heartofdakota.com

In the "Book Store," I see First Language Lessons by Jessie Wise Brown, but after looking at the Introductions for LHFHG and Beyond, I don't see it listed. I am wondering where/when it is used. Am I just missing it. :S [Entirely possible!!!]

My question, Carrie, is since I see it there, I am jumping to the conclusion that you have a working knowledge of that text. I used it with my son, now finishing second grade. I began it last April [just being introduced to it] and we quickly worked through First Grade over the summer, and did Second Grade, 3-4 lessons a week this year. My son has been blessed with good command of language, it seems [don't ask about math! ]

My plan had been to continue with First Language Lessons 3, as I sort of fall into "if it's not broke, don't fix it," mindset with curriculum. I loved the short lessons, the repetition/review and the practice with retelling/narration, [he REALLY struggles with that component, but I think part of it is attitude.]

From your experience, do you think you have enough experience with FLL to make a recommendation regarding switching to Rod and Staff? I have never looked at the Rod and Staff Language Series [however Providence would have me receive their newsletter today touting their Language program!!!]

[As far as spelling goes we do another spelling curriculum that I will stay with; he is in the third grade book and loves it. He has only ever done cursive, so I won't do Cheerful Cursive. ]

I anyone's input who feels they can help with my questions!!

Momof2n2,

I did use First Language Lessons with my first-born son when he was in the early years. We made it all the way through 1 and 2, except for the last few lessons (we were weary of listing the prepositions by then).

At the time, I felt pretty good about First Language Lessons, as my son didn't mind the lessons, and I felt there was pretty good coverage. We enjoyed the poetry memorization and the picture narrations. First Language Lessons 3 was not available then, so we switched to Easy Grammar's "Daily Guided Teaching and Review". I could see very quickly that my son hadn't retained even the basics of grammar like I'd thought. He ended up redoing more and more lessons as time went on.

After a year of that, I wasn't sure there was much retention going on in English of any kind, so we tried Bob Jones' new English and writing text for grade 4. By this time we were both very frustrated (me with the time I had already spent teaching English with little results and him with the amount of written work and drill with no understanding).

In grade 5 we made the switch to Rod and Staff 4. When we began Rod and Staff, my son struggled to define a noun or a verb. By the third lesson he understood and could define both. By the middle of Rod and Staff 4, he was diagramming direct objects! So, long story short, I feel that Rod and Staff connects the dots better in English than any program I've seen!

As we have been writing our guides Charlotte-Mason style, we have been adding in much of what was included in First Language Lessons (narration, poetry, dictatation, copywork, and even an introduction to grammar, mechanics, and usage in "Beyond..."). So, we only needed a solid English and writing component - not all of the rest. This is why we chose Rod and Staff and why we no longer recommend "First Language Lessons".

If you were to make the switch to Rod and Staff, skill-wise you could go into Rod and Staff 3 if you desired. However, if you are using "Bigger..." you may want to cosider the lighter approach and go with Rod and Staff 2. Either would work well. I cannot comment on FLL 3, as we've not used it ourselves. You could keep going with that if you really enjoyed that style (but some of the skills would overlap with the skills in "Bigger...").

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you so much, Carrie, for your thoughful response! I couldn't wait to check my computer this morning to see if you had had a chance to answer! So thank you! ♥

I think what I have to do here is pray for God to make one clear and to use our convention later this month to handle each book.

Stewart's strong point is language and I want to make sure he retains that command.

I haven't SEEN FLL 3 or Rod & Staff books up close and I trust that when I do God will make His choice clear. I am glad to know I could transition without a problem.