Fix It! Grammar is a six-book series from Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) that works to help teach children all they need to know about grammar. They do this by having children read passages of literature and fix the mistakes. 

Grammar can be a hard subject to teach. Most of us do not remember all the rules we learned in school and must relearn them to teach them to our children. In Fix It! Grammar the rules are all laid out. And, instead of memorizing a rule, this curriculum teaches it through the student applying it to fix the mistakes.

When using Fix It! Grammar, a teacher book, and a student book are needed. These can be bought as physical books or as downloads. In our homeschool, we use physical books. On the website a print teacher book can be purchased with a downloadable student book included, but if a print student book is needed or wanted it can be purchased separately or they can be purchased together as a package deal. 

The teacher book with downloadable student book retails for $19. A print student book is $15 and a combination of student and teacher books in print currently retails for $29 offering savings on buying them separately. Another purchase option is to purchase all six teacher books together, they come with the downloadable student books, for $89. 

Before starting on any of the Fix It! Grammar books a placement test can be taken to determine which book the student should start with. If no prior grammar has been done the placement test could be bypassed and the child starts with book one. 

Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree is book one in the series. Begin with this book if no grammar books have been done previously. It is recommended for students in grades third through fifth. The books are spiral bound for ease of use. 

My daughter using book one is ten years old and in fifth/sixth grade in her studies. Before using this book, she has had little in the way of formal grammar. We have a relaxed approach to grammar aside from the basic parts of speech. But we do a lot of reading and love good literature. 

She took a few days to get the hang of the book but after that, she kept a steady pace through the book. One lesson is done per week. We work on our lessons four days a week. Day five is our makeup day or a day to revisit any problem areas. 

Book two is titled Fix It! Grammar: Robin Hood. Students in grades three through five are the target age range for book two. 

We start with book one and then work through the rest of the series. When my children begin book two, they are normally in sixth grade. The child I currently have in book two is 13 years old. She is in seventh grade this year but did not do book one until she was in sixth grade.

She loves the story of Robin Hood and would get upset because of the short bits of the story and that they did not make sense when she would first read them. We found a copy of the book for her and now she works through the lessons quickly so she can read the next chapter.

Fix It! Grammar: Frog Prince or Just Deserts is book three in the series. Book three is recommended for students in grades six through eight.

Book three brings with it an eighth-grade scholar. This is my daughter who is fifteen but developmentally delayed. She has the hardest time with grammar lessons of any of my children but with this curriculum, she knows what she needs to do, and she finds it easier than some of the other children. 

She is currently in love with the books for this lesson book and calls it her fairy tale lesson book. When a child looks forward to grammar, I know the curriculum must be amazing. 

Book four in the series is Fix It! Grammar: Little Mermaid. Book four is recommended for students in grades six through eight. 

Currently, this book has been finished by my thirteen-year-old and fifteen-year-old who are going into tenth grade this year and waiting for my child doing book three to advance into. The Little Mermaid is her favorite movie, so she is working hard to get through book three and into book four. 

This book progresses easily and adds concepts to what has been learned in the previous books. I love that I do not have to reteach what they have already learned. We normally use book four in eighth grade.

Fix It! Grammar: Chanticleer is the title of book five in the series. Book five is recommended for students in grades Nine through Twelve.

This is the book we use with ninth grade. This is also a literary work that I had not read previously so we did have to buy the book to go with it. It is not needed with the curriculum but a bonus that we like to add-in. 

I recommend that this book not be used before ninth grade. It makes more of a leap between books four and five than we have seen in previous years. The passages that need fixing get significantly longer and seem to have issues to fix. 

The last book in the Fix It! Grammar series is Fix It! Grammar: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Book Six is recommended for grades Nine through Twelve. 

My two sophomores started this book this year. They did a book study on King Arthur and his time period with our local homeschool coop last year, and they were excited about their grammar book. 

This book brings with it lessons in all things medieval and how to set apart what characters say. It has more in-depth types of clauses and more. 

While going through this last book of the Fix It! Grammar series students are learning on par with freshman college students. 

The Fix It! Grammar series focuses on having children read real literature and not just made up passages to show a grammar rule. With this concept, children are also being introduced to good literature while learning. 

Within the series, grammar is taught in context. This allows the student to see how it should be used in real literature rather than just nonsense sentences. By editing the work themselves, they are cementing their new knowledge. 

Besides the grammar lessons being learned your students will also be introduced to new vocabulary words. While working on their grammar they also get copy work which helps penmanship. A grammar glossary is also in the back of each book to help make memorizing facts easier as well as being a bit of a cheat sheet if needed. 

Finally, once the book is completed a certificate of completion can be filled out to help create a sense of accomplishment in your student. My children love to keep a notebook of all their certificates of completion to show how many of the books they have done. 

The Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) offers many other programs that teach writing, grammar, Reading, Poetry, Literature, and much more.

Product review by Erin Slocum, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, August 2020