Updated Sep. 8, 2019.  Originally published Aug. 15, 2005.
[UPDATE 11/2010:  The KISS site has actually been redesigned, so it’s much more user-friendly.  There are workbooks there and everything.  The overall timeline has been changed up a little bit, to better accommodate traditional schools.  Personally, I still prefer the order laid out below.  However, if you were scared off by the jumble of the site before, give it a try again, using Dr. Vavra’s intended route. 🙂 ]

A friend recently commented that she would not be using KISS because she wasn’t able to sort out the site.  This is understandable, as there is so much information there!  It’s a shame, though, to have to find something else as a result of nothing but navigation.  I hope that the following “table of contents” will make the KISS Grammar site less mysterious.

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Get Familiar with KISS Grammar

I recommend you start with The Syntactic Rules of the Game.  This is the overview of the entire program and you will want to familiarize yourself with it.

The Heart of KISS Grammar

This next section is the portion you will refer to routinely as you teach.  No one section is longer than 4 printed pages, so it should not be too overwhelming.

(Introduction)
3rd Grade  (There is also some extra instructional material here.)
4th, 5th, 6th Grades
7th, 8th, 9th Grades
10th Grade
11th Grade
(Conclusion)
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If you go to the Self Paced Course and print out just the exercises for each level, it will give you a quick overview of the sentence-marking method.  (This is a great quick-reference.)

Background Information

As a teacher, you will probably want to read The Structure of English Sentences for background, but it is not something you will need/want to work through step-by-step as part of the curriculum.  Think of it as the author’s preface or introduction.  You read it when you first get the book, but you don’t refer back to it regularly during your teaching.  I also like The KISS Difference as background.  It explains not only how, but why.

The Accelerated Version

One of the key ideas you’ll see if you read through a lot of Dr. Vavra’s materials is that English grammar isn’t close to twelve whole years of study.  (We’re talking about the functional type of study here, of course.  Grammarians may study for decades, but that’s not the same thing as simply being able to use English competently.)  We stretch it out for two, sometimes three, reasons: 1) because we teach it in a completely irrational sequence, so it never really makes sense, 2) because much of grammar is developmental, so you can’t effectively teach a third grader certain constructions yet, and 3) because we stretch it out to “fill the space” because that’s just what we do in schoool.

So if you have the freedom to just wait until high school, or if you’re trying to catch up, the fairly new KISS Grammar in One Semester may be an excellent option for you.  (Unschoolers whose kids have decided to buckle down with grammar, I’m looking at you!)  This is a downloadable Word document (and answer key) on the main page.

Just My Personal Preference

The suggestions above are not hard-and-fast rules for how you must use the site; it is simply my personal preference.  (In fact, since the redesign, many people will probably prefer the grade-level workbooks.)  There is a wealth of information available there, and I recommend that you set aside time to browse and read most, if not all, of it.  The above suggestions, however, should make it simpler for you to use the site for teaching purposes.  Please let me know if this information has been helpful.