Grammar question, please help

[Ann in OK]

DH and I are pulling things together for next year and I have a question regarding grammar for my rising 4th grader.

I have read several articles, one by Martin Cothran, mentioning that Latin would be sufficient for grammar studies. I then went onto the Highlands Latin School site and saw that they do use Warriner's grammar starting in the 5th grade. So, my question is, do we need to use a grammar program at a certain point, or am i seeing a conflict that is not there?

We are about to start Prima with my oldest, so she will start LCI sometime in the 4th grade. We currently use BJU for English, but wonder if we need a complete English curriculum next year. What do you all use for grammar, if anything, and when do you start it.

TIA, Ann

[Mungo]

I asked the same question of the folks at Memoria Press a while back, and Brian Lowe was kind enough to reply. He explained that teachers use Warriner's as a reference or to supplement when students need extra help with a particular point of English or Latin grammar. It is not used as part of a stand-alone English grammar course, as they have found that a thorough grounding in Latin is a more efficient use of students' time and effort.

HTH!
Mungo

[TJean]

We use Harvey's grammar to triangulate with our Latin and Composition studies. Daily we review our Grammar copybooks (I have one also) before we work through our composition exercises just as we review our Latin grammar forms before we begin our Latin exercises. Grammar exercises follow indications of need either from our formal studies, writing projects, or daily informal usage.

The kids take more care about their language usage throughout the evening and weekend because carelessness may be seen as lack of understanding, and they have a sneaking suspission that if they get caught being lazy lessons lean less toward explanation and fun engaging practice and more toward no frills review and enough "practice to make permanents". Their effort and attitude significantly effects the grammar session.

Additionally, we plan specific work for sessions 2 days per week, but my kids have language processing issues and don't see connections most see in this arena.
If you ask them to write about a house, you might get a few terse sentences that define house and what it's used for. If you ask what does it look like, they'll seriously answer "you want me guess?" or "what house are you talking about?".

So if your kids grasp the concepts and you can facilitate their ability to transfer the skills between your studies, then formal grammar studies won't be necessary but if your children need a more formal tool to bridge all the peices, then using rigorous grammar materials in a more structured manner may make your (and your kids') lives easier. Mine require routines, clear limits and high expectations to soar but these same things would stiffle or inhibit others.