Half a Hundred Acre Wood

Christian homeschooling integrating Classical and Charlotte Mason principles

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Over the past couple of years, our family discovered an English grammar program that not only filled the gaps we had experienced when using another language arts curriculum, but it also emphasized classical and Charlotte Mason principles in design and implementation. That program? Fix It! Grammar from IEW.

Fix-It Grammar is a gentle introduction to writing and grammar with thorough yet simple instructions for the teacher. The program introduces concepts in English grammar, after which the student applies the concept (in context) to a passage from a quality work of literature. Instead of memorizing rules and applying them to unrelated sentences, students learn to edit sentences in an ongoing story, which provides a foundation for learning to transfer grammar and editing skills to their own writing. Students also build new vocabulary and hone dictionary/research skills as they define each vocabulary word within the text.

There are many good things I can share about this program – its simplicity, its thoroughness, its effectiveness. Our 10-year-old son actually enjoys his English grammar lessons, which is shocking in itself. But… the most rewarding aspect of the program is how it complements our family’s classically Charlotte Mason approach to learning. It just… fits.

How Fix It! Grammar Embraces Charlotte Mason Principles

  1. Lessons are short. Charlotte Mason advocated short lessons for young children. By focusing on a task for 15-20 minutes, students learn the habit of focused attention early in their education, making the future scholar years more productive and efficient.
  2. Lessons emphasize establishing good habits. Habits makes up a third of a child’s education. Fix It! Grammar emphasizes the habits of attention and best effort as a student learns to catch and edit mistakes and write a passage correctly and neatly.
  3. Lessons are relevant. English grammar concepts are taught and applied at the point of need through the context of literature. Students incorporate usage, grammar, and punctuation concepts as they correct passages and discuss their corrections with their teacher. The passages include the kinds of errors normally found in student writing, which provides student the opportunity to practice finding errors in sentences along with why and how they need to be fixed. The format encourages students to apply new grammar concepts in context, which aids in the transfer of grammar skills to their own writing and editing.
  4. Lessons present ideas instead of unrelated facts. English grammar and proofreading skills are taught through the presentation of ideas rather than disconnected facts. Charlotte Mason embraced the use of living books written in a conversational or narrative style. Fix It! Grammar uses text from living books to learn English grammar. The living book approach to learning makes a subject come alive as the narrative pulls the reader into the subject, which involves the emotions and makes it easier to learn the concepts presented. Literature used in the six levels offered in this program include passages from: Nose Tree, Town Mouse and Country Mouse, Robin Hood, and The Jungle Book.
  5. Lessons provide an opportunity for narration. Because Fix It! Grammar uses a narrative work (story) in application, it lends itself to using narration to tell back the story in a student’s own words. There are no prompts within the book for doing so, but the layout of the program provides an opportunity for students to narrate the passage they are rewriting.
  6. Lessons provide a passage for studied dictation. If desired, each sentence or passage may be used for studied dictation to improve spelling, punctuation, and capitalization skills.

How Fix It! Grammar Embraces Classical Principles

  1. Repetition, intensity, and duration result in mastery. Students repeatedly practice skills in editing (repetition) in a setting of focused attention to detail (intensity) over the period of several years (duration).
  2. Grammar is taught in context. Classical teachers recognize that all subjects are interconnected and related to one another and seek to relate the knowledge of one subject to another.
  3. Copywork imitates the masters of writing. As students copy stories from classic literature, they imitate the sentence structure and style of authors of great works. Not only do editing skills transfer to their own writing, but the more complex styles and structures of advanced writers also transfers to their own writing.
  4. English grammar lessons integrate well with other learning. The grammar concepts within this program complement the themed-based writing lessons also offered by IEW. These two programs overlap and reinforce each other very well.

Fix It! Grammar is a series of six books, each providing a full year of grammar instruction and editing practice, from grades 3 through 12. Each book includes:

  • 30 weeks of daily passages (4 days per week)
  • Over 100 vocabulary words
  • Clear teacher’s notes
  • Grammar Glossary

Each week begins with a Learn It! section where students learn grammar and punctuation concepts….

