Sell me on LoE

[zelli21]

I really, really want to love LoE Essentials but I'm just not sure. I'm about done reading ULoE book and wished I had been taught the spelling rules and phonograms when I was in school to prevent me from being the mediocre speller that I am (though since having kids I've become a walking dictionary :confused1:). I've watched many of the videos Denise has on youtube and bought the Doodling Dragons book for my youngest but I just can't take the plunge and purchase Essentials. I have a dyslexic 3rd grader that has made a lot of process this year but is still struggling and at times frustrated. I really think teaching her the phonograms and spelling rules will be of great help. The fact is has grammar is a total bonus as reviewing that isn't going to hurt either. But my issue is after looking at the samples, it bugged me that the first phonogram and spelling rule was qu but only one word is the spelling list had qu in it! The second lesson was ck and only spelling 2 words had ck and there was no review of qu (the words quick, quack would have been perfect). Am I just being overly critical? Does somehow it just work and click? The sample is only of the first two lessons so maybe if I had a broader sample I'd feel more confident purchasing it.

 

I really just want something open and go that we can just buckle down and get though most of it this summer. So somebody, anybody, please sell me on it. Thanks.

[Guest Denise Eide]

The Lessons include many additional word lists that use the targeted phonograms. These are usually imbeded in the optional activities. The actual spelling lists only include 2-4 of the new phonograms/rules because the lists are intended to practice everything that has been learned to this point. The spelling lists are more of a real world practice where the student must apply all the skills learned.

 

However, Essentials does include tons of targeted activities and words to use all listed out so that the student can practice new concepts until they are mastered. In addition concepts are reviewed throughout the program. You mentioned CK. The CK lesson introduces 10 CK words. Then on page 15 if you look in the optional activity box you will find 46 additional ck words to practice with a game. On page 26 you will find another game with more CK words to review and other words that are used to contrast when CK is used vs. simply a K. In addition, Spelling List 3 has three additional CK words and one word which uses only a K. Page 52-53 has an additional CK activity that may be used to practice as well. CK words will keep appearing throughout the program in the spelling lists so that students review the concept.

 

This is a great review by another parent who has used LOE with a student with dyslexia. I think it will help to reassure you!

 

http://www.families.com/logic-of-english-review

 

Sincerely,

 

Denise Eide

[SkateLeft]

I had a lot of the same reservations initially, but after seeing the curriculum at a conference last spring, I decided to buy it for my 6th grader. He reads at grade level for the most part, but couldn't spell at all, Over the years, I've used pretty much every other spelling program out there, with very little success. He's not a visual learner at all, and can't picture the words in his head. The rest of us are natural spellers, so I had a very hard time trying to figure out a way to teach him. I'd exhausted my teaching toolbox completely.

 

There are plenty of additional words in the lessons and additional exercises that practice the concepts, and both the Spelling Journal and the games book are a huge help. My son fills out the Spelling Journal with word lists for each phonogram. There are vocabulary development and extra practice exercises, and sometimes there are challenge lists. The grammar is more thorough than it looks at first glance, and is very well integrated into the program. I thought it would be a nice extra, but it's become one of my favorite things about the curriculum.

 

It's been a huge confidence builder for my son. He's made tremendous progress in spelling, and as a result, he's starting to enjoy writing!! (I can't tell you how happy that makes me!) In March, he spent a month in Panama, and he kept a journal the whole time! Woo hoo!!! Sometimes, he'll get upset, because he thinks can't spell a word, but with a little prompting, he'll find that he can do it. Right now, my biggest challenge is getting him to trust his own abilities.

 

It's not babyish at all, which was important to my son. He'd spent enough time using 1st and 2nd grade spelling programs. He didn't want cute workbook pages or magnetic letter tiles.

 

Anyway, I highly recommend LoE. In 12+ years of homeschooling, it's definitely on my short list of favorites.

[crazyfordlr]

How long does it take you to do a lesson?

[deannajo]

How long does it take you to do a lesson?

 

 

 

We've been using it with my 3rd and 5th grader (it sounds like my 5th grader is just like SkateLeft's 6th grader) and we're averaging about a lesson a week - the author has some potential schedules at the front of the book, depending on how quickly you'd like to move through the program, and how much time a day you have to devote to it, along with the age/ability of your student(s), but we sorta wing it - sometimes we do the optional activities, which means we may spend more time on a lesson, and other times we don't. But typically, we do average about a lesson a week. We do it about 4-5 times a week, and it takes us maybe 30-45 mins a day. Its working REALLY well for us. We came to it from AAS, which we also really liked, but this seems less fluffy, and my 5th grader especially was frustrated with how slow she was progressing with AAS. And I like that this has grammar in it, and we also use their handwriting curriculum, so for us, right now, its all we're using for language arts, besides reading books as read-alouds and independently,

 

I have a question for those that have finished LoE, or those that have thought ahead - what did you do or plan to do afterwards?

[SkateLeft]

Since I have a 6th grader, I thought I'd be moving through the book much faster. Originally, we were doing a lesson every two days. About halfway through, we slowed down to one lesson a week. My son could definitely move through it much faster, but since we're also working on building his confidence with spelling and writing, I decided to stretch it out so he could have more successful experiences ("This is so easy!") instead of always constantly being challenged with new material.

 

He only has a couple of lessons left, so I've been thinking a lot about where I want to go from here. I'm going to buy K12's Intermediate English A for the fall. My older girls used K12's middle school English courses, and they were great prep for high school and college level writing skills. The grammar and writing will really stretch him a lot, but I think he'll be ready for it with plenty of support.

 

He'll still need spelling reinforcement, so I plan to work through the alternative lists on the LoE website. I'll have him continue to review his phonograms every day. When he's done with the alternative lists, I'll pull out Spelling Power and just continue to work with that over the next couple of years.

[PollyOR]

Since I have a 6th grader, I thought I'd be moving through the book much faster. Originally, we were doing a lesson every two days. About halfway through, we slowed down to one lesson a week. My son could definitely move through it much faster, but since we're also working on building his confidence with spelling and writing, I decided to stretch it out so he could have more successful experiences ("This is so easy!") instead of always constantly being challenged with new material.

 

:) Thank you for sharing your experience! We just started yesterday and I can see us using a similar schedule.