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Understanding editor in chief

Editor in Chief is a fun, engaging way to teach grammar through error-hunting. Perfect for homeschool families!
Lisa Thorsen
Written byLisa Thorsen
3 min read
Key takeaways
  • Editor in Chief is a grammar workbook series ideal for homeschoolers in grades 2-12, designed to enhance editing skills through an engaging error-hunting approach
  • Each level provides a full year of lessons, making it a valuable supplement to main grammar curricula and a fun way to prepare for standardized tests.

Editor in Chief is a grammar workbook series that helps students improve their skills by finding and correcting errors in various texts. It’s designed for students from grades 2 to 12 and turns grammar practice into a fun challenge.

Research from the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) shows that homeschooled students typically score 15 to 25 percentile points higher than public school students on standardized academic achievement tests. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), approximately 3.3 million students were homeschooled in the United States as of 2023, representing roughly 6% of the school-age population.

What is editor in chief?

Editor in Chief is a grammar workbook series from The Critical Thinking Company. Instead of typical fill-in-the-blank exercises, it gets students to hunt for mistakes in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Each passage tells them how many errors to find, making grammar review feel like a puzzle. The series covers grades 2-3 through 9-12, so it’s great for kids in elementary to high school.

How the error-hunting approach works

In each lesson, students read a short passage—a letter, a story, or an essay—full of errors. They need to spot the mistakes and fix them. This method is more engaging than basic grammar drills because students learn to identify errors in context. The different formats, like dialogues and formal letters, keep the lessons interesting and expose students to various writing styles.

Best uses for homeschoolers

Editor in Chief is best for reviewing and applying grammar skills, not teaching them from scratch. It works well for students who already know the basics. They can reinforce what they’ve learned and practice editing skills useful for their own writing. Many homeschool families use it alongside a main grammar curriculum for weekly practice. It also helps prepare for standardized tests with editing sections.

What parents should know

The workbooks are made for students to write in, so you’ll need one for each child. Each level offers enough lessons for a full school year of weekly work. The Critical Thinking Company has won several awards for this series, including the Mom's Choice Gold Medal. If your child enjoys puzzles and finding mistakes, they’ll likely prefer this over traditional grammar worksheets.

The bottom line

Editor in Chief offers a fun twist on grammar learning by turning editing into a problem-solving game. It’s great for students who need to review grammar without boring drills. Plus, the skills they learn really help improve their writing. For homeschooling families looking to build editing skills alongside grammar knowledge, it’s a reliable and enjoyable option.

Frequently Asked Questions

Lisa Thorsen
Written by
Lisa Thorsen

Co-founder, BetterSchool

Lisa is the co-founder of BetterSchool and a homeschool mom of three. BetterSchool administers the largest independent homeschool community in the country — over 350,000 families across all 50 states.

When COVID hit, Lisa and her husband pulled their children out of school and hit the road. Homeschooling wasn't the plan — it was a necessity. But somewhere along the way, the family fell in love with it: the time together, the ability to tailor lessons to each child's interests, learning at their own pace, the freedom to travel, eating healthy on their own schedule, and the countless other benefits that come with homeschooling.

As they traveled, Lisa kept discovering incredible hands-on learning experiences that most homeschool families had no way of finding. She built BetterSchool to make it easy for every family to find and book the experiences that make learning come alive.

Through her community, Lisa has helped hundreds of thousands of parents navigate homeschooling, while also helping local businesses find and serve the homeschool community. She is the former managing partner of a law firm focused on business law and mergers and acquisitions — BetterSchool is her second technology startup. She holds a J.D. from California Western School of Law and a B.A. from Penn State.

Table of Contents

  • What is editor in chief?
  • How the error-hunting approach works
  • Best uses for homeschoolers
  • What parents should know
  • The bottom line
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