Grammar Nerd

I don't know where it comes from, my nerd-dom. Neither of my parents loved school or really even liked school. However, I must confess, I loved school. With my whole heart. I still love school-y things. Mostly though, I love language arts, emphasis on grammar. There was a time when I could tell you anything you wanted to know about grammar. Dangling participles, irregular verbs, gerunds, and all manner of strange terms were my specialty. So now it is VERY important to me that my children at least have the knowledge of correct grammar and sentence structure. (By the way, I do not claim the grammar excellence I once had-give me a couple more years teaching my kiddos grammar. "I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was." Thank you, Toby Keith)

I have searched high and low for language arts programs that fit the bill. Shurley English is the best thing I have found on the market, HOWEVER, my middle school children hate it. Despise it. Groan when I haul the books out. It all stems from the jingles-silly songs to plant the concept in your brain. Jingles make Erika and Kayla remember how much they loved Barney and they die a little inside. (It should be noted here that Lilly and I love to sing goofy little jingles adding to the groans.) Easy Grammar/Daily Grams are another popular program-but I don't care for them. Easy Grammar has too much work and Daily Grams are best as a review/supplement. I know they are designed to work together but who wants THAT much grammar in one day or week!!

So now that mid-October is here, I have decided to make a change. I was inspired by a CD I listened to from a homeschool conference. The speaker stated that one should spend money on the subjects she/he is weak in and be ecclectic with your strong subjects. Essentially stating that you can design your own curriculum in the subjects you are strong in. So, I have spent about 5 hours already working toward that end.

I have had so much fun planning it out and getting things together. It has been a shot in the arm for a chick going through the doldrums of mid-semester blahs. Please leave me a comment with your favorite language arts link if you have one. Here are a few of mine:

http://www.sfreading.com/resources/ghb.html

http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/6_8/quizzes/index.html

http://www.bookadventure.com/

http://freerice.com/index.php