CLE Language Arts...

[nixpix5]

Would anyone who has used this or is familiar with it tell me either why you love it or why you didn't?

 

We have used A beka 1 for all our kids and love it. DD didn't move on to A beka 2 because she just didn't need continued phonics work and I had better options for grammar and writing for her in particular.

 

With the boys I have A beka 2 primed and ready but for one boy in particular, I think he might do better with something else. I would like to something "all in one" but he likes get it done workbooks so I don't want to do anything with alot of moving parts. TG&TB is out of the question. He is better with visual/written than oral/auditory for the most part.

 

Abeka 1 has been a fabulous fit but I feel 2 is overly repetitive from 1 and there is a huge jump in writing (the stock prompts will not enthuse him)

 

I am looking at CLE for the first time and atleast on the surface, it seems really great. Anything I am missing from samples alone that I need to know?

[Vida Winter]

We used CLE for early grades but we got bogged down after about grade 4 - maybe too much writing/marking up sentences with too little room to write in the workbook. We switched to Abeka -- I wish I had used only Abeka for language arts. Some parts of CLE I love but prefer Abeka for LA.

[Garga]

I have used Rod and Staff, Easy Grammar, and CLE. Here’s my story:

 

Rod and Staff is wordy. Wordy, wordy, wordy. Each lesson has so many words. It’s a hard bound book, so you have to copy the practice problems onto different sheets of paper. They were always asking the student to copy sooo many things—sentences and paragraphs. My kids write slowly. We’d have been doing grammar for hours.. I finally told my kids to write in the hard bound book, but there really wasn’t room provided there to do the writing, since you were supposed to copy it down. I liked it that it was spiral...but the long lessons! The cramped pages! No.

 

We moved to Easy Grammar for a year. It’s mastery based, which means that they teach something once and give you a couple of worksheets on that topic and then you never see that topic again. At the end of the school year, I gave my sons a placement test and they had actually lost a year’s worth of knowledge. They were behind by a year at the end of Easy Grammar. Yikes!

 

CLE.

 

Pros:

CLE is spiral, and each lesson is very short. If you didn’t quite get the concept, that’s ok. It comes up a bunch of times in the future—a bunch of times! I’m so grateful for that. Nothing falls in the cracks. They’re very good and bringing up the concepts over and over and they’re good at keeping the lessons very short.

 

CLE is a set of workbooks for the school year. It’s fun to finish one up and start the next one. The lesson and the worksheets are right in the book. I open it and read the lesson (short) and then my son starts the exercises. There is zero (zero) prep for me.

 

Cons:

Over time, I began to feel that the curriculum was too detailed. I didn’t feel like we needed quite so *much* grammar. I made a decision that I’m very happy with. Last year in 6th grade, my son started the 6th grade book, but only did half of it. This year in 7th, he’s finishing it. I wish I’d done that all along—took two years for each book, until 7th grade. Next year, when he’s in 8th, I’m going to have him do either all of the 7th grade books, or jump right up to doing all of the 8th grade books. I’ll have him do a placement test. Even if he tops out with just the 7th grade book, it’s so complete and thorough, that I’m ok with that.

 

I do not teach formal grammar in high school. By then, we correct the grammar in his essays and we’re done.

 

Not pro or con:

The writing portion of CLE is small. In the workbooks, they have writing assignments from time to time. Not very many. They also have a creative writing companion book for the teacher you can use. I did that one year—used the creative writing book and had my sons do all the writing assigments in their workbooks. It was all very gentle and I liked it. The assignments in the workbooks are few and far between, but they’re nice. However, I didn’t feel it was enough for us overall. So, I have chosen to skip any writing portions of CLE and use a different writing curric for my students. My oldest needed more intense writing instruction. However....now that I think about it, my youngest son is more of a natural writer. Hmm...I think that next year, I might just stick with CLE for writing as well as grammar...(off to write a note to myself about that.)

Edited February 14, 2018 by Garga

[nixpix5]

We used CLE for early grades but we got bogged down after about grade 4 - maybe too much writing/marking up sentences with too little room to write in the workbook. We switched to Abeka -- I wish I had used only Abeka for language arts. Some parts of CLE I love but prefer Abeka for LA.

This is good info. I was thinking just for 2nd to be honest unless he thoroughly loved it. We start BJU English in 3rd here so he would move to that.

[nixpix5]

I have used Rod and Staff, Easy Grammar, and CLE. Here’s my story:

 

Rod and Staff is wordy. Wordy, wordy, wordy. Each lesson has so many words. It’s a hard bound book, so you have to copy the practice problems onto different sheets of paper. They were always asking the student to copy sooo many things—sentences and paragraphs. My kids write slowly. We’d have been doing grammar for hours.. I finally told my kids to write in the hard bound book, but there really wasn’t room provided there to do the writing, since you were supposed to copy it down. I liked it that it was spiral...but the long lessons! The cramped pages! No.

 

We moved to Easy Grammar for a year. It’s mastery based, which means that they teach something once and give you a couple of worksheets on that topic and then you never see that topic again. At the end of the school year, I gave my sons a placement test and they had actually lost a year’s worth of knowledge. They were behind by a year at the end of Easy Grammar. Yikes!

 

CLE.

 

Pros:

CLE is spiral, and each lesson is very short. If you didn’t quite get the concept, that’s ok. It comes up a bunch of times in the future—a bunch of times! I’m so grateful for that. Nothing falls in the cracks. They’re very good and bringing up the concepts over and over and they’re good at keeping the lessons very short.

