Curriculum reviews: Reading & Grammar.

Continuing in the language arts...(see my previous post if you'd like my take on spelling and writing or if you'd like a wee bit of background about the levels my boys are at)

BTW, rather than reinvent the wheel, read my posts here and here for my thoughts on language arts about a year ago, so you have an idea of where we started from this year. 

READING: Given the thoroughness of our spelling program, this year our reading curriculum got a bit more streamlined. Noah didn't really have one. Asher and Micah worked through a couple books of Explode the Code, doing about two exercises each week (working on them three or four days...about 5-15 minutes each day). I like Explode the Code (and I like that they're mostly self-sufficient books...I could just hand them to the boy and he could work through the pages on his own with only the occasional question). By about January, though, we realized that it had turned into just busy work for the boys. (Micah finished out book 3 and Asher finished out book 6. Thinking about it right now, I may bring these back out now and again next year just for practice for Micah, though.) 

After shelving the Explode the Code, we moved Asher and Micah to Beyond the Code (a companion series to Explode the Code with an emphasis on reading comprehension). 

Given their similar reading levels (yes, Micah's a bit ahead ahead of the curve, lol...which meant that a number of resources I started the year with went unused as he picked things up significantly faster than I'd anticipated), we ended up just getting both boys the same books and they work through it together, doing a story each week over the course of a couple days. This works well for us, as Asher can help Micah with his reading aloud skills (things like pausing at punctuation and inflection) and Micah can help Asher with some of the spelling. I think it's a dandy program, but they'll finish it this summer. I'm not sure yet what we'll do in the fall (and am open to suggestions!).

Beyond these, the boys also had plenty of reading, itself. I worked on reading more chapter books to them all. We averaged about one a month...with me reading just whenever we ended up waiting for appointments or in between other tasks. I started out working from lists in Deconstructing Penguins (which I very much like and will continue to use as a resource) and am branching out according to the boys' interests. I'm hoping to work this in as a more intentional part of our schooling next year, perhaps using the reading as the basis for our writing assignments?

They also had "assigned" reading each week...either a set number or type of books or a set amount of time. (Unlike other families we know, my boys aren't naturally drawn to reading so still require the "assignment" in order to actually read on their own.) We'll continue this next year as well, again potentially working in our writing...maybe tackle book reports.

GRAMMAR: Grammar has been a struggle for me. I've tried a number of programs and finally settled on First Language Lessons for this past year. I worked through Level 1 with Micah and Level 3 with Asher and Noah (though Micah ended up listening in on most of this and probably could do at least some of the work). 

Here's what I liked:

• It's quick. Each lesson is super fast. We tended to do about 3 lessons a week for a total of about 30-45 minutes. With Micah, I just did his lessons verbally with him. With the other two, we'd talk through the lessons and then I'd have them do some exercises on dry erase boards or in their notebooks. (I initially purchased the workbook that accompanies the instructor text but ended up not using it as I didn't want to buy two copies. It worked to have them write it on their own.)
• It's well organized. If you know me, you know that any curriculum that is well organized is one that will catch my attention. Even though not all my boys "need" the organization to learn and thrive, I (as the instructor) do. ;) I'm considerably more likely to use and stick with a program if it's organized in a way that makes sense to me. This is laid out with a plan for how many (and which) lessons to cover each week for a year...depending on whether you plan to work on grammar three times a week, whether you want to include supplemental lessons, etc. Each lesson reminds you what to review and then takes you into the next lesson, providing a script for the instructor. And, the lessons flow in a logical order, not jumping around from topic to topic as many of the other programs I looked at did.
• It's straight-forward. Yes, it covers sentence diagramming. Yes, I once thought that seemed unnecessary and old school. ;) Yes, I now see the value of diagramming and am thankful for it. By working through sentence diagramming, the lessons drive home the parts of speech and how sentences are built. Lovely.

So. It worked. I'm not in love with it, though. It's, well, rather boring. Still, I do think that it's done its job. I'm currently debating between doing this again next year (but using Level 2 and Level 4 instead) and trying something new like Growing With Grammar. From what I've heard about Growing With Grammar, it might be a good fit. It will provide a bit more hands-on work to help drive the points home. I realize, too, though, that if I'd just use the actual workbooks from First Language Lessons I could do this same thing. Hmmm. I've also been looking at Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts Curriculum after reading this review.

Again, I'd love to hear your thoughts and/or questions on this and will be back tomorrow with more!

(Also, before I forget, allow me to clearly state that I am not in any way associated with any of these products I'm reviewing. I'm not being compensated and don't have any stake in anything. ;) I just felt like sharing because I know I've benefitted so much from similar reviews elsewhere. This goes for yesterday's post, today's and the rest of the week. Thanks!)

Comments

[Kristin]

I know my mom uses Easy Grammar with her students, but I can't say how it works in a smaller setting. I'm so with you on an organized curriculum that's easy to work with!