The Young Genius Grammar Series™ was created to teach functional grammar, cleared of unnecessary complexities, illogical information, contradictions, and useless labels. It was built to be understandable and to teach grammar for real use, not simply for memorization or to fulfill a curriculum requirement.
What Students Learn
The series begins from the ground up. What is a letter? What is a word, a sentence, and an alphabet? And what is grammar for, in the first place? From there, it builds — each concept fully illustrated, practiced, and understood before the next is introduced.
Early on in the series, the student learns a single idea that changes how the rest falls into place: a word isn’t a noun, verb, adjective, or any other part of speech by nature. A word is used as a part of speech, and what the word is doing in the sentence determines that.
Let’s look at the word cook. Only looking at the word, can you tell if it is a noun or a verb? Look at the sentences:
- “I need to cook.”
- “I need a cook.”
We can see that the same word does two different jobs. In the first sentence, cook is used as a verb, and in the second sentence, cook is used as a noun.
Once students understand this, they can stop memorizing labels and begin to reason through sentences on their own.
From there, the series covers the most important parts of speech, parts of sentences, word forms, and more.
Grammar One
What is a noun? What is a verb? Grammar One lays the foundation — basic definitions, the most important parts of speech, and how the very same word can do different jobs depending on context. By the end, students understand what grammar is, what letters, words, sentences, and alphabets are. They can identify and use nouns, pronouns, substantives, verbs, modifiers, adjectives, and adverbs — not just naming them, but understanding why each one works the way it does.
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Grammar Two
Grammar Two builds directly on Grammar One. Students go deeper into adjectives and pronouns. They learn about different types of adjectives, including articles. They learn, in detail, how prepositions work and the different types of prepositions. They learn how adverbs and prepositions interact. Then they learn about conjunctions, subjects, predicates, clauses, and interjections. Each concept is introduced in the exact sequence needed (determined by years of piloting) in order for the subject to be approachable and for students to understand.
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Grammar Three and Beyond
Can a whole phrase act as a part of speech, the same way a single word can? Grammar Three takes the series’ functional approach into new territory. Students learn how groups of words can be used as different parts of speech, which becomes more and more crucial to understand as one continues studying grammar. Then students learn about how words change form. They learn about prefixes, suffixes, tenses (past, present, and future), and more. We even take a look at the history of English itself and why the English language has so many irregularities.
The series continues, covering more advanced word forms, more about sentence structure, and every concept a student will need to have a useful understanding of grammar — one that will remain for life and will help our students understand any future subject they study.
Grammar Three is being finalized now. Want to know the moment it’s released? Sign up for our list and we’ll let you know — plus you’ll get a free sample lesson from Grammar One right away.
How It’s Taught
How does a student actually learn this? Each part of the series pairs a primary textbook with a workbook. The workbook contains a checksheet, exercises, and drills. The checksheet guides the student, step by step, through the course. Students study a section of text (with many illustrated examples) and then do a series of drills and exercises until they fully understand that section.
Students often work in pairs, helping one another through each exercise and drill. Our program follows the Mastery Learning structure discussed by Benjamin Bloom. Students get a full understanding of each subject before they move on to the next subject. Each student moves at his own pace. No student has to “fail” or be “left behind.”
Nothing new is assigned before its earlier foundations are in place.
The grammar drills are essential, and are where everything falls into place and becomes a solid part of a student’s understanding. During a drill, a student works through a set of guided examples out loud, with a coach and an answer key alongside, and continues until he or she can do the complete drill without errors. These drills are not tests. They are the tools that give students complete understanding. In our observation, it is during the drills that the majority of the realizations occur. This is where concepts such as “the same word can be used as three parts of speech” stop being an idea and becomes obvious.
Who It’s For
Does a parent, tutor, or friend need an educational background to teach this? No. The series is built to be taught by anyone, not just a certified teacher. It’s used by homeschool families, schools, community centers, academies, businesses, and English language learners around the world. Answer sheets are included or available for download, so that anyone can help another student through the course. Parents, tutors, and friends guide others through, and some students become partners to coach one another.
Grammar Doesn’t Have to Be Painful
Grammar does not have to be a subject for students to just “get through.” Grammar can be useful. Understanding grammar helps us communicate better and learn faster. It is also a subject that can be understood.