Want to hear from those of you who DIDN'T like CLE LA....I'm rethinking LA...

[Halcyon]

We are secular, and I've made what I thought to be a nice little LA package for my upcoming 3rd grader: Megawords, WWE, Writing Strands, HWT Cursive, GWG4....

 

But.

 

Something about CLE still calls my name :lol: It's so....neat. All in one spot like that. Looks rigorous (DS would probably be right on grade level). Covers all the bases. One nice little package....

 

I'd love to hear from people who DON'T like CLE LA and why. The reasons I can see right now are 1) my son is an advanced speller, and with CLE we'd need to stay on the level (of course we could always do MW on the side, but to me that sort of defeats the purpose.... 2) the religious component. We're Christian, but prefer not to use religious curriculum. 3) We like WWE for the literature component particularly, and again, we couldd use it with CLE but might be overkill..

 

Give me your bad and ugly here :)

ETA: seems a lot of you use CLE primarily for grammar--can you tell me how it compares to Growing With Grammar?

Edited August 11, 2010 by Halcyon

[Mom0012]

Well, I do like it, but only for the grammar really. I still add in spelling, writing and handwriting programs. I think a lot of people do. So, that really kills the joy of having everything integrated into one workbook if that's the main draw for you.

 

Lisa

[Keniki]

I won't say I don't like it, but it hasn't been a good fit for us. First, ds prefers a mastery approach program with less review. While dd likes the spiral approach, I found I was only using it for the grammar. She doesn't need the spelling, we don't use the penmanship, and the writing is weak if you are ONLY using the LA. The writing (from 5th grade up anyway) needs something else. CLE does not intend for the LA to be used alone. They recommend their book On Teaching Writing with specific suggestions in the TM (which many people chose not to buy), and I've found in 7th grade (not sure about the 6th grade because I haven't use it yet) the writing assignments are in the TM for the reading. They really intend for you to use the reading and LA together. That's not necessarily bad, but it doesn't sound like what you are looking for.

[mystika1]

Well, I do like it, but only for the grammar really. I still add in spelling, writing and handwriting programs. I think a lot of people do. So, that really kills the joy of having everything integrated into one workbook if that's the main draw for you.

 

Lisa

 

My thoughts exactly. But.. My daughter really disliked it. I don't expect her to love everything I use but.....she was really burned out by the middle of our first light unit and I was going slower than recommended.

 

HTH,

 

Penny

[JudoMom]

It didn't work well for us. I thought there was too little instruction in the Light Units, and it was difficult to go back and review a concept if my ds forgot something. I also didn't think there wasn't enough practice for each new idea (just a couple of problems). I don't remember any writing instruction in the 400 level, though there might have been some. I didn't like the spelling lists (I'm remembering them as just lists of words).

 

So there you have it. I know a lot of people love it, but for our family it just wasn't a good fit.

[Melissa in CA]

It didn't work well for us. I thought there was too little instruction in the Light Units, and it was difficult to go back and review a concept if my ds forgot something. I also didn't think there wasn't enough practice for each new idea (just a couple of problems). I don't remember any writing instruction in the 400 level, though there might have been some. I didn't like the spelling lists (I'm remembering them as just lists of words).

So there you have it. I know a lot of people love it, but for our family it just wasn't a good fit.

 

OK, I know you want to hear from people who dislike CLE but I have to comment on this...

 

CLE's spelling is not just a list of words. They give your student a list at the beginning of the week that is included in their lesson. They work with those words in various ways daily. So not only does your student learn how to spell said word, but learns the definition as well which is better than many spelling programs I have used over the years (Sequential, Spelling Power). Now, having said that, any integrated LA program that includes spelling is going to be hit and miss with students. If you have a natural speller, which I do, then the words may seem too easy. If your student struggles mightily with spelling than it may seem to difficult, and on it goes...

Though my ds gets 100% on each and every spelling test by weeks end, I find that I really like CLE's spelling. Just because he knows how a word is spelled, doesn't mean he always knows it's definition or how to use it in a sentence. And even though some of the CLE words seem easy, there are always some that are more difficult. Here is a list from a previous 6th grade light unit (we don't have any earlier years):

 

advice

advise

picture

pitcher

prophecy

prophesy

hardy

hearty

later

latter

business

busyness

angel

angle

immigrant

emigrant

dessert

desert

breath

breathe

 

A fairly easy list to be sure, but not every 6th grader can spell these correctly. So you'll have some who excel and some who struggle. That is the 'life' of an integrated LA program. ;) I don't sweat the spelling as much as I do our vocabulary program. Those words are far harder, and I expect my ds to spell them correctly as well.

 

As for the grammar, you need to remember that CLE is a spiral progam. You'll learn a new concept, do some problems with it, and then come back to it the next day and the next and the next... It is VERY helpful to own CLE's LA Reference Charts. All the concepts are on them for when your student's mind goes blank and they forget how to do something.

 

Anyhow, 'nuff said. ;) I personally like CLE and my ds loves it...but as with every school curriculum, it's not a perfect fit for all.:D

 

[eta: I do not like CLE's writing assignments...which are basically nil...I instead use a variety of other writing programs]

Edited August 11, 2010 by Melissa in CA

[HappyGrace]

I like CLE, but I do NOT feel it is a complete LA. I'm just using it for the grammar because I feel the other areas can be better done with other curric. So if you're looking for a complete LA, this won't do it for you.

