Well, your thing was “how do I learn the vocab in the sentences that teach me grammar” and that’s what textbooks take care of.
If you are saying “I want to learn more vocab than the textbooks give me” that’s a totally different story 
You can address that by using a Core vocab deck (there are Core 2k/6k/10k decks out there for Anki, Kitsun, iKnow and probably many other platforms).
I think you may have me confused with the OP. I’ve got my learning method sorted out, thanks.
Oh, I see, sorry!
I just had my burn reviews for these and got them mixed up 
- 4 months is a long time to forget…
I don’t think doing basic grammar makes this easier, you need a lot of familiarity with verb structures rather than the sentence-forming grammar you’ll get in something like N5 bunpro or Genki I. It’s a much more nuanced element of the language.
I’m telling myself not to worry too much - in context you can generally work out whether the verb is active or passive and how many objects it takes a lot more easily than a word in isolation on an SRS test.
I’m on level 6 and had tried to start grammar using Bunpro at level 3. It started off well enough, but I got really frustrated. I just didn’t have enough kanji under my belt so I’m going to hold off at the suggested level 10. But that’s just me, obviously, but I wanted to throw that out there. I’m definitely relying on the mnemonics to learn/retain the vocab rather than knowledge of the grammar/verb conjunctions.
Ahhh yes they were horrible 
Good luck burning those!!
上げる- something is raised, 上がる- the subject rises
this is very helpful!
I agree with what everyone says, it all depends on what you feel works for you.
I never did much research online, I just bought the Genki books and started there. It was first when I finished Genki II and started Tobira and wanted to try some more real-world materials that I felt my kanji was lacking a bit and that I wanted to expand my kanji knowledge past what the textbooks were teaching. So I first learned of wanikani after finishing N4. And while I do wish I had known about wanikani earlier and started earlier, I don’t really regret having pushed through all the core grammar first at all. I feel like going through wanikani now I have a very solid grasp of the basics and I like being able to read the example sentences, especially on words whose meaning is a bit vague for me.
I don’t know much about bunpro or any other online resources, but working with a textbook like genki, you’ll only be encountering the kanji and grammar points you’ve already learned so I don’t see any reason to reach a certain wanikani level or wait if you already now want to start understanding and learning the basics of sentence structures.
If you just focus on one “grammar point” in the exercise you lose the bigger picture in my opinion. You feel like you “get it”, but you’re just getting it in context of the exercise.
What’s useful is actually writing texts. I hate that too, but it is more efficient than filling in blanks 
I’m glad it helps! Welcome to the WaniKani community
I started using Bunpro and reading Genki at the same time as starting Wanikani.
I think it’s been really beneficial because I can actually read some graded readers now without assistance.
I particularly like Bunpro because you can turn on the Furigana and it tells you what the sentence says in english. I’ve learned some new vocabulary words that way. But everyone loves at their own pace. Do whatever you feel like you can handle.
You might enjoy this challenge then
not trying to toot my own horn, but people will also give you feedback sometimes if you ask for it
Looking at your sentences with examples, the way I remember it is that when the verb is direct, as in to rise, to stop, to spread, to bent, etc. I use が, or ま, because they come before げ, or め, which are used in indirect verbs, in the Japanese “alphabet” rows.
It just my little “shortcut” for now until I burn them through repeated use and exposure. Hope it makes sense;)
I feel like there’s a basic level of grammar someone should have before they start learning a lot of vocab (or, god forbid, kanji). It’s the “kore ha pen desu” stuff - basic sentence structure, several of the particles, some basic conjugations. If you’re not already there, get there.
You quickly reach a point with grammar where you realize you have nothing to say with it and more and more of the examples and tutorials you see use Japanese writing and lots of unfamiliar words, and that’s the point when I think you should pause grammar study and focus more on vocab.
After level 10-15 in WK, that stuff should start getting a lot easier to read - partly because you will have learned some vocab and kanji, but also because by then you should be better at reading hiragana as well. And at that point I would recommend you resume grammar study and start knocking out N5 and N4 grammar.
I say “knock out”, but grammar comes much more slowly than vocab. Don’t expect to blast through it no matter how you study.
I take tofugu guide as permission to wait for grammar. They know that at the beginning there can be a lot to learn and it’s alright to wait to dive into grammar, but it doesn’t mean you have to wait. If you feel ready to take more, then do so.
But if at any point you feel overwhelmed by Japanese then also feel free to slow down, but whatever you do, don’t take a break. Even if you just look at Japanese once a day. Don’t stop.
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