How’s the grammar at your house? And how about the grandpa, how is he?
Sorry about the corny joke. 😀
Anyway, if you are looking for something to spice up the grammar lessons in your homeschool, you won’t be disappointed. There are plenty of resources available for boosting your grammar program.
One place for grammar fun is the internet. There are a few sites that have online grammar games for kids to play. I have a list of some of those here: The Best Free Homeschool Resources Online. You might want to check them out.
Then there are some videos, songs and books to bless your grammar curriculum. That’s what the rest of this post is about. Let’s jump in and see what you can use to make grammar fun in your homeschool.
*This post contains paid links. I earn a small commission from the sale of products purchased via these links. Please see my disclosure for details.
Resources for Making Grammar Fun!
Schoolhouse Rock
“Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?” Remember that Schoolhouse Rock cartoon?
I grew up watching those Schoolhouse Rock cartoons every Saturday morning. I guess that gives away my age, doesn’t it? 😮
I loved those cartoons and the songs that went with them. They helped me remember important information like math facts, parts of speech, the planets in our solar system, and the Preamble to the Constitution. I learned what a bill is, why we use pronouns, and the purpose of bones.
When I started homeschooling my dear darlings, I wanted to find those videos for our homeschool library. I was ecstatic when I discovered a few years ago that they are all available on one DVD, that includes the Grammar, Math, Science and Social Studies videos. Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway), that DVD joined the others in our educational video library.
I find that educational videos like Schoolhouse Rock are a good way to keep some children occupied while you work one-on-one with others. And since the songs on the Schoolhouse Rock DVD are so short, they are also a nice break from the books.
If you want something for making grammar fun, Schoolhouse Rock has some terrific songs for helping kids learn parts of speech including Unpack Your Adjectives, Busy Prepositions and, everyone’s favorite, Conjunction Junction.
Audio Memory Grammar Songs
We fell in love with Audio Memory when we bought their States and Capitals tape.
Yes, I did say “tape.” Back then, tapes were still being used. (I guess that dates me too. 😉 )
After buying that first tape, I decided that we should look into some of their other recordings. I was very pleased with what I found. They had a Grammar Songs tape that had catchy tunes about verbs, nouns, sentences, quotation marks and other grammatical subtleties. The tape came with a book that had the song lyrics and some grammar exercises. There was also a teacher’s guide with answers to the exercises and suggestions for more activities.
That made me very happy. It became a part of our homeschool library too.
FYI: Now you can get Grammar Songs in CD and MP3 formats.
The Humpties
The Humpties. Ever heard of them?
No, not Humpty Dumpty…Humpties.
The Humpties are a family of grammatically correct eggs. Some of the family members include Mother Verb and Father Noun. Their job is to help your child learn grammar.
How?
Through the use of stories, explanations, grammar exercises and hands-on activities. The Humpties books come with paper cut-outs of the Humpties family members that are used for activities. They’re very cute. My youngest daughter loved to use these when she was learning grammar in 3rd and 4th grades. They really helped her nail down the parts of speech.
There are two Humpties books available. (I wish there were more. 😉 ) They are:
Humpties: Parts of Speech With “Eggceptional” Personalities
and
Building sentences with the Humpties
We used both of these books. Loved ’em.
The author, Ellen Hajek, also has some other titles out that we haven’t tried. They are:
Diagramming The Key to Understanding Grammar
and
The How-to-Write Book
If they are anywhere near the caliber of her Humpties books, they are definitely worth looking into.
Books by Ruth Heller
Ruth Heller creates magic with words and pictures. Forgive me while I gush, but she’s amazing. Really. She is the author and illustrator of some of my favorite educational books.
Her books have a knack for teaching kids about parts of speech (and other concepts) in a classy way. She uses delightful vocabulary. She explains grammatical concepts in rhymes. And to top it all off, her art is amazing.
I love these books. I have used them in the classroom and the homeschool room very successfully.
Here are her titles in the World of Language series. You can find out more about them by clicking on the picture or text.
Those are the tools that I have used to make grammar fun. I hope your kids enjoy them.
Many blessings,
Hi Susan,
Thank you for your very nice comments about the Humpties books. I wrote them several years ago, and, now that I am retired, I have had them converted to a free interactive website at http://www.humptiesgrammar.com. People using Internet Explorer should have no problem opening the website, but sometimes Google does not work because the Flash software is not compatible.
At any rate, I hope that people will enjoy using the Humpties online.
Thanks again for your comments.
Awesome! That’s good to know. We loved the Humpties!