Sonlight LA ...Pros and Cons

[Blessed with seven]

Hi,

 

I am wanting to do Sonlight LA, levels K-3 probably. Anyone use these for teaching reading. I would be using the new Sonlight LA.

 

Would like to hear pros and cons.

 

Thanks!

 

Kim

[siloam]

Hi,

 

I am wanting to do Sonlight LA, levels K-3 probably. Anyone use these for teaching reading. I would be using the new Sonlight LA.

 

Would like to hear pros and cons.

 

Thanks!

 

Kim

 

Hi Kim!

 

I use the older LA, which has twice the dictation of the newer LA. Other than that the sequence and readers are is still the same, and has worked well for all my kids.

 

Pro: gentle sequence, good books to read, I adore the use of dictation. Many use it as copywork, but I think using it as dictation helps the child hear the separate sounds and progress is both spelling and reading.

 

con: can be a bit slow, my oldest just self taught and we continued the SL pace to fill in gaps. It is light in grammar, and the writing is creative writing.

 

Indifferent: the spelling is word family based, so my kids rarely got any wrong, but it didn't really translate into spelling outside of LA time. That said it did reinforce reading, so I don't think it is a big deal.

 

The ETC books are listed as optional, but I really think they are necessary. They do have activities listed in the IG, which are good to do (and I am very bad at), including a few games, alphabetizing, adding endings and such.

 

Heather

[Pata]

We used the new SL LA 1 and I have seen the old SL LA 2. Sonlight does make LA easy for you to do, but they follow the more natural approach. If you read The Three R's by Ruth Beechick (the book they recommend) you get a better feel for the how's & why's behind SL LA. It's not a bad program and has worked successfully for many. Personally, I feel more comfortable with a more structured approach to LA, like what the WTM lays out. SL LA just felt alittle disjointed to me. Hope that helps!