Your thoughts on Spectrum workbooks? Specifically Language Arts vs FLL

[tdbates78]

We are working our way through FLL 2. I personally like it just fine. My girls do not. Well, it's not that they necessarily dislike it as much as they just don't have enough interest to retain their attention. They space out. It was fine at the beginning when we were learning things like nouns and action verbs or doing the fun activities like looking at a painting or reading a poem. They have been completely unable to retain any of the pronouns or the linking/helping verbs and could care less. 

 

I know many children dislike workbooks, but my girls work better with them. They thrived when we switched from AAS to SYS this year, as an example. They are most definitely not oral learners; this is something they both struggled with in public school (I pulled them out in Jan) and still struggle with at home. Basically if I just stand in front of them and attempt to teach it goes in one ear (if at all!) and out the other. They both need something concrete to look at while I'm teaching (and apparently our white board doesn't count). I am thinking of shelving FLL for now, with the hopes of returning to it sometime in the future. In the meantime, I went to Barnes & Noble today and picked up a couple Spectrum LA workbooks for grades 2. At first glace my daughters seem to think it looks okay, and it seems like it would get the job done. 

 

Just curious if anyone has tried the Spectrum workbook and what your thoughts are on them? 

[Ellie]

Spectrum is really more of a supplement than a primary source, but for the short term, they are fine.

[tdbates78]

Spectrum is really more of a supplement than a primary source, but for the short term, they are fine.

That's what I was thinking. I wouldn't use it as a primary source, but I'm hoping it will work in the interim and/or solidify what we've learned in FLL.

[sweetpea3829]

I've used Spectrum all along, but like PP said...only as a supplement.  I've used their Phonics workbooks through Grade 3 (along with Explode the Code).  I've used their Language Arts workbooks, and I've used their Reading Comprehension workbooks.  Mostly because our state requires testing and I know that they'll see similar reading comp questions in the future.  

 

My kids do not seem to mind them.  They are colorful, direct, etc.  Now that my Bigs are older (middle school), I've phased out of Spectrum and am using other things.  Essentials in Writing covers our Grammar and Composition.  Editor in Chief provides the practice for the grammar, because EIW does not practice enough, imo.  Word Roots for phonics/vocab/latin/greek/spelling.  

 

I really like Editor in Chief.  I find the exercises to be difficult but...real.  Where Spectrum's practice was more rote, EiC is more...proofread this passage and find the mistakes.  Which is exactly what I want them doing when they're writing.  

 

And fwiw, I did not care for FLL.  I found it to be so boring.  We lasted through half of the first year.  

[mamakelly]

If your girls like workbooks style, Christian Light’s Language arts is really well done. It’s solid, and thorough. I’m just adding a bit more writing to it. It’s spelling, cursive, grammar and writing all in one.

[PeterPan]

Did they have any speech or language issues? I'd be making sure the "not oral learners" and spacing out and not caring aren't actually due to something else, like some language issues. I can't tell the ages of your kids, but in general kids should be learning a lot orally at that age. It's how language is learned. So there are really some flags there.

 

I use the Scholastic Success with Grammar books with my ds, and he seems to be doing well with it. It has incredibly small steps and a strong visual presentation, while being easy for me to read aloud to him and scribe. I usually read him the instructions, and he reads the exercises and answers. Scholastic Success With… Grammar - Product Browse - Rainbow Resource Center, Inc.  My ds also has known language issues, so we work on language with speech therapy materials as well.

 

If the Spectrum workbooks click for them, they'll be fine. The sum total of what they need to learn at these ages is very, very small.

Edited October 20, 2017 by OhElizabeth

[blondeviolin]

I feel like it's likely surface grammar. Keep up with the FLL. Next year it gets a workbook. My current 8yo couldn't remember much in FLL 1 and 2, but now in 3, with the diagramming, she's right on target.

 

Also, think about picking up the audio companion. Just hearing it over and over in a no-stress environment may be what they need.

[tdbates78]

Did they have any speech or language issues? I'd be making sure the "not oral learners" and spacing out and not caring aren't actually due to something else, like some language issues. I can't tell the ages of your kids, but in general kids should be learning a lot orally at that age. It's how language is learned. So there are really some flags there.

 

I use the Scholastic Success with Grammar books with my ds, and he seems to be doing well with it. It has incredibly small steps and a strong visual presentation, while being easy for me to read aloud to him and scribe. I usually read him the instructions, and he reads the exercises and answers. Scholastic Success With… Grammar - Product Browse - Rainbow Resource Center, Inc.  My ds also has known language issues, so we work on language with speech therapy materials as well.

 

If the Spectrum workbooks click for them, they'll be fine. The sum total of what they need to learn at these ages is very, very small.

 

One of my twins has high functioning ASD. Her language is delayed and she receives speech therapy a few days a week. Her sister has, I believe, undiagnosed ADHD and was being treated with medication that we decided to stop. With some coaxing I can get her to pay attention. Both have struggled with this since back in their twos and threes when I would attempt story time at our library. Things have gotten better with homeschool but it's still a struggle. 

[carriede]

Do you have the FLL Audio Companion? My kids memorized everything very quickly with those songs.

[tdbates78]

Do you have the FLL Audio Companion? My kids memorized everything very quickly with those songs.

No. I didn't even know they had one! I'm going to check it out. Thanks!

[tdbates78]

If your girls like workbooks style, Christian Light’s Language arts is really well done. It’s solid, and thorough. I’m just adding a bit more writing to it. It’s spelling, cursive, grammar and writing all in one.

I've been eyeing this for a little while now. We use CLE math and love it! 

[PeterPan]

One of my twins has high functioning ASD. Her language is delayed and she receives speech therapy a few days a week. Her sister has, I believe, undiagnosed ADHD and was being treated with medication that we decided to stop. With some coaxing I can get her to pay attention. Both have struggled with this since back in their twos and threes when I would attempt story time at our library. Things have gotten better with homeschool but it's still a struggle. 

 

With my ds, the advice from the Intervention Specialist was to drop the grade level for everything. So he's gifted IQ, 3rd grade, but he's completing 1st grade level LA workbooks. The IS said if she were working with him (at $100 an hour, mind you), she would write custom materials. I decided to try dropping the grade level to see if that would solve the language problem, and it did. 

 

LA has so many aspects, and all of them affect school work, sigh. Just as a total aside, I read my ds the NIrV for Bible. Again, that's dropping the reading level, even for things I read him. We've been using readers leveled by Fountas & Pinnell. They have lots of pictures supports and the language scales up very gently, which has set him at ease. For my ds, a lot of what looked like not engaging was because he wasn't understanding, really understanding the language. We've been working on sequencing a lot too, using a variety of workbooks.