Editor in Chief® Beginning 1

I homeschool my 2 boys and critical thinking company has become one of our favorite curriculums to use. My younger son who hates school absolutely loved this curriculum. He was 6 years old and doing 2nd grade work last year and this was his favorite book of them all, enough so that he wanted to make sure I ordered the beginnings 2 book for this coming up year. It has a page or 2 of teaching them about one or a couple different grammar/mechanic usages and then it has short little paragraphs for them to go in and edit. I love that they have to edit an already paragraph verse having to try and write a paragraph using so many of the mechanics themselves. It also tells them how many errors there are, so if they can only find 1-2 they know they need to go back and look again. In my sons case after he went through the paragraph himself and was missing some he would come to me and I would read the paragraph to him and he would be able to point out the other issues most of the time because he is an auditory learning. They do mini reviews every few lessons and then they also do a main review over everything before it to reinforce everything that was learned. These are also done in a paragraph with the circles on the side telling them how many of each correction they need to make. This is fantastic for the students and also it makes it fairly easy for the parents to be able to help them and know what errors they need to find without having to constantly check the answer key. I highly recommend this book whether it's for homeschooling parents, parents whose kid may struggle with grammar and mechanics in public school, or even just as a reinforcement for those who didn't struggle.

My to-be 3rd grader does not like doing writing and usually makes lots of repeat errors- some really basic ones too. I picked up this book as an aid to writing analytically and help him review all the writing basics before school starts in the fall. My hope is that once he can "see" the mistakes in other writing, it will be easier for him to prevent and correct errors in his own writing. In this book, kids read an individual paragraph and then must find and correct the errors in the paragraph. Each section focuses on one main error (example, the first chapter focuses only on different types of capitalization errors) and includes a list of the basic rules for reference. Subsequent chapters end with a review section that covers everything thus far. Kids correct individual paragraphs and there are easy indicators that show them how many errors they need to find so the exercise is not overwhelming. One nice aspect too is that the paragraphs are taken from a variety literature: fiction, non-fiction, letters, etc. My son was pretty excited that some of the samples he had to correct were from books he had read in the past. I was really surprised to see how much my son immediately took to the book. The exercises are structured so they are achievable, but still provide a little challenge. We are still early in the book, but I've already noticed my son being able to notice some errors he'd miss before, along with the ability to better understand/explain why something is wrong or right. I think this is really great for those kids who don't quite get all the grammer rules yet and thus struggle when they write. It also is easy enough and consistent enough that kids can work on the exercises independently. I'm looking forward to getting even further into the book.

Excellent book that slowly walks your child (or you!) through good editing skills and is great practice in attention skills. My girl is going into 6th grade and has been using this book. It's gone ok. She really dislikes this kind of thing and isn't very good at it yet, but this is doable and nicely incremental. We like that it tells you what to look for. For instance, it will have a paragraph, then beside it will be at least a couple circles representing how many mistakes there are in the paragraph. Next to the circles it tells you what kind of mistake, such as tense, a/an, capitalization, comma, etc. It gives a page of explanation of the rules about one of the points of grammar, such as what kind of words need capitalization, then gives some paragraphs with capitalization errors, then it gives another type error and gives practice on those while also randomly throwing in ones already covered so you get continual review. I'm guessing all the books build on one another, so this is a good one to start with even if your kid is in a higher grade, just to make sure they didn't miss anything. Honestly, this isn't just for kids. It's great for adults who want a slower approach and lots of practice in ther editing skills and shows you how easily we miss errors. Sometimes I can't even find the mistake without looking through the paragraph a few times and I've written a fair amount of fiction and so I'm constantly self-editing. On a side note, I LOVE buying books from the Critical Thinking Co. If I can get them on Amazon Prime, I like to order them here to get them faster, but you can get them from their website also. There are a lot of books there that are just wonderful for kids, and especially gifted kids. I'm glad to see them here on Amazon too!

My high-functioning autistic daughter and I have tried several homeschool grammar programs. When my friend recommended this one, I was skeptical, but it was affordable, so I gave it try. My daughter loves it! It's the first grammar curriculum she has actually enjoyed. She likes that it breaks grammar down into bite-sized manageable parts--just punctuation for one lesson, just contractions for another, etc. She doesn't feel overwhelmed and she hasn't realized yet that the lessons slowly build on one another. The basic idea is that the student reads a paragraph and finds the errors that are being highlighted in that day's lesson. FInding all the errors builds her confidence. I love that the student can work at her own pace and that it's super easy to teach each lesson. We will definitely be continuing with this series. Really glad we found it.

It’s a nice book that we can take anywhere so my child can work on their writing skills. I like that there is so much for them to learn using this book. Helps build editing and writing skills.

This is excellent. I bought it for my third grade daughter. We review the skilled at the beginning of the week and then complete the six items over the course of the next week. You could do it a lot faster, but this works for us and I feel like she gets a good grasp of the scale. I like that it is editing based. I think it gives very strong real-life examples for the kids.

This teaches proofreading skills that translate into more professional writing skills. Simple and straightforward

This book is great practice for my son, who is a reluctant writer. With this book, he gets to be the "expert" and correct other passages. It's a great way to review writing concepts.