LillianinAL Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 We have decided to streamline some of our subjects next year to have a shorter school day and leave more afternoon time for other pursuits. However, we still want to do a good job with the academics. We have been happy with Spelling Workout, Wordsmith and Wordsmith Apprentice, and R&S English for the LA area for my dss. Next year, they will be in 6th and 7th grades. Would CLE LA streamline our school but still do an excellent job teaching the English area? What would it cover? Would we still need Spelling Workout? They would be on G and H. What about CLE Reading? They will be working through a book list based on our History time period. Or would LLATL be better? I also thought about getting the IEW Ancient History-based Writing Lessons. We haven't used the whole IEW program and don't plan to. I also will be schooling three younger dds. Thanks for all advice! Lillian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaof2andtwins Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 We don't use their spelling. I think it is the weakest part of the LA program. I also use my own writing. For grammar the LA is excellent. We also use the reading. Jennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 We already use CLE math & reading which are rigorous programs that I highly recommend. IEW History Based Writing Lessons work REALLY well for us. We're using parts of IEW Ancients and Medieval Writing Lessons this year (to go with SOTW 1 & 2). Our plan for grade 7 is CLE math, reading and LA with IEW US History Based Writing Lessons, v1 (my older ds used this). Look at the CLE S&S here: http://www.clp.org/documents/2452/original/2008_Scope_Sequence_grades_1-8.pdf Join the CLE yahoo group to look at samples in the photos section of the group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 We have tried both. CLE is excellent for grammar, but we still do our own spelling, writing, and reading programs. My son is a struggling speller. A good speller could use CLE and do great, I think. Writing is not really part of CLE in any major way (other than a few days in the schedule for "creative writing" of the teacher's choice. We use WWE instead. Reading, we will be using DITHOR but CLE does have a good reading program as well. Right now, we are finishing up with LLATL's readers, but this will be our last year with LLATL. My review of LLATL is that I don't like the layout, my son learned very little grammar from it this year, and we still had to supplement spelling and writing. I would call LLATL "Language Arts Lite." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amtmcm Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 We took a break from intensive grammar this year, doing LLATL Green and we LOVE it! I own several of the LLATL books and I wouldn't recommend all of them since they all cover different topics, but the Green edition has been especially fun. There is some sentence diagramming, just enough for review but then the next unit might be 6 weeks of Poetry or 3 weeks of Shakespeare or 3 weeks writing a Short Story. Your 6th & 7th grader should be able to do the lessons together. I would recommend continuing with your spelling program. We also used IEW SWI B, IEW Bible Based Lessons and IEW Elegant Essay, but my DD needed some serious organizational help with her writing. IEW did wonders for her in a very short time. So maybe try IEW or continue with Wordsmith. But I'd highly recommend LLATL, and then maybe pick up a more intensive grammar curriculum again next year. My 2 cents :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LillianinAL Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 Thanks! Lillian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDBask Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 (edited) I have been homeschooling for a several years but am not up on all of the abbreviations out there! What is CLE? This year we are using the old orange LLATL book and I am enjoying it. However a couple of you said that it is light on the LA part of it. What are you looking for in that regard? Really, if a child can read, spell, and write well, what is the point of "grammar"? (said while ducking for cover...) I learned all of that stuff in school and still don't see the practical use for it. :glare:(I guess that my children are not going to get a classical education.) Just curious...and I am sorry if I hijacked your thread!! Edited March 24, 2009 by KDBask Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN Mama Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 CLE = Christian Light Education Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDBask Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 You've got my curiousity going with this question and I would love to hear more answers so... BUMP!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaof2andtwins Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 You've got my curiousity going with this question and I would love to hear more answers so... BUMP!! What would you like to know? I have used CLE LA for 3 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudreyTN Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 This year we are using the old orange LLATL book and I am enjoying it. However a couple of you said that it is light on the LA part of it. What are you looking for in that regard? Really, if a child can read, spell, and write well, what is the point of "grammar"? (said while ducking for cover...) I learned all of that stuff in school and still don't see the practical use for it. :glare:(I guess that my children are not going to get a classical education.) Love it!! