The Grammar stage is roughly ages 7 through 10 or 11. These are approximations. Some of you read that and gave and exasperated–
“Everything is always for SEVEN year olds! My poor 6 (or 5) year old is left out!”
The unfortunate truth is that children go through both a physical and cognitive milestone around the age of 7 that shifts how they interpret the world. It’s the reason self-weaned children almost never nurse past the age of 7. From education.com’s article “Lucky Age 7: How and Why Kids Change”
Maybe when your child hit 7 things just seemed to “click” for him. Or perhaps your life just got a little easier, but you weren’t sure why. Well, there is a definite reason for this momentous shift: the most significant changes in the brain occur at age 7. The most notable being that the frontal and temporal lobes, which control cognitive functions, grow enormously – more than at any other time in a person’s life. And at the same time, these lobes are making neural connections with the system that controls emotions. In other words, both thinking and feeling get a major overhaul.
And so that is where the Grammar stage begins. This is when they become ready to learn and in more academically successful countries, this is when formal academics are begun.
When entering the Grammar stage children may or may not be reading independently. They take great interest in learning about things and exploring new ideas. They may be fascinated in one area or with every new thing they encounter.
They thing more concrete than abstract which is why the Classical model focuses on memorization. Their ability to make abstract connections gets better as they get older, but in this stage, it may not even be present for some of those years and starts showing some development near the end of this stage.
At this age, it’s about EXPOSURE
It’s about putting the ideas in their heads and developing communication and relationship skills. Do they learn things? Of course they do! But they are going to learn all of these things again. This time around, they can enjoy them!