MiniBlondes Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 This is our first year homeschooling. We identify with CM approach more than anything else. I started out buying Sonlight because I had wanted something boxed and easy to follow but as I started to plan my year, I realized that it was not what I was looking for. At that point, I already had all of the books so I decided to go forward with the LA portion for the literature aspect. I shelved the History portion. I knew that everyone said that their LA wasn't sufficient, so I began looking at other things. Now, I'm afraid that I've added too much. Still other times, I'm afraid that we don't have enough. Please help me! :lol: LA: (Daily) Spelling Power (Daily) Wordly Wise (Daily) Sonlight Reader Schedule (I do the worksheets too) (Tu & Th) Writing Strands (M,W,F) Primary Language Lessons/Intermediate Language Lessons I am worried that the girls are getting too much writing and not enough grammar so I'm considering adding Easy Grammar as well. Overkill? I think I'm comfortable with everything else on my lineup but I'm still struggling with LA. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lang Syne Boardie Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 (edited) Hrm. I would.... keep Spelling Power. Drop SL LA worksheets but keep the books and IG discussion questions. Use copywork, narration, and dictation with the SL books instead. Drop Writing Strands. Drop Wordly Wise Keep PLL and ILL, three days per week. So it might look like this: Monday Spelling Power SL reader (plus IG discussion) Copywork PLL/ILL Tuesday Spelling Power SL reader (plus IG discussion) narration Wednesday Spelling Power SL reader dictation PLL/ILL Thursday Spelling Power SL reader (plus IG discussion) reading aloud (diction) Friday Spelling Power SL reader (plus IG discussion) PLL/ILL If you prefer SL's LA worksheets to PLL/ILL, keep them and drop PLL/ILL. Both is too much, and Writing Strands is completely unneeded unless you love it more than SL worksheets and PLL/ILL. In that case, drop both PLL/ILL and SL worksheets, and only do Writing Strands. Either SL LA or PLL/ILL would be sufficient for grammar without needing the other. Whatever you do, use copywork, narration, dictation, and reading aloud along with your readers. Some of my boys did copywork, narration, and dictation, plus PLL/ILL until 4th grade or so, at which point we switched to R&S English for rigorous grammar. This simple method was tremendously successful. I'm so glad we did it that way. It was more than enough. My youngest child doesn't really grok CM LA, no matter how I present it. He started R&S in grade 2 and is doing well. It's a little more left-brained, I guess. Edited September 12, 2012 by Tibbie Dunbar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniBlondes Posted September 12, 2012 Author Share Posted September 12, 2012 Thank you Tibbie! This is exactly the sort of thing that I was looking for. So if I go the PLL/ILL route, I will NOT need Easy Grammar? I'm terrified that my daughter is going to take her standardized test and not know what a noun is. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lang Syne Boardie Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Let me grab my PLL and ILL off the shelf, be right back... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lang Syne Boardie Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Glancing through...PLL doesn't spell out the terms for the grammar but teaches correct usage through practicing the grammar rules. If I recall, we always watched Schoolhouse Rock, so my little ones always knew their parts of speech. I'm thinking that's all that would be on tests for grades 1-2, but I can't speak authoritatively on that b/c we never did testing at that level. ILL, on the other hand, has more formal grammar than many ps students study in grades 4-6. When I used it, I checked it against my state's educational standards and it blew them out of the water. I don't know if that would be true for everywhere, so you might want to check. We added R&S, which is very rigorous, in 4th or 5th grade. Most of the topics studied were not even in Indiana's standards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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