To Grammar or Not to Grammar?

(updated September 2024)

I wish I had known, don't you? All those things you know now - if you had known them before? I wish I'd known then what I know now.

"I didn't learn grammar in school, and I succeeded in University; now I teach writing!" I homeschooled my children without teaching grammar - until my youngest was struggling with spelling and we began The Good and The Beautiful. Sentence Diagramming! Now it all made sense! Don't get me wrong. I had some rudiments; I'd learned the basic parts of speech and intuited where to put commas. I learned as I went, but my writing could have excelled beyond my dreams - if only I'd known.

Grammar Helps you Communicate Clearly In our world, communication is of utmost importance. Employers are actively looking for applicants that can write

clearly and effectively.

Grammar Improves Spoken Language Skills

Grammar rules may be less stringent in spoken language, but the ability to communicate clearly and persuasively is a skill that grammar supports and employers require.

Grammar Supports Logic

Learning grammar allows your student to apply logic by understanding and applying common rules and knowing when they can and should be broken.

Rules are to be Broken

Yes! You heard me right! Until you know the rules you cannot know how to break them for maximum effect.

"But grammar is so hard and so boring!"

BUT... Does my student need a grammar course?

No. Grammar matters because good solid writing matters. Learning grammar separately from writing stores the facts separately from the skill of writing and often students don't ever connect the two! Learn more about how Discern to Learn see's grammar in this article written for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.