Thirteen Ways to Teach Your Kids Good Grammar [First Edition]

1. Model good grammar. If you need a refresher course on subject-verb agreement or using personal pronouns correctly, then get yourself a good book and study it. If we expect our children to learn proper grammar, then we should strive our hardest to learn it (and use it) too.

2. Correct your children’s grammar from the moment they leave the womb. But do it nicely. When your adorable little 3-year-old princess says something like, “I eated all my dinner,” just smile sweetly and respond, “Oh, good, you ate all your dinner.” And leave it at that. Do this consistently, and your kids will breeze right through much of their grammar curriculum throughout school because they’ll already know proper grammar through practice.

3. Model good grammar. Did I say that already?

4. Don’t rush into a formal English grammar curriculum. If your children are learning how to speak with good grammar through modeling and correction, then they’re already doing “English grammar.” Many homeschooling philosophies encourage parents to delay formal grammar instruction (i.e. book work) until mid- to upper-elementary anyway, and I would tend to agree that this is often a good idea. After all, if one of the main goals of homeschooling is to produce children who consistently use proper grammar, then focus on that first. Once they’re speaking with proper grammar, then you should start worrying about labeling all those intimidating lovely parts of speech.

5. Model good grammar. Am I getting my point across?

6. Encourage your kids to read well-written books that use proper English grammar. (Now I know I’m about to offend some people here, but…) I personally don’t begrudge anyone who likes Junie B. Jones books, but I personally don’t like my kids to read them. Why? Because Junie B. Jones is written (intentionally) with typical kindergarten grammar; in other words, Junie B. Jones models bad English, and I don’t want my kids to be exposed to it too much. That’s not to say they’ve never read Junie B. Jones—both Jaden and Jerah have—but I limited their exposure; and when they did read it, I encouraged them to take note of the bad grammar—to actually look for it. That way they were reading it with a little more awareness.

7. Model good grammar. I know I’ve said this twice already, but it’s so very important. Homeschooled kids spend the majority of their time with their parents, so they’re listening to English grammar being modeled by Mom and Dad all throughout the day; likewise, kids in public schools are learning from both their teachers and their peers, some of whom may not be modeling correct grammar. As homeschooling parents, we have a captive audience with our kids, so we should take advantage of this opportunity for round-the-clock English grammar instruction.

8. Point out errors in English grammar that you hear on TV. Make it a game; when you hear an error, ask your kids if they know what should have been said. You could also take that opportunity to discuss how using poor grammar can affect how others view the speaker and/or the speaker’s message.

9. Have your children do copywork. “Kill two birds with one stone” by having your kids do copywork from quality literature. Copywork helps children learn both good penmanship and proper grammar.9. Have your older children do proofreading exercises. Have them proofread and correct an error-filled sentence or paragraph. There are many free online sources for proofreading exercises like this.

10. Model good grammar. Ahem…

11. When you’re ready to start a formal grammar curriculum, choose a good-quality program, but don’t be afraid to switch to something else if it doesn’t work for your child. There are so many different methods of teaching grammar that they won’t all be the right fit for your child. Keep looking if the one you’re using isn’t working; you’ll eventually find one that’s right for your child’s learning style.

12. Consider teaching diagramming if your grammar curriculum doesn’t include it. Diagramming, especially for kids who are very visual learners, can be a very effective way to teach grammar. Diagramming is what helped grammar finally “click” for me.

13. And last but not least…model good grammar. ‘Nuf said.

Check out other great T13’s here.