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I have been using Christian Light with my son through first grade. He turned 8 in October, and we are just now finishing the Reading One. He struggled with reading, so we have been working through Phonics Pathways for about 6 weeks as well. I believe he is right at second grade fluency level, with some days being better than others. Reading and L/A takes us the majority of our day; it is laborious and the workbooks seem a little too much for him. He doesn't enjoy reading,and this effects his attitude also.  I love CLE because I feel like it is so strong academically, and it is open and go.

I am having a hard time changing directions, but I feel like for the sanity of my son( and myself) I need to. I have looking at English Lessons Through Literature, and it seems much less intense, but I have never done narration, dictation, or picture study method, and I don't have a clue what to do with the poems other than just read them ( maybe that is all I am suppose to do).  I just need advice on which direction to go with building confidence and better fluency on reading without sacrificing grammar and writing. I need a curriculum, because I need a Teacher's manual :) !! I have never taught reading or English and I don't find it easy to wing it.  Also, any reviews or advice on ELTL from those who have used it, and what you think about starting at Level 2.

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OKBud- I plan on continuing with Christian Light Reader books, and do most of the workbook orally ( they are mostly comprehension questions) , I bought a set of the I see Sam ARI level readers too to pair with Phonics Pathways, but I was thinking of skipping the Christian Light Language Arts and instead doing ETLT. First reason is to get away from EVERYTHING being a workbook, and I don't feel like we are getting in the writing portion of CLE because it takes so long to get through the workbooks. also I was thinking a new approach might make English more fun for him. I guess I am just nervous because I have never taught in this way. It almost seems so simple I can hardly believe it, which makes me think I am missing something.
Also, do you think I can jump right into Level 2, and should he be reading the books ( ex. Wizard of Oz) himself, or am I reading it to him?

Thanks!!

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We used Progressive Phonics (free! check it out!) to build reading fluency and ELTL for CM-style narration and copywork (and eventually dictation and sentence diagramming, in the higher levels of ELTL). It is a great combo for us. My son loves it.

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We tried level one, and I'm not a fan.  It's all public domain lit, and the program stays with the same author for a long time.  I don't even know how many Beatrix Potter stories and Aesop's fables we had to read in a row, and then I think it moved on to Kipling, but by the time we stopped using it, dd never wanted to see another archaic story about talking animals as long as she lived.  I found a few of the assignments a bit iffy, as well.  It wasn't horrible, but there are much better uses for the time and money, imo.

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We tried level one, and I'm not a fan. It's all public domain lit, and the program stays with the same author for a long time. I don't even know how many Beatrix Potter stories and Aesop's fables we had to read in a row, and then I think it moved on to Kipling, but by the time we stopped using it, dd never wanted to see another archaic story about talking animals as long as she lived. I found a few of the assignments a bit iffy, as well. It wasn't horrible, but there are much better uses for the time and money, imo.

I'm curious what you used instead?

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We tried level one, and I'm not a fan.  It's all public domain lit, and the program stays with the same author for a long time.  I don't even know how many Beatrix Potter stories and Aesop's fables we had to read in a row, and then I think it moved on to Kipling, but by the time we stopped using it, dd never wanted to see another archaic story about talking animals as long as she lived.  I found a few of the assignments a bit iffy, as well.  It wasn't horrible, but there are much better uses for the time and money, imo.

 

I didn't mind it so much, but Sophia started out liking it and started loathing it around the end of the Just So Stories portion. She absolutely dug her heels in and refused to do it anymore.

 

We moved on to Lightning Literature 2nd grade and she's been much happier.

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It's set up to only do three lessons a week which is why the books are stretched out so long. I read them to my son unless he wants to read that particular Potter Story. He also will read the Jungle book on his own but not every book in the curriculum. I admit to skipping the Alphabet Just So Story and making my mother read another Just So Story to him. They don't come off the tongue very easily. We are picking up the pace during Five Children and It and also with Jungle Book because we can't get into stories that are so spread out.

