Home Grown Hearts Academy Homeschool Blog: Institute for Excellence in Writing - Fix It! Grammar

Grammar has certainly not been a favorite subject in our household. We have tried numerous programs and my daughter never seemed to connect with them. However, I recently had the opportunity to review Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree [Book 1] teacher manual and the student book from Institute for Excellence in Writing with my oldest daughter and everything changed. A connection was made and positive changes are underway.

What is Fix It! Grammar?

Fix It! Grammar are wonderful spiral bound grammar books that allow students to apply newly learned grammar concepts into their own writing. Each book in the series of six provides 33 weeks of grammar instruction and editing practice.

I had the chance to have my daughter, who is 11, take a placement test. I knew immediately that Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree [Book 1] was exactly where we should start.

Institute for Excellence in Writing also offers a fantastic webinar that allowed me to see and understand the vision and purpose of Fix It! Grammar. I highly recommend anyone interested in Fix it! Grammar to watch it.

How did we use Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree?

When first receiving the books, I immediately started reading over the teacher manual to prepare for our first day of use. I started reading over the instructions and then what I read next amazed me! I read that the lessons were going to take 15 minutes a day. Yep! Only 15 minutes. I was a happy camper. Happy to know that my daughter would be thankful and happy because I felt that we were going to be making a ton of much needed progress without the hassle of tedious lessons.

We started using Fit It! Grammar four days a week. When beginning a week we would read over a section called Learn It in the student book. This section allowed my daughter to learn the concepts she would be using throughout the rest of the week. To help my daughter remember these, grammar cards were located in the back of the book. These cards are suppose to be cut out and placed in an envelope for safe keeping. We cut out the first week, and then opted to keep the rest in the book. My daughter seemed to like having them left in the book to reference, possibly for fear of misplacing them.

For four days during a week, my daughter had one sentence to read, look up and learn a vocabulary word, fix the grammar errors, and lastly rewrite the corrected sentence in a separate notebook. The daily passages cumulatively tell a story. It was funny, after a few days of writing the sentences, my daughter was reading over the previous ones and suddenly had an "ah ha!" moment. "Mom! I'm writing a story!" she loudly shouted. Apparently, she didn't remember me telling her that part. I had to smile!

After she would rewrite the sentences, I would look over her work to make sure she was doing it correctly. Most of the time she was. There were some things that had to be corrected, but I always assured her that each mistake was a step towards learning more and advancing. I appreciated the fact that I had the teacher manual to reference. It included great teacher's notes on the sides of the pages. I found these notes to be extremely helpful.

We loved that the lessons were only around 15 minutes. It was wonderful. It keep my daughter engaged and seemed to keep her from having grammar burnout. Each week as new concepts were introduced the work would get a little bit tougher, but because the work was done in such short lessons, it never seemed overwhelming. I loved the fact that a lot of the work was repetitive. It helped my daughter to remember all the new concepts.

A favorite part for me, was the learning of the vocabulary words. I appreciated the fact that my daughter was not only learning grammar, but also learning wonderful new words. I could also tell that she enjoyed learning the vocabulary words. It was fun for me to hear her using them in sentences correctly in the days following her learning them.

Also, in the back of the books is a lovely grammar glossary. I'm very thankful that it was included. It allowed me to read over elements and rules of grammar with my daughter and it helped her understand the work she was doing better.

Final Thought

We absolutely loved everything about Fix It! Grammar. I could have never imagined that my daughter would enjoy doing her grammar work as much as she does now. I love that and most of all, I love the progress she has made. I always wanted to find a grammar program that flowed well and didn't overwhelm her. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Fix It! Grammar was exactly what I was looking for. I have two other daughters that will soon begin using it. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a wonderful complete grammar program. It has truly been a blessing.

Who can benefit from Fix It! Grammar?

Fix it! Grammar is recommended for 3rd grade and up.

What does it cost?

Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree [Book 1] (Teacher Manual) - 228 pages - $19.00

Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree [Book 1] (Student Book) - 126 pages - $15.00

Looking for another book?

Institute for Excellence in Writing has other Fix It! Grammar books to choose from.