The search for the perfect Language Arts program has been difficult for me. I don't want to be a "switcher", someone who tries something different every year. I want to find something I love and stick with it. I've tried Learning Language Arts Through Literature, but that didn't last long. I loved the concept, but if felt a little like busy work to me. There wasn't enough spelling to make it a spelling course, and the grammar was light. It wasn't a good fit for us. I tried Primary Language Lessons, again too light on grammar. The memorization was great and there were a lot of elements I liked, but I felt I had to supplement and I don't have time for that. I looked in to Shurley English, and that seemed too complicated and time consuming to me. Two years later, I think I've finally two programs that will work very well for us and that will be easy to use together; Rod and Staff English and The Institute for Excellence in Writing. I am so glad/blessed/relieved to have found Rod and Staff curriculum! I have read all the amazing reviews looked at the website so many times, but it never convinced me. It just didn't "look" impressive. It is very simple and old-fashioned. I thought maybe it would be boring. Obviously, looks can be deceiving. I discovered that on the web-site, www.rodandstaffbooks.com you can order samples of the curriculum and their scope and sequence for all the subjects. I ordered 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade samples and the scope and sequence chart. I liked what I saw, but still I wasn't convinced. I started off ordering Jett the Kindergarten workbooks. It is the A-F series. It is so cute and age appropriate. We both love it. He just needed some "lessons" to do while sister is busy with her work. Because I loved these little books so much, I decided to order the 2nd grade English for Nell. Rod and Staff is so incredibly inexpensive I felt it was worth the risk. We absolutely LOVE R&S English, it is the perfect fit for us. I don't make Nell do all the written work because she does a lot of other writing activities, so we do some orally. Rod and Staff English is so balanced and gentle, yet is a very strong grammar program. I really think it's just perfect. Nell loves the simplicity of it. The pictures really are precious. She's not distracted by anything flashy, which means lessons get done faster. I then decided I would try the spelling as well. I like it, but it's not exceptional. I'm planning on switching to The Phonetic Zoo, by Institute in Excellence in Writing, next year (3rd grade). The Institute For Excellence in Writing is really amazing, but it is too much for me to try to cover here. I provided a link to their website below. So here's what the year holds for us as far as language arts curriculum goes:
Language Arts:
Rod and Staff English
http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/list/Rod_and_Staff_Curriculum/
Institute for Excellence in Writing
http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/twss
All Things Fun and Fascinating Writing Guide
http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/aff
Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization
http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/pmc
Excellence in Spelling - Phonetic Zoo
http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/catalog/spelling-1
Wordly Wise 3000
Veritas Press or Progeny Press Literature Guides
http://www.progenypress.com/index.html
http://www.veritaspress.com/
I would love input or feedback from any of you who have used any of these products. Also, feel free to share what you are using. I'm always on the lookout for great ways to teach the kiddos! I'll let you know how this goes!
Grammar has been a bit of a struggle for my kids over the years.
ReplyDeleteFor Brianna, I started with Christian Liberty's phonics program, which I liked. At grade 3 Christian Liberty switches to A Beka. We tried that for 2 years, but it just wasn't sinking in.
For 5th and 6th grade we did Rod and Staff. It worked well for 5th grade, but 6th grade was a bit overwhelming. By 6th grade the lessons take a lot of time and they were very confusing. If I remember correctly, Cathy Duffy's review of Rod and Staff said that by the time they're done with 8th grade grammar they're at a high school level of understanding. Not bad, it just didn't work for us.
For 7th grade we switched to Easy Grammar and were very, very happy with that program. It lives up to it's name - it's easy. The grammar light finally popped on for Brianna! I also combined Daily Grams with it for extra review.
Alex did Easy Grammar last year (3rd grade) and Daily Grams.
This year I'm focusing more on writing because it has been neglected. So, we're doing Daily Grams for daily grammar review, Wordly Wise for vocabulary and spelling (I was going to do a separate spelling book, but it didn't make sense to me to have two separate books), and our writing is Writing Aids with our Tapestry of Grace.
Thanks Cathy! I don't know how long we will last with R&S. I love it for now, but I can see it getting more and more daunting. I agree with you that switching to a writing focus is more beneficial in the Jr. and Sr. High years. I wish MFW or TOG could work for us. I've used. and loved, MFW; and have heard wonderful things about TOG. However, the age difference between Nell and Jett makes it so both of them would miss out a little. C'est la vie!
ReplyDeleteI have 4 years between Alex and Brianna. Granted, Brianna does higher level work, but, they get the same information each week. Both will be doing writing this year with Writing Aids. The writing assignments are tied into the topics that they are learning for the week - they are just at different levels of writing.
ReplyDeleteThe kids even did art projects together and I'll be doing some read-aloud with them this year. I have enjoyed this learning/teaching approach.