[Halcyon]

Thanks for chiming in on the positive :) I am still on the fence!

[khall]

Well, different approaches work for different kids/families/learning styles, but CLE LA was a big miss here. Lots of people use it and love it but we tried it last year and had to eventually throw in the towel and rethink our approah to LA. I loved that it had everything for LA integrated so I didn't need a book for each subject. However, as someone else mentioned, this won't work so well if you have a child who is not exactly on the same level across the board. For us, one child struggles with spelling so we started right off by substituting another book. The other child is a hands on, creative, visual learner and CLE is very much a textbook approach. Everyday there are a variety of activities that require circling the nouns, correcting the punctuation, finding the proper word usage, etc. She just doesn't learn that way and I ended up doing so much tweaking, and spending so much time looking for creative ways to present the material that I just finally gave up. It was just too dry and textbooky/workbooky for us. Lots of kids do well with that approach though, it just didn't work for "us". We've actually ended up going with a more Charlotte Mason approach with a bit of Waldorf thrown in and everybody is happy, but it's certainly an extreme switch from the approach that CLE takes. I would recommend that you look at as many of the samples on their website as you can, and if you like what you see than just try ordering one or two light units. They're only a few dollars for one, so if you try it and it doesn't work you haven't wasted tons of money.

[homeschoolally]

Another person who likes it here, but thought this might be helpful--

-I don't think the spelling would be a total waste. Many of the lists are topic-specific (food, certain industries, etc), so if you have a natural speller it would be quick and painless and might present some words you haven't covered yet.

-I agree that it isn't a complete package because the writing is too light. Between the reading and la books, I feel it is very solid with the exception of writing. It specifically says to add more writing.

-If you don't want a religious curriculum you might be frustrated with that part of it.

-They are cheap, so you could get a few to try out. There are also PDF's on the website.

Hope this is helpful in some way! We've used several other curriculums, and CLE has been a great way to tie it all in with daily practice.

[birchbark]

We've actually ended up going with a more Charlotte Mason approach with a bit of Waldorf thrown in and everybody is happy, but it's certainly an extreme switch from the approach that CLE takes.

 

Can you elaborate on how you do this? It's kind of what I'm wanting to do.

[Marie in Oh]

and using it at 4 levels, 200, 400, 600, 700. We also using WWE along with it, becasue in my opinion, nothing can replace that. My younger girls are also using Reason for Handwriting because they like it, not because they need it. I think CLE is plenty for all subjects except writing, and my struggling 7th grade speller is actually doing pretty well with it. The grammar is awesome too. They are all using CLE Reading as well, which I think compliments things nicely. It has simplified things in our house.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

It didn't work well for us. I thought there was too little instruction in the Light Units, and it was difficult to go back and review a concept if my ds forgot something. I also didn't think there wasn't enough practice for each new idea (just a couple of problems). I don't remember any writing instruction in the 400 level, though there might have been some. I didn't like the spelling lists (I'm remembering them as just lists of words).

 

So there you have it. I know a lot of people love it, but for our family it just wasn't a good fit.

 

We are using CLE for the first time this year with my 5th grader. I just happenend to notice that if you print out the scope and sequence, the topics listed there are the topics which have instruction withing the light units. That would make it easier to look up something for review. Maybe that will help you. :001_smile:

[Guest aquiverfull]

It didn't work well for us. I thought there was too little instruction in the Light Units, and it was difficult to go back and review a concept if my ds forgot something. I also didn't think there wasn't enough practice for each new idea (just a couple of problems). I don't remember any writing instruction in the 400 level, though there might have been some. I didn't like the spelling lists (I'm remembering them as just lists of words).

 

So there you have it. I know a lot of people love it, but for our family it just wasn't a good fit.

 

:iagree:This is the exact reason we didn't care for it either. We used the 500 level.

[Mommamia]

We tried one of the 2nd grade light units for LA....wasn't a good fit for us. I was hoping for more instruction. I like CLE reading and math.

[....]

Their spelling makes no sense to me...never did.

 

You have to supplement writing if you do not use the "rest of CLE" (reading, etc).

 

It's difficult and I think it's about a grade level ahead. Some kids freak out when those little blue workbooks flop down in front of them. My son cried hysterically when we first tried to use it. I had to put it away for 6 months.

 

It's short and sweet, but can be monotonous.

[Paintedlady]

I liked it but didn't love it, and I found I like mastery based curricula better than spiral. The kids really started complaining about how much they had to review each topic and became frustrated with it. I thought there were other programs that covered spelling and writing better than CLE and didn't think it was worth it for just the grammar portion, which also started driving me a little nuts with all the markings. I'd use it in a pinch, but feel there are a lot of better programs out there.

[sassenach]

I really don't like all in one programs. My kids are never that even across the board, so I end up crossing a bunch of things off, supplementing, ect. One of the things I love about homeschooling is the freedom to customize. All in one programs take that element away (or complicate it). The other thing is they (cle, R&S) seem sooooo dry. So dry. I just can't go there.