This is a "More Practice" page to give you an idea:
This is one of the test pages:
Overall, it's a very good curriculum in terms of length of each lesson, speed in how fast you want to cover lessons as there are suggestions but ultimately, it's up to the parent/teacher on the timetable for teaching and I really like how each lesson includes vocabulary words, Latin and Greek root words. Another key component that I liked is how it encourages students to write in a concise way and not to use too many words. As a writer, many new writers make the mistake of trying to incorporate words to add to the word count without adding real value to the sentence. This is good to teach at a younger age that in order to get the point through to your reader, it's better to be concise and not too overly wordy.
Another topic that is covered is types of writing. For example, in Lesson 11, the student learns about Persuasive Writing and after they complete that lesson's assignment, in Lesson 12, they learn to evaluate their persuasive paragraph which is another good habit to get into of proofing a paper before considering it final.
It really is a comprehensive Grammar and Writing curriculum that I'm glad I had the opportunity to review. It does take a little time to get used to where everything is contained within the three books. I think I would have preferred some tabbed areas to have found everything easier. Again, it's a very minor inconvenience and I will be purchasing copies of the older grades. All the Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing grades include:
- Grammar and Writing 3
- Grammar and Writing 4
- Grammar and Writing 5
- Grammar and Writing 6
- Grammar and Writing 7
- Grammar and Writing 8
Click below to see what others in the Crew thought about the curriculum:
