4Real Forums: Recommendations/comparisons of LA program

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Topic: Recommendations/comparisons of LA program

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DianaC
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Posted: May 27 2008 at 7:35pm \| IP Logged

This was our first year of homeschooling - we are finishing up 2nd grade. We started out basically from scratch since my DD was in a school that focused most of its energy on crowd control and little else was accomplished.

She has made remarkable progress in math, reading and she can now actually write legibly and worked so hard that she began cursive in January and is very excited to see her improvement.

However, other than improving her handwriting, she hates writing. We did keep the writing down to a minimum because of this and did copywork for the first part of the year and then tried dictation and again she is improving a great deal. She can now write a sentence or two upon request without have a total conniption (which is what happened last year at this time whenever she had any creative writing homework or had to compose a thank-you letter).

Having said that, I think we are really ready to move on. I have purchased Primary Language Lessons which I hope will gently and gradually inspire her to be able to compose lengthier pieces. What other recommendations would you make - given her past demeanor. I am currently considering LLATL, Sonlight LA or Winterpromise LA - I am hoping to avoid using workbooks but still be able to inspire her creativity and teach grammar, vocabulary, phonics and spelling.

Thanks for your help!

mom2mpr
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Posted: May 27 2008 at 8:58pm \| IP Logged

I have found LLATL to work pretty well. It covers everything, gently, and you can tweak it for your kid. We skip spelling, substitute HWT for the handwriting lessons, etc.
We are just finishing the yellow book now and there are some cool projects(I think) that get you out of the workbook mode. Well, I take them out of the workbook-I kind of take the idea and go with it. We did a timeline of Davy Crockett's life a few weeks ago. Last week ds did copy work(and he did it--we usually skip as he has major issues with copy work)and it was the Pledge of Allegiance. We ordered some books from the library and now he needs to write a paragraph about how we got the pledge. We also looked up words he didn't know in the pledge and he told me what he thought it meant.
The grammar is working for now. I am glad they do it in small bits at a time--and there is some review a few weeks later. I am hoping to move up to an actual grammar program like Winston either this year or next.
It isn't perfect.
-- The literature part is kind of poor--especially if you don't(can't

) do the copywork. You aren't asked to read the book for the literature passage you work on for the week. You can, as the book is referenced, but I usually didn't. The literature comes during a Literature Link and there were only 3, maybe 4 in the yellow book. We usually do enough reading to skip if we aren't interested.
--The set up confused my ds for a while as he didn't "get" outlines. I would tell him to work on 2 a,c and d and he just didn't understand. For a while I was copying and cutting pages. But,we have moved past that!
--I have heard in the upper levels there are some non-Catholic books and they are very Protestant. So far, in yellow I haven't seen anything offensive.
We are looking at doing purple or tan next year. I think after that some book selections are questionable.
Hope that helps!
Anne

DianaC
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Posted: June 03 2008 at 6:04am \| IP Logged

Thank you for your ideas! I ordered the LLATL set (orange) and it came this weekend. I was very pleased as I looked through it. When I compare it to Sonlight or Winterpromise, it seems light on the reading part - there are only 4 book studies as compared to about a dozen in the SL or WP programs. After thinking about the practicality of this, though, I think that when we consider the books that we'll read for history, social studies and science, plus pleasure reading on the myriad of topics that pique our interest throughout the year, then we won't have any shortage of reading materials.

Does anyone have any other comments on the SL or WP?

mom2mpr
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Posted: June 03 2008 at 7:41pm \| IP Logged

I also did Sonlight 1 a few years ago. It does have more reading. We got bored with the worksheets and I skipped the last month or so as ds was just "done." We still read though.
They have revamped their LA and try as I may I cannot get info as to the changes, what is better or worse than the old LA program. If you get any info on the changes I am all ears as I did consider it for next year.
I am waiting for my new LLATL--I ordered both purple and tan to see where I can put him next year.
I do like having it as my little teacher to help me make sure he is getting what he is needing related to LA skills. He can complete a weeks lessons in a few days. We follow "rabbit trails" when we feel like it and I don't feel I am getting "behind."
Anne

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