GrammarPlanet {Homeschool Crew Review}

I'll admit, I'm a word nerd, maybe even a "grammar police." I'd say I come by it naturally, maybe even genetically. Ha! I think both my mother and her father could be considered linguists. To be honest, I naively thought my children would be as well, through osmosis or whatever. <sheepish grin>

The past few weeks SJ and I have been blessed with the opportunity to use GrammarPlanet, an online grammar program. It is a mastery-based grammar program (just like the online math program SJ uses and likes).

Just what is GrammarPlanet, and how did it come to be?

The creation of GrammarPlanet is the realization of a years-long dream to be able to make grammar education … REAL grammar education … available and affordable for anyone, regardless of the type of school, the economic background, the location, etc.  While there are a lot of homeschoolers who will benefit from it, I also hope low-income schools, students who go to schools that don’t teach it, and adults who never learned it, will be able to finally learn HOW our language works and therefore learn how to speak and write it correctly.  

The core philosophy behind GrammarPlanet is my mother’s creation: Analytical Grammar, a book-based program that has been on the homeschool market for more than two decades.  Mom passed away more than three years ago, but before her death we were talking about how cool it would be to have a website like this.  It’s SO exciting to me that the dream she (and Jerry!) and I discussed back then is now real.  Her way of teaching grammar is just SO GOOD.  I want as many people around the world as possible to have access to it, and digital is by far the way to go to achieve that dream. ~Erin Karl CEO GrammarPlanet/Owner of Analytical Grammar 

When you set up an account, you will have a teacher's account and at least one student account. I actually did set up a student account for myself, as well as one for SJ. The above image is the first screen you'll see upon logging into the teacher account. Below is a view of the dashboard.

As you can see above, at the time of this review there are 13 units. Eventually they plan to have 60 units. I know it will take SJ "an eternity" to work his way through all of those! The order of progression is organized, and logical.

The image below is a view of the student dashboard, from near the beginning of the review period. I noticed at the beginning, they had the student's birthdate below the name; now it's the student's user name. To be taken to the lesson, your student will click on the green "continue progress" button.

The first thing your student will do, will be to watch the lesson video, presented by Erin Karl. She is pleasant to listen to; she speaks slowly and clearly, so is easy to follow and understand.

Periodically throughout the lesson, the video will pause, and a quick quiz question pops up directly related to what Erin has just presented, with immediate feedback. If your student answers correctly, he can continue on.

After the lesson is completed, you are taken to the practice section. Each screen presents a sentence, in which your student is then to find and mark the parts of speech covered in the video lessons up to this point. After marking the sentences, your student clicks the "next" button in the bottom right corner, and will be brought to a screen which shows the sentence marked correctly while also showing any errors your student may have made.

The sentences grow longer and more complex throughout the unit. After completing several sentences, there is a unit test. If your student passes, then they are able to go on to the next unit.

I think I've mentioned before that SJ has Expressive Receptive Language Disorder, so anything word-related is a real struggle for him. I think this is an excellent program for him to use, though. And, fortunately, he likes it! This program is designed to be used only about 15 minutes a day, 3-5 days a week, so he doesn't feel overwhelmed.

SJ, in his uniqueness, has his own method of working his way through the lessons. He writes down his percentage for each sentence on a piece of paper. (I am sure I've mentioned before, he's a math kid! Everything is math-related for him!) I'll admit, sometimes this makes him working on it longer than the suggested 15 minutes, even though I try to encourage him to stick to that limit as much as possible.

Because he struggles with the language arts, this is a bit of a struggle for him. He works through the unit until he reaches the point where he is "locked out" of that unit.

So then I go into the teacher account, unlock the unit, and reset it. You want to be careful to mark the correct unit to reset, because it will erase all the work that has been done in that unit...and everything after that unit. This is what makes it a mastery program! You keep working through the unit until you receive a high enough score to pass on to the next one.

GrammarPlanet offers a free subscription, as well as a paid one. Here is what it looks like with advertisements in the free subscription. If you might find the ads annoying or distracting, then ordering a paid subscription would be your preference.

I've encouraged my middle son to check out this program, since he is currently taking English/composition. I thought this might help instill those concepts in his mind. I'd also like to see my two young-adult offspring work through the lessons for themselves. I think this is a wonderful resource for anyone! Check it out for yourself!

Connect with GrammarPlanet via social media:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest

To read about the rest of the Crew members' experiences with GrammarPlanet, simply click the banner below.

To make sure you don’t miss anything, subscribe to Life at Rossmont, or like Life at Rossmont on Facebook.

Privacy policy: we do not share your information except to send you emails when new posts occur on the blog.

Pin It Now!