CLE LA instead of R&S - miss out??

[tiffanieh]

We are heavily considering Preparing Hearts for His Glory for next year (3rd and 5th grader) but I've NEVER been a huge Rod & Staff fan. We muddled thru it a few years ago, the kids hated it, I hated it and I'm just not cheering for joy the thought of returning to it. We do CLE Math (and love, love, love it) so i've been looking at their LA program. I like the face that it's spiral vs. mastery, somewhat independent, has diagramming, but we would skip the penmanship and spelling as they'll get that in the guide with HOD. My biggest fear though is that since HOD has it's writing component hinged on oral/written narrations and the teachings from R & S, that my children would miss out on learning key pieces to writing.

Is this an unsubstantiated fear? Will I be okay doing CLE LA? Will future guides always be dependent on R &S writing? Will I need to supplement another writing program in since we won't do R & S?

Thank you for helping me answer these questions!!

[momtofive]

Hi Tiffanie! Glad to hear that you'll soon be enjoying Preparing Hearts! We did that guide last year and had SO much fun with it! You're in for a great year!

I just want to reassure you that R&S English can be really enjoyable! It might seem dry on the surface, but doing most of the lesson orally, and then assigning just the last section or so to be done written, makes the lessons move along quickly and easily for both teacher and student. At least that's been our experience with it. That may not be the case for you, but just thought I'd share how it went for us. We also use CLE math and LOVE it! It's the only math that my children really enjoy and seem to learn the best from.

One really nice thing about HOD is that you can use the math program that you really like and it doesn't really change the guide at all. It is possible to do this with language/english/grammar also, as long as it's the best fit for the student, and it doesn't add too much writing or time to the day. That you'll have to decide for your situation!

I came across another thread recently, and thought of this when I read your questions regarding CLE vs. R&S.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11506

I hope something here helps!

[annaz]

We are heavily considering Preparing Hearts for His Glory for next year (3rd and 5th grader) but I've NEVER been a huge Rod & Staff fan. We muddled thru it a few years ago, the kids hated it, I hated it and I'm just not cheering for joy the thought of returning to it. We do CLE Math (and love, love, love it) so i've been looking at their LA program. I like the face that it's spiral vs. mastery, somewhat independent, has diagramming, but we would skip the penmanship and spelling as they'll get that in the guide with HOD. My biggest fear though is that since HOD has it's writing component hinged on oral/written narrations and the teachings from R & S, that my children would miss out on learning key pieces to writing.

Is this an unsubstantiated fear? Will I be okay doing CLE LA? Will future guides always be dependent on R &S writing? Will I need to supplement another writing program in since we won't do R & S?

Thank you for helping me answer these questions!!

First, don't change whatever is working. CLE will be just fine. It may add some time. CLE has the same info on dictionary, outlining, research, writing paragraphs. It's just in spiral form. You can see their scope and sequence. You need to use what works better for you and your child. And you love it. Leave it alone. Nothing is worse than using something that is dreaded.

[tiffanieh]

Lisa,

Okay...now you've gone and got me thinking all differently now!! Thanks for the great reply, as well as the links. I checked them out and it was the exact thing I was thinking by NOT doing R & S. Okay. I'm definitely going to mull this over some more now. thank you!!

[tiffanieh]

Annaz,

Thank you for your reply. We actually haven't used CLE LA yet so I can't say that it's working for us yet. We do use their Math and most definitely love that one! I've got a lot to consider. Perhaps if we did a lot more of it orally than we did in the past it wouldn't be so dreaded. I was militant mom and have calmed down quite a bit from those earlier days LOL

[annaz]

Annaz,

Thank you for your reply. We actually haven't used CLE LA yet so I can't say that it's working for us yet. We do use their Math and most definitely love that one! I've got a lot to consider. Perhaps if we did a lot more of it orally than we did in the past it wouldn't be so dreaded. I was militant mom and have calmed down quite a bit from those earlier days LOL

In CLE, we did a lot orally, so we used it like R&S. I only had dd write what we needed to actually write. We skipped alot...that's the only downfall. The pencil holding, the chair sitting twaddle. But the quick spelling is a nice back-up to dictation if you need it and it's workbook format. The only problem is that you may do one part of speech on one day and something else the next. I find my dd does better in mastery in some things and spiral in others. My issue with R&S is that when you get to things like Rise/raise or had/has sort of thing, there's no thought to it. The answers are obivous. So in that we we'd tune out. It would have worked better for us to use it more in a mix of lessons than in a single lesson...more in application than set sentences. Spiral method works well with this. But neither are better or worse. I think they're close in coverage and if you wanted to stay with something close to R&S, this would be it.

[Mom2Monkeys]

I wanted to add some input about r&s bc I almost switched my DD to cle last year....

DD has done all of r&s 2&3 and at the end, I felt she wasn't retaining anything. It seemed like she needed note review and repetition, and she wanted more independence. So the spiral and independent nature of cle seemed perfect. I already had r&s 4 and so we just started in.with that until I could decide which level of cle and had the funds to get it.

I really got a sudden shock when we started level 4. I was always doing it mostly orally, and probably less written than others do. We added in consistent review questions from.the TM or each lesson and my daughter never. missed. a step. She got every single question right almost every single lesson. She could teach back. She would say, "By mom, we already covered this last year." There's that layering from year to year! She was enjoying the lessons by this time because she was doing well,and the solid foundation from.earlier levels meant she was grasping the foundations these higher levels were building upon. So this child who I almost took out of.tis program bc I didn't feel it was.working finally seeing the fruit of her labors. She HAD been retaining and retaining well! It just took a bit for me to see it. Now, we are going to be moving along to r&s 5 with CTC this fall.