…followed by four days of practice in which students Read It!  Mark It! Fix It! and Rewrite it! where students read the daily passage & define new vocabulary, label/mark the parts of speech within the passage, apply concepts to fix/correct the passage, and rewrite the corrected passage.

The pages are laid out in a logical format to easily guide students through the lesson each day.

The first book in the Fix It! Grammar series, Level 1: Nose Tree, is recommended for grades 3-5. Presuming no prior grammar knowledge, this book introduces basic editing marks, indentation, capitalization, end marks, quotation marks, prepositional phrases, clauses (who-which, that, and adverb clauses), homophones, and basic parts of speech, including the identification of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions.  Students with little or no grammar background should begin in Level 1 regardless of their age.

Level 2, Town Mouse and Country Mouse, is also recommended for grades 3-5. It builds upon the concepts introduced in Nose Tree, exploring additional capitalization rules and homophones, comma rules, apostrophes, noun usages, and complex sentence patterns (aka, sentence openers).

Level 3, Robin Hood, is recommended for grades 6-8. It continues the concepts taught in Levels 1 & 2, explaining additional comma rules and homophones, types of pronouns (personal, indefinite, demonstrative, reflexive, etc.), types of adjectives (articles, possessives, predicate adjectives, coordinate adjectives, and cumulative adjectives), and phrasal and clausal constructions.

Level 4, Mowgli and Shere Khan, is also recommended for grades 6-8. This book refines the concepts taught in the previous levels and provides thorough instruction in advanced punctuation rules, complex sentence patterns, advanced verbs (verbals, tenses, phrases, participles, etc.), transitional prepositional openers, essential and nonessential clauses, subject/verb agreement, and much more.

Also available are Fix It! Grammar Cards which highlight key grammar concepts from the Fix It! Grammar Glossary in thirty full-color cards for review and quick, easy reference.

NOTE: IEW is currently updating Levels 5 and 6 of the Fix It Grammar program for grades 9-12. Stay tuned for details!

Try out Fix It! Grammar lessons for free!

Try out Fix It! Grammar for free! Click here to receive the first lessons of every level of Fix It! Grammar.

Or… download the sample for any level at the following links by clicking on the sample tab:

100% Money-Back Guarantee

Because of IEW’s incredible 100% Money-Back Guarantee, we highly recommend purchasing products directly from IEW instead of through 3rd-party sellers.

Try out Writing, Spelling, Poetry, and Grammar Programs for Free!

We highly recommend checking out the first three weeks of Structure & Style for Students program from IEW. (You can access the first three weeks free.)

Other IEW programs you can try out for free include…

  • The Phonetic Zoo. Try a sample of a program that teaches spelling with an auditory approach towards mastery. (Requires free registration.)
  • Structure and Style for Students. If you’d prefer Andrew Pudewa to teach writing structure and style to your student(s), this program is for you! Download the first lessons from each level for teaching composition to children in grades 3-12.
  • Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization. Download the first five poems from this mastery approach to learning poetry.
  • Fix It! Grammar. Download the first lessons of all four levels of this gentle introduction to grammar and mechanics with thorough yet simple instructions for the teacher.
  • Introduction to Public Speaking. Download the first two lessons of this engaging program for learning to conquer the #1 fear of most people: public speaking.
  • University-Ready Writing is a 12-week video-based course which teaches high school students advanced note-taking skills and writing techniques in preparation for college-level writing. Try it free here!
  • Free audio talks, booklists, and more! (Our favorite audio is Nurturing Competent Communicators.)

Visit IEW to find out more about other programs to transform your students into proficient writers – from early elementary all the way through college! You may also be interested in our favorite resources for teaching grammar and composition to students in grades 3-12. (And don’t forget! IEW has an incredible 100% Money-Back Guarantee. For this reason, we recommend purchasing products directly from IEW instead of through 3rd-party sellers.)

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