I go back and forth on SL's LA; is it enough

[Abbeygurl4]

is it thorough, should I use it, should I add to it ? etc ..

 

I read the following in a newsletter from SL. What do you think, those of you who have used SL's LA ?

 

 

"Fabulous Compliment from Son's College Professor

Q: "Who taught you to write like this?" asked my son's college english professor!

 

My son had just turned in his rough draft for a persuasive paper. The professor came to him and asked him if he realized this was just supposed to be a rough draft. My son said that he understood that and it was a rough draft.

 

"Who taught you to write like this?"

 

My son grinned and said, "My momma."

 

Got to LOVE it! His professor asked my son to write a paper describing how he writes so that he can share it with the class! Wow!

 

Here's what my son said in his "how I write" paper. (The prof had asked for it to be pretty rough—just to present it to the other students as a help.)

 

When I need to write a report, no matter how long it is supposed to be, I start out by writing a VERY detailed outline. My outline is usually about half to 2/3 of the length that my report ends up being. Once I am done with my outline I wait a while so that I can stew over the ideas. When I have had plenty of time to mull over my ideas, and can look at my outline with fresh eyes, I begin to write my report.

I print out a copy of my outline, "explain what I mean by each point to myself," and write down my explanations. It is almost like dictating to myself. The reason that I do this is that it helps me to write stuff down like I would say it when explaining myself to someone. This helps the paper to read more naturally. I also usually try to write the entire rough draft in one sitting so that I won't lose my train of thought.

 

When I am done with my rough draft I wait a day or two so that I can look at my paper with fresh eyes again. Then I print out a copy of my paper and try to find something wrong with every sentence in the entire paper. I keep reviewing my paper like this until I can't find anything else wrong. Then I go through and make sure that all of my ideas are organized correctly.

 

Finally, after I have reviewed all of my paper, I format it. I try to never worry about format until the very end.

 

We never used anything but Sonlight for Language Arts. Many times I wondered if it would be enough because it seemed like everyone was supplementing. At least for this student—Sonlight was plenty!

— charleysoup "

[Lightly Salted]

I think it can be for some kids, but not for all.

 

Not all kids can intuitively pick up on good spelling/grammar/sentence and paragraph structure from exposure to good literature and a gentle nudge here and there. My kids, one especially, do much better with structured grammar and spelling programs which emphasize rules, and with a great deal more narration/dictation than SL LA provided. Some kids do thrive with their program, obviously.

[scrapbookbuzz]

I'm not sure that Lightly Salted has looked very closely at Sonlight's Language Arts program lately. (No offense, LS.) I say this because I think there is plenty of sentence structure, grammar, writing assignments, spelling, etc, recommended and assigned by Sonlight. Now, while I found it tedious that was only from my own dislike of structure. However, I think it is plenty in regards to Language Arts curricula. That being said, it will probably fit my ds better than my dd, who has Asperger's Syndrome. I use IEW for her. HTH!

[MerryAtHope]

We've tried it a couple of times, but my kids needed more direct, incremental instruction. I think SL LA includes all kinds of great stuff, but just not in a way that my kids retained.

 

Merry :-)

[CarrieF]

I will weigh in as an English teacher: if you stick with SL and use it exclusively for the duration, yes, it will be "enough". If you might not be in for the long haul you should beware that they teach language arts from a "natural acquisition" approach - think spiral approach in mathematics. There is a dab of punctuation here, a sprinkle of grammar rules there, and some writing instruction tucked in here AND there. ;) I tried it (for about 3 months) because I liked SL history/geography/Bible so much that I WANTED to like their LA, too, but it didn't work for us. It is a gentle approach to LA, which is NOT necessarily a bad thing! With my background, I wanted something more rigorous and linear. Personal preference is a big part in choosing curricula - by that I mean ours AND more importantly, our kids'. HTH!

[lakotajm]

my kids needed more direct, incremental instruction. I think SL LA includes all kinds of great stuff, but just not in a way that my kids retained.

 

Merry :-)

:iagree:This was true for us, especially my oldest.

 

Lakota

[LindaOz]

We're using it. I'm liking it. We also use the optional extras like Wordly Wise, Keys to Good Language, and Explode the Code. My older two use R&S Grammar two days per week. On top of that we do 'free writing' twice a week. I like what it is teaching my children with regards to writing while giving them room to move and express.

[siloam]

We've tried it a couple of times, but my kids needed more direct, incremental instruction. I think SL LA includes all kinds of great stuff, but just not in a way that my kids retained.

 

Merry :-)

 

What Merry said.

 

My kids are concrete, sequential learners. My oldest is random enough...or maybe it is just that she has a good memory, that she did fine with SL. My 3rd dd, after covering homophones, synonyms and antonyms for 3 years still couldn't tell you which is which. I sat down and spend a month covering each one daily, and she owned it.

 

The creative writing was also a bomb here.

 

I can see abstract, random thinkers doing very well with it.

 

Heather

[melmichigan]

At least for this student—Sonlight was plenty!

— charleysoup "

 

I think this is the key part.

 

I also think it depends on the parent and their background and comfort level with teaching LA. I need instruction as the teacher so it didn't work for any of my children.