Hake Publishing - Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 Review

We all know that learning and reviewing grammar is not at the top of anyone's to-do list.  But I am very grateful that we were given the opportunity to review the NEW Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 from Hake Publishing!!

Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 is a rigorous and yet flexible program for students in Grade 3.  It not only introduces students to learn new writing and grammar skills, but as it introduces new concepts, it also reviews concepts to reinforce skills that students have learned.  This is a great way to ensure that student's are becoming and will remain great communicators. The Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 package we received includes three parts.  There is a Teacher's Guide, Consumable Textbook and Writing Workbook.  If you have followed us, you know that I'm usually not a fan of purchasing teacher's guides.  I don't like to be told how to teach my children...lol.  But I really do like the Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 Teacher's Guide.  It is scripted, which makes it a bit different.  Now you might say...wait you just said you don't like to be told how to teach.  That is true, but as I desperately need....this Teacher's Guide is flexible.  I can pick and choose some parts to skip.   We have been using Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 with Caty.  She is behind in this area due to her reading/spelling delay from her other learning disabilities.  Now we are more than ready to tackle sentence structure and writing sentences.  Depending on the lesson, we are usually done in around 20 minutes.  I can adjust the length of her lessons, according to her attention span that day.   Each lesson includes a thought provoking question, ok thought provoking for an 8 - 10 year old!  We can speak briefly about whatever topic the question is on that day.  Then we move onto a vocabulary question that explores basic root word meaning.  She and I create sentences around those words and explore the meaning of the words.  Then we begin the full lesson.  This time period obviously takes the longest.  The Student Workbook covers this part of the lesson in a textbook style.  So there are examples in the lesson to go through with your student.  Then comes the practice materials.  There are questions first to cover the material that was just introduced. Then comes the reinforcement practice.  There are several questions that are asked over previous lessons to help your student continue to improve on the knowledge they have already gained.  I really liked this option and it really helped Caty.  Some days she rolled her eyes and said, "Why, I've already answered questions like these yesterday."  But then most days I had to remind her that she still needs just a little extra help in some areas, and those questions were helping her.   Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 contains 111 lessons.  So depending on your schooling schedule, it's a full year.  We covered three lessons a week, unless she was struggling and then we only did one or two lessons to avoid frustration.  There is a suggested lesson schedule at the beginning of the Teacher's Workbook, but flexibility was a key for me.  You could definitely cover a lesson a day, in a five day school week and finish in under a year, even with suggested tests and also the writing assignments in the Writing Workbook.

The Writing Workbook that is included in the Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 package is not used on a daily basis.  Usually you include a lesson in this workbook roughly once every two weeks (so about every ten lessons), depending on your schedule.  The program is meant to go along with the new skills being taught in the Student Workbook.  Such as combining subject and predicates after covering those in the Student Workbook.  The Writing Workbook helps students to create new sentences in several different lessons.  So taking knowledge from everyday lessons, and shows kids how to fully use this information to the fullest.  Examples are provided and then student's are encouraged to create their own.   As student's progress with their sentences, other important writing topics are then introduced in the Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3 Writing Workbook.  Student's will learn about basic persuasive writing, expository writing, how to edit paragraphs, and even writing basic summaries.  This is all presented in a basic third grade level.   The material is all presented in a clear way.  The pages are not overcrowded with information or distracting pictures, which a huge deal in our house.  But students are learning more than they realize, which is a favorite teaching method for me...cramming in as much as you can with short attention spans.   I am so happy that we had the opportunity to review Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3.  Caty has made wonderful progress in the short amount of time we have been using this program.  I plan to purchase the next level for her, and start Lydia with Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing in the upper grade levels.  I really do love the presentation of the material.  It's so simple and easy to understand that I didn't even need a refresher for myself before covering a topic.   Several members of the Homeschool Review Crew were given the chance to review the NEW Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3.  Click on the link below to see how they felt about this new level of the Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing program.