What is your opinion on CLE?

[Follstad]

Someone had suggested Christian Light Education for teaching grammar. I visited their website and saw all the other subjects offered, so now I'm curious as to what others think about not only language arts, but also science and social studies. I'm looking at possibly all three for both my ds, 7, and dd, 8.5. Second and third grade next year.

 

Also, is social studies the same as history?????

 

Thank you!!!

Sarah in Tampa

[TN Mama]

I only have experience with CLE math & la, but you can visit the yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/christianlightfamilies/ to get more answers. Many people there using CLE, many asking questions and they are usually quick to answer.

 

Good luck.

[G5052]

I've used CLE for math and reading for several years now, and next year my youngest (actually a logic/dialetic stage child) will use it for history and science as well. That is not the only history and science we're doing though. We're still neoclassical homeschoolers involved in Classical Conversations, and I'm doing Beautiful Feet Geography with both children for additional science and history. My older one has is own track for next year in most subjects but will do Beautiful Feet as well.

 

CLE's social studies (truly that for grades 1-3, with some history in 4-6 but mostly cultural studies) and science are traditional fill-in-the-blank programs. CLE is very good at that type of program, but if you go that way IMHO you must be prepared to keep up with the grading and monitor your children's retention. My younger one didn't do as well with CLE the first year she used it because she would breeze through and not learn things, so I did a lot of additional oral discussion and quizzing. This year she's much better at self-study and I'm confident that she'll be fine with it for more subjects for her 5th grade year.

 

The other downside for social studies and science through CLE (my opinion) is that they're broad brush, survey-type courses, which is why I don't use them alone. The Sunrise editions are superior both in layout and content. Those who don't have "Sunrise" with the name are reworked Alpha Omega units. They're still good, but not as good.

 

You will encounter some suble Mennonite doctrine in the social studies and reading, so that's worth considering. I've been fine with it in the reading, but we won't be using it for social studies/history higher than their 4th grade program.

Edited April 12, 2009 by GVA

[mamaof2andtwins]

There have been many, many posts here about CLE.

 

If you type CLE into the search feature, you are sure to find lots of information.

 

Quickly, we use it and have for 3+ years. I have been very pleased.

 

Jennie

[littlemomof3]

I think its a great program and easy to implement to most children. However my only caution is that children who do not do well with spiral may not do well with it. Just my exp.

[Tree House Academy]

We are using CLE Language arts with my oldest, Bible with both, and are getting ready to do CLE math for both. So far, we are really enjoying it and CLE is working for us. :)

 

I prefer a living book approach to History and Science, though, so we use HOD for that. :)

[TracyR]

We use CLE for reading , LA and math. So far I think its an excellent program. Interestingly enough I'd have to disagree with one poster that they use Mennonite doctrine in their reading because we have yet to come across any of it.

Social Studies yes, they do include instances of non resistance. Remember, CLE is a Mennonite curriculum and they do have the right to put some of thier beliefs in their curriculum. So if your not comfortable with that then you need to look elsewhere. But its not the type of curriculum to indoctrinate. They very much believe that should be left to home and church going. Not with school curriculum.

Anyways many consider this a teachable moment and discuss why they do or do not believe this thought.

I don't use CLE for science and history because we needed a different approach this year with these two subjects because we've used such dry curriculum in these two subjects with our cyber that my daughters lost the love for science and history ( but we are regaining it thank goodness). I may look at it later at some point but for now I'm sticking with Apologia(for science) and Time Travelers (for history).

[paulcindy]

We use CLE LA/Math/SS/Science. My 10 yo is BURNT OUT with workbooks.

 

We are keeping CLE LA and Math, and going to WP for Science, and HOD PHHFHG for all else.

 

We used Grades 5 for both Science and SS. They are NOT the Sunrise editions. The textbooks are really nice, but they are texbooks. You can get the workbooks to go with them. We do not prefer texts for History or fill in the blank workbooks for Science, but I needed something independent this year to get us back on track.

[FriedClams]

We're using LA 2 and Bible 2 and 3 this year - and we all love it. I'd recommend searching for CLE, again, you'll find tons of stuff. Next year we'll use LA, reading and Bible - but MFW for history/science/book basket and likely BF for character literature study.

[amtmcm]

This is a little confusing..... If you look at the 5th grade science text called God’s Marvelous Gifts it can be used by itself (without the Light Units) for 4th grade. I bought it for my DD for next fall and spent about 2 hours reading through it this morning. I love it! It encourages critical thinking skills (like making predictions, analyzing data, etc...) and every chapter includes a simple experiment or hands-on activity. There are a total of 62 chapters covering topics on Earth, Space, Weather, Plants, Animals & Anatomy.

 

The old fashioned drawings in the text are so sweet. I'm very excited for my DD to use this book next year and I think she'll enjoy it.

 

My older DD is totally a "Perfect Paula" and loves workbooks. She wants to study Life Science next year so I purchased Light Units from 7th, 8th & 9th grades that cover nature, anatomy and health. I've read through a couple of them extensively and I think she will like them. Again, there are plenty of hands on activities and experiments which look like she can do independently. And http://www.hometrainingtools.com offers Science Kits for CLE.

 

My 2 cents for CLE Science. :)