Fix It! Grammar (IEW)

Publisher: Institute for Excellence in Writing, Locust Grove, VA Founded: Fix It! Grammar current edition 2014-2018, authored by Pamela White Website: iew.com Scope reviewed: Books 1 (The Nose Tree) through 6 (Sir Kay), grades 3-12

What it is

A six-book grammar and editing program built around a serialized story. Each day the student is given a passage from the ongoing narrative with a specific grammar problem to identify, mark, and correct. Over the year the student works through the full story while accumulating grammar mastery across punctuation, capitalization, parts of speech, sentence structure, and style. Fix It! is the standard grammar companion to IEW's Structure and Style writing program (reviewed in Batch 1).

Rubric assessment

1. Pedagogical soundness. Strong for its pedagogical model. The distributed-practice, daily-editing-task approach is supported by cognitive-science research on retrieval practice and spaced repetition — students don't learn grammar from a single unit test on prepositions; they learn it from encountering prepositions in real context repeatedly. Fix It! operationalizes that insight better than any other grammar program in the market.

2. Academic rigor. Grade-appropriate and cumulative. Book 1 begins with basic capitalization and end marks; Book 6 covers advanced punctuation, complex sentence structure, and style. A student who completes the series has mastered grammar to a standard well above average for college-prep purposes.

3. Worldview / bias. The stories themselves (The Nose Tree, Robin Hood, Chanticleer, Mowgli, Frankenstein, Sir Kay) are drawn from traditional Western literature and folklore. No explicit religious content. Pam White and IEW are in the classical-Christian orbit, but Fix It! does not carry doctrinal content the way some IEW writing products do. Secular-usable.

4. Implementation cost. Moderate. As of April 2026, each book's Teacher's Manual runs roughly $29-$35; the Student Book $19-$25. The program is consumable (the student writes in the student book), so there is no resale value. A family using all six levels spends roughly $270-$340 over six years per student.

5. Parent experience. Moderate lift. The Teacher's Manual is well-designed with full answer keys and clear grammar explanations, and the daily task is bounded (typically 15-20 minutes), but the parent is expected to review the student's marks and teach the grammar concept when the student gets it wrong. The parent who has not studied grammar in 25 years will learn it alongside the student, which is a real time commitment in Books 1 and 2.

6. Student experience. Unusually good for a grammar program. The story hook — students actually want to know what happens in Robin Hood or Chanticleer — carries them through material that in a traditional textbook would be grueling. Fifteen-minutes-a-day pacing prevents burnout.

7. Relationship to IEW's Structure and Style. Fix It! is designed as IEW's grammar complement, and the vocabulary and framing assume the student is either enrolled in IEW writing or will be soon. It functions well as a standalone grammar program in any household (it does not require IEW writing), but if the family is planning an IEW writing track anyway, Fix It! is the natural pairing.

8. Community / longevity. Well-established. Over a decade running, stable publisher, strong IEW community support, consistent video training for parents (IEW makes teacher-training videos for Fix It! itself, not just for the writing program). Customer service is responsive.

Where we see it shine

As the grammar component of a composition-forward LA plan, especially in classical or classical-lite households. As remediation for students who completed early-grades grammar and didn't retain it. As the grammar path for students who hate traditional grammar textbooks.

Where we see it underdeliver

Families who want grammar taught in big conceptual units with practice sets (Easy Grammar, Rod & Staff, Analytical Grammar). Families who object to IEW branding or methodology on other grounds.

Verdict

The best context-embedded grammar program in the homeschool market. The program-worth-adding-to-any-writing-plan if your writing program doesn't include grammar. Usable with or without IEW Structure and Style, but especially natural as its grammar partner.