What do you think of the new Hake Writing and Grammar?

[Melissa in CA]

I just ran across this and it has me wondering if I'd like to make a switch next year for my 11 yo. He has been using BJU's grammar with Homesat, and though we like it and he is doing well, I am wondering if a change would be welcomed. I love that Hake includes copywork/dictation each week and that journaling is included as well. These are two things missing from the BJU's English texts that I have been having to schedule on my own...which oftentimes gets forgotten.

Just wondering if anyone is using this and how you like it. My son will be in 6th grade, so I am not sure if starting him in the 6th grade book would be best, or backing up to the 5th.

Thoughts anyone?

[Melissa in CA]

"Bump" Is anyone using this?

[Grace]

I would love to hear more about it too. I did a search and found this...

I'm not sure what grade you are looking at. We are using Grammar & Writing by Hake this year and I find it to be a very complete program. We chose not to do the writing part. It is set up similar to Saxon with a big spiral book for student and parent (with answers). There is a separate book with tests. It includes dictation, journaling, & diagraming. I think they only have 5-8 grade at this point, but 4th might be coming out soon. If you like the spiral method you might like this. There are samples on their website.
Janis in DE

[Michelle in GA]

I used Hake Grammar 8 last year and loved it! I did not do the journaling and dicatation however, just the grammar part. It went very well. It was a solid program that included lots of diagramming and that "Saxon-style" review component was my favorite feature.

[Karie]

I used this when I homeschooled my nephew. I liked the grammar part. It is has a lot of review built in. I didn't use any of the writing part-I disliked it immensely. I thought it wasn't well done (but that's just me). The grammar, on the other hand, was pretty good.

[Melissa in CA]

I probably wouldn't want to use the writing component as I have several other curricula for that, but I like the idea of scheduled dictation. Can someone give me an idea of what the dictation is like?

Also, does the book give you journal prompts, or does it just tell you to journal. I, unfortunately, cannot find any dictation/journal samples online.

~Melissa

[Janis in DE]

The back of the student book has the dictation and journal suggestions. If I remember correctly the student writes the dictation on Monday (good time to practice handwriting), does journaling Tues, Wed, & Thursday and then Friday they do the dictation that they wrote on Monday. There is also a box each day that has vocabulary words. I liked this program and will probably use it again in 7th. My daughter did 6th grade this year while in 5th, so I am taking a year off from formal grammar and will concentrate on writing and latin next year and just teach grammar as it occurs in these subjects.