Grammar Girl can be a helpful tool for your child to practice Working Memory, Focus, Writing, and Reading. Try some of the suggestions below, or contribute your own in the comment box at the bottom of the page.

Working Memory Activity

Your child should use school assignments and creative projects as opportunities to improve skill as a writer. Learning grammatical rules takes time, repetition, and practice. When your child is working to edit a written piece, Grammar Girl is an excellent source for learning where and how to apply tricky rules. Even when your child is not currently working on a written project, encourage listening to Grammar Girl's new episodes. Alternatively, try to identify specific problem areas in your child's writing by reading homework assignments or reviewing teacher corrections with your child. Look for lessons from Grammar Girl that relate to your child's problem area, listen or read the lesson, and instruct your child to write a few fun sentences that apply the lesson to a real situation.

Focus Activity

Identify your child's common problem areas. It may be helpful to compile a short list of the most common errors based on teacher recommendations or your own observations. After completing a first draft, your child should specifically concentrate on these areas first, assessing the assignment or written project for mistakes. For extra help, use Grammar Girl's quick and easy lessons as a supplemental guide for editing. Be sure your child concentrates on proper execution of grammar by reading and understanding the examples provided on the website or in the app. Your child can explore other lessons, but try to start in areas that your child shows the greatest weaknesses.

Writing Activity

Encourage your child to keep a grammar notebook, or section in a school notebook dedicated to grammar. When your child comes across a mistake in an assignment, or has a question about a particular rule, writing it down in a notebook and later using Grammar Girl as a resource to correct the mistake can helpful. Your child should include the original mistake, any notes about how to fix the mistake, and the repaired sentence in the notebook. Writing down the rule will help your child retain the information, and keeping a personal "toolkit" of grammar tips is excellent practice for any aspiring writer.

Listen to pod casts with your child about common problem areas before beginning a writing assignment. You can either use items from your child's personal list, or general tips from the top tips list. Pod casts are quick audio clips that will save your child time reading when they need guidance quickly and easily.

Reading Activity

Often times misunderstanding of grammar can make reading challenging. For example "their," "they're," and "there" all sound the same, but the meanings are different. Grammar Girl will help your child differentiate and understand difficult grammar concepts or common problems that early readers experience when trying to read unfamiliar texts. Ideally, your child will learn to identify grammatical mistakes, or even properly executed grammar, when editing or reading and be able to interpret literature more clearly on the first read through.

Grammar Girl & Dyslexia

Children with dyslexia often struggle to read, interpret, and decode text. In particular, many children have great difficulty with spelling and applying the rules of grammar to their own writing. Grammar Girl provides continuously updated articles and audio lessons designed to clear up confusion and educate students on proper grammar. For children who have difficulty communicating with clarity and proper execution in their writing, this website and app can be a quick and easy to follow resource for answering questions, correcting mistakes, and learning to avoid errors in the future.

How to Use Grammar Girl for Children with Dyslexia

• Make note of your child's most common errors. Grammar Girl has a wide range of grammatical lessons and can be a useful supplement to classroom lessons and textbooks. For children who have difficulty reading and interpreting text, the website and app's audio lesson feature is an ideal companion. Look for and listen to lessons which pertain to your child's most frequent errors.

• Create a grammar "toolkit." Frequent mistakes should be written down in a notebook. Your child can research the issue using Grammar Girl's audio and textual resources, paying special attention to examples of proper grammar. Your child include a brief note in the "toolkit" under a mistake which serves as a reminder of what was wrong and how to fix the issue. Include the repaired sentence in the notebook as a reminder.

• Look for updates in the Grammar Girl app or on the website. Avoiding errors will improve the quality of your child's writing as well as the amount of time needed to edit and revise. New lessons are uploaded frequently, and your child should make reading or listening to a new lesson part of a homework routine. Explain to your child that learning correct grammar will improve grades, quality of writing, and decrease the amount of time needed for the essential steps of revision and editing.

Grammar Girl is just one reference guide for writers. Below are a few alternatives to keep in mind. Tell us which is your favorite in the comment box at the bottom of the page.

CCC Guide to Grammar and Writing

This website is another resource for getting grammar help in a variety of situations, from words and sentence structure, to research and PowerPoint formats. Visit the CCC Guide to Grammar and Writing here.

Grammar Book

The Grammar Book website provides an online searchable version of the content available in the traditional Blue Book reference guide. This website also offers free grammar quizzing to perfect your skills! Find out more here.

Grammar Guide

Grammar Guide is an app for Apple devices that serves as a quick and easy to use reference guide for daily writing. This app offers general hints, tips, and examples to help users make a decision when revising and editing. Find out more here.