?? Learning Language Arts Through Literature??

[smilesonly]

For a 4th grader who has only done a gentle literature based curriculum?

 

Please share what you like or don't like about this program.

 

Also-how would I find out which level to begin?

 

TIA!!

[Lily_Grace]

This is one we're trying right now. I ordered the tan book, 6th grade.

 

Likes: the gentle, progressive steps and 15-20 minutes of sit down work at a time.

 

Dislikes: the book studies seem disjointed and not written well into the program. It also seems to have a lack of focus on actual writing skills and much more on writing aids - vocab, basic grammar, punctuation. It also provides a poorly written bible study at times.

 

 

Overall I find it so-so. I've seen worse and I've seen better. I'm just loathe to drop it in search of a third program this year.

[Janie Grace]

Didn't love it. It moved too slowly for us and my ds is NOT a strong language arts kid. I thought the books they had us reading were of poor quality (they were ones written by the company, not "real" books from the library). The concept is good, I just thought the execution wasn't the best. I wouldn't recommend it.

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

It's very gentle. We're using the yellow book with my oldest, but she's also doing GWG, Sequential Spelling, and we're going to be starting Winning With Writing next week. I like the "extras" that are included. Yesterday, my daughter was learning how to look things up in the yellow pages.

[Princess Peach]

We used the Tan and Yellow last year for my older DS and DD, respectively. IMO, it was too gentle. They need a more rigorous LA curriculum because they are both weak in that area.

[smilesonly]

Thanks for the input!

 

Since it is quite "gentle" I am thinking it would be okay as I don't plan to attack formal grammar until 6th or 7th grade.

 

I want literature, writing, vocabulary all tied in one program. Ds is a natural speller, so I'm not too concerned about spelling.

 

So based on what I've now shared, does this sound like a good fit?:confused:

 

Thanks!:001_smile::bigear:

[Zebra]

It is gentle, and the spelling is light. We tried Queen, which was not enough for us, and CLE which we love for math but felt like overkill for LA. LLATL feels more in the middle of those two.

 

There isn't a lot of review of concepts built into LLATL. That can be good or bad depending on your perspective.

 

I sat down with the scope & sequence of LLATL for a few of the years and compared it to a "typical LA scope and sequence" because I was concerned it wasn't covering enough. All the things on the list were covered by LLATL. Just not reviewed, over and over again.

 

I believe the publishers say you should use Wordsmith along with LLATL.

 

Have you looked at samples online? Because most lessons follow the same format.

[Lily_Grace]

Thanks for the input!

 

Since it is quite "gentle" I am thinking it would be okay as I don't plan to attack formal grammar until 6th or 7th grade.

 

I want literature, writing, vocabulary all tied in one program. Ds is a natural speller, so I'm not too concerned about spelling.

 

So based on what I've now shared, does this sound like a good fit?:confused:

 

Thanks!:001_smile::bigear:

 

Honestly, no, it doesn't. I'd go with something different completely if you can. LLATL does not do a good job at all of tying the literature into the weekly studies. It's very haphazard. We've used these/are using these and have found them to maybe be more of what you're looking for:

 

Writing Tales: Short stories ranging from Aesop to historical pieces and a two week study covering basic grammar, vocab, and writing based on that lesson's piece.

 

Moving Beyond The Page lit studies: Each guide is a few weeks' worth of lessons based on a children's book. Activities range from questions based on the story to vocab/grammar worksheets to creative writing exercises while covering the finer points of the plot. They're available through Rainbow Resource individually.

 

Writing Strands: an average of two weeks per lesson, the first half learning how to complete a style of writing and the second half finding examples of that style and sharing it with your child. It's much looser in structure than other programs we've used, requiring you to fill in vocab/spelling/etc.

[Jabberwocky]

My children really LOVE LLATL.

 

Well... ok, my daughter loves it. My son, not really... but that's more because he struggles with LArts to begin with. He loves the reading, loves discussing things, but he avoids writing at all costs. It just takes too long! And there are too many things he could be doing, like swimming, chasing pigeons and organizing elaborate circus shows with the neighborhood kids.

 

Despite what he wants, the program has been good for him. I've seen a lot of improvement these past few months especially.

 

My daughter loves it because she loves to analyze literature and this program gives her a good opportunity to do so.

 

That said, we DO supplement with a grammar program and last year we did Wordsmith along with LLATL. We didn't see a problem with the "light" spelling because my rule is that if they mis-spell it while writing it, it goes on a spelling list. This includes history and science assignments as well as LArts. The result was that for the first few months last year, spelling lists were pretty long, but they soon figured out what I was up to and began to put more effort into spelling correctly. Their lists have been pretty short, lately.

 

Anyway, that's what fit our family. You may find something else fits yours. :001_smile:

[classicalmom5]

I've used LLATL with my children and they really didn't like it. It lacked explanation and the book studies seemed pointless. They preferred Easy Grammar and Rod and Staff. But for a gentle approach I'm using First Language Lessons level 3 and Writing With Ease level 2 for my 4th grader. He really likes these. FLL is very gentle and scripted if you need that.