FLL vs. ELTL

[UnlikelyHomeschoolingMama]

I have a 7 year old DS in 1st grade.  We did about 2.4 seconds of FLL and I realized it just isn't gonna fly with him.  I want something quick and easy, but the heavy memorization isn't for him.  It worked great for my daughter (now 3rd grade), but I didn't love it enough to fight through it with my DS.  She and I did FLL 1 and 2 and now have switched to CLE (LOVE IT!!)  I've looked at ELTL and am wondering if it may be a better fit.  Anybody switch from FLL to ELTL or have any input?  I just want something gentle before we start CLE LA in 3rd grade.  

[ExcitedMama]

I can't compare it to FLL but so far ELTL has been great for DS at 6. He still forgets to capitalize and add punctuation but he's gotten a lot better with the copywork. It is very very gentle in 1 and explains punctuation, quotation marks, why the comma can be inside the quotation mark like "and as I was saying," she said. Etc. the first 20 or so lessons have had one Beatrix Potter Story, one Aesop's Fable and a poem with occasional picture studies. Today was the first time that he had to write two sentences, I think it's lesson 19, so one was from Beatrix Potter as he has been doing and an additional copywork was the first line of a poem. It looks like he'll keep doing one line from a story and a line from a poem but for the poem he will do one line at a time until it's done (so maybe 6 lessons altogether to finish the one poem). Occasionally it also asks for him to illustrate something like a fable or poem, at least in the workbook, I think the textbook just has what lines to copy. It's very quick and it's the only time DS is ever interested in coloring anything.

 

I am awful at reading him poetry and neither of us have really liked the ones I've read him before so I'm glad it forces me to read it intentionally and I was excited after today's lesson that he will start copywork on an entire poem so I'm going to make more of an effort for him to work on memorization. He is excited everyday about whatever he's going to hear, like which fable, and I'd never been a fan of Beatrix Potter but he's enjoying it. At least in my anthology of the stories they are chosen in a random order to read in ELTL and he enjoys when we hear about characters from the other stories. I'm happy with the required reading of classics I know I would have skipped, like Just So Stories is next and Pinnochio is another one, which I have never read and I'm sure I wouldn't have thought to read to him. I would definitely recommend it.

[UnlikelyHomeschoolingMama]

Thank you so much for the reply.  Do I need the workbook and the TM or just the workbook?  Thank you!

 

[ExcitedMama]

Everything you need is in the TM. The workbook has the copywork for each lesson on separate pages so it's very easy for the child to copy. Plus the workbook has the blank spaces for the illustrations. I think there are lots of options for the type of font you could get to copy. I think Lulu has the sample pages so you can see it. I opted for the workbook so it was all ready to go but you definitely wouldn't need it. My only complaint would be that in the TM the font is pretty small for the part that has the copywork but I bought the print version. Maybe in the PDF the font is bigger or you could make it bigger? I think ultimately it depends on whether or not you want it all done for you or if it's worth the extra effort to save the money and get it ready.

[coastalfam]

I like ELTL much better than FLL. Just a delightful, gentle, yet smart and comprehensive approach. With FLL we had to add other programs as well to get a full program, but with ELTL you get to stop juggling like that.