Teaching grammar can be a challenge for the homeschooling mom, even if she feels that she has a good grasp of the English language. There are so many rules that we might not know exactly, but we use them correctly simply because we learned them as children. The challenge can come when we attempt to teach something that we chiefly know from our own experience, not because we understand all of its rules. In our homeschool, we have used a wide variety of grammar curricula over our homeschool years from kindergarten through high school, and up until now, I haven’t been completely satisfied with any particular one. Until we began to use Easy Grammar Ultimate Series: Grade 9 Teacher Edition, that is. 

Easy Grammar Ultimate Series: Grade 9 Teacher Edition is a softcover, consumable 8 ½” x 11” book. It contains 180 daily lessons, each of which will take the student about 10 minutes to complete. While this is a teacher’s book, it contains each complete lesson which can be copied for student use. Or, the student may write in the book. The Teacher Edition includes suggestions for teaching, a full scope and sequence (including a list of which pages teach each concept), and an answer key is found in the back of the book. This book is part of the Easy Grammar Ultimate Series, which includes one book each for grades eight through twelve. The physical version of the book is priced at $29.95, and a downloadable version is also available at www.easygrammar.com for $26.95. (A separate test booklet can be purchased from Easy Grammar Systems as well to be used alongside this book in downloadable format for $5.95, or print format for $7.95, though we did not review it.)

Each page contains one lesson and is labeled at the top of the page as DAY 1, DAY 2, and so on, through DAY 180. The format always follows this pattern:

• Capitalization, where students learn capitalization rules and correct errors in a given text
• Punctuation, where students learn rules by adding correct punctuation where it is missing in a text
• Teaching, reviewing, and applying grammar and other concepts. These range from the simpler categories, like basic nouns, adjectives, and verbs, to the more complex, such as gerunds, dependent and independent clauses, the huge variety of pronouns, past and present participle verbs, and much more
• Sentence combining, where several narrative or expository sentences are given and the student combines them into one longer sentence with appropriate punctuation

It is recommended that the teacher review each lesson and read the answer key before teaching the lesson. Each of the segments of the format is introduced with an explanation of the grammar topic or usage rule, often followed by an example. Then, there are spaces for the student to complete assignments right on the page. 

We used the book exactly as its directions recommended, and for our main grammar spine during our time of review. I would sit with my son, who’s a ninth grader, and we’d read the directions and examples aloud for each segment of the lesson. Then, he would write his answers in the book. As we proceeded in the book, he would sometimes complete the entire day’s lesson on its own if the topics were familiar to him and already understood. However, when the subject matter wasn’t as fresh in our minds or was newer material (like participial phrases, certain types of clauses, analogies, and run-on sentences, to name a few) we’d read the directions and examples aloud and discuss them before he completed the written work. 

I felt that the material was appropriate for most ninth graders. My son understood the concepts, many of which were more challenging than other grammar curricula we’ve used. Yet the material is presented in bite-sized amounts each day; students get just enough teaching on a concept to understand it, then they put that information to work right away as they complete or correct the exercises in the book. It is just the right amount of material for daily work which will challenge and teach the student, but not exasperate him or lose him by too much repetition or memorization. Easy Grammar Ultimate Series: Grade 9 Teacher Edition is a curriculum which will not only effectively teach grammar but will be a useful tool to prepare students for the upper-level standardized testing that they’ll complete in high school, especially the SAT or the ACT. 

In closing, I can tell you that I highly recommend Easy Grammar Ultimate Series: Grade 9 Teacher Edition for homeschoolers. It was just the program we’ve been looking for. It is scholastically rigorous, effective, and so well-organized that it’s easy to fit into the homeschool day. My son understood the curriculum, completed lessons accurately, and actually learned so much about correct grammar and writing well. I am looking forward to utilizing Easy Grammar Systems’ programs for the rest of our high school grades, now that I believe I’ve found the perfect grammar curriculum!

-Product review by Melanie Reynolds, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, April, 2017

Another Reviewer’s Perspective:

Easy Grammar Ultimate Series: Grade 9
Wanda C Phillips, Ed.D.
Easy Grammar Systems
www.easygrammar.com 

We recently had the opportunity to review Easy Grammar Ultimate Series: Grade 9 by Dr. Wanda C. Phillips. I am like most homeschool parents, and want my child to receive the best well-rounded education he can possibly have. I want him to enter the world with a sense of purpose, an understanding of history and the ability to count change. I also want him to be well-read, know the difference between a noun and an adverb and be able to construct an interesting, well-thought-out sentence.

All of this can be quite overwhelming when one tries to put all the pieces together on any given day. What am I missing? What can I review? Why in the world can’t he remember an easy punctuation rule? It becomes even more overwhelming when I consider that my son is dyslexic. Thankfully, Easy Grammar Ultimate Series: Grade 9 is written at a 4^th grade level. He didn’t have to concern himself so much with the reading level as he did with grammar instruction.

The presentation of Easy Grammar is such that the student is exposed to more than one concept daily. Instead of merely practicing how to use commas, he or she might also work with prepositional phrases, and capitalization all on one single page.

Easy Grammar is simple for the homeschool teacher to manage. Instead of long explanations and pages of practice, there are little lessons with 3 or 4 small exercises to follow. I simply assigned one single page daily during our review. The lessons increase in difficulty, but there is always review which allows mastery.

The 180 lessons in Easy Grammar are reproducible. They took us approximately 10-15 minutes a day depending on the material.  My son generally does fairly well if the material is in smaller doses. This wound up being a good fit for us for grammar review and practice. The rotation of lessons is really amazing. For example, when I looked through the scope and sequence of the book the number of times the use of the comma was addressed was astounding! I’m thinking I probably need to review this myself! I’m in good company because the ages recommended for this book is junior high through adult.

Easy Grammar didn’t take the place of our writing curriculum (nor is it intended to), but I have seen improvement in my son’s sentence structure and a more thoughtful use of the comma.

In all, I found Easy Grammar to be, well, easy! I think the Dr. Phillips did a great job of making grammar a gentler thing. In fact, during the course of my review I talked to many homeschool parents who love using Easy Grammar!

-Product review by Rebekah Teague, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, April, 2017