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DS8 is doing R&S 2 right now and we mostly do it orally with just a little written work here or there. He's almost half-way through. And though it seems painless to do I've seen some retention issues popping up. It was because of retention issues that I decided to switch him over to CLE math as Singapore was leaving him in a confused daze. He's doing very well now in math. I think the spiral method works well for him.

So I was wondering if anyone here has used the CLE language arts program with HOD and how it worked. Does it fit seamlessly into the day and the rest of the LA tasks? I wouldn't be using the penmanship part of CLE as he is doing fantastic with Cheerful Cursive. He does the dictation in Bigger and is doing very well there, too, so I'm not sure about the spelling that's included with the CLE LA - to do or not to do? Then, if I'm skipping these parts, is the program even worth it?

I think I've talked myself into a circle here. From what I have observed about him he seems to do well with buffet-style learning where he can get bits and pieces and then come back for more rather than trying to eat a whole elephant before moving onto the next one.

Just looking for others experience and advice. Thanks!

Whitney,

We have used both. I have two children using CLE math and my DS8 does very well with the spiral format. For what it is worth I absolutely DO NOT like the LA. I put my CLE math boy in LA2 and dropped it after 2 LUs and ran back into the arms of R&S English. I find the presentation of concepts in CLE random and I do not like the worksheet feel. I would rather practice capitalization, punctuation, etc. in the context of copy work. If you skip,the penmanship and spelling you are not left with much. Also, I found myself teaching CLE just like I teach R&S and I wanted to chuck the LUs and pull out the whiteboard. I find R&S to be much more flexible to teach because I can speed up, condense, or slow down as needed.

I firmly believe that retention will come. R&S builds carefully and thoroughly. You review concepts in each level taking it a bit deeper each year. Beginning with English 3 there is a daily oral review. I have found it to be highly effective in building retention and fluency with the concepts. In addition, you can purchase laminated charts for the different levels that have POS, diagramming helps, etc. at a glance. You can utilize the worksheets also. I find it effective to ask my student to use a worksheet from a topic we studied in the past. I pull them out on busy days or when I think he needs to revisit a topic. Personally, I like using the tests beginning with English 4 as a gauge for retention.

One last reminder is that English skills learned in R&S are supportive skills for,composition. HOD gives you many opportunities to apply the skills learned in writing across the curriculum.

Katrina,

That was exactly what I needed to hear. I was wondering how R&S would play in with the later guides and the writing/composition that would be in them. I"m glad to hear that R&S builds like you said and that there will be oral review in level 3. Once we started doing his lessons with more oral work and less written things improved (my, how he hates to write! ). But he still is having problems remembering a few of the concepts. I hadn't considered using worksheets here and there to help cement a concept - I'll definitely give that a try.

Many thanks!

abrightmom already answered so well here, and was just the person to help as she has used both! I just wanted to encourage you too that we have found this same thing to be true for our dc...

abrightmom wrote:...I firmly believe that retention will come. R&S builds carefully and thoroughly. You review concepts in each level taking it a bit deeper each year. Beginning with English 3 there is a daily oral review. I have found it to be highly effective in building retention and fluency with the concepts...

My almost 10 yo ds doing R & S English 4 is getting about half of his oral review questions right. The other half, he needs help. I remember being worried about this with my oldest ds. He is now almost 13 yo and doing R & S English 6, and he very rarely misses any of his oral review questions. Once and awhile he'll need some help or a little reminder, but overall, he knows this stuff backwards and forwards. You get the full benefit of R & S English by doing it year after year after year. It is truly amazing how much dc can retain through doing English in this very thorough, repetitive way through the years. I am finding good carryover as well. Ds uses the writing tips he's now memorized from R & S English in his writing curriculum HOD plans and in his written narrations (i.e. varying sentence length in writing, making paragraphs have unity and order, organizing paragraphs from first to last - in order of importance - etc., the concept of topic sentence - supporting sentences - closing sentence that restates topic, etc.). Anyway, just thought I'd share what we've seen with our dc too. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you Julie! That does help tremendously. It's always nice to hear from those who are farther along and can share their experiences. It is reassuring. My ds8 is my oldest and therefore the designated "homeschool guinea pig". He gets to pilot most everything. I just keep praying that I'm not ruining him!

"My ds8 is my oldest and therefore the designated "homeschool guinea pig". He gets to pilot most everything. I just keep praying that I'm not ruining him!"

I smiled when I read this. I think we're all praying that!

We used CLE LA in the past. As the previous poster said, the topics are completely random and I felt like it was very confusing. I like how R&S has a chapter on verbs, chapter on nouns, etc. We do the oral review in the teacher's manual before each lesson and I think it really helps.

luv2homeschool wrote:We used CLE LA in the past. As the previous poster said, the topics are completely random and I felt like it was very confusing. I like how R&S has a chapter on verbs, chapter on nouns, etc. We do the oral review in the teacher's manual before each lesson and I think it really helps.

I don't own the TM. That oral review you mentioned might be just the extra boost DS could use. I might look at getting the TM. Thanks!

alydar wrote:...I don't own the TM. That oral review you mentioned might be just the extra boost DS could use. I might look at getting the TM. Thanks!

Just thought I'd let you know that the oral review questions don't start until R & S English 3, so you really wouldn't need the teacher's manual until then. i agree though, once they start in 3, they are a wonderful review and a great way to help dc retain what is learned better!

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks Julie!