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxMama Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 I used LLATL for several years with my olders and we really enjoyed it. It is thorough without being overwhelming. If I found that if a child needed extra work in a particular area it was easy to supplement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDBask Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 What would you like to know? I have used CLE LA for 3 years. LA is not a strong point for me so we have been all over the map for the last 3 years: 3 years of pathway publishers, then one each of Sonlight and LLATL with a bit of WWE mixed in. Is CLE similar to ACE with the paces? Do you have to suppliment with other curriculum? If so, which parts do you suppliment? If I were to move my ds10 and dd8 to it which grade would you start them at? (Both have been doing gr4 LLATL. I teach them together...just lazy, I guess.) Is sentence diagramming really that important? Why? Is the CLE something that they can teach themselves from the booklets? (I have ds6 and dd4 that I want to spend more time with next year.) Do you use the CLE Bible and CLE Reading? Are the three intertwined like Sonlight or can they be used indepentently of each other? That's all I can think of for now. I hope that this is helpful to LillianinAL too!;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaof2andtwins Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 CLE is similar to ACE, but its format is far superior as it includes tests and quizzes with the lessons broken into workable components. I supplement based on the needs of my children. My daughter needs AAS spelling, so that is what we use. I also use Writer's Jungle for writing. I do use some of the composition elements from CLE also. If you are going to move your children to CLE I would highly recommend that you give them the diagnostic tests. If you read Susan's book Writing With Ease, she makes a good argument for diagramming. You can read it here...The Three Stages All my children can do CLE by themselves. I do use CLE reading. I have used CLE Bible, but it is in the old ACE format. I do not care for that format, so we dropped it. The reading and Bible are completely separate from the Language Arts and are not intertwined in anyway except for the fact that there are some overlap of concepts from LA to reading especially with poetry in the younger grades. I have been using CLE for about 3 years now and found it to be very helpful when I had little ones. Jennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinatucker Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Im not sure what grade your looking for but Rod and staff does offer a 4th grade remedial reading program as well as a good sounding spelling program. I just found this out so I dont know that I can "recommend" it but it may give you other things to look at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDBask Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 We don't use their spelling. I think it is the weakest part of the LA program. I also use my own writing. For grammar the LA is excellent. We also use the reading. Jennie I just printed off their diagnostic test and have more questions!! My kids will be in 5th and 4th grades but by looking at the material I think should start at the 300 level of LA. (I'll know more after I do it with them but I am pretty sure that they will score high enough...despite having not done any sentence diagramming.) Will they teach enough of that in LA 300 level for them to pick that up? One of the reasons I stopped using Pathway readers and LA was because I really disliked the phonics that they used after grade 1. The schwa, for example, (was one of several) was overwhelming and I felt too much for a youngster. We are using AAS and I prefer the sounds that they use. If we skipped their spelling in the LU, is that easy to do? If I skip their spelling, can I work through the LU in less than 17 days? What is the difference between Sunrise and Non Sunrise? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyrooch Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 I used CLE for three years for my son and he didn't like it at all. I loved the layout of the program but my son wasn't a fan. He dreaded LA more than anything else. I had to supplement writing anyway and my son hated it, so I couldn't find a reason why he couldn't try something else. I switched to Easy grammar for grammar and Sequential Spelling and my son has thrived. He now enjoys his English and Spelling. He even looks forward to it and he understands things so much more now. It used to take him an hour to finish a lesson in CLE. (somewhat because he disliked it so much that he drug his feet) He just never really "got it" with CLE. Now it only takes him 20-30 minutes per day for English and spelling and he does several lesson on most days! He just breezes through it. I still add in the writing but I was doing that anyway with CLE. CLE's layout is great and I still feel that it is a good solid LA program. That's why I stuck with it for so long. It just didn't work for my son so we changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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