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If you could only choose between Total Language Plus and Learning Language Arts Through Literature...


PentecostalMom
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TLP because it's pretty tight and would be easier to make fit the kid.

 

I think I may have bought some TLP, maybe not. Really, I never got any of that kind of stuff to fit my dd, and ds is his own road trip, haha. So that would just be my principle. The more something is like a totally different universe of how you work (an encompassing year of LA vs. targeted, topical instruction), the more likely you are to get into it and find it not a good fit. 

 

LLAtL has so many adherents around here, it must be quite good. Like literally, if I go into our homeschool group (large), you're going to find TONS of users of it. It's a very mainstream, reasonable choice. So that's why I'm saying I don't think it's a quality or worth thing, more a question of your style. (whole year vs. pick units) If you like to be flexible, do something, and then move on or alternate, then probably TLP. If you want to have the plan be predictable and solved for the whole year and that's a way your family rolls well, then LLAtL ought to fit really well. Says the woman who has used neither. But that's what I would look at. :)

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I loathed LLATL.  So so so much.  Partly because it was dated.  Partly because it was corny.  Partly because I wanted to use whole books and I found some of the book selections to be lower reading level than my kids were.  Just not my style.  We muddled through two or three years of it I think (Let me remember...Blue, Red and Yellow...so yeah, three years and I added so much in that it became redundant).  

 

So if I was forced at gunpoint to choose one of these two, it would be TLP.  I've done one of their book studies and it was ok.  More easily customized than LLATL, and I tend to be the queen of reinventing the wheel when it comes to curriculum.  

 

That said...I did ditch TLP in favor of doing my own thing for literature for a number of years.  That got to be a bit onerous, so now we're doing Mosdos.  Not sure if I'll stick with it for next year.  I like it enough...but not sure I like it as much as it costs.  

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TLP.  Absolutely disliked LLATL.  It was disjointed and messy.  The books weren't scheduled and the comprehension questions/activities weren't broken down by chapter.  We did one book and moved away from it fast.

 

I have no experience with TLP, but if I had to choose between the two it would be the program I don't know over the one I do.

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...That got to be a bit onerous, so now we're doing Mosdos.  Not sure if I'll stick with it for next year.  I like it enough...but not sure I like it as much as it costs.  

 

Total digression here, but what grade of Mosdos are you using? I see Timberdoodle is carrying it now. Is it the same thing as what you're doing? Ds is finally almost at the point of reading regular stuff. He's working through leveled F&P readers, which have been good for the predictability and lowering his anxiety. They're very charming, with picture supports, repetition in the language, humor, inferences and predicting, etc. If I had a curriculum that was really, really good, with lots of small steps and including lots of good actual reading skills (inferencing, etc) without requiring a lot of writing or making assumptions about social thinking and spiritual level, it could be a really good fit. It helps ds to have something very structured and predictable. The crazy nut is actually getting to be a good reader. Today he read an article in the newspaper when dh handed it to him. The nut doesn't ready anything otherwise, but apparently he can read, lol.

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Total digression here, but what grade of Mosdos are you using? I see Timberdoodle is carrying it now. Is it the same thing as what you're doing? Ds is finally almost at the point of reading regular stuff. He's working through leveled F&P readers, which have been good for the predictability and lowering his anxiety. They're very charming, with picture supports, repetition in the language, humor, inferences and predicting, etc. If I had a curriculum that was really, really good, with lots of small steps and including lots of good actual reading skills (inferencing, etc) without requiring a lot of writing or making assumptions about social thinking and spiritual level, it could be a really good fit. It helps ds to have something very structured and predictable. The crazy nut is actually getting to be a good reader. Today he read an article in the newspaper when dh handed it to him. The nut doesn't ready anything otherwise, but apparently he can read, lol.

 

I'm using Opal (3rd) with my youngest two boys, and Pearl (6th) with my Bigs.  The curriculum has a lot to it.  I bought the workbooks for both grade levels and pick and choose what I have them complete, which mostly amounts to vocab for the Smalls, and Reading Comp and Vocab for the Bigs.  Mostly, the writing stuff is skipped because I coverI  writing and grammar with Essentials in Writing and Editor in Chief.  

 

What I DO like about Mosdos is that it specifically teaches literature skills that I was otherwise having to come up with on my own.  I felt comfortable enough doing that in the lower grades, but this is middle school now, and I wanted to make sure they were well-rounded.  

 

What I don't like is that, so far, it's JUST short stories.  I think that's totally fine for a year, but I think it's important to read good long novels as well, and have discussions about it.  And I know some folks do both, spreading Mosdos out...but I can't seem to make that fit our schedule.  

 

But yeah, Mosdos is much more structured and predictable.  And because the stories are shorter, it's small bites.  Might be worth considering.  How is Timberdoodle's return policy if you don't like it?  

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We've done Purple through Grey and this year I'm also doing Orange. Grey and Green are the best, IMO.

Thanks. One of my dc is using Writing Strands and FLL right now. I have LLATL Tan. Not sure if I want to work that in or just use the TLP guides as I have them also. I did use LLATL with older children, but it’s been awhile. I have never used TLP, a friend loaned some to me to look over. I like the looks of them, but despise wasting time.

 

 

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