Beowulf’s Grammar: Everything You Need to Know

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This post is sponsored by Guest Hollow. All opinions are my own.

We all know that teaching kids grammar is important. How many of us get frustrated with the apparent lack of grammar education that is so evident in the online space these days?

However, it’s also not the easiest subject to teach.

Grammar can be abstract, dry, and honestly kind of boring for both and your if the curriculum isn’t a good fit. I know because I’ve tried several curricula over the years.

When the folks at Guest Hollow reached out to me about reviewing one of their products, I jumped at the chance to try out Beowulf’s Grammar. Why? Well, partially because I’d heard a lot about it in the online homeschool space, and also because it looked fun.

Before we gave Beowulf’s Grammar a go, my 4th-grade daughter was using another curriculum. There was nothing wrong with that curriculum, but it’s also one that we can pick back up at a later date should we so desire.

I very rarely stop a curriculum that is working well for my child simply to review another, but it made sense in this situation, and would cause very little disruption.

What Is Beowulf’s Grammar?

Beowulf’s Grammar is a homeschool grammar curriculum from Guest Hollow that takes a hands-on, mastery-based approach to teaching grammar concepts. It’s available as a PDF download, which, honestly, was one of the first things I appreciated about it.

As someone living in New Zealand, I am always on the lookout for curricula that has a PDF option. It saves me hundreds of dollars in shipping costs. Besides that, it also makes it easy to use with subsequent children.

If you’re not familiar with Guest Hollow, they create literature-based and content-rich curriculum resources for homeschoolers. Beowulf’s Grammar fits right into that approach. It’s thorough without being overwhelming, and it’s designed to be flexible enough to actually fit your life.

Guest Hollow is a family-run company that was originally founded by a homeschool mom. The fact that so many fantastic homeschool curricula have been developed by homeschool moms is something I take a lot of delight in.

What Do You Get?

As mentioned above, this is a digital purchase that you will either need to get printed by a third party or print at home.

Related: How to Print Homeschool Curriculum for Cheap

The books aren’t too color-filled, so printing at home is very manageable.

There are three components that make up the curriculum: the teacher’s guide (this contains enrichment pages and an answer key), the review pages, and the workbooks.

You can either print the workbook as one big book or choose the option of printing in parts. The latter is what we went with.

This curriculum is not at all like your standard grammar curriculum with dry and boring activities. The pages are filled with hands-on, fun, and engaging activities that help teach grammar concepts.

Beowulf is the main star of the show. He features in comic-style stories throughout the curriculum that teach the different parts of speech.

My daughter loved the real-life story of Beowulf (the dog) and how he related to the family of the author.

Why It’s Been a Great Fit for My Daughter

My daughter is 9, working at a 4th-grade level. Grammar has always been one of those subjects for her that needs a different approach than the traditional. She’s the kind of kid who needs things to feel tangible. Abstract concepts, like understanding what a noun actually does in a sentence, tend to be challenging for her to truly understand if we’re just reading rules from a page.

She’s also incredibly artistic. We probably go through a forest’s worth of trees each year with the amount of crafting she does.

What I love about Beowulf’s Grammar is that it gives her something to do with those concepts. The activities are hands-on and tactile in a way that makes grammar feel less like a lesson and more like something she can actually engage with.

The activities themselves don’t require a lot of prep on my end. This is a non-negotiable for me at this stage of life. I’m not looking for craft projects that take an hour to set up for a 20-minute lesson. Beowulf’s Grammar keeps it simple, and I appreciate that more than I probably should.

Flexible Schedule

We homeschool four days per week, so making sure that a curriculum can fall within that parameter is also important to me.

Technically, Beowulf’s Grammar is set up to be done five days per week. However, we have found it very simple to work into our 4-day school week.

There’s a schedule overview that shows all of the lesson options. We’ve been able to do a lesson per day and just fit Friday’s review section into our Thursdays.

There are 33 weeks total of lessons, but you can (and the author encourages this) go faster or slower depending on the pace that your child needs.

Mastery-Based With Spiral Review

This is a combination I think more grammar programs need. Beowulf’s Grammar focuses on mastery, really understanding a concept before moving on. However, it also builds in spiral review so concepts don’t just disappear after you’ve covered them once. Your child sees them again. They practice them again. That repetition is what actually makes things stick.

There’s also a lot of depth built into this curriculum if you want it. More than most kids will need, honestly. But I’d rather have more than I need than hit a wall and realise the curriculum doesn’t go far enough. The depth is there if you want it, and easy to skip if you don’t.

Children are going to practice each part of speech in several different ways, making this curriculum a multi-sensory and all-inclusive option.

Personally, we’ve used the daily lessons without doing any of the further enrichment activities. For the review pages, I’ve tended to use them as an oral assessment of sorts, rather than having my daughter do them independently.

As the parent, you’ll know which approach will be best based on what your child needs.

Independent Use

For my 9-year-old, she has been able to do this fairly independently. Beowulf’s Grammar is set up well so that you can either do this with your child or hand it over for more independent use.

This is a wonderful option, as each child is going to be at a different level, even if they’re the same age as my daughter.

I love curricula that give you everything you need to use them well, but also offer you the option of adapting them to your needs. Beowulf’s Grammar absolutely ticks that box.

Where to Get It

If you want to try Beowulf’s Grammar for yourself, you can find it at Guest Hollow’s Store.

Right now, you can use code thishomeschoolhouse5 to get $5 off any order of $15 or more. The code is single-use per customer and valid until June 15th at midnight Pacific time, so don’t sit on it too long.

If you’re looking for a fun grammar curriculum without sacrificing academic rigour, Beowulf’s Grammar is worth checking out. We’ve enjoyed it so much that I have every intention of having my daughter complete the entire year.