Sonlight revised language arts

[Blessed mom]

Has anyone used this and liked it? I really want to use the complete programs next year in order to simplify, but I am hesitant due to all of the negative language arts reviews. Can anyone give me any positives about the language arts? I would be using core D with nine year old and core A--grade 1 with a child who will turn 6 the end of August. I also may combine my 4 year old who will be 5 in December with the K language art in Core A.

[pinksneakers14]

We have core B and I tried to use the LA at the beginning of the year. I was a no go. The progression was random and not well explained at all. There was no building of knowledge. It was completely disjointed, and my daughter and I were both frustrated by it. The copywork was too much for her, and the reading and language skills that she should have been covering with her first grade readers just wasn't there. The readers are good, and I like using them, but I really don't recommend the LA at all.

[Blessed mom]

Thank you for your reply. Anyone else have any insights about SL LA. If you tried it (especially for K and 1st) would you please give me any feedback about why you did or did not like it. Also, what did you use instead?

[Marie131]

:bigear:

 

I'm interested in this too, I'm contemplating SL for next year.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I have tried SL LA many times and each time I sent it back. I will be doing core D next year with my dd and will once again try it. I do have some hope though. I recently read Ruth Beechick's book You Can Teach Your Child Successfully and have a grasp on her method. I actually like what she has to say and have incorporated her spelling into our school now. Ruth Beechick counseled SL on LA before they came out with the new versions. I will not however use it as intended, but more as a tool with ideas to pick from. I did not plan on doing LA this year but since I am paying for it I thought I would try to use it.

[MiniBlondes]

:bigear:

 

Using D&E next year so the LA is included. I'm trying to decide whether to purchase something extra and supplemental or just scrap their LA altogether.

[therealitychick]

I used Core A LA with my kindergartener this year. Well, I used it until I sent it back. I agree that it was very disjointed. We had the kindergarten readers, too, and they were way below DD's level, even though she was just working through the second set of Bob Books. It was also very boring, to be honest. The worksheets were dull and seemed pointless. We did 12 weeks before we just couldn't take it anymore. I really felt like she was behind in reading/LA compared to her peers. We switched to Abeka's K5 phonics and it's so much better. (I know, I'm shocked, too.) I really, really wanted to like SL, but it just didn't work for us. HTH!

[Kathryn]

I used K-2 before finally switching mid-year last year. I looked at the samples of the "new" language arts last year. It didn't look different at all, at least not in a way that would have made me think it would work better.

[Jennay]

My boys are 10 and 9. I've started and stopped various levels of SL LA a few times but I am hoping to use LA E (the 2011 version) with Core E just supplementing with the Writer's Express Handbook (from Write Source) and Natural Speller. They will continue WWE style narrations based on their SL history readings. We've hit LA really hard the past few years with FLL 1, 2, and 3, WWE 2 and 3, AAS 1-5, MCT Island level, and some of MCT Paragraph Town/Practice Town and I want a break from all the LA. With 3 students at different levels it started to take up all of our school time.

 

I do think LA D and up are better than the lower levels. I like a systematic building of the basic skills - ala FLL/WWE but now I want to see if we can apply them a bit in a different context. They will continue with Memoria Press Latin.

 

At least that's my plan today :)

[mschickie]

I used it for 1st-3rd grades and loved it. This was before they did the change but I can tell you dd learned a lot and over came her hatred/fear or writing with the program. I loved that we did a different type of writing each week which kept dd from being bored. I thought the pre-writing assignments really helped dd plan out her writing assignment or clarify her ideas. The program is subtle which I think is why it seems disjointed to some people. It takes a more natural approach and used the books they are reading for inspiration and examples of the mechanics. This year I wanted dd to have a little more structure on how to write a good paragraph so we did IEW instead. I can say that she has been able to move rather quickly through the IEW because she had some of the ideas from Sonlight's LA already which tells me she had a good foundation. We will be finishing up IEW shortly and I will be doing some of the material from Sonlight for the rest of the year.

[elizabeth rose]

I used it for 1st and 2nd grade, also before the switch. I actually liked it. It worked great for my daughter. I don't remember it being disjointed. We switched to rod and staff when she was in 3rd, only bc I left SL altogether. I liked the copywork/dictation, the correcting the sentences, the fact that the LA is from the books they are reading. I also used etc and I think wordly wise like they recommend.