CLE LA or EIW?

[AnniePoo]

I'm looking for a LA program for next year for a 9yo/4th.  This child has a hard time with written output and tends to be a dreamer.

 

Would you lean toward CLE LA 3 or EIW 4?  CLE sounds great, but I wonder about her stamina to complete the whole workbook.  Would it be better for a distractible child to have spelling time, then grammar time, then writing time, all using different programs?  Or is it best to just keep going?  Sometimes I wonder if all the breaks I give between subjects just draw things out and make it worse.  Like maybe our days would be better and smoother if she only saw LA on her list rather than cursive, grammar, spelling.

 

Has anyone used CLE a year "behind"?

 

I hesitate to put her into EIW because her handwriting is so horrible and sloppy and I fear that the amount of writing required in there would force her to write too fast and end up with a big sloppy mess of words.  But I love that it covers the writing process while CLE doesn't appear to at that level.  

[morningcoffee]

We've used CLE LA a year behind. It's very thorough with lots of review but unfortunately that makes the daily lessons quite long. If you liked everything else about it though you could mark up your own daily lesson divisions on the workbook to make each day shorter.

 

Obviously that would mean it took longer to get though each year level but we school throughout the year so we have more school days to get through our curriculum and maybe that's something you could consider too if you were concerned about getting behind. 

 

When I first used CLE LA dd had done almost 2  years of rod and staff english and being able to work in a workbook was much easier.

 

I personally found the writing instruction and assignments adequate at that level of CLE so didn't supplement with an additional writing program until later.  I have never used EIW so can't comment on that.  

 

[morningcoffee]

What LA have you been using up to this point?

[boscopup]

My 2nd grader is a dreamer also. I am currently using separate R&S subjects with him for one more level (phonics, reading, spelling), but I'm leaning toward sticking him in CLE 200 when he's done with those. There is less overall work than if you split up the subjects. My younger kid is doing LA 100 right now, doing multiple lessons in a session even. Looking ahead at the next couple levels, I think the workload won't be that bad. Also, you can always split it up if you need to - do a section or two, then switch to math, then come back.

 

Fwiw, my dreamer kid does better without breaks. I just change subjects of he's getting bogged down in one. Actual breaks break his focus off school completely, and it's hard to get him back.

 

ETA: My current second grader will be using it a year or more behind when he starts it. I don't feel like he could jump into the grade 3 level, so he'll start grade 2 level probably halfway through his 3rd grade year. I just think that will be appropriate placement for him.

[MotherGoose]

I find that my dreamer likes CLE and the "get it done" aspect.  She also realizes that it's more efficient than having separate programs.  I do mark out some of the sections for her to skip that are too easy or too much review.  

[AnniePoo]

What LA have you been using up to this point?

 

She finished FLL2 about this time last year.  She did some of WWE 1 and 2 with a co-op sorta thing for 1st and 2nd.  

 

This year we've been doing Daily Grams, cursive (which has been a total bomb), Sequential Spelling.  I'm about to drop the spelling and put copy work back in there because her writing is unacceptably bad.  

 

So she knows basic grammar.  It's the writing output that we struggle with.

[OneStepAtATime]

Could she have dysgraphia?

[alisoncooks]

I've been following this thread, but haven't chimed in because I'm in the thick of it, as well. My nearly 9yo (currently a 3rd grader) has done very little writing. In fact, she balks if I ask her to write a sentence. :rolleyes:

 

We are currently using CLE LA a year behind. The lessons, if you use all the parts, are very long. I've considered EiW several times, but it just looks so boring...and I'm worried the fly-by grammar review at the beginning of the course won't be enough (and that the writing instruction won't hold DD's hand enough).

 

Right now I'm waffling between continuing CLE or switching completely to Treasured Conversations. I have TC and have printed it and everything. It begins very gently, with grammar and copy work. Then moves on to outlining (main idea and details), then writing a paragraph from an outline, then taking notes and writing reports. Have you considered TC?

 

I also am looking at Wordsmith Apprentice and Writing Skills Book A. Likely, I'll have them all on hand, to pull from whenever we hit a wall or stall.

[SnMomof7]

My 8-yo is a dreamer. We use CLE. It isn't easy, is it ever with these kids? I still like it, though!

[AnniePoo]

We just ruled out disgraphia for her, so that's not a concern right now.

 

I have considered other options, but I just don't feel like I have the time to execute them well at this stage in life.  With all of the younger kids underfoot, I get really stressed and end up skipping things.  I need something that will get DONE that doesn't require me holding her hand the entire time.

 

I am leaning heavily toward CLE.  I think the writing in EIW is definitely enough hand-holding (have you seen the syllabus?) but then I'm back to having to add back in cursive, grammar, and spelling, which just makes my head spin.  I'm so torn.  If I skipped spelling and cursive next year, it could work, but I don't know how I feel about that.