Applied Grammar is a company that aims to help teachers and parents teach writing in a way that will be better understood. When you understand grammar, you are better able to put it to use in both writing and speaking. Among other things, it uses color coding and games to promote learning and retention.

In order to facilitate my review of Applied Grammar: Elementary II, I received the following: Teacher’s Book, Student Workbook, Laminated Mats, Parts of Speech Posters, Writing Folder Inserts, Word Cards, and Writing Drills CD. If you were to purchase this for your family, it would only cost $73. The only thing you need in addition to those things would be dry erase markers, pencil and paper.

The Elementary II book expands on what was learned in their Elementary I book. So, in order to tell you about Elementary II, let me tell you a bit about Elementary I. Elementary I begins by teaching about nouns being the building blocks of writing, and the basic parts of speech. It then teaches about sentences, and goes on to talk about writing skills and more advanced grammar. In Elementary II, the book begins with a review of the basic parts of speech. Then it goes into compound sentences, compound subjects, compound conjunctions, coordinating conjunctions and much, much more.

It is geared towards students in grades 3-6 and can be used at home or in a classroom setting. In fact, because of the games that are suggested to play, it is the perfect kind of curriculum for a co-op type program. It teaches grammar and writing through categorization and problem-solving, instead of memorization. As for your visual learners, the program uses color coding to help decipher all the parts of speech in a sentence.

Each lesson does not take long and is easily digestible. A sample lesson would go something like this: Review the information from the previous lesson. Write information on your “think pad” (a notebook the student uses to take notes). Write a sentence and then diagram it using the color coding. Learn new vocabulary for the day and make a vocabulary matching card. Do what is assigned for the writing assignment for the day (not long). And that’s it. It is not time nor labor intensive!

The program was used in our home as a group. My youngest is really too young for it, but it is still a good introduction for her. My oldest has knowledge beyond what is in the books. So, even though the information was mainly for my 6^th grader, we sat as a group and went through the lesson. I did it this way because I feel that the way the lessons are laid out is more suitable for more than one student. My oldest didn’t really like this because she felt she could be doing other things. I think my kids are just too far apart in age and skill set to use this program to its fullest extent.

I feel this is a great program for families with kids that are close in age to do together, as well as for homeschool co-ops. In my opinion, the more classical schoolers would do best with this curriculum, while unschoolers would likely feel it is too structured. That being said, there is definite flexibility with it and for under $75, it is a great program to try out.

-Product review by Nicole Cauffman-Cole, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, April, 2016