 

CLE is a set of workbooks for the school year. It’s fun to finish one up and start the next one. The lesson and the worksheets are right in the book. I open it and read the lesson (short) and then my son starts the exercises. There is zero (zero) prep for me.

 

Cons:

Over time, I began to feel that the curriculum was too detailed. I didn’t feel like we needed quite so *much* grammar. I made a decision that I’m very happy with. Last year in 6th grade, my son started the 6th grade book, but only did half of it. This year in 7th, he’s finishing it. I wish I’d done that all along—took two years for each book, until 7th grade. Next year, when he’s in 8th, I’m going to have him do either all of the 7th grade books, or jump right up to doing all of the 8th grade books. I’ll have him do a placement test. Even if he tops out with just the 7th grade book, it’s so complete and thorough, that I’m ok with that.

 

I do not teach formal grammar in high school. By then, we correct the grammar in his essays and we’re done.

 

Not pro or con:

The writing portion of CLE is small. In the workbooks, they have writing assignments from time to time. Not very many. They also have a creative writing companion book for the teacher you can use. I did that one year—used the creative writing book and had my sons do all the writing assigments in their workbooks. It was all very gentle and I liked it. The assignments in the workbooks are few and far between, but they’re nice. However, I didn’t feel it was enough for us overall. So, I have chosen to skip any writing portions of CLE and use a different writing curric for my students. My oldest needed more intense writing instruction. However....now that I think about it, my youngest son is more of a natural writer. Hmm...I think that next year, I might just stick with CLE for writing as well as grammar...(off to write a note to myself about that.)

This is such great information Garga! Thank you!

 

My DD did R&S 2 this year but we did it orally. I like it but the wordiness and repetitive sentences kill me. My DS is just not an auditory kid. He has ASD and FLL isn't sticking for him. He loves to open a workbook, read what to do and do it. He is not a bells and whistle kid. He is super bright but doesn't like busy work. He will say to me "mom, if I do these first 4 perfectly can I skip the other ones like this" for example. He is s no nonsense kid that knows what he needs and wants.

 

I was looking at Beowulf Grammar but then started thinking about how A beka 2 is so simple and repetitive for him. Plus, like I said, those "boring" writing prompts will infuriate him. We already roll IEW and Lit guides in between 2nd and 3rd so my kids already get plenty of writing. Plus they do SYS which doubles as copy work and dictation.

 

I may just order a couple booklets, they are cheap, and give them a go.

 

I will definitely keep in mind your "taking 2 years" advise. I am a completionist so I can get focused on "getting through" curriculum. This is good for me to keep front and center so we pace ourselves.

[Mom28kds]

I have used both Abeka and CLE. I prefer Abeka for the younger years and CLE for the older ones. Abeka is 2 pages, colorful and gets the job done. It's very easy to use. I didn't care for the all the pronunciation marks that CLE has for those years. If it wasn't for that CLE would be fine for those years as well. Too much!!!. They got so confusing. I had used Abeka for years then tried CLE and finally I went back to Abeka. That being said...... Around 3rd grade I switched to CLE and really like it. I like that it is directed to the student, is spiral and everything is right there in the book, spelling included. I did use a different handwriting though. I am using EIW for LA now because CLE does get bogged down with so much marking that it can become overkill. I ended up crossing things out that my son was understanding. I found I needed less grammar and more composition. CLE is very thorough on grammar and I loved it for that. 

[Another Lynn]

This is good info. I was thinking just for 2nd to be honest unless he thoroughly loved it. We start BJU English in 3rd here so he would move to that.

In that case, why not just go on to bju now?

 

I agree with pp about too much phonetic marking in cle la before 3rd grade.

[nixpix5]

In that case, why not just go on to bju now?

 

I agree with pp about too much phonetic marking in cle la before 3rd grade.

This will sound nitpicky but I just don't love BJU 2 the way I love BJU English 3. I know that probably sounds odd but I have always like A beka 1 and 2 and then after, BJU English 3 and up. They just do grammar and writing combo so well but I don't jive with how they do phonics.

 

Maybe I will stick to A beka 2 and just have him start part way into the book and then move him to BJU 3 early if need be. Gah...this buddy is just a hard one for me to place. He is reading well but I don't think he is quite yet ready to let go of phonics for 2nd. I want him to have more practice. I did order the first 2 workbooks of CLE since they are so cheap. If marking words it cumbersome then that is a bummer :( I will gift them on to someone else if they don't work for us I suppose.

[Another Lynn]

This will sound nitpicky but I just don't love BJU 2 the way I love BJU English 3. I know that probably sounds odd but I have always like A beka 1 and 2 and then after, BJU English 3 and up. They just do grammar and writing combo so well but I don't jive with how they do phonics.

 

Maybe I will stick to A beka 2 and just have him start part way into the book and then move him to BJU 3 early if need be. Gah...this buddy is just a hard one for me to place. He is reading well but I don't think he is quite yet ready to let go of phonics for 2nd. I want him to have more practice. I did order the first 2 workbooks of CLE since they are so cheap. If marking words it cumbersome then that is a bummer :( I will gift them on to someone else if they don't work for us I suppose.

 

Well, the nice thing about CLE, you're not out much for trying a couple units!  You'll have to let us know what you think about it.