How we do Fix It! Grammar (with videos)

This post is not sponsored, I purchased this grammar curriculum myself and we are sharing these videos today because we love doing grammar this way and hope it helps someone else.

When we started homeschooling we used another grammar curriculum that was worksheet style.  After doing that for a year my kids still needed help remembering what basic parts of speech were.

"Wait, what is a noun?"

I heard that often enough to drive me crazy.



For the first two years we homeschooled I balked at IEW, or Institute for Excellence in Writing, because of the price and because I was confused by the many choices.  But I saw Fix It! Grammar mentioned in a homeschool forum somewhere and thought the price was quite reasonable.  So we decided to give it a try.  I am so glad that we did, this was the answer to our grammar woes. 

By the way, if you are considering their writing curriculum, don't worry about the price tag.  Get out your calculator and see how much you will save by using the curriculum multiple years, how many children will use it, and consider the high resale value.  It's worth it.  I promise.  (Their writing program has been the answer to our writing struggles as well.  It's like magic.)  I'm not even beginning to discuss the extra learning I've obtained by listening to Mr. Pudewa's talks that came with my IEW purchases.  It's like school for mom and everyone is happier for it!  They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee if you don't like it, but I'm sure you will love it too.  I sigh at myself frequently for putting of this purchase for so long.  It really did change our lives.

What is Fix It! Grammar?

I have a teacher manual and the children each have a student text.  The teacher manual comes with a page that gives instructions for downloading the student text.  You can print it yourself or purchase one already printed and bound.

Excerpt from the student page, Fix It! Grammar Book 2

The children learn new grammar concepts and apply what they have learned to correct and label a sentence in a story.  Each week begins with a new concept and a flashcard to help remember it.  Every so often there are review weeks with no new concepts.  They also have one (sometimes two) vocabulary words each day, which they define in the vocabulary section of their spiral notebook.   The teacher manual walks the parent through the fixes, so you know why words are labeled as they are.  I love learning from this part of my book!

Teacher manual, Fix It! Grammar Book 2

After the sentence is labeled and corrected, the children rewrite the sentence in their spiral notebook.  They are rewriting the entire story, day by day.  It's fun for them to go back and re-read it.

Both the student and teacher text has a grammar glossary in the back to help with basics and tricky concepts.  I printed the student glossary as a separate spiral bound book.

How we Fix It! 

The following is from book 2, Robin Hood, week 12 day 4.  Each week has 4 days of work.

1 - We do Day 1 together.  The children read through their flashcards and determine what needs to be labeled in their book.  I read through all of the extra notes in the teacher book and help the kids when something is confusing, and ask questions to be sure they understand.  When finished, their sentence looks like the one from the teacher manual, all marked up. 

 (Seriously, vinyl chairs...)

2 - We go over the sentence, word by word.  If it's a day they did it on their own, they turn in the vocabulary for the day and the fix for me to check.

3 - Once everything is correct, the children rewrite the sentence in their notebook.

The other three days of the week the children fix the sentence on their own, if they are confident enough.  If they are unsure, or we are learning a new concept, I gladly help them!  When they do it on their own I don't make them use the flashcards, but if they miss something I do ask that they look back over the flashcards to help them determine what they skipped.

We started using Fix It! before we began using IEW writing.  The stylistic techniques in IEW's writing program were easier for them to grasp because they had already become familiar with some of them during grammar time.  It is not necessary to use both IEW writing and grammar together though.

I hope that helps you understand a little more about what makes Fix It! Grammar different from other curricula.  My children enjoy doing this and they are better readers and writers because of it.