 

I can't wait till next year (2nd grade) because I feel like there isn't enough to this year. I had to add more copywork and dictation with WWE2 and poems. I don't like that the poems are spread out one line or so a week. Yikes, get it done already. We will finish early and then go back and finish Climbing to Good English 2 that we left half way through for this more book approach. I would do level one with my 5 yr old if I could get my older son to do the reading to him. I will not read them again anytime soon. I will do level two next year with the older son and pick copywork sentences for the younger out of it while discussing the punctuations. We will keep doing WWE next year with level 3 because that seems to lead to good English discussions.

 

We've covered 45 lessons in ELTL1 and only talked about morals in the fables, vowels, and some punctuations. Some Beatrix Potter stories had too much of a smoking reference for my taste. Poems, Picture study, and Picture narrations was one of the reasons I chose this curriculum because I want a well rounded English. They have been welcomed.

 

Hope the details helps you with your decision.

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I'm curious what you used instead?

 

We're doing FLL but only doing it a couple times a week, since we skip some of the lessons when dd doesn't need that much repetition.  Once we started FLL I really thought she was going to be bored with it, but she swears up and down she likes it, so I'm not going to complain. ;) We're sort of doing WWE, and I make my own copywork on this website which I tie into our history and science, and for narration I ask her questions about whatever book she's reading at any given time, or I have a non-fiction reading comp workbook I have her do selections out of on occasion.  I have Jot it Down, and I've been thinking of starting that instead of WWE because I really think she'll enjoy it and she's at the point where she's ready for more than just copywork.

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I didn't mind it so much, but Sophia started out liking it and started loathing it around the end of the Just So Stories portion. She absolutely dug her heels in and refused to do it anymore.

 

We moved on to Lightning Literature 2nd grade and she's been much happier.

 

That's right around the same point my kid started refusing to do it, too.  

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I wanted to add for later consideration at 4th grade the CLE reading program will be only 5 Light Units per year. I didn't not use CLE to teach my child to read, but I am using it now. I have been more than impressed with the quality of the materials in 6th grade, and I wish I had started it sooner. It is a very good program (at this level), including fabulous vocabulary work, literary terms, comprehension, inference, etc. 

 

 

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I have been using Christian Light with my son through first grade. He turned 8 in October, and we are just now finishing the Reading One. He struggled with reading, so we have been working through Phonics Pathways for about 6 weeks as well. I believe he is right at second grade fluency level, with some days being better than others. Reading and L/A takes us the majority of our day; it is laborious and the workbooks seem a little too much for him. He doesn't enjoy reading,and this effects his attitude also.  I love CLE because I feel like it is so strong academically, and it is open and go.

 

I am having a hard time changing directions, but I feel like for the sanity of my son( and myself) I need to. I have looking at English Lessons Through Literature, and it seems much less intense, but I have never done narration, dictation, or picture study method, and I don't have a clue what to do with the poems other than just read them ( maybe that is all I am suppose to do).  I just need advice on which direction to go with building confidence and better fluency on reading without sacrificing grammar and writing. I need a curriculum, because I need a Teacher's manual :) !! I have never taught reading or English and I don't find it easy to wing it.  Also, any reviews or advice on ELTL from those who have used it, and what you think about starting at Level 2.

I don't have any experience with CLE, but we are using ELTL and enjoying it very much.  As others have mentioned, ELTL is for grammar & writing.  We are also using RLTL for our spelling/reading component.  I find ELTL very open-and-go.  I am using level 2 for both my girls, 7 & 8.5.  I don't read all of the literature.  It's in the public domain and you can listen to it free on librivox.  It's a lifesaver!

 

The Aesop's fables and the poetry - yes, you just read them - are easily my girls favorite part.  My girls like to illustrate the fables after we read them.  We use the poetry in our memory work rotation.  And I appreciate the picture study.  It's nicely put together IMO.  Previously, I was putting together everything on my own, and this is a huge time saver.

 

HTH!

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