Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind

Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind

Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind - Blue Bundle from Timberdoodle is a 36-week comprehensive grammar curriculum. Each year three books are required. There are four workbooks in the Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind series: Purple Workbook, Red Workbook, Blue Workbook, and Yellow Workbook. Students can begin with any of the colors as they are not done in any particular order. Each workbook in the series contains the same rules and examples—but each has completely different sets of exercises and assignments. The curriculum begins with basics such as defining what a noun is and works its way to complex grammar concepts such as restrictive and non-restrictive modifying clauses. Through repetition students will learn and memorize grammar rules and then apply that knowledge in daily practice exercises and writing. Students in turn gain mastery of the material. Easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions ensure students are able to work independently through their daily exercises. The lessons start out very basic and gradually advance to more advanced grammatical concepts. Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind series teaches sentence diagramming. Lesson and exercise text is drawn from classic literature in addition to well-written nonfiction texts in history, science and math. In addition to giving students the necessary repetition, the Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind series provides them with completely original sets of exercises and writing assignments each year. While your 7th grader may be in their third year of the program, another child may just be beginning their first year. This allows the parent to organize all students into one color. For the student just starting out in the series or for the student that may struggle with grammar you may discover that it will take more than one school year to complete one level. The student that has completed two or three colors may find that they can skim through or work through partial lessons at the beginning of the year. This will enable them to work on more advanced topics. The Blue Bundle is part of the 2022 Ninth-Grade Curriculum Kit. Parents will find the curriculum very user friendly. There is a non-consumable Core Instructor Text for Years 1-4. Scripted dialogue, rules, examples, and teaching notes ensure cohesiveness and that the program is being used effectively. A Workbook Key, of matching color, provides not only answers, but also explanations and guidance when answers are ambiguous. We all know that the English language loves to break rules such as silent letters aren't always silent, plural nouns don't always end in "s", past participles have clear endings except for when they don't, words can sound alike but be spelled differently, and "i before e except after c" isn't that reliable. The curriculum is intended for grades 5 and up and can be adapted to each student's strengths, weaknesses, and pace. 

Language Learning has Three Elements

First, understanding and memorizing rules which is called prescriptive learning. In this first step students learn to grasp the principles that govern the English language and then slowly commit these rules to memory. Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind presents, explains, and drills. 

Second, students must have examples of rules and principles which is called descriptive learning. Rules remain abstract without examples. 

Third, students need practice. This is why Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind has four workbooks. Students need to review and repeat. I personally love the saying, repetition is the mother of all learning. 

Regular reviews are built into the program throughout the year. 

Lets Look at Some Lessons

Lesson 12
Subjects and Predicates
Helping Verbs
Simple and Complete Subjects and Predicates

The lesson starts out by defining subject, simple subject, complete subject, predicate, simple predicate, and complete predicate along with examples. This lesson is divided into three sections. In Part A students are asked to match the complete subjects and complete predicates by drawing lines between them. In Part B students are asked to underline the simple subject once and the simple predicate twice. They are then told to draw a line between the complete subject and the complete predicate. The sentences used in this section are adapted from the book The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. In Part C students on their own paper are asked to diagram the simple subjects and simple predicates from Part B. 

The following pages are from the Blue Student Workbook. 

Lesson 48

Linking Verbs

Principal Parts

Irregular Verbs

This lesson begins by listing the linking verbs. This definition is given. Verbs in the simple past, simple present, and simple future describe actions that simply happen. Verbs in the progressive past, progressive present, and progressive future describe actions that go on for a while. Verbs in the perfect past, perfect present, and perfect future describe actions which have been completed before another action takes place. In Part A students fill in the blanks on a chart of verbs. In Part B students are to write the correct third principal part (past participle) within a sentence. In Part C students write the correct second principal part (past) within a sentence. In Part D there is a passage from the novel Understood Betsy by Dorothy Confield Fisher and students have to find seven irregular verb usage errors within the passage. They are to cross out the errors and replace them with proper verbs. In Part E students are given four sentences and are asked to diagram them on paper. 

This is a page from the Instructor Text. 

This is a page from the Key to Blue Workbook. 

The following pages are from the Blue Student Workbook.

Final Thoughts

I was extremely impressed with Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind - Blue Bundle. The curriculum is well-written, comprehensive, and includes plenty of grammatical review. Over twenty-three years of homeschooling I have used many grammar curricula and this definitely ranks at the top with one other one that I really like. I would recommend Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind to other homeschoolers.