History Corner: GrammarPlanet Changes the Way YOU Teach Grammar! (review)

I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.  All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

If there is one subject, besides Math, that most homeschooling parents DREAD,

 it is the infamous subject of Grammar!

For those of you who are freaking out and putting it off, 
I have the perfect solution for you,
GrammarPlanet:

GrammarPlanet is a FREE (yes, I said FREE) online program, that is based on the book-based program Analytical Grammar, designed by Robin Finley, a well known homeschool program for the last 20 years. After Robin died, her daughter Erin Karl, decided it would be a great idea to take the book-based series and update it for the modern teaching experience, by making it into an online program.

The GrammarPlanet online course takes your student(s) through the basics- nouns, adjectives, articles, pronouns and verbs, before addressing more complicated concepts like prepositions and gerunds (you can check out the entire 60 unit outline on their site). It's not just a program that teaches from the ground up, it can also be used as an afterschool tutoring program, for kids who need more hands on lessons! Even teens and adults can use it to brush up on their grammar, especially before entrance exams!

The free version of the program is supported by advertising (don't worry, there is nothing inappropriate, that we've seen so far). But if you wish to get rid of the advertising, you can pay for the ad-free version, that is forthcoming (it will be $39, with unlimited time accessa!) . You can use the program on home computers, laptops, and even ipads, or similar tablets. You CAN use it on phones, but the interface really needs more space, and I wouldn't go smaller than an tablet. So it's great for using, when you're traveling as well! Our Homeschool Review Crew have been some of the initial users of the program, so our initial thoughts have changed, as the program has been adapted and changed, to our suggestions. 

When you set up your account, you can give your child their own sign in. This is very helpful, when you have multiple children, so you have individual reports for each child. As you can see, you get to see as each child not only completes each unit, but also what they missed on each unit. The screen also lets you unlock their account- more on that down below. It is recommended spending NO MORE than 15 minutes per day on the program, and that seems to be a good stopping point from what we have seen.

When your student logs in they start the first unit, Nouns. Erin provides a video, explaining the topic, and gives plenty of examples, so your student understands the topic at hand. Then there is a book icon at the bottom of the screen, that your student clicks on, to get a PDF of notes,from the video, that is good for your student to refer to, as they go through the unit (and video). Your student then starts the unit by going through a series of sentences, testing the knowledge they learned. They click on each word and select the proper button for it, ie noun, pronoun, article (see below). If they complete enough sentence activities correctly, then they can take a test of that subject, to close the unit. The system is responsive, meaning that students who take a little longer to "get it" will get more practice before the test. There is no time limit and students can take as much time as needed to master the material, in each unit.

There are a few notes that you really need to go over with your student BEFORE they start the course however. The primary thing is to SLOW down! If you have a student, like Miss Grace, who is at middle school level, they may make accidental mistakes, from NOT paying attention to the marking buttons. For example, in the screen above-she marked Galileo as a noun, not a PROPER noun, which is why it showed in red, with the correct answer above it in green. The computer choices have been improved since we started the program, and they are now listed in order they are learned, so less chance of confusion by selecting the wrong item. The button selection box (see below) has been VASTLY improved, with pronoun choices all together now for example, instead of randomly placed, and that also cuts down on any confusion! Your child ALSO can CLEAR the selection, of they catch an error, before hitting submit.

However, if they are going to quickly, they might mark that proper noun as PN--- and not PN, which WILL also give them an error! And that is also the second thing- when there is a combined name, they have to use the correct proper noun buttons of PN--- and ---PN, and not use PN twice. This was the one that has been VERY vexing to Miss Grace, as she had marked things as proper nouns, but then would be marked off for not using the one with the dashes. Now if I was doing a printed page, she would have been right for marking it as a proper noun period, and graded as so. BUT the computer grading system only allows for the EXACT correct answer. This is where an extra level of frustration can come in for students used to a more traditional format of grammar grading.

So it is imperative that you have your students LOOK and see what they missed on each sentence, to see where they might have accidentally hit the wrong button, to keep from making the same mistake again and again. What I eventually had her do, after being SO frustrated, was to go through and mark all the nouns, then all the articles, then adjectives, then go back and check for Proper nouns, instead of just reading the sentence and clicking a button for each one, as she read along. This greatly helped her SLOW down and look.

If your child makes too many errors, then the unit WILL be locked out (see above) and they can not move on, until the parent/teacher unlocks the unit. It will show the unit locked out on the student and teacher dashboard, as well as sending an email to the teacher/parent, advising the student has been locked out. For Miss Grace this was another level of frustration, as she missed 2 errors on 6 sentences and it made her retake the ENTIRE unit again. In traditional testing, she would have moved on. This level of repeated repetition just about undid the entire program for us, due to her level of OCD. Now for kids who haven't understood the concepts, it makes sense for them to go back through the entire unit again. I do wish there was a way for parent/teacher to review the errors, and if they felt they were typing versus knowledge, be able to unlock and allow child to take the test, to see if they should move on or not. The only override control you have, however, is to erase all the activities in a unit, and have your child start over, if you feel they totally did not understand it.

If your child is checking out the program as part of a review course, they may mark items as say a verb, for a helping verb, when that has not been covered yet. They may or may not get marked off for that. In her use of the program, Miss Grace got marked off twice, and then noted 3 times "Good Job you've marked something though that we haven't taught you yet". She actually wanted to be able to mark everything, but the available buttons are ONLY what has already been covered up to that point. And that was another level of frustration for her.

Which brings me to my last point- GrammarPlanet is a really good program, BUT I think it is really best for someone with very little grammar knowledge, or as your initial grammar program. Otherwise, your student may get too frustrated with it, like Miss Grace, who struggles with repetition. The program does really well building on the basics, and helping your children understand sentence structure very well. The scope and sequence is excellent, and it is a super value for the cost (FREE!). 

I would say that the sentence reading level is about 2nd to 3rd grade level at minimum, however. But I would say if you start at that level, your child will get a very thorough grammar education. And really if you are sitting down and going over the program with your child, I can see where you could get 2 years out of it easily, especially if you use any of your subjects for some added practice. 

In fact, I would recommend checking out some of the reviews from my fellow reviewers, as many of them have younger children, and they can give you a different perspective on the program. Just click the picture below, to see all the links for review!

If you think GrammarPlanet might be good for your homeschooling curriculum, or for your child to use at home for more practice/tutoring, be sure to check out the sample pages, and sign up for a free account.

Be sure to check out their social media pages, to see when the ad-free program is available, as well. For those of you who love grammar puns, Erin has some really great jokes and puns on their pages too: Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest/