Review: English Grammar Teaching Method by English on a Roll

It amazes me as I've watched my children grow and learn how differently they each learn. I grew up in public schools and honestly I feel I got a great education.  I didn't struggle too much and I really could have worked harder in high school.  Grammar was a subject that I struggled with and I'm not exactly sure why.  I knew the basic nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs, but throw in all the rest and I would get a glazed look (LOL) I don't remember too much hands-on-learning it was really just book work.  All of my kids enjoy games and anything "fun" that doesn't see like "school" so much.   When I first learned about the English Grammar Teaching Method from English on a Roll I was very interested because it's a multisensory English grammar program.  Issac always seems to do better with the multisensory approach, so I was excited to check it out.  It always makes my day when a package arrives, but when your package includes 40 dice it seems more exciting because games immediately come to mind! :) We started looking through our kit and this is what was included: 

• 40 durable, solid plastic cubes, 38 engraved with groups of related words and 2 blank cubes for customizing
• ​Color-coded to facilitate learning by association
• Easy to customize with additional vocabulary
• 150-page instructor manual with teaching tips, lessons, games and reproducible materials

I was instantly excited because everything seemed so well made and sturdy and that is ALWAYS needed around Issac (LOL) I sat down and started reading the guide to see exactly how this program worked.  One thing that jumped right out to me is the Cube Guide right at the front of the book.  It lets you know the groups of all the cubes, the colors, the words on them and what their use is.  It's a great "cheat sheet" to help you as you move through the program.  This program was made for anyone five years and up and especially those with English as their second language, Special Ed. programs and those in Beginner Reader programs.  This program can be used in a classroom setting, small groups or one-on-one.  The textbook was written to really have it all set up for the teacher, so there is minimal prep work needed.  Each lesson has the following:

Prep-Shows which cubes to use, pages that are needed to be copied and any additional materials needed.
Notes and Vocabulary-Has tips for teaching as well as any new vocabulary.
Teach the Concepts-Explains exactly how to teach the lesson with the cubes and printed materials.
Games/Conversation: Has games to play to practice any new concepts.
Written Exercises: Has reproducible exercises for additional practice.

I was a little surprised that the first lesson started with pronouns because most programs we've ever used taught nouns first.  Even though this program started out a little different than others we've used Issac was able to follow the initial lessons fairly easily and do the worksheets that were provided.  We printed the worksheets rather than write in the book and that is acceptable under the copyright laws.  I just prefer to print my pages and find we can work easier when we have our worksheets separate from our books.  There are 37 lessons in this program and they include a wide variety of areas.  For us the lessons got a little hard for Issac fairly quickly.  I think the lessons jumped too quickly for him, so we slowed it down and worked at a slower pace than others might.  I found that going back and redoing lessons as we moved through was a wonderful reminder for him. I think our middle child would have been able to move through this program at a little quicker rate than Issac.  Issac often forgets the definitions of things and I've seen that over the last few years with our grammar programs. I think that the multisensory approach is definitely what works best for Issac and we will continue to work through this program at the pace needed for us. That's the great thing about the  English Grammar Teaching Method that you can move as quickly or as slowly as you need for your child.  If you would like to see how the program works I recommend this video as it gives a great view of how the program can be used.  For additional information on English on a Roll you can check out their Facebook page as well as read what the other crew members thought and how they used the program.