Thinking of switching from CM to CLE for LA for almost 9 yo ds. Possible? Experience?

[smilesonly]

Our 2nd grade, almost 9 yo ds has only used Charlotte Mason-type LA. I am considering (and dh is wanting...) switching him to a more traditional LA like CLE or R&S.

He is becoming a stronger reader, has great comprehension, spells well, has neat writing, but loathes actual writing AND narration.

He is currently using Queens Language lessons for the young.

If I switched him to one of these (my dd has used both) will he be really behind? I ask as he is already behind in all things math and is aware of this, which started him asking me if he is stupid and if he is behind in any other subject.

Any input greatly appreciated. We hs math and LA year round.

TIA!:001_smile:

[naturalmom]

I don't know much about CLE - and it sounds like you have that, so you may want to wait for replies about starting it! I have used R&S, which my kids disliked so much that we never finished the year. I loved it, and found it easy to use, apart from the resistance to it.

 

Another option is MCT (Michael Clay Thompson) language arts. We've been using it at various levels for about a month now, and like it a lot.

 

Here's a link:

 

http://www.rfwp.com/mct.php

 

I've found it a great complement to our CM style schooling. The grammar book, which you go through first, presents grammar in a story form (Charlotte Mason says that children will learn best in that way). There is a vocabulary book, which at the first level I think would be easy to skip. There's a wonderful poetry book, which I would do if possible, and then there is a writing book that also reviews the grammar.

 

It would be easy to start with the first level, Island, because it's aimed at

3rd grade and up.

 

You can view samples of the books on the website, and there are a lot of threads about it.

[MIch elle]

With both my boys we didn't start R&S English until grade 3 and only did it VERY lightly.

 

With either R&S E. or CLE LA on grade level should work FINE! But perhaps you do some of the writing for your dc or do some of the work orally instead of him doing all the writing. I do recommend making grammar flash cards and start memorization of key grammar terms with your ds (noun, verb, etc as they are learned).

[smilesonly]

I don't know much about CLE - and it sounds like you have that, so you may want to wait for replies about starting it! I have used R&S, which my kids disliked so much that we never finished the year. I loved it, and found it easy to use, apart from the resistance to it.

 

Another option is MCT (Michael Clay Thompson) language arts. We've been using it at various levels for about a month now, and like it a lot.

 

Here's a link:

 

http://www.rfwp.com/mct.php

 

I've found it a great complement to our CM style schooling. The grammar book, which you go through first, presents grammar in a story form (Charlotte Mason says that children will learn best in that way). There is a vocabulary book, which at the first level I think would be easy to skip. There's a wonderful poetry book, which I would do if possible, and then there is a writing book that also reviews the grammar.

 

It would be easy to start with the first level, Island, because it's aimed at

3rd grade and up.

 

You can view samples of the books on the website, and there are a lot of threads about it.

 

Thanks for the link! I will take a peek this weekend.

 

With both my boys we didn't start R&S English until grade 3 and only did it VERY lightly.

 

With either R&S E. or CLE LA on grade level should work FINE! But perhaps you do some of the writing for your dc or do some of the work orally instead of him doing all the writing. I do recommend making grammar flash cards and start memorization of key grammar terms with your ds (noun, verb, etc as they are learned).

 

I know, I know. It is ridiculous to refer to him as behind at such a young age. On other boards I probably wouldn't have phrased it like that-but this board is so academically rigorous that I wanted to tell it like it may be preceived.;)

 

I have R&S 3 sitting right here, and I honestly can see how I could stick with Queens for now and lightly dig in once we hit fall.

 

Thanks for the 411 on flash cards as I would never have thought of that.:001_smile:

[MIch elle]

On youtube; look for all the parts of speech. This one is on nouns - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc-ukN1Rvb8

[Another Lynn]

Another thought might be to do FLL 3 in 3rd, FLL 4 in 4th and then switch to CLE or R&S in 5th grade. My oldest son did FLL 3 and most of FLL 4 before I put him in CLE 500 and he is doing fine. This might be a more gentle transition but still give a very sound foundation in grammar. (You would need to add spelling to FLL.) My 2nd ds has just started FLL3 and he's doing fine even though we never finished all of FLL 1/2.

[TracyR]

I would think he would do just fine. You could start him out on the CLE 200 or 300 level. That is where the grammar starts anyways ( the 100 level is more phonics). The Light Units are light on writing so you will need your own writing program if you want to beef it up. But in the same breath maybe giving heavy writing assignments a break for a year won't hurt either. The light writing might help actually.

 

My suggestion is to get a Light Unit or two and try them out and see how they work out for you :>) That's the nice part of CLE you can buy a few and try them out before commiting to the whole curriculum. You could also get a Rod& Staff book ( they are really inexpensive) and try that out too. I would maybe start with the grade 2 in his case. Then do the work orally and see if that works for him.

Some children pick up work doing it orally like that. My oldest didn't though. We tried that and none of sank in. But CLE worked wonders for her.

[angela&4boys]

And yet another option...;)

 

You could use CLE, but add narrations from history and/or science ala the WTM. That way you'd be giving him the more conventional method, but still have somewhat of a CM approach too. We use CLE, but I'm looking at adding WWE for history readings next year.

 

When our two middle dss were in their early elementary years, I used a mainly CM approach and had them narrate science and history. We switched to a more conventional method last year, but I found myself missing the many benefits of copywork, dictation, and narration, and plan to implement them again.

[m0mmaBuck]

And yet another option...;)

 

You could use CLE, but add narrations from history and/or science ala the WTM. That way you'd be giving him the more conventional method, but still have somewhat of a CM approach too. We use CLE, but I'm looking at adding WWE for history readings next year.

 

When our two middle dss were in their early elementary years, I used a mainly CM approach and had them narrate science and history. We switched to a more conventional method last year, but I found myself missing the many benefits of copywork, dictation, and narration, and plan to implement them again.

 

We use CLE LA but do use the SOTW narrations as copywork and then I have him do narrations/dictation from science or history IR or RA's. I also use CLE LA's "Words to Read" for extra spelling words as I feel their spelling lists are sparse. It has worked quite well.

[happy2teach]

I have not used CLE. However, I have used Rod & Staff 3 and WWE 3 with my 9 yo ds after pulling him from a private shcool that did not teach him much grammer. He has learned so much from both programs. We both like using both prgrams and do not dread pulling the books out. :001_smile:

 

The pace for R&S 2 might be too slow. R&S 3 does a very good job reviewing year 2. (My ds did very well with R&S 3 even though he did not have adequate grammer exposure beforehand). Also, WWE 3 does a good job with narration and dictation. If your ds has difficulty with either, you can always go back to R&S 2 and WWE 2. By the way, you will also need material for spelling. I hope this helps. :001_smile:

[smilesonly]

Wow! Thank you for all the thoughtful replies!

 

I will have to look into WWE. I only know that it is a writing curriculum, but have noi idea as to how it is structured.

 

Off to ponder, research, and question more....