English Lessons through Literature

[RosieGamgee]

Who has used English Lessons through Literature by Kathy Jo DeVore?  either the original version or the newer version (Cultivating, Flourishing, etc.)  I am interested to know more about how much the literature readings are integrated into the entire program.  Are the dictation and copywork etc. taken from the readings?  Could one potentially use the program and sub different literature selections?  I'm interested in the program but honestly not thrilled with about half of the selections.  I'm wondering if I could use the program and just swap for other titles (also classics, also high-quality) that I prefer?  TIA!

[nixpix5]

Copy work tends to be pulled from the readings and from the poems. Passage examples used for the grammar lessons are typically from the lit selections. Reading the books selected definitely makes it more cohesive but at least in the early books it isn't going to make the curriculum impossible if you switch it up for the most part. There is narration you would need to work around and in the student copywork manual sometimes the student draws a pic from the book passage (atleast in the earlier levels). I will go pull level 3 and 4 from the shelf to see if that is true for those. 

What level would you be starting with?

ETA: just pulled level 3 and it says 

"Since most of the examples and part of the daily copywork come directly from the literature, reading it is an important component of this program....However, there is certainly room to skip books that the child does not like ..."

It looks like the narrations are all coming from the fables and short stories throughout the year. I am not seeing any reason you would have to stick with all of the scheduled books. ?

Edited September 4, 2018 by nixpix5

[HomeAgain]

We did level 3 last year.  It's all integrated, though you don't have to read the literature books, I guess, as long as you understand that the written work will reference it every day.  There is also a poem and short story each day that are in the teaching book, and those are often part of the copywork/memorization/narration.  Toward the end of the year we only did the poems/short stories that had written work with them so that he was familiar with the pieces.

[ExcitedMama]

We did the original non-secular books 1 and 2. The reading is integrated so I think it would be a waste to buy it but not use the readings. The dictation and exercise are taken from the reading. I think that helped hold my son’s attention with the work. FWIW I was not so sure about the readings before we got started. My DS had never had any interest in Beatrix Potter when I tried when he was younger and book 1 starts there but he really enjoyed the readings. That’s pretty much how it went with all the books. He really enjoyed Pinocchio and the Wizard of Oz. It turned out to be a great way to read the classics we would probably have overlooked. Almost every lesson has an Aesop’s Fable so he knows those really well and the morals. Every lesson has a poem and then every few lessons has a picture study. We ended up using the ELTL poems a lot in place of the ones in FLL because he liked them more. There’s also space for pictures about the story. This really encouraged DS to draw and by the end of the Wizard of Oz he had made great Tin Man sketches. It’s a very complete program. 

[barnwife]

We are just finishing up the first (revised) level with our oldest. The copywork all comes from the literature/poems. However, we certainly haven't read it all. Some we'd read before. I don't think it really matters if you sub out for different RA. I mean, most of the exercises that PS kids do aren't coming from RA.

So he sits at the table, I read the poem and then fable (he could read most of them, but he enjoys hearing the aloud, as do our other kiddos). Then we discuss whatever grammar or whatever the copywork is focused on that day. Then he copies it. It has never bothered him that he's writing sentences from stories he doesn't know. I'd say he definitely has a preference for when we've read the story, but not enough to suffer through RA we don't like(We/he don't/doesn't care for many Beatrix Potter or the Fairy series books).