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Abeka or Rod and Staff for language arts program?


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I am looking for something very clear and simple, yet, of course, excellent, for what I would call language arts to start my twins in K and next son in 2nd...that would include:

Phonics, Spelling, Reading comp, and Handwriting

The twins know letters and letter sounds, my 1st grader can read pre-chapter books with minimal help (ie Magic Tree House). I think I have missed the boat on reading comp with my older children and don't want to do that again.

It would be nice to have one subject relate to the other.

Also, would anyone start a 3rd grader or 5th grader in one of these for reading comp? Thanks.

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Have you looked at Christian Light? They include phonics(1&2 grade) spelling ,grammar , and handwriting(1,2nd 3rd) into their LA. Reading is seperate but its that way for all curriculums.

 

I've used Abeka and Rod &Staff for grammar and they both are good but they are seperate subjects. You would have to purchase a seperate handwriting, spelling, reading and grammar.

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We love it, too. The best part is that the books have a lot of variety and are designed so that the students can work on them independently very quickly. However, you want to wait until june to buy the first grade language arts. They are re-doing the language arts for 1st so that it more closely lines up with their learn to read program.

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We love it, too. The best part is that the books have a lot of variety and are designed so that the students can work on them independently very quickly. However, you want to wait until june to buy the first grade language arts. They are re-doing the language arts for 1st so that it more closely lines up with their learn to read program.

 

I'm just popping in to say we just started with CLE Language Arts One and are LOVING it. It's the first program that we've truly, truly loved. It' not light or easy at all, but still well within a student's ability to do. We don't use their reading program though, so I can't speak to that.

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I am looking for something very clear and simple, yet, of course, excellent, for what I would call language arts to start my twins in K and next son in 2nd...that would include:

Phonics, Spelling, Reading comp, and Handwriting

The twins know letters and letter sounds, my 1st grader can read pre-chapter books with minimal help (ie Magic Tree House). I think I have missed the boat on reading comp with my older children and don't want to do that again.

It would be nice to have one subject relate to the other.

Also, would anyone start a 3rd grader or 5th grader in one of these for reading comp? Thanks.

I don't do "language arts," but FWIW, IMHO, ABeka has better phonics/reading instruction than R&S. (I don't do anything with reading "comprehension" after the dc know how to read.) OTOH, I prefer R&S's English and spelling series over ABeka's. Penmanship I don't care so much but I have a slight preference for R&S (although R&S introduces "slant writing" in 2nd grade before going to cursive, which bugs me a little).

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Phonics:

 

~ABeka has so many components that I get confused as to what to use. Many people use just the handbook and the wkbk. I need more direction than that and the Curriculum Guide is quiet expensive.

~R&S has excellent phonics program and you can use, or not use, the reading portion. The reading wkbks are good, but you can border on overload. I do have plans to use it, but the shear amt of flash cards (near 700) is worrying me. What I like about it is the great phonics wkbks and the wonderful Bible readers. If I chicken out I will use Adventures in Phonics. It is a fraction of the cost and is easy to use and very well done.

Both ABeka and R&S cost a pretty penny for phonics (unless you just use part of their programs). ABeka focuses on phonics only, and R&S combines phonics with sight reading.

 

Spelling:

 

~ABeka has harder and longer word list. The activities are not quite as good as R&S's.

~R&S has easy word list, but the activities are more challenging. They teach phonics more.

 

English/Grammar:

 

~ABeka has excellent grammar wkbks that are easy to understand, but all of the writing is clumped in the back section of the wkbk. They say that if you use the Curriculum Guide you will have more writing scheduled, but there you are getting into more money. That book is in addition to the TG you need for the answers.

~R&S has an excellent grammar program (albeit hard after 4th grade) that can overwhelme some. It has writing assignments evenly distributed throughout the year. Lessons have clean start and stop points in the student text. Everything the teacher needs is in one book. No need for a curriculum guide for lessons, a TG for anwers, and a test ak. It is all in one book. You can buy worksheets for the student if you want to use the text less or if your child needs more practice.

 

You can veiw R&S samples at http://www.milestoneministries.com

ABeka has samples at their site.

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