Grammar Book One is an amazing course! I have been an English teacher for 25 years and have worked in public school for most of my vocation. I know good stuff when I see it. This course helped me to use grammar, not memorize it. It walked me through drills where I had to synthesize parts of speech and practice until I could easily use words with different parts of speech. It sounds easy, right? However, it has the ability to find the voids in one’s grammar education and fill them.
I have seen the decline in literacy in each freshman class that comes through our doors, and I talk to teachers every day who are apathetic about illiteracy in public schools today. These teachers struggle to teach reading and writing to high schoolers since they are not reading teachers, but literature and composition teachers. Instead, they find themselves teaching handwriting and grammar practice (assuming they know what a noun is). I can see how this course could solve many of the problems we see with declining literacy.
I love that the course uses a gradient, so that one could review what they probably already know, but if not, provides a teachable moment. It progressively increases rigor to review basic parts of speech. It uses a parity voice and allows for drilling, which cuts out memorization and encourages conversations about how to use the English language. One truly learns to use grammar as a tool for literacy and communication, which is the basis for literacy. In other words, if one knows how words are used, the context becomes clear, and understanding takes place. The result is a competent and literate person who can read and write.
I have experienced not only a review of grammar for myself, but have also noticed an increase in my own reading comprehension and ability to write to communicate exactly what I want to say on the first try.
— G.M., English Teacher